Author: sHq_LoGiNz
Covia Holdings LLC has released its 2025 Corporate Responsibility Report, highlighting the company’s commitment to responsibly providing minerals solutions for a better tomorrow while continuing to build an enduring company, the right way. For Covia, that means creating lasting value for the company’s customers and communities while prioritizing safety and responsible stewardship.
The report reflects a year focused on strengthening the company’s foundation. Throughout 2025, Covia remained focused on protecting its people, operating with discipline, and investing in the leadership, systems, and processes that drive consistency and excellence across every site. As in previous years, the report details progress towards the company’s 2030 Goals, underscoring Covia’s commitment to environmental stewardship, positive social impact, strong governance, and ethical business practices.
Looking ahead, Bruno Biasiotta, President and Chief Executive Officer, shared his perspective:
“I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished and excited about the work that lies ahead as we continue building an enduring company. As this report shows, we are committed to doing that the right way.”
Read the full 2025 Corporate Responsibility Report
Fast Retailing convened media, industry experts, and collaborators in London and New York City for annual media events focused on the group’s sustainability efforts.
In London, approximately 20 journalists from trade, business, and international media gathered in London recently for the event, moderated by fashion sustainability voice Rachel Arthur, to explore the role of long-term partnerships, supply chain visibility, decarbonization, and circularity in advancing sustainability across the apparel value chain.
Opening the event, Taku Morikawa, chief executive officer of UNIQLO Europe, reflected on a recent visit to Moldova, where the company works with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other international NGOs to provide emergency clothing relief for Ukrainian refugees. The event then moved into a broader discussion of Fast Retailing’s sustainability strategy, led by Odilia d’Aramon-Guepin, corporate PR and sustainability director, UNIQLO Europe.
D’Aramon-Guepin shared progress against the company’s climate goals, including a reported 90 percent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions across its own operations. She also highlighted Fast Retailing’s decision to increase its Scope 3 emissions reduction target from 20 percent to 30 percent by 2030, reflecting the company’s ambition to drive greater impact across its supply chain.
A common thread throughout the presentation was the importance of long-term supplier relationships. Many of Fast Retailing’s manufacturing partners have worked with the company for decades, creating the trust and stability needed to support investments in sustainability improvements.
That theme continued during a panel discussion on supply chain decarbonization featuring Kazumi Yanai, group senior executive officer at Fast Retailing, and Lee Green, vice president, marketing, communications & public affairs at Cascale.
Panelists highlighted fragmentation and supply chain complexity as major barriers to progress where oftentimes suppliers serve multiple customers with duplicate demands.
“Most emissions sit in the supply chain, not in a brand’s own operations,” said Green. “The question is no longer whether solutions exist. The question is how we create the conditions that allow them to scale.”
Drawing on insights from Cascale’s Better Buying program, Green emphasized the role that commercial relationships play in enabling sustainability progress. “Long-term relationships create something incredibly important: predictability,” he said. “Suppliers will invest if the relationship itself is deemed investible.”
He noted that when manufacturers have confidence in future business, they are more willing to make long-term investments in renewable energy, cleaner technologies, and operational improvements.
Yanai shared how its long-standing supplier partnerships have supported investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other emissions reduction initiatives, helping build confidence in the company’s ability to strengthen its Scope 3 targets.
The event also explored the growing importance of traceability and responsible sourcing. A discussion featuring Tomoya Utsuno, director (Materials), production department at Fast Retailing, and sustainable fashion journalist and consultant Megan Doyle examined how brands are working to gain greater visibility into their supply chains.
The final discussion focused on circularity and Fast Retailing’s collaboration with Central Saint Martins. Maria Ledous, Sustainability Manager at UNIQLO Europe Limited, and graduate designer Haseeb Hassan shared how the partnership challenged students to transform returned UNIQLO garments into commercially viable products while remaining true to the company’s LifeWear philosophy.
The resulting “Everyday Reimagined” collection will be introduced through RE.UNIQLO Studio locations across Europe, providing an opportunity to explore how circular design concepts can be scaled in a retail environment.
In the New York City programming, speakers similarly elevated the importance of Fast Retailing’s Scope 3 emissions reduction pathway, long-term supplier relationships, and innovative consumer-focused circular collaborations. Over 15 journalists and guests attended this intimate event.
Consultant Michael Sadowski moderated the sessions, joined by returning panelists Kazumi Yanai and Tomoya Utsuno from Fast Retailing. Cascale’s editorial director Kaley Roshitsh and Worldly’s Paula Bernstein, associate director of sustainability science, also contributed to sessions on emissions and traceability.
In highlighting the group’s emissions-reduction milestones, Fast Retailing’s Yanai stressed the necessity of “meeting commitments together” with suppliers.
Roshitsh highlighted the mutual benefits of this approach. “The No. 1 thing [suppliers] want is commercial predictability. That comes from long-term relationships where you know what order volume is coming.”
In the next session, Fast Retailing’s Utsuno and Worldly’s Bernstein explained the benefits of traceability. Utsuno outlined efforts to build stronger relationships further upstream in its supply chain, supported by systems that provide visibility into Tier 3 suppliers and raw material origins.
He highlighted the Australian Merino wool initiative as an example of how direct engagement with upstream partners can support traceability, responsible sourcing, and product quality. Bernstein, meanwhile, emphasized that a traceable supply chain is a resilient one.
In the final panel, Waste Management’s head of sustainability growth solutions Raymond Randall and Jean Emmanuel Shein, sustainability director at Uniqlo USA, spoke on a unique collaboration tackling waste at the point of item departure: the dreaded apartment move.
The collaboration between Uniqlo, Piece of Cake Moving and Storage, and Waste Management is called UNTRASH IT, and similarly, followed years of relationship-building.
The panelists touted the ease of the initiative with Uniqlo’s Shein joking about the importance of the “smell test” in determining an item’s next useful life. The collaboration foresees expansion plans outside of New York City into Dallas and Los Angeles.
Across both events, a common conclusion emerged. Whether addressing decarbonization, traceability, or circularity, progress depends on trust, collaboration, and the confidence to invest in long-term change. As one networking attendee remarked, “Why don’t more brands present like this?”
BOSTON, July 7, 2026 /3BL/ – Brightly, a climate technology company creating new funding opportunities for food banks and food rescue organizations, today announced that its food recovery carbon project has become the first project registered under Verra’s VM0046 Methodology for Reducing Food Loss and Waste. The registration was completed through Verra, which administers the world’s largest voluntary carbon credit program. The milestone advances a new funding model for organizations that reduce hunger while preventing food waste.
Brightly’s food recovery carbon project quantifies greenhouse gas emissions avoided when surplus food is recovered and redistributed for human consumption rather than becoming waste. By measuring and monetizing these avoided emissions, Brightly aims to create new funding opportunities for food banks and food rescue organizations while reducing methane emissions associated with food loss and waste.
The registration follows years of data collection, greenhouse gas accounting, methodology implementation, and independent validation conducted by SCS Global Services, an internationally recognized third-party certification body. The project now advances toward final credit issuance by Verra.
“Food recovery organizations generate tremendous environmental value every day, but historically there has been no mechanism to recognize or finance that impact at scale,” said Nico Dobler, Vice President of Climate Solutions at Brightly. “Becoming the first project registered under Verra’s VM0046 methodology demonstrates that the climate benefits of food recovery can be measured with rigor, transparency, and credibility while creating a pathway for food banks and food rescue organizations to access new sources of funding.”
“This project represents a hopeful new era in food waste accounting and methane mitigation. As the assessor for the first registered VM0046 project, SCS was proud to bring our validation expertise to this innovative and impactful project type,” said Heather Rosa, Program Director of GHG Energy, Industry, and Agriculture at SCS Global Services. “Brightly’s accountability, transparency, and constructive engagement supported an efficient independent review of a complex, first-of-its-kind project. Their success also reflects the strength of their partnerships with the participating food recovery organizations and their collaborative approach that made this milestone possible.”
Food loss and waste is a massive driver of the climate crisis, accounting for 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. When left to rot, it becomes one of the largest sources of methane, a climate superpollutant with a global warming potential 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year horizon. By recovering surplus food before it enters the waste stream, food recovery organizations do far more than strengthen food security and improve system efficiency; they deploy a highly effective, immediate lever for slashing near-term atmospheric warming.
Participating food banks and food rescue organizations, including members of the Feeding America network, as well as Midwest Food Bank, Sharing Excess and more than two dozen other independent non-profit organizations, assign the climate benefits associated with recovered food to Brightly, enabling those benefits to be measured, verified, and ultimately monetized through carbon markets. Upon issuance, the project is expected to represent one of the largest efforts to quantify and monetize the climate benefits of food recovery at scale.
Additional information regarding credit issuance will be provided following completion of Verra’s review process.
About Brightly
Brightly helps organizations measure, verify, and monetize the climate impact of food recovery. Through advanced data analytics, climate accounting expertise, and deep partnerships across the food recovery ecosystem, Brightly works to transform surplus food into measurable environmental and social impact. For more information, visit brightly.earth.
About SCS Global Services
SCS Global Services is an international leader in third-party environmental and sustainability verification, certification, and auditing. Its programs span a cross-section of industries, recognizing achievements in climate mitigation, green building, product manufacturing, food and agriculture, forestry, consumer products, and more. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and celebrating over 40 years in business, SCS has representatives and affiliate offices throughout the Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and Africa. Its broad network of auditors are experts in their fields, and the company is a trusted partner to companies, agencies, and advocacy organizations due to its dedication to quality and professionalism. SCS is a chartered Benefit Corporation, reflecting its commitment to socially and environmentally responsible business practices. SCS is also a Participant of the United Nations Global Compact and adheres to its principles-based approach to responsible business. For more information, visit www.SCSGlobalServices.com.
Media Contacts:
Leah Lefco
LLS PR & Communications
LeahLLSPR@gmail.com
(404) 368-0778
Rachel Barnhart
SCS Global Services
rbarnhart@scsglobalservices.com