Month: June 2023

by Sagar Tandon, Partner, Beyond Animal

Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing our planet today. With greenhouse gas emissions continuing to rise, it is imperative that we find innovative solutions to reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change. One promising solution is the development of alternative proteins, which could offer a significant and untapped opportunity for climate financing.

Alternative proteins, which include plant-based proteins, cultured meat, and fermentation-based have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture drastically. Animal agriculture is responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, with estimates ranging from 14.5% to 51% of all emissions. By developing alternative proteins, we could significantly reduce these emissions and help to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The numbers speak for themselves. According to a report from RethinkX, a think tank focused on technology-driven disruption, alternative proteins could capture up to 10% of the global meat market by 2035.

Read Sagar full article featuring Biodiversity and Animal Agriculture as well as Alternative Proteins as a Climate Financing Opportunity – all here – https://greenmoney.com/the-untapped-climate-opportunity-in-alternative-proteins

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Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ) and Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) recognized Tetra Tech with six 2022 project merit and business achievement awards in March 2023.

CCBJ and EBJ honored Tetra Tech with awards for outstanding achievement in renewable energy, forest conservation, ocean monitoring, and dam safety. Tetra Tech accepted the awards at the Environmental Industry Summit XXI in San Diego, California, on March 22, 2023.

Expanding our high-end services across the globe

Tetra Tech received the EBJ Business Achievement Gold Medal Award for Large Firms for an exceptionally strong fiscal 2022 that delivered more than 80,000 projects in 125 countries. Recent acquisitions of Enterprise Automation, TIGA, Axiom Data Science, and Piteau Associates further advanced our market-leading positions in digital water, data analytics, platform virtualization, cybersecurity, and sustainable infrastructure.

EBJ also recognized Tetra Tech a Business Achievement Award for Mergers & Acquisitions for acquiring RPS Group, a leading UK-based environmental consulting and project management firm. Tetra Tech recently welcomed 5,000 RPS staff in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America, expanding our expertise in energy transformation, water, and program management. The addition of RPS also advances Tetra Tech’s work providing high-end consulting with an emphasis on advanced data analytics and unique software applications, such as those in water management, ocean analytics, and contaminant modeling.

Developing software for ocean monitoring

EBJ selected Tetra Tech for an Information Technology Award in Ocean Monitoring for its role in designing open-source software with the ability to manage and visualize ocean data. Axiom Data Science, A Tetra Tech Company, played a foundational role in designing and operationalizing the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s (OOI) Data Explorer, the primary gateway for discovering, visualizing, and accessing OOI data. In 2022 our team upgraded the OOI cyberinfrastructure to improve the OOI’s ability to serve ultra-high resolution data streams from next generation ocean instrumentation that spans the ocean floor to the sea surface.

Deploying innovative technology for dam safety

EBJ awarded Tetra Tech a Technology Merit Award in Dam Safety for our work developing innovative technology for monitoring tailings dams in Brazil with the Institute of Mine Seismology. Our work addresses the dangers of dam failures and improves safety in the mining industry. The microseismic technology integrates conventional seismic monitoring and innovative seismic ambient noise interferometry to continuously monitor internal structure changes, using ground motions and seismic wave velocity propagation. To date, our teams have commissioned more than 20 seismic systems and installed more than 180 geophones connected to 50 seismic stations.

Accelerating the clean energy transition

CCBJ awarded Tetra Tech a Project Merit Award in Renewable Energy, recognizing our work helping partner countries meet climate commitments through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Scaling Up Renewable Energy (SURE) Program. The awards committee highlighted SURE’s efforts in Colombia, which enabled the government to procure 2,170 megawatts (MW) of new wind and solar power to make its power system more resilient to climate change. In 2022 our team helped develop a resilient power system that will lower emissions by about 6,400 million tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per year, reduce diesel subsidies, electrify transport, and power tourism in Colombia’s Providencia Island. With support from Tetra Tech through SURE, the National Fund for Non-Conventional Energy and Energy Efficiency (FENOGE) developed its first Gender and Diversity Policy, which went into effect in May 2022.

Advancing sustainable forest management in Cambodia

CCBJ also recognized Tetra Tech with a Project Merit Award in Forest Conservation for leading the implementation of the U.S. government’s flagship Cambodian environmental project, the USAID Greening Prey Lang (GPL) project. Through USAID GPL, Tetra Tech supported the development of three projects to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and finalized the first-ever genetic analysis of Asian Elephant populations in Cambodia. The project also provided improved economic benefits to more than 110,000 Cambodians through interventions including support to wildlife-friendly agricultural product value chains and the promotion of 19 ecotourism sites.

Learn more about the CCBJ Business Achievement Awards and EBJ Business Achievement Awards.

Today, Whirlpool Corporation is hosting a “Day of Impact” employee volunteer day of service to make improvements to Broadway Park in Benton Harbor. The selection of Broadway Park and revitalization planning was done with the City of Benton Harbor and other local organizations.

The event is a continuation of the revitalization of city parks that started at Union Park in 2021 in support of Benton Harbor’s master plan for city improvements. The initiative began as part of Whirlpool Corporation’s commemoration of Juneteenth and its Racial Equality Pledge commitment to support positive and lasting impact in Benton Harbor.

“We’re pleased to be able to work hand-in-hand with Benton Harbor leaders to support the city’s master plan and collaborate with local organizations on this important initiative,” said Marc Bitzer, chairman and CEO, Whirlpool Corp. “It’s great to see many of our employees give their time today, especially for the positive benefits this park will provide for the youth and the residents in our local community.”

This year, Whirlpool Corp. is also collaborating with the local community organization Neighbors Organizing Against Racism (NOAR) in volunteering to revitalize Broadway Park. NOAR started the initiative to rename Broadway Park after June Woods, a former slave who moved to Benton Harbor around 1870 and became a respected community leader and entrepreneur. As a tree farmer who owned his own business, he planted many of the city’s trees. Last year, Benton Harbor’s City Commission approved the renaming of Broadway Park to June Woods Memorial Park, and the park will be rededicated with its new name this year.

“Our organization saw an opportunity to share the story of June Woods more broadly and couldn’t think of a better way to honor his contributions to our community, tell his story and celebrate his legacy by dedicating a park to him,” said Trenton Bowens, President, Neighbors Against Racism. “Our organization welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with Whirlpool and to share input in creating the vision, planning and working together to revitalize this park before we rededicate it as the June Woods Memorial Park in August.”

Some highlights of the work being done in Broadway Park include:

June Woods memorial monument installedNew 40×50 turf fieldRepaired playground equipment with rubber mulch in playground areaNewly added and expanded sidewalks

“City Parks and green spaces are crucial to the health, wellness and feeling of community for our city residents, especially our youth, and are an important step in continuing to beautify Benton Harbor,” said Ellis Mitchell, city manager, Benton Harbor.

More than 120 Whirlpool and NOAR volunteers participated in this day of service and work on Broadway park is expected to be completed this summer.

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The launch by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) of its first standards (S1 General and S2 Climate-related Disclosures) is a “significant milestone” in the realization of a strengthened global corporate reporting system, in which disclosure on impacts and sustainability-related risks and opportunities are on an equal footing.

As set out in the MoU between GRI and the IFRS Foundation, both organizations committed to working together to ensure complementary and interoperable standards. This agreement recognizes the need for globally consistent sustainability data, through corporate reporting that meets the information needs of all stakeholders.

As a next step in the GRI-ISSB collaboration, technical mapping of the two sets of standards is under development, alongside examples of how to use the standards together, and a digital taxonomy to streamline the exercise of reporting.

Eelco van der Enden, CEO of GRI said:

“I congratulate the ISSB on reaching this significant milestone. I believe the new IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards will have an important role in ensuring that the risks and opportunities related to sustainability issues are firmly anchored in the decision-making of investors.

Our respective standards have distinct yet complementary purposes; with GRI ensuring transparency on an organizations’ impacts on people and planet, while the ISSB is focused on supporting efficient and resilient capital markets. Taken together, I believe our standards can provide the complete picture on sustainability impacts and performance.”

Carol Adams, Chair of the GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) said:

“I welcome publication of the IFRS S1 and S2 Standards, which will help provide insights into sustainability-related risks and opportunities of reporting organizations. The GSSB recognizes that such insights are helpful for markets to allocate funding towards sustainable outcomes. We are working on an amendment within the Universal Standards to show how reporting on impacts using the GRI Standards informs IFRS-S disclosure on risks and opportunities. 

The GSSB is engaging with the ISSB to develop questions and answers regarding the use of both sets of Standards, and to align our work programs. This will allow a double materiality perspective that meets the needs of reporters and other information users.”

The GSSB has published a discussion paper on a proposed change to ‘box one’ in GRI 1: Foundation, regarding the relationship between the GRI Standards and other reporting standards – specifically the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

The GRI-IFRS MoU, signed in March 2022, committed the two organizations to coordinate work programs and standard-setting activities. It recognized two equal and interconnected sustainability reporting approaches, as part of a comprehensive corporate reporting regime:

Sustainability-related financial reporting – publicly disclosing information for investors and capital market participants, on the sustainability-related risks and opportunities for an organization; through the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.Impact reporting – publicly disclosing to a wide range of stakeholders information on an organization’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, and how the organization manages these impacts, through the GRI Standards.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the independent, international organization that helps businesses and other organizations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing the global common language to report those impacts. The GRI Standards are the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards, which are developed through a multi-stakeholder process and provided as a free public good.

Originally published in SEE’s Global Impact Report

At SEE’s manufacturing facility in Madera, CA the machines that turn resin pellets into the company’s famous BUBBLE WRAP® brand original cushioning are now powered by a solar farm situated on 11 acres of company-owned land directly adjacent to the plant.

The 8,975 solar panels, along with a battery storage system, power 98% of the electricity used at the manufacturing facility and produce more than seven gigawatt-hours of energy per year.

SEE® (formerly Sealed Air) partnered with TotalEnergies (formerly SunPower) to develop the 3.5 megawatt ground mount solar project paired with a 770 kilowatt/3,080 kilowatt-hour battery storage system. The project will help reduce SEE’s energy spend by $1 million annually.

Beneath the solar panels, gravel was used instead of turfgrass to conserve water, which is especially important in a state fighting drought conditions.

The solar farm contributes to SEE’s sustainability goals by advancing renewable energy, lessening the energy intensity of operations, and reducing the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. As a clean energy source, the solar project will avoid 3,465 metric tons of carbon dioxide in its first year* and 50,160 metric tons of carbon dioxide over 15 years.

*CO2 equivalencies based on EPA AVERT 2020 California regional distributed PV avoided CO2 rate

Read SEE’s Global Impact Report here.

Learn more about SEE’s ESG efforts here.