Month: June 2024

By Mel Campbell 

For most people, making a deposit at an ATM or using a debit card to purchase something is almost second nature.

But that isn’t the case for everyone.

Particularly for those individuals who are neurodivergent and/or on the autism spectrum, sometimes the most seemingly simple of activities, including those associated with banking, can create challenges and anxiety.

Now, there’s help – with MagnusCards® available from Regions Bank. It’s a solution that provides easy-to-follow, step-by-step audio and visual guidance for everyday banking needs. It’s a proven product with an inspiring origin.

Founder and CEO of Magnusmode Nadia Hamilton knows first-hand the struggles of navigating a world not designed with the needs of neurodivergent brains in mind. She started with hand-drawn guides to help her autistic brother. That dedication has now blossomed into a company with solutions to remove barriers to inclusion in home, work and a variety of spaces of life.

Getting Started

Regions currently offers MagnusCards, which are available for download on IOS and Android devices, for five different banking activities:

Using a debit cardOpening a checking accountDepositing a check at a Regions ATMWithdrawing funds from a Regions ATMUsing Regions Online Banking services

Information on the cards is available from the Accessibility section of regions.com. The card decks are accessible from the Magnusmode app (available from the Apple store and Google Play). Once you have downloaded the app, you will need to create an account, then select the Money Management icon, and select the Regions logo.

“By becoming an Inclusion Partner with Magnusmode and working with its autism education specialists to develop our MagnusCards, we’re now better positioned to serve our customers with neurodiverse abilities and enable them to manage their banking needs with more confidence,” said Kathy Lovell, disability outreach and services manager for Regions.

Help for Those They Serve, Those They Love

When it comes to providing services to people, whether from a teacher, support worker, or others, having effective tools to help is crucial.

And for the people you love, it might seem simplistic to say that it also becomes personal. For several Regions associates, the rollout of Regions MagnusCards is more than just something useful for someone in the community; it’s something they know can be helpful … because they live it.

“My son is autistic and having something like this is amazing,” said Andrea Latham, Relationship Banker at the Cool Springs East Branch in Franklin, Tenn. “This is a life-changing product.”

With the help of various resources, our family has watched Alvin overcome the challenges of autism to become a state-champion athlete, perform at Carnegie Hall, and prepare to soon graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. His next hurdles include beginning a career and gaining financial confidence to live and thrive on his own. It’s comforting to know he can now have a tool like MagnusCards in his quiver to help him reach his greatest potential.

Veleka Finch, Regions Corporate Communications

Learn more about Regions accessibility accommodations for neurodivergent and autistic individuals including available sensory packs and quiet spaces in branches.

Hershey

By Leigh Horner, Chief Sustainability Officer

Key Takeaways:

ESG (environmental, social, and governance) initiatives matter to our stakeholders because they are business imperativesBuilding a more resilient cocoa supply chain remains Hershey’s top sustainability priorityHershey is refreshing its sustainability strategy in 2024 as we plan how to drive our business forward and create the next phase of impact across our material issues

ESG means different things to different people. But one thing I find to be true regardless of how you interpret that acronym is that when I talk to colleagues, consumers, customers and partners about the work we are doing, it matters.

It matters that farms have healthy soil and tree cover because our products rely on ingredients that are grown around the world, and our supply chains are dependent on the balance of those ecosystems. It matters that we are operating our facilities efficiently, reducing our energy emissions, water footprint and material waste. It matters that the people who work for and with us are treated with respect and integrity. These are business imperatives, and they’re what our consumers expect from us.

When you are in the business of making more moments of goodness, you also want those moments to feel good. In our 2023 ESG Report, we share what we’ve accomplished over the last year to make our business more resilient and sustainable and the challenges that we’ve encountered along the way.

Creating a more resilient supply chain

Cocoa continues to be our highest priority as it is central to our iconic chocolate brands. Unprecedented pricing volatility and underlying systemic issues affecting the cocoa ecosystem underscore that a resilient supply chain is critical to our business and those that work within it. Through our Cocoa For Good strategy, we are working to create a supply chain where farmers, and their children and families, can prosper. Over the last year, we laid the groundwork for a new approach to building long-term partnerships with farmers where they can professionalize and thrive. As of December 2023, we have invested 51% of our $500 million commitment.

In 2023, we launched the Hershey Income Accelerator Program which aims to improve farmers’ livelihoods and reduce poverty in cocoa-growing communities. In its first year, we reached 1,850 farmers and paid our first wave of cash transfers to farming households. And we continue ambitious initiatives to build schools in rural farming communities in Côte d’Ivoire.

Progress on our key priorities

We continued progress in reducing Hershey’s emissions with a keen business focus on our owned emissions. We also expanded efforts to reduce emissions in our value chain while advancing nature-based projects to combat climate change. We set water usage reduction targets for priority sites where water is most scarce. Our run of success in reducing packaging waste sent to landfills continued in 2023, as we phased out more than 1.7 million pounds of material by eliminating, redesigning and reducing packaging.

We continue to operate with high integrity and build an inclusive workforce. We are proud of recognitions like being certified as a Great Place to Work® in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India and Malaysia, named as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere, and most recently taking the #1 spot on Fair360’s top companies for diversity in 2024.

Meeting the moments ahead

In 2024, we are refreshing our sustainability strategy in anticipation of several of our commitments maturing in the next year. We will continue to implement our Cocoa For Good strategy, building longer-term relationships with cocoa farmers, families and communities. This, in turn, helps give us a deeper understanding of how to build a more economically resilient supply chain. We are scaling our work to meet our emissions targets and updating our sustainable packaging strategy to reduce materials and improve circularity.

It’s an exciting time to be at Hershey as our business grows and we continue on our journey to become a Leading Snacking Powerhouse. As we transform our business and the world changes around us, the work detailed in our ESG Report has never mattered more to our business and consumers. We’re proud of the way we do business. It’s Goodness in Action.

Originally published in FedEx’s 2023 FedEx Cares Report

New ideas for smart and sustainable mobility

In 2022, FedEx supported the EIT Climate-KIC Sustainable Cities Climate Impact Challenge to launch climate-friendly transportation projects in European cities. In 2023, four cities began implementing sustainable mobility solutions aiming to transform urban living and work. Explore the winning cities’ projects below.

Olot, Spain: As biking becomes an increasingly popular form of mobility, Olot wants to encourage more residents to trade four wheels for two. The winning project is building a network of enclosed, secure bike parking locations where cyclists can park safely for several hours without worry about theft. Learn More

Karasu, Turkey: A popular summer destination, Karasu faces increased congestion with seasonal visitors. The winning green mobility project aims to connect coastal bike paths to the city center, creating safer spaces for walkers, cyclists, and scooter-riders through dedicated bike lanes and infrastructure improvements. Learn More

Hackney, UK: Hackney is a densely populated and culturally diverse part of London, facing high levels of inequality and air pollution. The winning project awarded 14 small businesses with a grant to purchase a cargo bike to make deliveries, carry out client visits, and grow their enterprises. Learn More

Espoo, Finland: This city of over 305,000 residents blends urban life with nature, making it ideal for cycling. Yet, immigrants here face barriers to this mode of transport. The winning green mobility project promotes social inclusion and gender equality by offering free workshops that teach cycling skills and give participants increased freedom and mobility. Learn More

Read more

Forests are rapidly disappearing around the world, with deforestation and forest degradation currently posing the biggest threats to the world’s woodlands. In a bid to halt this devastating situation, the EU is in the process of implementing the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free (EUDR) products.

The Burning Platform

Around 10% of the world’s forests – an area larger than the European Union – have been lost over the past 30 years due to deforestation and another approximately 10% of forests globally are severely fragmented with little or no connectivity. While this is not a new phenomenon, the current scale and pace of destruction is alarming, causing significant social, economic, and environmental impacts, locally and globally.

Deforestation is one of the main drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss, and countries across the EU contribute to it by demanding and consuming a significant share of products associated with deforestation. In an effort to take accountability for this, the EU is determined to help end the issues by protecting and improving the health of existing forests, especially primary forests, while significantly increasing sustainable, biodiverse forest coverage worldwide. To achieve this goal, the EU has developed the Regulation on Deforestation-free products, scheduled to go into effect in December 2024.

To improve the health of existing forests and significantly increase sustainable, biodiverse forest coverage worldwide, the EUDR spans five main priorities:

Reduce the footprint of EU consumption and encourage consumption of products from deforestation-free supply chainsWork in partnership with producer countries to reduce pressures on forestsStrengthen international cooperation to halt deforestation and encourage forest restorationRedirect finance to support more sustainable land-use practicesSupport availability and access to information on forests and commodity supply chains and support research and innovation

What’s at Stake

A number of industries and market segments are impacted by this new regulation, including consumer products, chemicals, pharma, agriculture, energy, retail, automotive, and mill and forestry industries covering paper, lumber, and wood. The regulation impacts seven commodities, which primarily consist of agricultural or raw materials, including cocoa, coffee, soy, wood, palm oil, rubber, and cattle, that are directly linked to deforestation and forest degradation. It also impacts derivatives, which are the products made using these commodities, such as chocolate from cocoa, furniture from wood, or fresh chicken meat made by feeding soya-based feed to poultry.

Companies such as manufacturers and exporters of these commodities and their derivatives are the ones most impacted by the regulation. Large companies in these categories must adhere to the regulation by December 2024, while small or mid-sized ones have until June 2025 to comply. To be approved for use in the EU, products must be covered by a due diligence statement (DDS) per delivery linked to a traceability system with evidence of chain-of-custody from the source of origin demonstrating that the product is deforestation-free and produced in accordance with relevant legislations.

Main Impact on Operators

The legislation has two broad ramifications:

Companies must carry out supplier risk assessments to ensure their suppliers of these seven commodities meet requirements, have mapped the land areas (shape files) of sourcing, and that their production does not violate local laws and regulations. If necessary, they must implement remedial action plans.Companies must do day-to-day DDS reporting per delivery to the EUDR portal, including the geolocation shape file of all plots of land where the relevant commodities or their derivates were produced, which requires supply chain traceability.

Responding to these impacts is an onerous task and for a typical large EU operator could involve hundreds of thousands of due diligence statements being created and sent to the EU annually. Due diligence statements must be kept for five years and must be auditable, making these tasks ripe for automation.

How to Get Started

Non-conformance to the EUDR may lead to fines, lack of market access, reputational risk, and other repercussions. Companies need an inexpensive, efficient solution to help meet their immediate reporting requirements, and SAP Green Token sustainability tracking software is being upgraded to fit the bill.

The out-of-the-box SAP Green Token solution currently includes DDS reporting capabilities and can cover the majority of technical requirements for customers. It can share information for commingled commodities in segregated supply chains with downstream partners and generate declarations.

SAP Green Token is being developed to help support automated EUDR DDS reporting and meet the audit history requirements. Also in the works is integration with data providers for standardized location information and integration with the EUDR reporting platform, called TRACES, for importing operators. Further expansions will enable a connection to SAP‘s sustainability business networks and end-to-end user experience scenarios.

Are You Equipped to Deal with the Upcoming Changes?

There is no better time than the present to prepare for the new regulatory landscape that is scheduled to take effect by the end of the year.

Companies can begin preparations by collaborating with suppliers to initiate the due diligence process, which includes three steps. It begins with collecting relevant data on types of products that are impacted and ensuring that they are being produced in accordance with regulations. If not, remedial steps can be taken in collaboration with partners and suppliers.

Next, companies must conduct risk assessments that address country-specific issues that can range from human right violations to tracing product origins. Again, remedial steps can be initiated collaboratively. And finally, the right technology is key to achieving compliance.

SAP Green Token can provide companies with the capability to track commingled materials in products using digital twins, segregated accounting, and blockchain technology to help prove sustainability. Not only can SAP Green Token help tackle this new regulation, but it can help demonstrate progress towards environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments in general and create a streamlined, transparent process for tracking and tracing materials to help drive a more sustainable, circular approach to business – one that benefits people and our planet while still driving profit.

Gloria Figaroa is part of Product Marketing for SAP Green Token at SAP.