Month: September 2023

BOSTON, September 6, 2023 /3BL/ – Vanguard Renewables®, a leading developer of renewable energy projects, is thrilled to announce that Danone North America, a global food and beverage company, has joined the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance. This collaborative movement aims to revolutionize food waste recycling and expand renewable energy production across America. Founded in 2020 by Vanguard Renewables, Unilever, Starbucks, and Dairy Farmers of America, the Alliance has now grown to include 17 industry leaders from various sectors.

The addition of Danone to the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance marks a significant milestone in the pursuit of sustainable solutions for food waste and renewable energy. With a shared commitment to environmental stewardship, the Alliance members are pooling their expertise to drive positive change across industries.

“Danone’s decision to join the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance is a testament to their dedication to sustainability and their recognition of the urgent need to address food waste and renewable energy challenges,” said Neil H. Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard Renewables. “Together, we will accelerate the transition to a circular economy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enable a more sustainable future for generations to come.”

Vanguard Renewables partners with food and beverage manufacturers to recycle their inedible food waste via Farm Powered® anaerobic digestion, which converts organic waste into renewable natural gas (RNG). This RNG is then used to generate electricity, heat, and transportation fuel, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. By diverting food waste from landfills and transforming it into clean energy, Vanguard Renewables is making a significant impact on the environment while also creating economic opportunities for farmers and local communities.

“We are excited to join the conversation with Vanguard Renewables and other industry leaders in the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance,” said Chris Adamo, VP of Public Affairs and Regenerative Agriculture Policy at Danone North America. “By working together, we can accelerate the understanding and adoption of sustainable practices, reduce food waste, and contribute to a more circular economy. This collaboration aligns well with the intent of our Danone Impact Journey which acts as our blueprint for defining our sustainability priorities and our transformation ambition in our value chain.”

The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance is committed to driving systemic change by promoting sustainable waste reduction and repurposing practices, expanding the supply of renewable natural gas, and supporting generational dairy farmers across America. With Danone’s membership, the Alliance gains a valuable partner with extensive experience in sustainable agriculture and a global presence.

As the Alliance continues to expand its membership, it strengthens its collective impact and paves the way for a more sustainable future. Together, these members are setting a new standard for environmental responsibility and demonstrating the power of collaboration in driving positive change.

For more information about the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance and its members, please visit www.farmpoweredalliance.org.

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About Vanguard Renewables:

Vanguard Renewables, based in Weston, Massachusetts, is a national leader in developing food and dairy waste-to-renewable energy projects. The Company owns and operates on-farm anaerobic digester facilities in the northeast and currently operates manure-only digesters in the south and west for Dominion Energy. The Company plans to expand to more than 150 anaerobic digestion facilities by 2026. Vanguard Renewables is committed to advancing decarbonization by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farms and food waste and supporting regenerative agriculture on partner farms through anaerobic digestion. Vanguard Renewables is a portfolio company of BlackRock Real Assets. To learn more about the Company, its energy partners, and the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, visit www.vanguardrenewables.com. 

About Danone North America:

Danone North America is a leading global food and beverage company operating in three health-focused, fast-growing and on-trend categories: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. With a long-standing mission of bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices while committing to achieve measurable nutritional, social, societal and environment impact. Danone has defined its Renew strategy to restore growth, competitiveness, and value creation for the long-term. With 100,000 employees, and products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €27.7 billion in sales in 2022. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including Aqua, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Mizone, Oikos and Silk). Listed on Euronext Paris and present on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading sustainability indexes including the ones managed by Vigeo Eiris and Sustainalytics, as well as the Ethibel Sustainability Index, the MSCI ESG Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and the Access to Nutrition Index. By 2025, Danone aims to become one of the first multinational companies to obtain global B Corp™ certification. Learn more at www.danone.com.

CAMBRIDGE, England, September 6, 2023 /3BL/ – GIST Impact, a leading impact data and analytics provider, has joined forces with the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance to expand investor access to IBAT’s world-leading biodiversity data.

The GIST Impact-IBAT partnership comes at a time of increasing investor interest in biodiversity-themed financial products, as well as growing biodiversity reporting requirements as part of new regulations and frameworks, such as the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), France’s Article 29, and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

The new integrated dataset, which combines IBAT’s data on protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas and threatened species, with GIST Impact’s extensive asset-location database, will help investors better understand the proximity of corporate activities to protected areas and locations important for biodiversity, and identify those sites with the highest potential biodiversity-related impacts.

With this information, investors will be better equipped to identify and manage biodiversity-related risks and opportunities in their portfolios, as well as provide more comprehensive reporting on corporate and portfolio impacts in compliance with the recommendations of the TNFD, SFDR, Article 29 and the Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF).

Speaking on the GIST Impact-IBAT partnership, Pavan Sukhdev, CEO of GIST Impact, and former President of WWF International, said: “Nature loss is at the heart of many of our greatest problems today, from climate breakdown and water scarcity, to public health deficiencies and rural poverty. Knowing where biodiversity and ecosystems are still intact, and what we are losing and where, is essential to designing solutions, and that’s where IBAT’s extensive database is invaluable.”

Ed Ellis, Business Manager of IBAT, emphasized the importance of this collaboration in advancing sustainable investment practices, commenting: “By combining IBAT’s world-leading biodiversity data with GIST Impact’s renowned expertise in impact economics and sustainability measurement, we enhance the accessibility and usability of critical biodiversity information for financial institutions. Our partnership with GIST Impact is critical to foster credible disclosure and encourage more responsible investments that contribute to preserving and restoring nature for generations to come.”

Through GIST Impact’s platform, investors will be able to access over 1 million asset location data points, including risk and proximity analysis data for over 3,000 listed companies globally covering 58 sectors, from financial services and IT, to utilities and mining. GIST Impact plans to further expand coverage in early 2024.

IBAT was developed and is maintained by the IBAT Alliance, consisting of BirdLife International, Conservation International (CI), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). IBAT’s data serves as the backbone for organisations whose decisions may affect critical biodiversity.

The partnership draws on GIST Impact’s historic and deep expertise in the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity (TEEB), including over 15 years of experience in measuring and valuing corporate impacts on biodiversity and nature, and CEO Pavan Sukhdev’s leadership of the seminal G8+5 commissioned TEEB report.

For more information about the collaboration between GIST Impact and IBAT, please visit www.gistimpact.com

About GIST Impact

GIST Impact is a leading impact data and analytics provider that has been measuring and quantifying corporate impacts for more than 15 years. GIST Impact’s historic and deep expertise in the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity (TEEB) enriches its clients’ knowledge of their impacts and dependencies on nature.

With a team of 100+ scientists, engineers, data scientists and ecological and environmental economists, GIST Impact codifies this experience within its market-leading impact platforms and datasets, covering 12,800+ companies with geographically precise, time-series data.

GIST Impact works with pioneering companies across all sectors and with investors representing over $8 trillion in assets under management. GIST Impact also partners with some of the world’s largest ESG data providers, business networks, and fintech platforms to enable impact measurement across global markets.

For further information about GIST Impact, please visit:

www.gistimpact.com

For media inquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Downs alexandra@gistimpact.com

About IBAT

IBAT licenses commercial access to the most globally authoritative biodiversity data datasets and derived data layers including the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas (WDKBA).

The IBAT platform serves as an increasingly important interface between the private sector and biodiversity conservation, providing fast, easy, and integrated access to critical biodiversity information. By providing this access, IBAT aims to provide a robust scientific basis for risk and opportunity analysis and disclosure.

For more information about IBAT please visit:

https://www.ibat-alliance.org/

For any enquiries on IBAT please contact:

ibat@ibat-alliance.org