Author: sHq_LoGiNz

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 10, 2026 /3BL/ – SCS Consulting Services is proud to announce its recognition as an Endorsed Training Provider (ETP) for the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This endorsement authorises SCS Consulting Services to deliver RSPO-accredited Lead Auditor training under the RSPO Principles & Criteria (P&C) and Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standards 2024. The RSPO endorsement follows a thorough review of SCS Consulting Services’ capacity, experience, and commitment to RSPO’s rigorous requirements for ETPs.

Leading the programme, SCS Consulting’s Lead Auditor and Principal Trainer, María Angélica Ocampo, brings over 20 years of professional experience and more than a decade as an RSPO Lead Auditor and trainer across Latin America. Her proven technical depth, socio-environmental expertise, and hands-on training approach position SCS Consulting to deliver auditor training of truly unmatched quality.

“Navigating the sustainable transformation of the palm oil sector requires trusted expertise and a rigorous process for developing and maintaining relevant subject matter expertise,” says Nathan Smith, Senior Vice President of SCS Consulting Services. “We’re honoured by RSPO’s endorsement, which reflects our dedication to advancing sustainable practices in the palm oil sector on a global scale.”

In the coming months, SCS Consulting Services will offer Lead Auditor Courses for the 2024 versions of the RSPO P&C and ISH Standards. These courses will be delivered in a hybrid format, combining the flexibility of online learning with the depth of face-to-face training. Participants will first complete a series of online modules covering key updates and requirements of the 2024 Standards.

Following the online component, participants will attend a three- to five-day in-person session (depending on the Standard), which will include practical on-site visits to palm farms and palm oil mills. The sessions are designed to provide comprehensive instruction on RSPO audit requirements, methodologies, and best practices. This blended approach ensures that future auditors are fully equipped with up-to-date knowledge and practical skills needed to conduct high-quality RSPO audits under the 2024 RSPO Standards.

“RSPO is pleased to approve SCS Consulting Services as an Endorsed Training Provider,” said Angelina Wong, RSPO Capacity Development Manager. “SCS Consulting Services has demonstrated strong alignment with our Standards and a clear commitment to high-quality training. We look forward to partnering with SCS Consulting Services to ensure stakeholders have increased access to impactful learning experiences on RSPO Standards and to further the growth of sustainable palm oil.”

Participants can register for the training using the following link:

https://learn-scs.docebosaas.com/scs/learn/courses/10297/2024-rspo-principles-and-criteria-pc-lead-auditor

More training locations and details will be released soon.

About SCS Consulting Services

SCS Consulting Services helps companies implement transformative sustainability solutions that drive meaningful change. Our experts leverage over four decades of deep experience in sustainability and an unwavering commitment to scientific rigor, credibility, and transparency. We work closely with clients to navigate the rapidly changing climate and business environment. We offer dozens of services including climate strategy, food safety, sustainable finance, emissions accounting and reporting, sustainability reporting, sustainable supply chains, ESG management, due diligence, regulatory compliance services and now RSPO endorsed training. SCS Consulting Services is the independent sustainability consulting arm of the Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) organization.

Media Contact:

Nathan Smith

Senior Vice President

SCS Consulting Services

Email: nsmith@scsconsultingservices.com

KeyBank and the Buffalo Sabres recently brought their community partnership to life through the Women’s Heart Healthy Workshop at KeyBank Center—an early activation of the newly launched HocKey Assists program. Designed to address real, everyday needs across Western New York, HocKey Assists leverages the reach of both organizations to create meaningful opportunities for education, awareness, and long-term community wellbeing across our communities.

The workshop reflected the core purpose of HocKey Assists: meeting people where they are through a broad range of initiatives focusing on issues that directly impact quality of life. For this event, which centered on women’s heart health, KeyBank and the Sabres aligned education with empowerment—two pillars essential to building healthier, more resilient neighborhoods. Health outcomes are closely tied to economic stability and opportunity, making this topic a natural fit for a program grounded in community impact.

Developed in collaboration with the American Heart Association and ConnectLife, the event, held on February 24^th, combined expert-led discussion, interactive learning stations, and hands-on CPR instruction. Attendees gained practical information about cardiovascular risk factors, symptom awareness and prevention, while also leaving with skills that could help save lives.

As the partnership between KeyBank and the Sabres continues to evolve beyond the arena, HocKey Assists was intentionally created to support initiatives that are locally relevant and community-driven. Conversations between the two organizations identified women’s heart health as an area where increased dialogue and access to information could make a measurable difference—particularly as heart disease remains a leading cause of death in the region.

Two featured speakers, selected by KeyBank Corporate Responsibility and Community Relations Officer Chiwuike Owunwanne, brought firsthand perspectives to the program. Rosalind Burgin, who served as emcee, is a triple bypass survivor. Melissa Archer, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, spoke about performing life-saving CPR on her husband, Dr. Fred Archer, a pediatrician and University at Buffalo leader.

Inclusivity was a key consideration in the workshop’s design, including reaching out to communities that are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease. According to the American Heart Association, non-Hispanic Black women experience significantly higher rates of heart disease, underscoring the importance of targeted education and outreach.

“If we’re going to have a conversation in terms of creating awareness and promotion, from my perspective and for us to be intentional about it, we do have to essentially bring the people who are most impacted to come get that information and education,” said Chiwuike Owunwanne, KeyBank Corporate Responsibility Officer in Buffalo.

In addition to educational sessions, the workshop featured resource stations, including ConnectLife’s information on organ donation—highlighting how prevention, awareness and access are interconnected across the healthcare continuum. CPR training using female mannequins reinforced the importance of preparedness and representation, ensuring participants left with both knowledge and confidence.

KeyBank and the Buffalo Sabres also extended their impact beyond education by providing direct financial support to two of the event’s key partners through the HocKey Assists program. As part of the workshop, $5,000 donations were awarded to both ConnectLife and the American Heart Association, reinforcing a shared commitment to advancing prevention, access and lifesaving resources across Western New York.

For KeyBank, HocKey Assists represents more than a program—it is a platform for long-term partnership and community investment. By joining forces with the Buffalo Sabres and trusted health organizations, KeyBank is helping elevate conversations that can lead to earlier detection, stronger self-advocacy, and healthier outcomes for the Buffalo community.

As HocKey Assists continues to grow, KeyBank remains committed to using its partnerships, visibility and resources to support initiatives that strengthen communities—on and off the ice.

• Learn more about how KeyBank helps clients and communities thrive
• Learn more about community efforts involving the Buffalo Sabres

NEW YORK and MUMBAI, March 10, 2026 /3BL/ – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has been named to the Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies^TM list for the fourth consecutive year.

Now in its 28th year, the annual list is a highly anticipated barometer of corporate reputation, based on a survey of more than 3,000 business executives, board members, and analysts. Companies are evaluated on nine reputation drivers, including innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, long-term investment value, financial soundness, quality of products and services, and global competitiveness.

Amit Bajaj, President, North America, Tata Consultancy Services, said, “Being named to Fortune’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies is a direct reflection of the trust industry leaders place in TCS, as we help them reinvent their enterprises and entire industries in the age of AI. We are grateful to our clients and associates for this honor, as they are in lockstep with us on our journey to becoming the world’s largest AI‑led technology services company. This recognition motivates us to continue innovating and delivering solutions that help our customers achieve greater enterprise efficiency and agility.”

Alyson Shontell, Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer, Fortune, said, “Fortune is proud to celebrate the companies on this year’s World’s Most Admired Companies list; they have set the bar for real innovation, resilient leadership, and global impact. As rapidly advancing technologies such as AI transform entire industries, these organizations stand out for their ability to evolve with purpose and foresight, consistently shaping the path forward for global business, and the future of how we work and lead.”

TCS’s industry leadership has been consistently recognized by renowned business publications and industry associations. Newsweek ranked TCS as the #1 IT Services firm on its 2026 list of America’s Most Reliable Companies and also named TCS as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces in 2025. The Top Employer Institute ranked TCS the #1 Top Employer in the U.S. for 2026, marking the eighth consecutive year of achieving this milestone. In addition, for the past nine years TCS has been named to The Civic 50, a list of the 50 most community-minded companies in the U.S. that is compiled by Points of Light, a non-profit organization.

About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) is the technology partner of choice for industry-leading organizations worldwide. Since its inception in 1968, TCS has upheld the highest standards of innovation, engineering excellence and customer service.

It has set an aspiration to become the world’s largest AI-led technology services company and is enabling its clients to transform themselves across the full AI stack, from infrastructure to intelligence.

Rooted in the heritage of the Tata Group, TCS is focused on creating long term value for its clients, its investors, its employees, and the community at large. With a highly skilled workforce spread across 55 countries and 202 service delivery centers across the world, the company has been recognized as a top employer in six continents. With the ability to rapidly apply and scale new technologies, the company has built long term partnerships with its clients – helping them emerge as perpetually adaptive enterprises. Many of these relationships have endured into decades and navigated every technology cycle, from mainframes in the 1970s to artificial intelligence today.

TCS sponsors 14 of the world’s most prestigious marathons and endurance events, including the TCS New York City Marathon, TCS London Marathon and TCS Sydney Marathon with a focus on promoting health, sustainability, and community empowerment.

TCS generated consolidated revenues of over US $30 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.

Follow TCS on LinkedIn| Instagram | YouTube| X

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You know it’s a healthy building crowd when the “we spend 90% of our lives indoors” stat comes up multiple times. While we’re all hearing that statistic more often, it bears repeating. What happens inside our buildings has a huge impact on our health, perhaps most notably the air we breathe. Poor indoor air quality is now recognized as one of the world’s leading (yet largely preventable) environmental health risks. That’s why last Friday’s congressional briefing on Indoor Air Quality for a Healthier America focused on elevating indoor air quality as a central advocacy priority and a key focus of public policy action.

That theme came to life throughout the briefing, a standing-room-only event where national policymakers and leading experts across public health, building science, facility management and business made the case that healthier indoor environments are essential to healthier people.

Opening the briefing in the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Office Building, Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY), pictured above, underscored the growing momentum behind efforts to improve indoor air quality, noting that despite decades of progress addressing outdoor pollution under the Clean Air Act, indoor air quality remains largely unregulated and underfunded. He pointed to bipartisan legislation he has reintroduced called The Indoor Air Quality and Healthy Schools Act, which would drive federal resources and action to protect Americans from poor indoor air quality.

Another national lawmaker who spoke at the briefing, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), pictured left, noted his reintroduction of The Airborne Act, important bipartisan legislation that would create critical incentives for commercial building owners to conduct IAQ assessments, specifically a $1 per square foot tax credit not to exceed the cost of conducting the assessment.

Tonko closed his remarks with a nod to the leaders assembled in the room. “We are a powerful compact of organizations to speak forcefully to this issue.” The briefing itself reflected a diverse group of hosting organizations brought together by ASHRAE, including the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA),Green Building Initiative (GBI), Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, International Facility Management Association (IFMA), SMART, and U.S. Green Building Council.

Several clear themes emerged during the briefing. Here are five main takeaways:

1. Indoor air quality is a foundational public health issue
Dr. Whitney Austin Gray, SVP of Research at IWBI, pictured left, emphasized that improving buildings is ultimately about improving human health. “If we do not invest in our children and secure healthy environments for the future, we are already behind — and healthy air is going to be a critical component of that.”

Gray highlighted research showing that healthier buildings can produce measurable gains in workplace satisfaction, well-being, mental health and performance. “We’ve documented improvements including a 30% increase in environmental satisfaction, 26% improvements in well-being, and even significant gains in cognitive function when indoor environments are improved.” She noted that in addition to significant health benefits, investing in healthy buildings pays back in terms of increased productivity, real estate performance and talent retention and recruitment.

Looking ahead, Dr. Gray emphasized that brain health will be an important frontier in the conversation around healthy buildings. “Right now, our lifespan is longer than our brain span. If we want to close the gap, we have to start thinking about everything we put into our brains, including the air we breathe.”

2. Indoor air pollution affects millions of Americans every day
Kenneth Mendez, President and CEO of AAFA, pictured left, connected the science of indoor air with the lived experience of millions of patients. “One in four Americans has allergies, and 28 million Americans have asthma, including six million children,” he said.

Mendez also explained that people are often told to stay indoors when outdoor air quality is poor, yet we now know that, according to the EPA, indoor environments are three to five times more polluted than outdoor air and lack any protective regulations.

“When you come indoors, we don’t have those same standards. That’s why we need greater attention to indoor air quality,” he said. He also explained how improving indoor building environments, particularly in our schools and workplaces, could significantly reduce asthma attacks, missed school days and lost productivity.

3. The science of indoor air pollution is clear, and the health risks are significant
Bethany Chirico, Chief Experience Officer at AIHA, detailed the pollutants commonly found in indoor environments and their health impacts. “Indoor air often contains particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, mold, bacteria and viruses — all of which can affect people’s health and well-being,” she said. And often these pollutants can accumulate in our indoor spaces.

She added that while our indoor air is often worse that outdoor air, “people cannot opt out of breathing it.”

Chirico pointed out that exposure to poor indoor air quality is linked to a variety of health problems, from short-term impacts such as headaches or asthma attacks to long-term risks including respiratory illnesses, heart disease and cancer.

4. Proven solutions already exist
Bill Bahnfleth, a Fellow and Presidential Member of ASHRAE, explained that several ASHRAE standards are available to help improve indoor air quality, but need more support to ensure they are more widely implemented.

“The science is very clear that we need to do something about indoor air quality, and we have the tools to move forward if we have the will to put them into action,” he said. ASHRAE has developed baseline standards for ventilation and indoor air quality, as well as newer guidance for controlling infectious aerosols. However, Bahnfleth said, adoption remains uneven across states and jurisdictions.

The takeaway: more policy alignment is needed to better translate existing science into more widespread adoption of these minimum baseline standards.

5. Implementation requires action from building professionals and policymakers
Laurie Gilmer, a Fellow with IFMA, highlighted the critical role of facility managers in maintaining healthy buildings, saying, “The people who operate buildings are on the front lines of keeping occupants safe, healthy and productive.” She also acknowledged how indoor air quality can affect far more than just physical health. “The air we breathe indoors affects cognitive performance, creativity, focus and decision-making,” she said. She referenced several strategies that leading organizations are deploying to help improve indoor air quality, such as source control, improved ventilation, filtration and better maintenance.

Also on the implementation front, schools emerged as one of the most urgent priorities during the briefing. As noted by Anisa Heming, Director of the Center for Green Schools at the US Green Building Council, improving school buildings represents both a key sector of focus and a tremendous opportunity to safeguard children’s health. The latest 2025 State of Our Schools report — led by IWBI, the 21st Century School Fund, and the National Council on School Facilities — found that schools face an annual investment shortfall of nearly $90 billion. This massive funding gap clearly represents the worsening condition of school facilities, which in turn jeopardizes indoor air quality and the health of the more than 50 million students who attend school every day.

A Final Takeaway
The congressional briefing demonstrated that momentum is building across science, academia, industry and policy. As Dr. Gray noted, progress will require collaboration across disciplines. “If you do not partner, if you do not operationalize these solutions, then we won’t be successful,” she said. . “At IWBI, we partnered with more than 200 global leaders to form the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air. We have the science globally. Now it will be a question of who will implement it first to lead investment in the future of children and workforces.”

The briefing also underscored the importance of collaboration. Thanks to ASHRAE (with key leadership from its Director of Government Affairs, Alice Yates, pictured above), the briefing brought together these leading nine organizations for an impactful discussion on Capitol Hill that elevated indoor air quality as a central issue linking public health, building performance and national resilience.

An obligatory selfie at the U.S. Capitol by the author.

View original content here.

Originally published on Cotopaxi Stories.

In the heart of Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province, a rolling tapestry of simple fences, fields with livestock and vegetables, and cinderblock homes with tin roofs unfolds across highland moors. Clouds weave in, out, and through the foothills, softening the edges of a landscape that feels heavy, tender, and timeless.

Over generations, the countryside here has shifted in quiet but steady ways. Land once shared and tended to by a community cooperative has been subdivided and transferred to families. Rivers that once rose to meet bridges now trickle through the landscape. And women, who were once unable to participate in community spaces and share their voices, now meet routinely as students and teachers, entrepreneurs and leaders. Today, the organization is theirs. They decide, and they lead.

Ermelinda Chacha, 52, has experienced the region’s evolving nature.

As far back as I can remember, we lived on the land, looking after the animals for days at a time and planting things, like barley and potatoes. Back then, women couldn’t go anywhere—not to meetings, nothing—and my mom couldn’t go out [from our home] if she was pregnant.

Ermelinda Chacha

In 1983, when Ermelinda was 10 years old, Diocelinda Iza and four other women started sowing a new future for women and girls in the Cotopaxi province. They established what is today known as the Organización de Mujeres Indígenas y Campesinas “Sembrando Esperanza”—the Organization of Indigenous and Peasant Women “Sowing Hope,” in English—known more simply as OMICSE. The organization started with 15 women (and, at the time, was called the Organización de Mujeres de la UNOCANC), and Diocelinda served as its first president.

Over the years, OMICSE, with support from organizations like CARE Ecuador and the Cotopaxi Foundation, has defended women’s rights and promoted gender equality throughout the region.

Read the full story here.

Learn more about CARE here.