Month: July 2023

PORCARI (LU), Italy, July 5, 2023 /3BL/ -The Lucca Film Festival is going green. Sofidel, a Tuscan company which is one of the world leaders in the production of paper for hygienic and domestic use, best known in Italy and Europe for its Regina brand, is a sponsor of the 2023 Festival and, in particular, of the first edition of Lucca Film Festival for Future, the competition reserved for short films dealing with green issues related to environmental protection as part of the Lucca Film Festival (LFF), to be held in Lucca from September 23 to October 1.

Film makers and directors from Italy and abroad can submit their work until Friday, July 28, 2023, sending it as a video link to future@luccafilmfestival.it or by registering on the Filmfreeway and Festhome platforms. The short films must be no longer than 29 minutes, represent the first showing in Italy and must have been made no earlier than 2021. Of the films submitted, 15 will be selected from around the world, which will be screened during the festival and compete for the awards. The selection aims to showcase the most innovative and interesting modes of narrative, documentary and interactive storytelling.

Sofidel has made sustainability a strategic lever of growth, succeeding in concretely integrating it into its industrial development policies. From this commitment comes the desire to spread the culture of sustainability through educational projects aimed particularly at the younger generation and, as of this year, also through the language of the Seventh Art. The first edition of the Lucca Film Festival for Future competition aims in fact to raise awareness of the need for a new culture of enhancement and protection of the environment and nature.

Elena Faccio, Group Creative & Communication Director at Sofidel comments: “Lucca Film Festival is a prestigious event, eagerly anticipated by national and international film enthusiasts and many more: we are very proud to be present with this initiative dedicated to green cinema. We have been committed to spreading the culture of sustainability for over 15 years, believing that it is a theme that can be expressed in multiple languages. Illustrating it through the art of film makes it possible to reach new audiences and raise their awareness about urgent issues that affect everyone.”

Nicola Borelli, President of the Lucca Film Festival adds: “Sofidel joins the family of festival supporters for an ambitious but not impossible goal that falls under the larger theme of sustainability. Film is first and foremost a form of communication, and our common interest is to promote environmental protection by concretely involving young people and counteracting the ‘drop in the ocean’ effect of perceiving one’s contribution as minuscule compared to the total support needed. But we are convinced that the ocean is made up of drops and that each of them can make a difference.”

The competition reserved for short films focusing on green issues also stems from a collaboration with festivals in the “Film For Our Future” international network and the EURASF network (European Network of Science Communicators, Filmmakers, Film Producers and Festival Organizers).

A jury consisting of representatives from the 10 festivals in the “Film For Our Future” network will evaluate the works and announce the results by September 15, 2023. During the final evening of the festival on Saturday, September 30, which will be held at the Astra cinema in Lucca, the winners will be announced and the first prize of € 1,000 will be awarded.

During the week of the festival, the entire final selection of the competition will be screened both in the morning for schools and in the afternoon and evening for the public. It will also be possible to watch the short films for free on demand on the dedicated page of the Festival Scope portal.

All information on how to submit your short film is available on the dedicated page https://www.luccafilmfestival.it/iscrizione-lff-for-future-2023/

Sofidel Group 

The Sofidel Group is one of the leading manufacturers of paper for hygienic and domestic use worldwide. Established in 1966, the Group has subsidiaries in 13 countries – Italy, Spain, the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Romania and the USA – with more than 6,500 employees, net sales of 2,801 million Euros (2022) and a production capacity of over one million tonnes per year (1,440,000 tonnes in 2022). “Regina”, its most well-known brand, is present on almost all the reference markets. Other brands include: Sopalin, Le Trèfle, Hakle, Softis, Nalys, Cosynel, KittenSoft, Lycke, Nicky, Papernet. A member of the UN Global Compact and the international WWF Climate Savers programme, the Sofidel Group considers sustainability a strategic factor with regards to growth and is committed to reducing its impact on natural capital and maximising social benefits, setting as objective the creation of shared added value for all stakeholders. Sofidel’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets to 2030 have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as consistent with reductions required to keep warming to well-below 2°C, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

www.sofidel.com

Sofidel Press Office 

Silvia Colleoni – +39 349 3457751 – silvia.colleoni@bcw-global.com

Giorgia Desimini – +39 389 2019708 – giorgia.desimini@bcw-global.com

Andrea Robuschi – +39 327 365 8485 – andrea.robuschi@bcw-global.com

Climate claims is an exciting, evolving space.

July 17, 2023 /3BL/ – This report emphasises why corporations need to become more savvy about communicating their corporate climate actions. Learn how to move away from vague and broad-sweeping statements, and strive for transparent and consistent communications that will lead to true green impact.

Access our latest report and gain an understanding of:

A global snapshot of the disclosure of corporate climate commitmentsThe need for a Paris-aligned climate claim ‘Funding Climate Action’An overview of international best practice and guidance on corporate climate claimsHow to build credible claims, with interviews from South Pole’s expertsIntroduction to South Pole’s new ‘Funding Climate Action’ label

For World Environment Day we wanted to add to the global celebration by lifting up the stories of several of our Cisco Foundation Climate Impact and Regeneration Portfolio grantee partners working in the realm of Nature-based Solutions (NbS). The good folks at Capital for Climate outline how critical such solutions are for meeting our shared climate goals, and say that when done well, NbS should “deliver climate mitigation, safeguard biological diversity, ensure healthier diets for all, improve food security and create more inclusive and resilient rural economies.”

As you read the stories below you can begin to see a picture developing of what such deeply thoughtful, heartfelt, and well-structured nature-based solutions can look like in practice. They prove that it is indeed possible to deliver on multiple social benefits including the ways outlined by Capital for Climate. We invite you to lift up such stories of active co-creation widely, as we continue to move towards the shared regenerative and inclusive future we all want.

Vesta enhances the ocean’s natural ability to sequester and store CO2

“Vesta‘s climate solution Coastal Carbon Capture (CCC) is a nature-based process that enhances the ocean’s natural ability to sequester and permanently store CO2.

CCC works by adding natural carbon-removing sand to coastal areas & marshlands. As the sand dissolves in seawater, it generates new alkalinity, resulting in the conversion of carbon dioxide for safe and permanent ocean storage.

Within three years, Vesta has been able to move decades of promising but stalled academic research out of the lab and into the real world.

In 2022, Vesta deployed the world’s first Coastal Carbon Capture field pilots in a salt marsh in Massachusetts and on a coastline in New York state.

Since then, we’ve continued to generate positive results on our most important scientific questions.

The Cisco Foundation has played a pivotal role in bringing Coastal Carbon Capture to field trials as the crucial next step to unlock gigatonne scale impact.

Ultimately, CCC has the potential to be a billion-tonne-per year carbon removal solution with co-benefits such as lowering ocean acidity and helping to protect vulnerable coastal communities from sea level rise and erosion. Thanks to the Cisco Foundation’s support, Vesta can continue to develop this process with climate-saving potential.”

PlantVillage makes progress in its quest for a better environment for food production

“PlantVillage has made tremendous strides in its resolve to help farmers in Africa grow more food through planting trees as a climate change mitigation strategy.

With the help of a pool of resources from its partners, including the Cisco Foundation’s $300,000 grant, PlantVillage planted 1.5 million trees in Kenya in just a year.

The planting trees initiative created green job opportunities for 20 youths employed as part of the PlantVillage’s vibrant unit, the ‘Dream Team,’ as well as 275 youths from local communities who participated in setting up and managing 47 nurseries.

PlantVillage Kenya has developed a unique system-change approach using technology from smartphone artificial intelligence found in the PlantVillage Nuru application and satellite data via cloud software.

The trees planted in borders across 12,756 farms reduce water loss from the soils, increase nutrient uptake by the soils, and increase income for farmers through the carbon capture initiative, in which each farm will draw down 3 to 5 metric tons of carbon per year.

‘The carbon market offers a mechanism by which we could scale up climate change adaptation for African farms, resulting in climate change mitigation at scale,’ said David Hughes, founder of PlantVillage, Huck Chair in Global Food Security at Penn State, and director of the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Current and Emerging Threats to Crops.

‘PlantVillage plans to scale up the program to benefit 200 million farmers, which will pull down 1 gigatonne of carbon (IV) oxide each year. To reach this goal, PlantVillage will draw down 3 million tonnes per day for 365 days a year,’ he added.”

AAC safeguards ancient wildlife migration corridors through trusting relationships with Indigenous communities

“The Andes Amazon Conservancy (AAC) collaborates with 4 Indigenous Nations in Ecuador in an Indigenous-led conservation program that maintains connectivity between the Andes and Amazon and safeguards ancient wildlife migration corridors.

Contiguous habitats that support wildlife migration are vital to preserving and sustaining the region’s increasingly endangered biological diversity.

The effectiveness of AAC’s work is rooted in the trusting relationships we have established with more than 70 Indigenous communities.

We integrate traditional knowledge and modern conservation technology to foster sovereign Indigenous land stewardship and sustainable land conservation while planning for 100 years of human population growth.

Funding from the Cisco Foundation is augmenting this collaborative capacity-building work for ecological connectivity and restoration.

Cisco’s support provides necessary resources to more than 135 Indigenous people who are spearheading this conservation project, provides numerous iterations of GIS maps that reflect the unique conservation choices of each community, and supports the legal documentation and registration of those conservation choices.

The result will be a 175-mile long, 6-million acre Indigenous-planned and implemented eco-cultural corridor and will pave the way for a new model for conservation in an era where 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is in Indigenous territories.”

Seacology connects communities to conservation through a unique deal

“Seacology protects island habitats and assists local communities by offering villages a unique deal: if they agree to create a forest or marine reserve, we’ll provide something the village needs, like a schoolhouse, health clinic, water system, etc. Since 1991, we’ve launched 392 projects, working with villages on islands in 68 countries, helping to protect approximately 1.4 million acres of some of the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems.

In 2021, we launched our second largest project to date: The Dominican Republic National Mangrove Initiative. This ambitious project aims to protect the country’s critical mangrove forests through a nationwide mangrove pride campaign while supporting economically vulnerable coastal residents by developing mangrove-related eco-businesses.

In addition, we are engaging coastal youth with a new initiative called Play for the Mangroves, which provides free sports equipment to under-resourced Dominican youth in exchange for their participation in mangrove education and hands-on conservation activities.

Seacology is incredibly grateful to the Cisco Foundation for supporting this initiative. With Cisco’s help, Seacology and our local partner Grupo Jaragua have hosted talks and webinars, funded a mangrove-themed mural project, organized a photography exhibit, visited schools and universities, helped establish 5 new businesses, and distributed baseball and volleyball equipment and mangrove-branded uniforms to youth throughout the country.

Mangroves, so critical to climate change mitigation and adaptation, are becoming a source of pride throughout the country, ensuring their future protection.”

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