Month: September 2023

STAMFORD, Conn., September 19, 2023 /3BL/ – Webster Bank has once again been named a Top Corporate Contributor honoree by the Boston Business Journal in its annual 2023 Corporate Citizenship Awards, a recognition of the region’s top corporate charitable contributors.

The Business Journal annually publishes this list to showcase companies that promote and prioritize giving back to their communities.

“We are honored to once again be recognized by Boston Business Journal for our ongoing support of organizations that do so much to create opportunity and economic vitality in the Boston area,” said Marissa Weidner, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer at Webster.

This year, 100 companies have qualified for the distinction by reporting at least $100,000 in cash contributions to Massachusetts-based charities last year. The honorees this year include companies from such industry sectors as financial and professional services, health care, technology, retail, and professional sports.

Webster Bank, whose contributions in many instances include both the corporation and its charitable foundation, will be honored along with fellow honorees at the BBJ’s 18th Annual Corporate Citizenship Awards on Thursday, September 7 at the Seaport Hotel, 1 Seaport Lane, Boston.

“It is with honor that we present our list of the Top Charitable Contributors in Massachusetts – in 2022. Collectively, they gave $423 million in cash contributions – a true example of the business community coming together to help those in need. We are proud to celebrate these organizations who give both money and time to make Boston a stronger and better place for all.” said Boston Business Journal Market President and Publisher Carolyn Jones.

About Webster

Webster Bank (“Webster”) is a leading commercial bank in the Northeast that provides a wide range of digital and traditional financial solutions across three differentiated lines of business: Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking and its HSA Bank division, one of the country’s largest providers of employee benefits solutions. Headquartered in Stamford, CT, Webster is a values-driven organization with more than $70 billion in assets. Its core footprint spans the northeastern U.S. from New York to Massachusetts, with certain businesses operating in extended geographies. Webster Bank is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. For more information about Webster, including our latest annual report, please visit our About page. To find our latest press releases, visit the Webster Newsroom.

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WASHINGTON and NEW YORK, September 19, 2023 /3BL/ – As the WELL Summit prepares to launch next week, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the global authority for driving market transformation through healthy buildings, organizations and communities, celebrates the leadership of the people and projects that have been a driving force behind the WELL movement for nearly a decade.

The WELL Summit, which will take place in Washington, D.C. on September 25-26, will feature the movement’s top thought leaders on the MainStage, provide unique networking and technical education opportunities and showcase the latest in products and services supporting the healthy building industry, all the while reinventing the event experience and prioritizing attendee health with curated wellness activities and outdoor programming.

The two-day event will feature continuous programming, showcasing speakers and MainStage sessions including:

“Food as Medicine,” a fireside chat featuring Physician and New York Times best-selling author Dr. Mark Hyman in conversation with Nancy Roman, CEO of Roman Leadership, former President and CEO, Partnership for a Healthier America“A Prescription for Well-being: Places that Put People First,” a panel convened by IWBI Governance Council member Dr. Richard Carmona, 17th Surgeon General of the United States, who will be featured alongside three other former Surgeons General colleagues about their perspective on the state of public health today“Real Estate Reboot: Return to Office Won’t Save Us, So What Will?,” with executives from HOK, Empire State Realty Trust, Johnson Controls and Chandan Economics“WELL PechaKucha: Stories that Transform and Transcend,” featuring storytelling from healthy building pioneers at Babylon Micro-Farms, IWBI, Lendlease, MindShift, Shaw Industries and Standard Chartered BankProgramming rooted in equity: “Lessons from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Process: Centering and Celebrating Indigenous Wisdom” and “Using Investor Influence to Change the World: How to Move Capital Toward Racial Justice”

“With a bold new take on how we gather in person, including a dynamic, open-air experience at D.C.’s vibrant Union Market, the WELL Summit is all about connecting and energizing leaders across our global network,” said IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon. “We are excited to engage with hundreds of renowned experts and industry pioneers who will convene to celebrate the power of place, and who have served as the backbone for driving the incredible growth and adoption of WELL around the world.”

The WELL Building Standard (WELL Standard), the world’s leading roadmap for creating and certifying spaces that advance health and well-being, has been adopted by nearly 44,000 projects encompassing 4.85 billion square feet of real estate across 127 countries. With the growing emphasis on workplace well-being, thousands of organizations, including more than 25 percent of the Fortune 500, have embraced WELL to guide their health leadership journey. To date, 24,700 people from 128 countries are either credentialed or registered through the WELL AP (Accredited Professional), which demonstrates mastery of the WELL Standard. More than 200 organizations are engaged in IWBI’s membership program, a global initiative that offers commercial benefits, as well as brand visibility and networking opportunities.

Organizations across the public, private and nonprofit sectors, and from diverse international markets ranging from North America and Europe to Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, are increasingly using WELL as a framework to prioritize the health and well-being of the people using their buildings and across their communities. Leading businesses utilizing WELL hail from real estate, building design and construction (AECD), and financial services and insurance, with other sectors driving momentum across the landscape of manufacturing, industrial and logistics, research, IT and technology, government and healthcare, among others.

“As we reflect on all that WELL has delivered, we are honored and humbled to bring our community together to propel the healthy buildings movement forward and advance IWBI’s mission of creating people-first places,” added Hodgdon.

The WELL ecosystem is grounded in the WELL Standard, a library of holistic evidence-based building and organizational strategies – organized into 10 impact categories – that can improve the health and well-being of people. WELL Certification is the highest pinnacle of achievement of strategies across all 10 concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community.

Certification is available through the WELL Building Standard and WELL Community Standard pilot, along with ratings that are targeted subsets of strategies from the WELL Standard, and which focus on thematic, goal-focused achievements that demonstrate an organization’s commitment to health and well-being. The WELL Health-Safety Rating helps organizations address the health, safety and well-being of their people, and communicates to everyone entering a space that evidence-based measures and best practices for safety and long-term resilience have been adopted and third-party verified. The WELL Performance Rating helps organizations implement best practices for continuous monitoring and performance across key IEQ metrics related to air quality, water quality, thermal comfort, acoustics, lighting and occupant experience. Launched in late 2022, the WELL Equity Rating is a roadmap for organizations to set, achieve and report on goals that elevate diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in driving health equity. IWBI’s WELL at scale program is for business leaders who want to prioritize health and well-being across their entire organization or real estate portfolio, while contributing to strategic environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.

Newer opportunities to engage with WELL include the Works with WELL licensing program, which recognizes products and solutions that contribute to the achievement of specific features in the WELL Standard as indicated by a licensed Works with WELL trademark. Additionally, projects now have access to a new streamlined pathway for pursuing certifications for the LEED green building rating system and WELL, along with a suite of new tools and resources.

“We are proud to deliver the WELL Summit experience, including technical training and presentations that will earn attendees CEUs and tap into the overall power of face-to-face engagement,” said Kimberly Lewis Inkumsah, Executive Vice President, Equity, Engagement and Events, IWBI. “It’s the premier opportunity to learn from the leaders of the movement and participate in provocative discussions on key topics and trends that are transforming our world and our well-being. Let’s normalize a gathering that creates time and space for attendees to integrate well-being into every aspect of their event ROI. We’ll see you there!”

About the International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people-first places to advance a global culture of health. IWBI mobilizes its community through the administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL Standard) and WELL ratings and certifications, management of the WELL AP credential, the pursuit of applicable research, the development of educational resources and advocacy for policies that promote health and well-being everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.

International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL Portfolio, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rating, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Performance Rating, Works with WELL, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.

Media Contact:
media@wellcertified.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C., September 19, 2023 /3BL/ – Discovery Education, the worldwide leader in education solutions, today announced it has partnered with Subaru of America, Inc., LyondellBasell, Nucor, Honeywell, and the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) to launch the Sustainability Education Coalition. This first-of-its-kind initiative is focused on empowering over 10 million students by 2030 to serve as ambassadors for sustainability by providing the digital resources K-12 students need to make informed decisions and take responsible actions supporting sustainability.

Coalition partners are united in the goal of empowering tomorrow’s changemakers by connecting classroom learning to various sustainability themes. The Sustainability Education Coalition is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is driving forward sustainability education at an unprecedented scale through a five-pronged framework:

Equitable access to high quality learning resources: Investing in under-resourced schools so students can benefit from the best-in-class Discovery Education Experience.Innovative Community Engagement Pathway: Introducing global challenges through a local lens; ensuring students can connect concepts to their local communities.Challenge-Based Learning Informed by Partners: Delivering engaging, high-quality resources and learning experiences for students.National Visibility: Working to promote a national conversation to elevate sustainability education.Research and Impact Framework: Launching impact studies to measure trends and progression of sustainability attitudes.

Each partner provides expertise, insight, and access to enable the creation of high-quality and standards-aligned dynamic digital resources and will help provide under-resourced schools across the United States no-cost access to the award-winning Discovery Education Experience learning platform.

Subaru of America, Inc., a pre-existing partner with Discovery Education, was the catalyst in launching the Sustainability Education Coalition. Through a multi-year partnership with Discovery Education, over 7,000 students in Camden, NJ, received access to high-quality digital content, and teachers were given the professional development tools to implement new digital resources into their lesson plans. As this work highlighted the need for increased materials connecting students to sustainability education and the importance of expanding efforts nationally, additional founding members joined the coalition.

“The need for comprehensive sustainability education has never been more pressing,” said Amy Nakamoto, Discovery Education General Manager of Social Impact. “Recent statistics reveal a concerning trend: while the majority of teachers recognize the importance of teaching students about climate and sustainability, only half of them are currently addressing these vital topics within their classrooms. We are excited to work with Subaru of America, LyondellBasell, Nucor, Honeywell, and the National Environmental Education Foundation on a joint goal to empower educators and students with the resources they need to make informed decisions and take responsible actions supporting sustainability.”

Learn more about the Sustainability Education Coalition at sustainabilityeducationcoalition.org.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

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About Sustainability Education Coalition 
The Sustainability Education Coalition (SEC) connects K-12 students to relevant educational concepts and content that brings to life the intersections of the environment, economy, and society. Powered by Discovery Education, the SEC provides equitable access to high-quality resources, project-based learning experiences, robust research, and impact frameworks to drive meaningful impact for students, their communities, and the planet. Created in partnership with Honeywell, LyondellBasell, Nucor, Subaru of America, Inc., and the National Environmental Education Foundation, the SEC seeks to empower 10 million students by 2030 with the tools they need to take responsible actions for environmental integrity, sustainable economic development, and a just society for all.

About Discovery Education 
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, innovative classroom tools, and social impact initiatives, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

About Honeywell 
Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) delivers industry-specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.

About LyondellBasell 
We are LyondellBasell – a leader in the global chemical industry creating solutions for everyday sustainable living. Through advanced technology and focused investments, we are enabling a circular and low carbon economy. Across all we do, we aim to unlock value for our customers, investors and society. As one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and a leader in polyolefin technologies, we develop, manufacture and market high-quality and innovative products for applications ranging from sustainable transportation and food safety to clean water and quality healthcare. For more information, please visit www.lyondellbasell.com or follow @LyondellBasell on LinkedIn.

About Nucor 
Nucor Corporation is the largest steel producer in North America and the largest recycler of any material in the Western Hemisphere. For more than five decades, Nucor has been built on the sustainable model of producing steel with a low-carbon footprint by recycling scrap metal into new steel and steel products through the use of electric arc furnace technology. With its continued investment in breakthrough technologies to lower emissions across the supply chain, Nucor is committed to reshaping the industry by not only making steel more sustainably but enabling partners to reach their own carbon reduction goals. For more information visit nucor.com.

About The National Environmental Education Foundation 
The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is the nation’s leading organization in lifelong environmental learning, creating opportunities for people of all ages to experience and learn about the environment in ways that improve their lives and the health of the planet. Congressionally chartered in 1990 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to complement the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NEEF is a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization working to make the environment more accessible, relatable, relevant, and connected to people’s daily lives. Learn more at: https://www.neefusa.org/

About Subaru of America, Inc. 
Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Camden, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts, and accessories through a network of more than 630 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile manufacturing plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. SOA is guided by the Subaru Love Promise, which is the company’s vision to show love and respect to everyone, and to support its communities and customers nationwide. Over the past 20 years, SOA and the SOA Foundation have donated more than $300 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and its employees have logged nearly 88,000 volunteer hours. As a company, Subaru believes it is important to do its part in making a positive impact in the world because it is the right thing to do. For additional information visit media.subaru.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Contacts 
Grace Maliska 
Discovery Education 
gmaliska@discoveryed.com

ESG in Action

Practically everyone has heard the phrase “save a tree.” Its call to action is more poignant and timelier than ever as whole forests are disappearing at alarming rates, often because of business activity. Equity investors must gain a greater understanding of how companies are impacted by and addressing deforestation—and how different approaches might affect long-term return potential.

The Issue

The world’s forests play a vital role in sustaining life, providing products and services and counterbalancing the effects of global warming. But they’re threatened, which also means companies and investors alike should understand deforestation’s impact and risks to the bottom line.

The Investment Case

Agriculture is deforestation’s chief driver, but practically every industry is either a contributor or exposed to it. The key is to know how and where a company is vulnerable and whether it has a policy to effectively respond.

Engagement Goals

Our research suggests that many companies don’t have adequate policies to address deforestation risk, so investors should engage with management to encourage awareness and improvement.

Authors 
Dev Chakrabarti| Chief Investment Officer—Concentrated Global Growth 
Sara Rosner| Director of Environmental Research and Engagement—Responsibility

From the dense Amazon jungle to wide stretches of Malaysian palm oil plantations, agricultural practices have been stripping the world of vital forests for decades. But now, as awareness grows, companies of all stripes—from e-commerce to sportswear—are being pressed to show how they’re addressing deforestation, which is as much a threat to businesses as it is to the planet.

Deforestation is the process of converting forests to non-forest uses, such as agriculture and roads. Some 31% of the world is covered by forests, about 10 billion acres in all. This is down from 11 billion 35 years ago, and the rate of disappearance is accelerating. In 2021 alone, the equivalent of 10 football pitches was lost every minute, according to the World Resource Institute.

Deforestation is a manmade problem, but problematic for all forms of life and livelihoods. About 25% of the world’s population relies directly on delicate forest ecosystems just to survive. Forests are home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity—all plants, animals and microorganisms in a given ecosystem. Therefore, they provide an essential balance of healthy soil, clean water, safe habitats, crop pollination and barriers to erosion and flooding.

Very few regions aren’t touched in some way. Declining forests threaten most corners of the globe, with temperate zones just as vulnerable as the tropics, albeit for different reasons (Display).

Aggressive natural resources mining, urban sprawl and shifting cultivation practices, for example, are driving permanent deforestation in tropical regions, especially Africa. But across North America, China and Europe, wildfires and logging farms are mostly behind forest degradation, when forest ecosystems can no longer provide goods and services to people and nature. Although it doesn’t necessarily lead to permanent tree loss, forest degradation is an even greater problem than deforestation and just as harmful to indigenous life.

Moreover, there’s a direct but tenuous link between forests and the air’s very breathability. Trees absorb about one-third of all emitted fossil-based CO2. But as greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) rise, a shrinking forest canopy will struggle to keep pace. Given this prognosis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change continually stresses that saving forests and planting new ones are key to hitting global targets aimed at limiting the annual temperature rise to 1.5° Celsius.

Meanwhile, deforestation will continue to have a direct impact on climate change and biodiversity loss. These two critical sustainability challenges are at the heart of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that we believe should be addressed by equity investors because of the risks and opportunities they pose to businesses across sectors.

Deforestation as an Investment Risk

Beyond its ties to climate and biodiversity, deforestation is tightly intertwined with global business. Whole industries and individual companies alike can be contributors to the problem and its solutions or can be among those affected by it (Display).

According to OurWorldinData.org, agribusiness—industries behind the world’s food supplies and other consumables—is deforestation’s greatest catalyst by far, especially in the tropics. Consumer brands are a close second. Both industries’ dominance mostly stems from the sourcing of just four “forest-risk” commodities: cattle, soy, palm oil and timber.

Deforestation’s nexus to agriculture and consumer products isn’t exclusive. From retailers to insurers, many business models can be linked to some degree. Even industries seemingly removed from deforestation could still be exposed, since supply chains often intersect with agricultural goods. Leather car seats, cotton jeans and palm oil–based topical ointments are just a few of the many subtle but significant cross-sector dependencies (Display).

Weighing Deforestation Risk in Stock Selection

The challenge for investors is to examine how well companies in different industries are managing potential deforestation risks and the opportunities it poses for their businesses.

For example, companies linked to deforestation can suffer reputational risk in the minds of consumers and advocacy groups, which can throttle customer loyalty and competitiveness. The ripple effect has stretched further and swifter in the social media age, as platforms tend to amplify ESG-related topics to highly engaged and vocal investors.

There are legal considerations for the bottom line, too, especially with the tighter regulatory scrutiny of climate-related financial disclosures now including deforestation impact, and the European Union’s deforestation regulation, expected in 2025. Some companies are out in front of this. Unilever and Nestlé, for instance, apply sophisticated technology to trace and report their deforestation risk exposure from source to shopping cart. Some 90% of Nestlé’s forest-risk commodities are assessed through satellite monitoring as deforestation-free as of 2020.

Not all companies are as self-aware. In fact, many business models that seem arm’s length from deforestation can be unwitting parties to it and equally susceptible. Banks that lend to the logging industry are indirectly supporting widespread tree removal, for example, and providers of digital-based work-efficiency solutions are steady superusers of bulk printer paper.

Identifying deforestation risk is only a start, though, and investors also need to know what a company plans to do about it. That is, does the business have a forestation policy to help mitigate its exposure and can its results be quantified?

Putting Companies to the Deforestation Test

AllianceBernstein’s (AB) Concentrated Global Growth team conducted a comprehensive deforestation analysis of more than 100 companies within the investable universe for the equity portfolio. Guided by a list of strategic questions (Display), we aimed to identify risks, and survey and analyze the extent of each company’s forestation policies, if any.

Our sample universe comprised a wide range of companies, with 46 based in the US, 32 in Europe and 49 from Asia. Market-capitalization size varied too, as did their value and growth tilt, industries and sectors, including technology, energy, manufacturing, retail and media.

We began by reviewing sustainable investment reports, whether specific to ESG or part of broader annual statements. Relevant words and phrasing such as “tree,” “forests,” and “cardboard” were flagged. Sections in which they were found were closely examined for context and materiality.

To help quantify deforestation exposure and risk levels, we sought to measure the percentage of an organization’s revenue that was dependent on key forest-risk commodities, as reported the prior year. Among companies with active forestation policies, we looked further into commodity sourcing and traceability, which we think speaks to a firm’s commitment and progress. That is, can the company trace commodities to their product origins, or at least to the point at which it can assure their compliance with its policies? Likewise, we asked to what extent suppliers were onboard with their policy.

The Takeaway: Deforestation’s Impact Still Underappreciated

Our analysis revealed a wide span of awareness and action plans surrounding deforestation risks, which seemed to turn up in practically every industry or sector represented.

For instance, deforestation risk levels among food producers, whose lifeblood is farmed ingredients, naturally scored high. But while an online retailer might seem to be less exposed, the picture changes when we see the vast acreage of canopy cleared to make raw materials for its products and packaging.

Interestingly, financial companies aren’t as removed from deforestation risk as they would seem. Our analysis showed that eight financial firms were exposed by association, though three—all US based—have limited policies in place, among them Charles Schwab.

Across the companies we surveyed, only about half had a forestation policy, which can cover a spectrum of initiatives to help undo the damage. For instance, reforestation entails planting trees or allowing them to regrow where forests stood until very recently; afforestation involves planting trees on stretches long devoid of forests; and forest restoration helps degraded forests recover their structure, ecological processes and biodiversity.

The universe included no companies directly tied to agribusiness, but 34% were tangentially connected. Despite their exposure, about 22% were short on any forestation focus. Among these were Genmab, the Denmark-based biotechnology firm, and Tencent, the Chinese multinational technology company. Tencent is, however, committed to eco-friendly operations, leveraging technology to promote sustainable use and protection of natural resources. For example, the company applies artificial intelligence and cloud-computing technologies to nature-based solutions to tackle digitalization and efficiency issues arising in the process of ecological conservation. And Genmab receives an A rating from Ethos ESG in the categories of access to affordable healthcare and child and material health.

Meanwhile, American Tower, a US real estate investment trust, and TJX Companies, a US retail group, both ranked high in deforestation risks but have strong programs to counter them. American Tower, which clears land to build and lease wireless communication infrastructure, has committed to replace each tree it removes with 50 throughout the US high plains and California. Through our research, we developed a framework that provides a good starting point for investors to assess a company’s exposure to deforestation risk and forestation policies (Display), which can help guide engagement efforts.

Technology can be vulnerable to deforestation risk, too, although we discovered that most tech-related companies have ambitious policies to go with them. US-based Verisk Analytics, for instance, funds major reforestation efforts in Brazil, while France’s Capgemini joined the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forestation (LEAF) Coalition, whose goal is to halt deforestation by financing large‑scale tropical forest protection. Meanwhile, Japan-based Murata Manufacturing employs a fully staffed and audited forest program to protect woodlands in developed areas throughout the country, especially near its plants.

A small number of companies, such as Mastercard and SAP, are being preemptive by employing forestation efforts even though they’ve little deforestation exposure. Mastercard’s Priceless Planet Coalition, for example, spans 15 forest restoration projects across six continents; SAP, the German software company, has pledged to plant five million trees by 2025

Our findings suggest that companies are only beginning to wake up to the global problem of deforestation. So we think it’s important to include the issue as part of overall ESG research and engagement processes. As more companies discover that deforestation matters to their business activities, investors and other stakeholders, we believe they will increasingly quantify their exposure and demonstrate the success of their policies.

Deforestation in the Broader ESG Picture

From the American Southwest to the North Sea, the global warming alarm has been especially shrill in 2023. Record flooding, windswept fires and back-to-back heat waves remind us that climate change is real and intensifying, along with the physical and transition risks and opportunities to industries and companies. It’s even more reason for diligent equity investors to integrate these material issues into their fundamental research and stock selection processes, since fundamental analysis is invaluable to discovering how the potential impact of deforestation can affect a firm’s long-term earnings outlook.

ESG analysis is rapidly evolving. New methods to assess ubiquitous climate change risks and opportunities continue to emerge and find relevance. Deforestation is one more important input alongside other key gauges like carbon footprint, carbon handprint and climate scenario analysis.

Based on our research, the dire threat of deforestation and its priority level among companies are way off balance. But we believe that will improve as more companies adopt more rigorous forestation policies, and measure and manage their risks and opportunities stemming from this issue. Engaged investors have an important role to play in raising awareness among management teams that taking a strategic approach to deforestation is good for the planet, profits and long-term investment returns.

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams. Views are subject to revision over time.

References to specific securities discussed are not to be considered recommendations by AllianceBernstein L.P.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here.