August 2025 – Page 75

GENEVA, Aug. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples faced calls to launch an independent investigation into the systemic mistreatment, exploitation, and violence faced by Indigenous women and girls across Canada today as international human rights expert J.R. Howell, a US-based attorney, filed a formal complaint.

Howell outlines a deeply troubling pattern of state-sponsored racism, gender-based violence, and child separation…

The filing calls out the failure of law enforcement to search the landfill where a serial killer disposed of the remains of four Indigenous women he murdered, Ashlee Shingoose, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and Rebecca Contois. The complaint also targeted the government’s failure to search for Tanya Nepinak, who was murdered more than 10 years ago and whose remains are still in the landfill. Howell made the filing with the United Nations on behalf of the affected families and human rights defenders who were targeted and harassed by government officials in their efforts to call for a search of the missing women.

In the filing, Howell outlines a deeply troubling pattern of state-sponsored racism, gender-based violence, and child separation—practices that he argues amount to ongoing cultural genocide.

“Indigenous women and girls are still being trafficked, abused, and murdered—with impunity,” Howell said.

The complaint draws attention to multiple human rights violations, including the disproportionate rates of murder, abduction, and trafficking among Indigenous women and girls, and systemic failures by Canadian law enforcement to investigate these crimes. Howell also argues that historic and ongoing separation of Indigenous children from their families through biased child welfare systems and covert relocation and re-education strategies have deprived Canada’s Indigenous people of their human rights in violation of numerous international laws, including the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“Canada’s domestic legal systems have failed these communities,” said Howell. “International scrutiny is now necessary.”

Howell calls on the Special Rapporteur to:

Launch an urgent investigation into the Canadian government’s role in systemic abuses against Indigenous peoples;
Host listening sessions with victims and families in First Nations territories; and
Encourage international oversight and reporting on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).

Howell, whose legal career has spanned work in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, is also producing a documentary film on the subject, amplifying first-person accounts of Indigenous survivors and the families of missing women and children.

This filing follows Howell’s recent testimony to the California State Assembly on state surveillance practices and is part of his broader mission to combat institutional harm and expand accountability for marginalized communities.

For press interviews, access to the U.N. filing, or film media assets, please contact:

Media Contact:
Jase Lucas, The Excellence Agency
jase@ExcellenceLA.com
(323) 897-8656

ABOUT J.R. HOWELL:
J.R. Howell is a distinguished US attorney with an international practice specializing in human rights and social justice litigation across the US, Canada, and Europe. As principal attorney at The Law Office of J.R. Howell, he is dedicated to advocating for marginalized communities while embodying integrity and professionalism. With a robust educational background from institutions like The George Washington University and American University’s Washington College of Law, J.R. has significant experience both in the US and abroad. His recent multi-million dollar class action lawsuit victories underscore his commitment to justice, while an upcoming case defending reproductive freedoms highlights his advocacy. J.R. actively addresses injustices faced by Indigenous peoples in Canada, focusing on truth and reconciliation regarding residential schools and missing and murdered women and girls. Currently producing a documentary on the MMIWG2s+ movement, he aims to raise awareness through first-person interviews with families of victims. Driven by a passion for justice, J.R. fights to amplify marginalized voices both in the courtroom and through film

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-nations-faces-calls-to-launch-investigation-into-violence-against-indigenous-women-in-canada-302522522.html

SOURCE The Law Office of J.R. Howell

Mondelēz 2024 Snacking Made Right Report: Energy

Posted on August 5, 2025 by sHq_LoGiNz

Driving down our energy emissions through electrification and transitioning to renewable energy as well as our efforts towards more energy efficient processes is part of reaching our long-term goal of net-zero carbon further expanding the sustainability of our operations.

HIGHLIGHTS

Approximately 54% of the electricity used in our manufacturing sites was renewable, compared to 45% in 2023 ⁽³¹⁾
Approximately (37)% CO_2eemissions reductions across our manufacturing operations (vs. 2018) ⁽²⁾

STRATEGIC APPROACH

Our three key strategic areas:

Improving energy efficiency within our internal operations
Focusing on our operations, we are working to make our manufacturing plants more efficient by continuing to invest in advanced energy-management systems and energy efficient technologies. Solutions already in place are energy efficiency improvements to biscuit ovens and steam boilers, including heat recovery. We also invest in higher-efficiency equipment.
Transition to renewable electricity and electrification
We are electrifying our operations and aiming for all the electricity we’re using across our manufacturing sites by 2030 to be renewable by transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable electricity and electrification.
We have been working towards shifting away from fossil fuels as the primary source of the power we use and transferring to biofuels and renewable electricity. Electrification combined with our transition to renewable-sourced electricity are drivers of our decarbonization strategy.
Increasing the use of renewable electricity
We’re working closely with governments and suppliers to promote renewable energy wherever we operate by either buying Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or generating at our facilities with onsite solar panels. This approach is working. About 54% of the electricity we used in 2024 came from various renewable sources, increasing from the approximately 45% achieved in 2023.⁽³¹⁾

ACTION PLANS AND PROGRESS

In our transition to electrification, our Viana bakery plant in Spain achieved in September 2024 an exciting and historic milestone where for the first-time ever, our beloved Oreo cookies were baked in a fully electric oven. The oven’s innovative features bring significant benefits, including lower energy consumption, minimal energy loss due to exhaust gases, and no combustion gases – resulting in lower emission baking. This remarkable achievement marks another important step toward our sustainability goals.

Installing heat pumps to provide hot water is part of our tactical approach towards our decarbonization goal. During 2024 we continued expanding this technology in our operations. Our Skarbimierz plant in Poland and Bludenz plant in Austria replaced boilers with heat pumps for hot water supply, the latter achieved an approximately 60% reduction in the annual gas consumption of the site.

Our commitment to increasing the use of renewable electricity is progressing as in 2024 we reached approximately 54% of renewable electricity usage globally.⁽³¹⁾ Also, during 2024, new renewable electricity purchasing agreements were signed in Poland and Mexico, the latter takes Latin America to approximately 89% of renewable electricity consumption

During 2024 eight sites globally installed solar panels to supply electricity to our sites, helping these facilities to reduce and offset CO2 emissions. With this addition Mondelēz International has a total of 34 sites with solar energy generation which is approximately 100% renewable source.

GOALS AND METRICS

We attained our goal of CO_2e emissions reductions across our manufacturing operations by 2025 (vs. 2018).

2024 PROGRESS
	2024	2023	2018
Total energy consumed (GJ) ⁽³¹⁾	18,528,000	18,464,000	18,902,000
Total renewable energy (%) ⁽³¹⁾	54 %	45 %	—
Manufacturing CO_2e emissions from energy (CO_2e market- based metric tonnes) ⁽²⁾	913,000	982,000	1,458,000
CO_2e emissions reductions across our manufacturing operations (vs. 2018) (%) ⁽²⁾	(37)%	(33)%	—

View the full 2024 Snacking Made Right Report.

^{(2) Please see the Carbon Accounting Manual for conversion factors applied. Reported information includes all divestitures to date and the following acquisitions (which were not included in previous years): Chipita, Clif bar, Give & Go, Gourmet Foods, Ricolino and Tate’s Bake Shop except for Evirth (subject to future data integration). We have recalculated our base year 2018 (where applicable) and most recent years (2023 and 2024). Reported information is verified by an independent third-party and available in our ESG Reporting & Disclosure Reporting Archive.}

^{(31) Reported information includes all divestitures to date and the following acquisitions (which were not included in previous years): Chipita, Clif bar, Give & Go, Gourmet Foods, Ricolino and Tate’s Bake Shop except for Evirth (subject to future data integration). We have recalculated our base year 2018 (where applicable) and most recent years (2023 and 2024) for year-over-year comparison. Reported information is verified by an independent third-party and available in our ESG Reporting & Disclosure Reporting Archive.}