Month: February 2024

The call to safeguard our planet is becoming louder than ever. Thankfully, we’re living in an era where sustainability tops the priority list not just for individuals, but for many organisations as well. And the technology they choose can make a huge difference when it comes to hitting sustainability targets.

Businesses already know that. In fact, in a recent survey, 100% of respondents stated that technology is a critical component1. With this in mind, you may be surprised to read that only 7% of companies have fully integrated their technology and sustainability strategies1.

Why are the statistics so low? What’s stopping businesses from embracing the latest technologies to help meet their sustainability goals? According to a report from Capgemini, 53% of organisations claim to lack the required expertise, while 49% are concerned about the difficulty of evaluating IT’s carbon footprint. And according to Accenture, one third (33%) of organisations are also put off by the complexity of solutions.

Despite that, it’s clear that companies are interested in combining technology and sustainability, with 53% of respondents1 in a survey from Accenture highlighting the ability to meet ESG targets as a benefit of implementing sustainable technology, with 49% highlighting talent recruitment1, and 48% highlighting increased revenues1.

So how can organisations implement initiatives to unify technology and sustainability strategies?

Consider Sustainability When Upgrading Your Tech Stack

For starters, it’s important to look for technology solutions with sustainability built in. That includes everything from manufacturing materials and processes to packaging and shipping. Working with a sustainable technology partner can help you to find such solutions, while also demonstrating your commitment to sustainability.

Not only does this help towards sustainability ambitions, it also helps to position your organisation as an environmentally conscious company that employees, customers and investors want to work with.

There are several things you should look for when picking a technology partner, including:

A sustainable technology leader that walks the talkAn IT innovator that solves both business and environmental challengesA trusted partner throughout the solution lifecycleAn end-to-end solution provider that delivers hardware, software, and services

Lenovo is a great example of a technology provider that walks the talk, and our responsible use of materials and sustainable shipping options provide a solid foundation when it comes to aligning technology and sustainability goals.

For example, we use closed-loop PCC sourced from recycled end-of-life IT and electronics equipment in nearly 300 of our products*. Our products feature plastic-free packaging in select models, with 90% recycled and/or sustainable content and bio-based packaging**. We provide minimised material use and packaging waste with bulk packaging, and we also offer lower carbon emission modes of transport for IT equipment.

Think About Your Technology Usage

It’s vital to ask how you’re using technology, and where you can take steps to making your organisation more efficient. Sustainability actions encompass a wide spectrum, ranging from grand initiatives to the subtle, daily choices we make. Embracing technology solutions inherently designed with sustainability in mind reinforces your environmental dedication, offering a substantial impact on your IT carbon footprint.

Look for ENERGY STAR® rated devices and accessories to reduce your power consumption, and if you want to make a tangible, additional contribution, consider carbon offsetting your IT fleet to mitigate unavoidable emissions.

As-a-service models can also make a big difference, helping to avoid overprovisioning while optimising end-user device lifecycles and data centre consumption. Benefits for companies that embrace as-a-service solutions include the ability to pay only for what’s required, to conserve resources, and to gain the agility to scale up or down as necessary.

Your data centre is another area where you can cut emissions through smarter technology, with liquid cooling technology meeting the challenges of traditional data centre cooling head on, striking a better balance between performance and energy efficiency.

Lenovo’s Neptune direct water-cooling can boost server performance with 95% heat removal efficiency and up to 40% lower power consumption***. Lenovo TruScale Infrastructure-as-a-Service can manage power consumption and usage in the data centre, while our ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops feature ENERGY STAR® certification.

Embrace the Circular Economy

To truly maximise the value of goods and minimise their environmental impact, it’s critical that we embrace the circular economy. Businesses have a responsibility to society to reduce waste, and technology providers that embrace the circular economy can help organisations to meet these responsibilities.

There’s a lot to consider when it comes to the circular economy, from environmentally conscious manufacturing and energy-efficient consumption, to extended lifespans and responsible disposal. One thing remains constant, however, and that’s the focus on reducing the need for new raw materials and decreasing the volume of e-waste that ends up in landfill.

Flexible warranties can help when it comes to prolonging product lifespans, with fast, high-quality repair services helping businesses to keep costly downtime to a minimum, while benefiting from devices that perform better for longer.

Lenovo can help you to achieve full-lifecycle circularity, thanks to solutions such as TruScale Device as a Service (TruScale DaaS), which make it easy to better manage your fleet of end-user devices. Other solutions include Premier Support Plus, providing predictive alerts, quick onsite repairs, accidental damage protection, and extended battery warranty, while Asset Recovery Services (ARS) offer secure and responsible IT recycling, with refurbishment and recertification services that help your devices to last for longer.

Benefit from a more unified approach

By embracing a more unified approach when it comes to technology and sustainability, your organisation can make inroads into achieving business and environmental targets without compromise.

* Lenovo ESG Report FY 2022/23
** Lenovo Sustainability Solutions Checklist
*** Lenovo Internal Source, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. and SAN FRANCISCO, February 21, 2024 /3BL/ – Pack Health, a Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) company specializing in patient engagement, and Instacart (NASDAQ: CART), the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced a collaboration aimed at improving both food access and healthy eating habits for underserved communities across the United States.

By integrating Instacart into Pack Health’s programs, the companies will deliver a complementary suite of services aimed at increasing access to the food, nutrition education and coaching support individuals need to build healthier habits. The collaboration combines the strengths of both companies to provide health plans with a comprehensive nutrition offering for their members. With this addition, Pack Health’s programs now offer not only education and behavioral coaching to inspire the adoption of healthier habits, but also directly address the pressing issue of access to nutritious food for those in underserved communities.

Through this relationship with Instacart, food insecure members enrolled in a Pack Health engagement program may receive same-day delivery of nutritious food designed to suit a member’s condition from local grocers through their health plan. Pack Health will also provide weekly one-to-one coaching services, shopping lists and recipes, and dedicated support to help members mitigate the impacts of social determinants of health (SDOH). All members enrolled in a Pack Health program are matched with one of the company’s in-house Health Advisors to guide them through condition-specific modules over a 12-week period. Members engage with Pack Health through a weekly phone call, two-way texts, and emails.

“We believe combining grocery delivery with nutrition coaching services can uniquely drive the adoption of healthy habits while teaching long term, sustainable behaviors to our members,” said Robert Ginter, Vice President and General Manager of Pack Health, a Quest Diagnostics company. “This relationship with Instacart will help food insecure individuals who are already managing their health through our coaching services change their lives for the better. We know that combining coaching services and access to fresh grocery delivery can be effective, and are excited by this opportunity to reach more people across the country who remain in need of this service.”

“Nutrition and health are deeply intertwined, and we believe there is an enormous opportunity to integrate food into healthcare to improve outcomes,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, Vice President and General Manager of Instacart Health. “Our mission is to give people access to nutritious food, and through Instacart Health, we’re dedicated to ensuring families not only have access, but also the resources and support needed to lead healthier lives. Through our collaborations, we’re offering user-friendly solutions that leverage Instacart’s reach, scale, selection and technology to address social determinants of health and make nutrition guidance from experts like Pack Health actionable.”

Instacart Health leverages the power of Instacart’s platform, products and partnerships to expand access to nutritious food, inspire sustainable healthy habits, and scale food as medicine programs across the country. Using Instacart Health’s suite of digital tools, health organizations can scale nutrition access and education programs that offer actionable medically tailored nutrition advice to members as well as the convenience of same-day delivery. For members who also are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Instacart today offers online SNAP acceptance from more than 170 retail banners and 14,000 stores across all 50 states and Washington D.C., meaning 96% of SNAP households can access delivery of fresh and nutritious foods from local grocers via Instacart.

Pack Health is a patient-engagement company specializing in comprehensively addressing chronic conditions and comorbidities influenced by mental health, lifestyle behaviors, access to care and SDOH. The company employs certified Health Advisors trained across over 20 chronic conditions who engage, motivate, monitor and support individuals through a digital engagement platform, providing personalized content. To support its programs, Pack Health will leverage Instacart Health Fresh Funds, category-specific grocery stipends, combined with tools that help members act on Pack Health Advisors’ nutrition advice, including Lists for Nutrition, which can be tailored to a member’s unique dietary preferences and needs, as well as Shoppable Recipes to support meal planning.

Food insecurity is categorized by the lack of access to affordable, nutritious food. In 2022, almost 13% of households across the United States were considered food insecure.1 The inability to access enough food to support active, healthy lifestyles is often associated with increased risk for multiple diet-related health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, mental health disorders and other chronic diseases.

Pack Health first piloted a similar program to a group of over 500 participants in the Southeast, to favorable results, in 2023. In addition to improving the participating members’ physical and mental health, the combination of fresh grocery delivery with coaching services reduced food insecurity by more than half, from 42% to 19%.2 Research shows food and health are increasingly intertwined, with some chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes particularly impacted by a patient’s nutrition. For certain patient populations, meal home delivery has shown a 39% reduction in hospitalizations.3

For more information, visit www.PackHealth.com/Food-Insecurity.

About Quest Diagnostics 
Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world’s largest database of clinical lab results, Quest’s diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve health care management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com.

About Instacart 
Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from category leaders to emerging brands – partner with the company to connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more information, visit www.Instacart.com/company, and to start shopping, visit www.Instacart.com.

1 Household Food Security in the United States in 2022 (usda.gov) 
2 Pack Health Internal Data, 2023. 
3 Brown University’s Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research. “The Impact of Home-Delivered Meals on Overall Health and Associated Use of Healthcare Services.” 2017.

LANSING, Mich., February 21, 2024 /3BL/ – Cinnaire has announced the closing of the $55 million Ubuntu Fund, an equitable access fund developed to support affordable housing development with underinvested developers in the Midwest region. The creation of this fund was made possible through the investments of leading financial institutions – PNC Bank, KeyBank, Fifth Third Bank and JP Morgan Chase.

With the need for affordable housing throughout the nation at an all-time high, the Ubuntu Fund is an opportunity for leaders in the tax credit industry to address the prevailing disparities in the affordable housing sector for emerging developers.

The $55 million fund was designed to provide access to equity for developers that have faced systemic barriers to securing traditional funding sources. The investors in Ubuntu were united by the shared goal of expanding access to capital to emerging developers of color working in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) industry.

Across the United States, affordable housing is often located in communities of color, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, yet the opportunity for local underrepresented developers to spearhead these projects has been limited. Studies show that just 2 percent of development companies are led by individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. Funding through Ubuntu will provide support and structure that enables these minority-led companies to thrive.

The fund’s objective aligns with the principles of its namesake Ubuntu, a philosophy emphasizing that individuals are shaped by relationships with others. Ubuntu originates from the Nguni language and translates as “humanity towards others.” The word’s fundamental elements include respect, communalism, conciliation and inclusiveness—values at the core of Cinnaire’s mission and the purpose of the fund.

“We are pleased to invest in the Ubuntu Fund,” said Celia Smoot, head of fund investments at KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment. “KeyBank is invested in the expansion of its community impact, and our investment helps to remove the barriers of entry for minority led affordable housing developers.”

The Ubuntu fund specifically addresses two critical challenges faced by emerging underrepresented developers—lack of access to an important capital resource and the opportunity to take the lead in real estate initiatives. By doing so, Ubuntu seeks to break down barriers and facilitate accelerated development capacity, leading to long term success for underrepresented developers.

“Ubuntu stands as the inaugural fund developed as part of Cinnaire’s commitment to drive capital and technical assistance to advance racial and socio-economic equity,” said Mark McDaniel, president and CEO of Cinnaire. “This fund will remove roadblocks and set a path forward for these developers to help change the trajectory of the current affordable housing crisis.”

The projects in the Ubuntu fund are being developed by real estate companies that have demonstrated a commitment to improving communities through innovation and value creation. Ubuntu will support six transformative projects across Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. Several of the projects are located in rapidly changing areas, blocks from catalytic development that could lead to economic displacement. The need to preserve affordable housing is amplified as these areas gentrify.

“Fifth Third Community Development Company and Fifth Third Bank are proud that our investment in the Ubuntu Fund will contribute to deepening the bench of LIHTC developers of color. We have seen that supporting diverse developers leads to greater community engagement and positive impact for residents.” Amber David, investment director, Fifth Third Community Development Company.

The inclusion of these deals in the Ubuntu Fund provides them with access to capital that would otherwise be lacking. This fund gives the new development company the opportunity to hit the ground and break into the market, with the goal of becoming a substantial player in the Midwest LIHTC market.

About Cinnaire 
Cinnaire is a nonprofit financial partner that supports affordable housing developments along with community and economic revitalization initiatives through creative investments, loans and real estate development services. Since 1993, Cinnaire has invested $5.7 billion to support the development of 811 housing communities in 10 states, providing 63,000 affordable apartment homes for more than 137,000 individuals and families and has provided community development loans to support the creation/retention of more than 187,000 square feet of commercial, mixed-use, and community space. In its mission to change lives and transform neighborhoods into thriving communities, Cinnaire has helped to create or retain over 92,000 jobs and spur $10.1 billion in economic impact. https://cinnaire.com