Month: March 2026

ATLANTA, March 30, 2026 /3BL/ – Drawdown Georgia today announced the launch of the Drawdown Georgia Climate Outlook Maps, a new tool designed to help civic, business, and community leaders understand and visualize how Georgia’s climate may change between now and 2050—and what those changes could mean for infrastructure, agriculture, public health, and economic development.

Introduced at the Super South conference in Atlanta, the maps allow users to compare today’s climate conditions with projected conditions in 2050 under several possible emissions pathways. By visualizing potential changes in extreme heat, rainfall, and growing seasons, the maps help communities anticipate risks and make more informed long-term decisions about how Georgia builds, grows, and manufactures in the decades ahead.

Developed by Dr. William Drummond of Georgia Tech, the maps translate global climate models used in federal climate assessments into Georgia-specific projections.

“What makes these maps valuable is that they turn global climate science into a practical planning tool,” Dr. Drummond said. “Users can see how heat, rainfall, and growing conditions may shift in their own regions and use that insight to guide long-term resilience decisions.”

Unlike many climate projections that focus on the year 2100, the Drawdown Georgia team selected 2050 as a practical planning horizon. Roads, stormwater systems, industrial facilities, farms, and hospitals built today are likely to remain in service through mid-century.

“For too long, climate information has been buried in science journals and the halls of academia. Drawdown Georgia’s new Climate Outlook Maps are making this data accessible to the public, stakeholders, and decision-makers,” said Dr. Marshall Shepherd, former president of the American Meteorological Society and Regents Professor at the University of Georgia. “Given our exposure to an array of climate extremes in Georgia, this release is quite timely.”

Each map set compares present-day conditions with projections for 2050 under three emissions scenarios. Viewing the scenarios side by side allows users to explore how future climate conditions could differ depending on global emissions trends.

The Drawdown Georgia Climate Outlook Maps are available free of charge on the Drawdown Georgia website as part of a growing suite of data-informed tools and trackers designed to support business and civic leaders who are responsible for scaling climate solutions and resilience planning across the state.

“Drawdown Georgia is focused on scaling practical climate solutions across the state, but communities also need tools to prepare for the changes already underway,” said John A. Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and a founding member of Drawdown Georgia. “These maps give us a clearer picture of what Georgia’s climate could look like within the lifetime of today’s infrastructure—and help us plan accordingly.”

For more information and to explore the maps, visit:
www.drawdownga.org/maps

About Drawdown Georgia

Drawdown Georgia is a statewide research-based initiative launched in 2020 that was born from a multi-university collaboration, funded by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Taking inspiration from Project Drawdown®, the world’s leading resource for taking action on climate change, Drawdown Georgia localized that work by identifying the 20 highest-impact solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our state over the next decade.

This framework focuses on climate solutions in five sectors: transportation, buildings & materials, food & agriculture, electricity, and land sinks. It considers how these solutions can reduce emissions and advance “beyond carbon” priorities, including equity, economic development, public health, and nurturing the larger environment.

Drawdown Georgia has grown into a “leader-full” movement, bringing together many organizations, universities, companies, leaders, and funders who are working to advance climate solutions in Georgia, including Drawdown Georgia Research, the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact, Drawdown Georgia Congregations, and Drawdown Georgia Higher Education. Learn more at drawdownga.org.

Media Contact:

Lisa Lilienthal: lisa@dialoguemarketing.com, 404.661.3679

ATLANTA, March 30, 2026 /3BL/ – Drawdown Georgia today announced the launch of the Drawdown Georgia Climate Outlook Maps, a new tool designed to help civic, business, and community leaders understand and visualize how Georgia’s climate may change between now and 2050—and what those changes could mean for infrastructure, agriculture, public health, and economic development.

Introduced at the Super South conference in Atlanta, the maps allow users to compare today’s climate conditions with projected conditions in 2050 under several possible emissions pathways. By visualizing potential changes in extreme heat, rainfall, and growing seasons, the maps help communities anticipate risks and make more informed long-term decisions about how Georgia builds, grows, and manufactures in the decades ahead.

Developed by Dr. William Drummond of Georgia Tech, the maps translate global climate models used in federal climate assessments into Georgia-specific projections.

“What makes these maps valuable is that they turn global climate science into a practical planning tool,” Dr. Drummond said. “Users can see how heat, rainfall, and growing conditions may shift in their own regions and use that insight to guide long-term resilience decisions.”

Unlike many climate projections that focus on the year 2100, the Drawdown Georgia team selected 2050 as a practical planning horizon. Roads, stormwater systems, industrial facilities, farms, and hospitals built today are likely to remain in service through mid-century.

“For too long, climate information has been buried in science journals and the halls of academia. Drawdown Georgia’s new Climate Outlook Maps are making this data accessible to the public, stakeholders, and decision-makers,” said Dr. Marshall Shepherd, former president of the American Meteorological Society and Regents Professor at the University of Georgia. “Given our exposure to an array of climate extremes in Georgia, this release is quite timely.”

Each map set compares present-day conditions with projections for 2050 under three emissions scenarios. Viewing the scenarios side by side allows users to explore how future climate conditions could differ depending on global emissions trends.

The Drawdown Georgia Climate Outlook Maps are available free of charge on the Drawdown Georgia website as part of a growing suite of data-informed tools and trackers designed to support business and civic leaders who are responsible for scaling climate solutions and resilience planning across the state.

“Drawdown Georgia is focused on scaling practical climate solutions across the state, but communities also need tools to prepare for the changes already underway,” said John A. Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and a founding member of Drawdown Georgia. “These maps give us a clearer picture of what Georgia’s climate could look like within the lifetime of today’s infrastructure—and help us plan accordingly.”

For more information and to explore the maps, visit:
www.drawdownga.org/maps

About Drawdown Georgia

Drawdown Georgia is a statewide research-based initiative launched in 2020 that was born from a multi-university collaboration, funded by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Taking inspiration from Project Drawdown®, the world’s leading resource for taking action on climate change, Drawdown Georgia localized that work by identifying the 20 highest-impact solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our state over the next decade.

This framework focuses on climate solutions in five sectors: transportation, buildings & materials, food & agriculture, electricity, and land sinks. It considers how these solutions can reduce emissions and advance “beyond carbon” priorities, including equity, economic development, public health, and nurturing the larger environment.

Drawdown Georgia has grown into a “leader-full” movement, bringing together many organizations, universities, companies, leaders, and funders who are working to advance climate solutions in Georgia, including Drawdown Georgia Research, the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact, Drawdown Georgia Congregations, and Drawdown Georgia Higher Education. Learn more at drawdownga.org.

Media Contact:

Lisa Lilienthal: lisa@dialoguemarketing.com, 404.661.3679

As sustainability becomes a decisive factor in enterprise purchasing, Lenovo is responding by delivering configuration-level Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) for ThinkPad through its partnership with Makersite.

For enterprise PC buyers, this shift is driven by a clear need: broad product-level estimates of PCFs are no longer enough. They want to know the carbon impact of the exact configuration they plan to purchase, and they increasingly expect verified, International Standards Organization (ISO) ‑ aligned data to back it up.

For Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad line, this shift created both a challenge and an opportunity. Historically, ThinkPad reported PCFs using a single model-level value. This number was accurate at the portfolio level, but it couldn’t account for the real variation across thousands of customer configurations. And when customers asked for configuration-specific footprints during enterprise tenders, additional manual work was required to meet customer demands with speed and accuracy.

Today, that challenge has become a strategic advantage—thanks to Lenovo’s adoption of Makersite as a complementary system for configuration-level PCF modelling. By integrating granular supplier data, automating Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), and standardizing footprint modelling across teams, Lenovo is now delivering a new standard for transparency and precision in PC sustainability.

A New Baseline for PCF Accuracy

“Our partnership with Makersite is about setting a new baseline for how product carbon footprints are measured at Lenovo,” says Tom Butler, VP of Commercial Product and Portfolio Management for Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group. “Instead of relying on broad portfolio averages, we can now model carbon footprints at the configuration level, using traceable, ISO-aligned data.”

Helping a global brand like Lenovo transition from model-level estimates to configuration-level, traceable carbon footprints marks an important milestone for product sustainability,” adds Neil D’Souza, Founder and CEO of Makersite. “By embedding ISO-aligned, component-level modelling into enterprise workflows, Lenovo is not only strengthening reporting but also transforming how products are designed and evaluated.” For enterprise buyers, product families aren’t what matters — specific configurations are. Differences in storage, memory, displays, and other components can significantly influence the final PCF. With configuration-level visibility, Lenovo sellers can now show customers exactly how component choices affect carbon outcomes and give them credible options that balance price, performance, and sustainability.

For example, a customer may choose a lower-performance SSD that carries a lower carbon footprint. With Makersite’s modelling, sales teams can demonstrate that impact with evidence, not estimates.

Building a Unified, Auditable Data Foundation

The industry-standard PAIA methodology already enabled ThinkPad’s model-level PCFs, but it wasn’t designed for configuration-level modelling at scale. With thousands of possible configurations, Lenovo needed a workflow that could ingest supplier data, generate LCAs automatically, and provide consistent, customer-ready outputs.

By integrating Makersite, Lenovo created a single, auditable data foundation shared across sustainability, engineering, and commercial teams.

2.5 million supplier Full Material Declarations (FMDs) have been ingested.

These FMDs are automatically converted into substance-level LCAs, providing unprecedented detail.

New component data is onboarded through a structured validation workflow, improving quality as the system scales.

“By bringing supplier declarations and configuration-level modelling into one framework, we made carbon reporting consistent, scalable, and customer-ready,” says William Dominici, Director of PCSD Strategy at Lenovo Worldwide. “It’s improved confidence in the data across sustainability, engineering, and tender teams.”

“Accurate carbon insight is table stakes for enterprise IT procurement,” adds Julian Weitz, Chief Revenue Officer at Makersite. “With Makersite powering configuration-specific PCFs at scale, Lenovo can confidently respond to tender requirements with defensible, customer-ready carbon data that strengthens credibility with procurement, engineering, and sustainability stakeholders alike.”

Data-driven decisions on the journey to net-zero 

Lenovo has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Accurate measurement of emissions across the enterprise’s value chain is a challenge for companies like Lenovo, who are aligning their net-zero goals with climate science. The largest category of Lenovo’s emissions includes customers’ use of Lenovo products (scope 3), which also impacts Lenovo’s customers’ emissions.  

By empowering ThinkPad customers with PCFs at the configuration level, Lenovo is enabling decision makers to prioritize sustainability in their ThinkPad purchases, helping them manage their own IT carbon footprint.  

Without accurate, credible data, large enterprises like Lenovo and their global customers cannot make progress on their emissions reduction journeys. By using data-driven tools like Makersite to measure the PCF of flagship products like the Lenovo ThinkPad, Lenovo is charting a smarter path toward a more sustainable future. 

Learn more by reading the case study on Makersite.

As sustainability becomes a decisive factor in enterprise purchasing, Lenovo is responding by delivering configuration-level Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) for ThinkPad through its partnership with Makersite.

For enterprise PC buyers, this shift is driven by a clear need: broad product-level estimates of PCFs are no longer enough. They want to know the carbon impact of the exact configuration they plan to purchase, and they increasingly expect verified, International Standards Organization (ISO) ‑ aligned data to back it up.

For Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad line, this shift created both a challenge and an opportunity. Historically, ThinkPad reported PCFs using a single model-level value. This number was accurate at the portfolio level, but it couldn’t account for the real variation across thousands of customer configurations. And when customers asked for configuration-specific footprints during enterprise tenders, additional manual work was required to meet customer demands with speed and accuracy.

Today, that challenge has become a strategic advantage—thanks to Lenovo’s adoption of Makersite as a complementary system for configuration-level PCF modelling. By integrating granular supplier data, automating Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), and standardizing footprint modelling across teams, Lenovo is now delivering a new standard for transparency and precision in PC sustainability.

A New Baseline for PCF Accuracy

“Our partnership with Makersite is about setting a new baseline for how product carbon footprints are measured at Lenovo,” says Tom Butler, VP of Commercial Product and Portfolio Management for Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group. “Instead of relying on broad portfolio averages, we can now model carbon footprints at the configuration level, using traceable, ISO-aligned data.”

Helping a global brand like Lenovo transition from model-level estimates to configuration-level, traceable carbon footprints marks an important milestone for product sustainability,” adds Neil D’Souza, Founder and CEO of Makersite. “By embedding ISO-aligned, component-level modelling into enterprise workflows, Lenovo is not only strengthening reporting but also transforming how products are designed and evaluated.” For enterprise buyers, product families aren’t what matters — specific configurations are. Differences in storage, memory, displays, and other components can significantly influence the final PCF. With configuration-level visibility, Lenovo sellers can now show customers exactly how component choices affect carbon outcomes and give them credible options that balance price, performance, and sustainability.

For example, a customer may choose a lower-performance SSD that carries a lower carbon footprint. With Makersite’s modelling, sales teams can demonstrate that impact with evidence, not estimates.

Building a Unified, Auditable Data Foundation

The industry-standard PAIA methodology already enabled ThinkPad’s model-level PCFs, but it wasn’t designed for configuration-level modelling at scale. With thousands of possible configurations, Lenovo needed a workflow that could ingest supplier data, generate LCAs automatically, and provide consistent, customer-ready outputs.

By integrating Makersite, Lenovo created a single, auditable data foundation shared across sustainability, engineering, and commercial teams.

2.5 million supplier Full Material Declarations (FMDs) have been ingested.

These FMDs are automatically converted into substance-level LCAs, providing unprecedented detail.

New component data is onboarded through a structured validation workflow, improving quality as the system scales.

“By bringing supplier declarations and configuration-level modelling into one framework, we made carbon reporting consistent, scalable, and customer-ready,” says William Dominici, Director of PCSD Strategy at Lenovo Worldwide. “It’s improved confidence in the data across sustainability, engineering, and tender teams.”

“Accurate carbon insight is table stakes for enterprise IT procurement,” adds Julian Weitz, Chief Revenue Officer at Makersite. “With Makersite powering configuration-specific PCFs at scale, Lenovo can confidently respond to tender requirements with defensible, customer-ready carbon data that strengthens credibility with procurement, engineering, and sustainability stakeholders alike.”

Data-driven decisions on the journey to net-zero 

Lenovo has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Accurate measurement of emissions across the enterprise’s value chain is a challenge for companies like Lenovo, who are aligning their net-zero goals with climate science. The largest category of Lenovo’s emissions includes customers’ use of Lenovo products (scope 3), which also impacts Lenovo’s customers’ emissions.  

By empowering ThinkPad customers with PCFs at the configuration level, Lenovo is enabling decision makers to prioritize sustainability in their ThinkPad purchases, helping them manage their own IT carbon footprint.  

Without accurate, credible data, large enterprises like Lenovo and their global customers cannot make progress on their emissions reduction journeys. By using data-driven tools like Makersite to measure the PCF of flagship products like the Lenovo ThinkPad, Lenovo is charting a smarter path toward a more sustainable future. 

Learn more by reading the case study on Makersite.

Stories like Ella’s are exactly why partnerships like this matter.

Through Aspire’s Employment Training Program, individuals gain more than job skills—they gain confidence, independence, and a real pathway to meaningful work. Ella’s journey shows what’s possible when training reflects real-world environments and when employers are truly invested in opening doors.

We’re proud to partner with Aspire and fellow employers to help build inclusive talent pipelines that work—for people and for businesses.

To read her full story and career journey, please use the link below: 
https://aspirechicago.com/news/from-what-if-to-i-did-it/

About Wesco
Wesco International (NYSE: WCC) builds, connects, powers and protects the world. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a FORTUNE 500® company with approximately $24 billion in annual sales in 2025 and a leading provider of business-to-business distribution, logistics services and supply chain solutions. Wesco offers a best-in-class product and services portfolio of Electrical and Electronic Solutions, Communications and Security Solutions, and Utility and Broadband Solutions. The Company employs approximately 21,000 people, partners with the industry’s premier suppliers, and serves thousands of customers around the world. With millions of products, end-to-end supply chain services, and significant digital capabilities, Wesco provides innovative solutions to meet customer needs across commercial and industrial businesses, technology companies, telecommunications providers, and utilities. Wesco operates more than 700 sites, including distribution centers, fulfillment centers, and sales offices in approximately 50 countries, providing a local presence for customers and a global network to serve multi-location businesses and global corporations.

Stories like Ella’s are exactly why partnerships like this matter.

Through Aspire’s Employment Training Program, individuals gain more than job skills—they gain confidence, independence, and a real pathway to meaningful work. Ella’s journey shows what’s possible when training reflects real-world environments and when employers are truly invested in opening doors.

We’re proud to partner with Aspire and fellow employers to help build inclusive talent pipelines that work—for people and for businesses.

To read her full story and career journey, please use the link below: 
https://aspirechicago.com/news/from-what-if-to-i-did-it/

About Wesco
Wesco International (NYSE: WCC) builds, connects, powers and protects the world. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a FORTUNE 500® company with approximately $24 billion in annual sales in 2025 and a leading provider of business-to-business distribution, logistics services and supply chain solutions. Wesco offers a best-in-class product and services portfolio of Electrical and Electronic Solutions, Communications and Security Solutions, and Utility and Broadband Solutions. The Company employs approximately 21,000 people, partners with the industry’s premier suppliers, and serves thousands of customers around the world. With millions of products, end-to-end supply chain services, and significant digital capabilities, Wesco provides innovative solutions to meet customer needs across commercial and industrial businesses, technology companies, telecommunications providers, and utilities. Wesco operates more than 700 sites, including distribution centers, fulfillment centers, and sales offices in approximately 50 countries, providing a local presence for customers and a global network to serve multi-location businesses and global corporations.

Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland celebrated the grand opening of its JA Experiential Learning Center, presented by KeyBank, in downtown Cleveland on March 26 with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event. The new facility is dedicated to experiential, career-connected learning for students across the region.

The learning center brings together students and local industry partners to provide immersive programs focused on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and career readiness. Students participating in the JA Experiential Learning Center will take part in interactive simulations and programs aligned with real-world careers and local industry needs. 

“When students experience how careers, finances, and businesses work in the real world, learning becomes truly meaningful,” said Michele Pomerantz, Chief of Education for the City of Cleveland. “The JA Experiential Learning Center will help students gain real-world skills and begin building a brighter future, empowering the next generation of leaders in our community.”

The first immersive program students will participate in is JA Finance Park which teaches students to manage money by making real-world budgeting and financial decisions in a simulated adult-life experience. The learning center welcomed its first students to the JA Finance Park on the same day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“KeyBank is so proud to support Junior Achievement and the opening of the new JA Experiential Learning Center, a space that will empower thousands of young people to build the skills and confidence they need to shape their financial futures,” said KeyBank’s Corporate Responsibility Officer Mattie Jones-Hollowell.  “By helping young people understand budgeting, saving, investing, and responsible credit use, we’re not only preparing them for the world of work, but we’re also strengthening the entire community, and we are honored to partner with Junior Achievement in this transformative investment in Cleveland’s future.”

The space will open with 11 local partners, each with a built‑in storefront: KeyBank, Charles Schwab, Chick‑Fil‑A, Citizens, Heinen’s, Lubrizol, Sherwin-Williams, State Farm, Union Home Mortgage, The UPS Store and The Veale Foundation. As part of the JA Finance Park simulation, each partner will be designated a different portion of a real-world budget for students to analyze and create.

“The opening of the JA Experiential Learning Center in downtown Ward 5 is a powerful investment in the future of our young people. This center will give students hands-on exposure to entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and real-world career pathways right here in the heart of our city,” said Ward 5 Councilmember Richard A. Starr.  “When we create spaces where our children can see, touch, and experience opportunity, we are not just preparing them for jobs we are preparing them for leadership. Ward 5 is proud to welcome an initiative that connects education to economic empowerment and helps build the next generation of Cleveland’s business and community leaders.”

About Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland

Since 1941, Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland has been dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA learning experiences are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland is an affiliate of Junior Achievement USA and JA Worldwide. Today Junior Achievement reaches more than 4.4 million students per year in 102 markets across the United States as part of 12.5 million students served by operations in more than 100 other countries worldwide. For more information, visit cleveland.ja.org.

Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland celebrated the grand opening of its JA Experiential Learning Center, presented by KeyBank, in downtown Cleveland on March 26 with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event. The new facility is dedicated to experiential, career-connected learning for students across the region.

The learning center brings together students and local industry partners to provide immersive programs focused on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and career readiness. Students participating in the JA Experiential Learning Center will take part in interactive simulations and programs aligned with real-world careers and local industry needs. 

“When students experience how careers, finances, and businesses work in the real world, learning becomes truly meaningful,” said Michele Pomerantz, Chief of Education for the City of Cleveland. “The JA Experiential Learning Center will help students gain real-world skills and begin building a brighter future, empowering the next generation of leaders in our community.”

The first immersive program students will participate in is JA Finance Park which teaches students to manage money by making real-world budgeting and financial decisions in a simulated adult-life experience. The learning center welcomed its first students to the JA Finance Park on the same day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“KeyBank is so proud to support Junior Achievement and the opening of the new JA Experiential Learning Center, a space that will empower thousands of young people to build the skills and confidence they need to shape their financial futures,” said KeyBank’s Corporate Responsibility Officer Mattie Jones-Hollowell.  “By helping young people understand budgeting, saving, investing, and responsible credit use, we’re not only preparing them for the world of work, but we’re also strengthening the entire community, and we are honored to partner with Junior Achievement in this transformative investment in Cleveland’s future.”

The space will open with 11 local partners, each with a built‑in storefront: KeyBank, Charles Schwab, Chick‑Fil‑A, Citizens, Heinen’s, Lubrizol, Sherwin-Williams, State Farm, Union Home Mortgage, The UPS Store and The Veale Foundation. As part of the JA Finance Park simulation, each partner will be designated a different portion of a real-world budget for students to analyze and create.

“The opening of the JA Experiential Learning Center in downtown Ward 5 is a powerful investment in the future of our young people. This center will give students hands-on exposure to entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and real-world career pathways right here in the heart of our city,” said Ward 5 Councilmember Richard A. Starr.  “When we create spaces where our children can see, touch, and experience opportunity, we are not just preparing them for jobs we are preparing them for leadership. Ward 5 is proud to welcome an initiative that connects education to economic empowerment and helps build the next generation of Cleveland’s business and community leaders.”

About Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland

Since 1941, Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland has been dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA learning experiences are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland is an affiliate of Junior Achievement USA and JA Worldwide. Today Junior Achievement reaches more than 4.4 million students per year in 102 markets across the United States as part of 12.5 million students served by operations in more than 100 other countries worldwide. For more information, visit cleveland.ja.org.