Author: sHq_LoGiNz

July 30, 2026 /3BL/ – We are pleased to announce the launch of Southwire’s 2025 Sustainability Report: The Power to Transform.

“Southwire’s sustainability journey reflects both our legacy and our vision for the future,” said Burt Fealing, Southwire’s EVP, General Counsel and Chief Sustainability Officer. “As we celebrate the progress made toward our 2025 goals and introduce new 2032 targets, we remain committed to driving value for our customers with innovation and contractor solutions, empowering our people and creating a lasting global impact for generations to come.” 

In this report, we share details on the achievement of our 2025 sustainability goals and announce a new set of sustainability targets for 2032:

• Growing Green: Improve our environmental footprint across the value chain by reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 54.8% and Scope 3 emissions by 30%, as well as redesigning all plastic packaging to contain at least 30% post-consumer recycled content (PCR).
• Living Well: Invest in being an Extraordinary Place to Work by achieving an employee net promoter score (eNPS) in the top 5% of the industry benchmark.
• Giving Back: Double our total community investment into nonprofits and causes that improve the quality of life in communities where we live and work.
• Doing Right: Continue the growth of our world-class Ethics & Compliance program by maintaining our place on the World’s Most Ethical Companies® list.
• Building Worth: Drive a culture of inclusion and innovation by achieving an inclusion-related engagement score in the top 5% of the industry benchmark.

In addition to the 2025 Sustainability Report, Southwire is proud to present our 2025 Sustainability Fact Sheet, which provides an overview of the company’s progress toward our goals and key accomplishments throughout 2025. 

To view Southwire’s 2025 Sustainability Report and 2025 Sustainability Fact Sheet, visit www.southwire.com/sustainability. 

For more Southwire news, visit www.southwire.com/newsroom.

About Southwire:
Southwire Company, LLC is North America’s leading wire and cable company. The $9.7B organization is made up of more than 9,000 team members across the globe who unite as ONE Southwire each and every day to serve each other, their customers and their communities. Southwire and its subsidiaries provide solutions including building wire and cable, metal-clad cable, utility products, portable and electronic cord products and OEM wire products. In addition, Southwire offers electrical products, engineered solutions and a variety of field support services. For more on Southwire’s products and solutions, its community involvement and its vision of sustainability, visit www.southwire.com.

Feature by Monica Molesag

With a record-breaking heatwave gripping the UK in late June, the “action” in London Climate Action Week 2026 needed no explanation. Much like the temperatures outside, the conversations inside intensified, and the soaring mercury served as a live stress test for the very subjects under discussion: infrastructure, public health, business continuity, and the resilience of the systems everyone depends on.

Under the official banner of Climate Cooperation in a Fractured World, delegates spread across the city and the tone was noticeably different from previous years. Fewer pledges, more blueprints. Less “what should we aim for,” more “who is going to finance and build it.”

Sustainability is a driver of growth

If there was a single reframing that ran through the week, it was this: sustainability is not a cost of growth, it is a driver of it.

That shift was visible in how decarbonization was discussed. Conversations that once centered on targets now centered on operations: Scope 3 emissions, value-chain engagement, procurement and logistics decisions, energy demand reduction. Practitioners repeatedly pointed to an “execution gap”—the distance between climate strategies on paper and projects that are actually permitted, financed, and built—and to the unglamorous work of unblocking infrastructure and untangling supply-chain bottlenecks as the real frontier.

Electrification gave the growth argument its clearest expression. The launch of the Electrify Now initiative, which aims to lift electricity’s share of final energy demand from roughly 20% today to 35% by 2035, was framed as an industrial strategy. Nearly doubling electricity’s share of energy demand in under a decade is an acceleration, and the week’s energy-transition summits were clear about what it demands: scaling renewables at pace, doubling down on energy efficiency, and, above all, building out the grid infrastructure to carry it. Speeding up permitting and resolving supply-chain constraints were named repeatedly as the bottlenecks that will decide whether the target is met.

The heatwave outside made that case tangible. As cooling demand surges and extreme weather stresses networks, a clean, resilient electricity system is fast becoming a precondition for business continuity and not just decarbonization. UK-focused sessions highlighted the substantial clean energy investment flowing into the country since 2024 as evidence that the low-carbon economy is now a growth story in its own right.

The same logic ran through the finance agenda. Sessions on moving from risk to resilience and from risk to opportunity focused on mobilizing capital for adaptation and climate-resilient infrastructure, and on the practical challenge of connecting available capital with investable projects through better data, governance, and pipeline development.

Nature is now on the agenda

Perhaps the most striking development of the week was where nature sat on the agenda, and where it is headed. Speakers were blunt about the underlying problem: our economic system is very good at valuing what we take from nature and very poor at valuing nature itself. Worse, we actively pay to destroy it. Figures cited during the week put global investment flows that harm nature at around US$7.5 trillion a year, against roughly $250 billion flowing into activities that help it. As one speaker put it, the task is not to lament that imbalance, but to get the economics right and to start treating nature as something that can be measured, managed, and steered with the same discipline as carbon or financial risk.

That “getting the economics right” is fast becoming a data challenge for business. Work such as the LSE’s research on the economics of landscape restoration suggests that investing in nature can generate returns comparable to investing in factories, railways, or other conventional infrastructure. As nature-related risks and opportunities are codified into emerging frameworks and regulation, companies will have to treat nature as a set of measurable data points: impacts and dependencies per site, per supplier, and per product line, rather than a one‑off narrative in a sustainability report.

Governments have levers too, from requiring companies to stress test for nature-related risk, to shaping incentives so that capital flows toward restoration rather than degradation. For corporate leaders, that translates directly into new categories of information that need to be captured and governed: nature‑related financial exposure, land use and biodiversity metrics, and nature‑positive investment pipelines. What was once an externality is quickly becoming a set of operational KPIs.

Sir Andrew Steer, professor at the London School of Economics, noted that this was the first year nature was represented at the event, but also how far it still has to travel: “Today here in the outdoor tent, next year in the big room.” The implication for businesses is that the organizations that move nature into their core data models and decision frameworks now are better positioned when this topic inevitably moves from the tent to the board agenda.

The AI warning: get sustainability data in now

Underpinning nearly every theme was data. Location-specific climate analytics were described as “the new lens” for understanding financial risk, and AI featured in almost every discussion of how organizations can gain visibility and control over complex energy, water, and supply chain systems.

But the sharpest point made during the week was a warning. As Stephen Jamieson, chief marketing officer of SAP Sustainability, put it: “If we don’t get sustainability data into AI right now, AI will optimize around it. AI works within the systems, the data, and the constraints you give it. If your sustainability priorities live only in documents and presentations rather than in your data and processes, AI will optimize confidently in entirely the wrong direction.”

The logic is uncomfortable, but hard to argue with. Sustainability now plays out at the transaction level—such as carbon cost per shipment, Scope 3 exposure per supplier, packaging compliance per SKU—and the volume, granularity, and pace of those requirements exceed what manual processes and fragmented tools can manage. An organization whose carbon tool cannot see its financial constraints, or whose supply chain system cannot see supplier regulations, hands its AI a broken map.

SAP’s answer to this is the Autonomous Enterprise: a maturity journey that starts with intelligence based on trusted, transparent data; moves to optimization where AI is weighing trade-offs across cost, risk, and sustainability impact in real time; and progresses toward autonomy, where sustainability rules are embedded directly into enterprise workflows and executed within defined guardrails. Sustainability stops being a reporting activity and becomes a governing factor in how decisions are made. The architecture choices organizations make now will determine whether that automation can scale safely later.

From the tent to the big room

London Climate Action Week 2026 closed with an uncomfortable message delivered in 35-degree heat: the climate is not waiting for business strategies to mature. But a hopeful signal surfaced, too: the growth case, the nature case, and the technology case for climate action are converging, and each is being made in the language of returns, resilience, and competitive advantage.

The task for business leaders is to bring those cases inside capital allocation, procurement, and the data and systems where decisions are actually made. The organizations that thrive will be the ones that move the sustainability agenda into the big room, before the next heatwave makes the argument for them.

For more information on scaling sustainability for your business, visit SAP Sustainability.

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Monica Molesag is global head of Sustainability Communications at SAP.

Originally published on newsroom.marykay.com

DALLAS, July 30, 2026 /3BL/ – Mary Kay Inc., a leading global beauty company committed to sustainability and women’s empowerment, today released its 2026 Sustainability Report, outlining progress toward its 2030 goals and celebrating the 2025 and latest achievements that continue to drive positive change globally.

The annual report highlights Mary Kay’s decades-long dedication to social, economic, and environmental sustainability – core pillars central to its business strategy and its purpose-driven legacy rooted in the company’s mission of “enriching women’s lives” around the world. 

“Mary Kay’s commitment to enriching women’s lives continues to guide how we operate, innovate, and create sustainable impact across the beauty industry while advancing women’s entrepreneurship for all generations around the world,” said Ryan Rogers, Chief Executive Officer of Mary Kay. “This report reflects the measurable progress we are making against our 2030 commitments and the transformative social, economic, and environmental change we are helping create for people, communities, and the planet.” 

 

From biodiversity and product stewardship to women’s empowerment and digital innovation, Mary Kay continues to embed sustainability throughout its business, advancing positive impact around the world. Below are key 2025 highlights: 

ENVIRONMENTAL                                                           

• Responsible Packaging:  Mary Kay reaffirmed its commitments to reducing plastic intensity, increase post-consumer recycled content (PCR), and increase recycle-ready/recyclable packaging. For example, the bottle of Mary Kay TimeWise^® Targeted-Action^® Toning Lotion contains 94% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. 
• Resource Conservation: Mary Kay prioritized the use of sustainable paper sources for product cartons and paper inserts, distribution cases, and shipping boxes – 100% of Mary Kay’s product paper cartons are recycle-ready in the Americas and in Europe. Mary Kay has a goal of 90% of product cartons certified globally by 2030 and is supporting the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), an international non-governmental organization that promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. 
• Impact Memberships for Sustainable Sourcing: Mary Kay has been supporting global organizations such as the Global Shea Alliance since 2023 and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil since 2014.
• Water Management: 100% of the water used at the global Richard R. Rogers Manufacturing/R&D Center (R3) in Texas is treated and recycled back into the local watershed.
• Impact Partnerships: Mary Kay celebrated its 39-year partnership with The Nature Conservancy representing more than 100 conservation projects supported in the U.S. and globally. 

SOCIAL

• Pink Changing Lives^®: More than $230 million has been donated in monetary and in-kind donations by Mary Kay Inc. and its four Company-sponsored foundations globally since 1996 – including through funding cancer research, helping survivors of domestic violence, or creating opportunities for women and their families around the world.
• Women’s Empowerment: Globally, more than 600,000 women have been positively impacted through Mary Kay‑led and supported empowerment initiatives spanning entrepreneurship, education, and community development. In 2025, Mary Kay continued its long‑standing partnership with the City of Lewisville, Lewisville Independent School District Education Foundation and INCubatoredu, supporting high school students as part of a yearlong entrepreneurial curriculum designed to expose them to real world business principles and creation resulting in a final pitch event to compete for seed funding. 
• Future of STEM: 51 grants and more than $234,000 awarded to young women from 17 countries pursuing STEM careers; 10 grants awarded to female students through the Madam C.J. Walker Scholarships with the Society of Cosmetic Chemists sponsored by Mary Kay as of 2025. More than 300 young women were exposed to STEM career pathways through immersive experiences at the global Richard R. Rogers Manufacturing/R&D Center (R3).
• Impact Partnerships: Mary Kay served as a Special Award Organization (SAO) at the International Science and Engineering Fair in 2024 and 2025 awarding a total of 18 grants to next-gen innovators in diverse STEM categories.

ECONOMIC

• Women-Powered: 63% of the Executive Team, 64% of Research and Development Scientists, 79% of the Global Brand and Global Creative Team, 63% of our Global Workforce, and 60% of Leadership Positions in Mary Kay’s Top 10 Markets are held by women.
• Global Footprint: Mary Kay celebrated its presence in 40 markets around the world with a series of milestone anniversaries in 2025: Argentina (45 years); China (30); Portugal (30); Kazakhstan (25); Malaysia (25); Philippines (25); Slovakia (25); Armenia (15); Colombia (10). 
• Digital Transformation: At the core of Mary Kay’s digital transformation is a cloud-first strategy and full-scale modernization of the Company’s technology infrastructure, including the migration of over 95% of custom applications to integrated SaaS in support of critical operations, from e-commerce to supply chain and ERP systems. A major 2025 milestone is the launch of the My Shop platform in Germany and in the United States. My Shop empowers Independent Beauty Consultants with personalized online storefronts, fully integrated with Mary Kay’s broader e-commerce, payment, and fulfillment systems, meeting consumers’ needs of seamless, on-demand, and convenient buying journeys. My Shop is being rolled out globally in 2026 and beyond. 
• Quality Certified: Achieved ISO 22716, the global gold standard for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in the cosmetics industry at Mary Kay’s global Richard R. Rogers Manufacturing/R&D Center (R3) in Lewisville, Texas.   
• Advocacy: Engaged in 100+ trade associations globally on a range of policy issues from direct selling and entrepreneurship to personal care and supply chain and logistics. 

 

Topping The Charts: In 2025 Mary Kay earned 25 corporate awards spanning corporate excellence, the direct selling industry, social impact, sustainability, and science and innovation. 

Latest Top-tier Global Recognition Includes: 

• Mary Kay was named the #1 Direct Selling Brand of Skin Care and Color Cosmetics in the World by Euromonitor International for four consecutive years (2023-2026).
• Mary Kay ranked #2 on Forbes 2026 Best Customer Service list moving up from #93 in 2025. Mary Kay is the only Beauty brand in the Top 15 and the only direct-selling company in the Top 50.
• Mary Kay ranked #8 out of 5,500 brands on Forbes’s 2026 Best Brands for Social Impactmoving up from stellar #9 achieved in 2025. Mary Kay is the only beauty brand in the Top 15 and the only direct selling company on the list. 
• Mary Kay ranked #19 in the Women’s Wear Daily Beauty Inc.’s 2025 Top 100 Beauty Companies released in 2026.

Mary Kay’s 2026 Sustainability Report is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and serves as a benchmark for stakeholders and partners seeking to drive collective impact.

To view the full report, visit here.

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About Mary Kay

One of the original glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash founded her dream beauty brand in Texas in 1963 with one goal: to enrich women’s lives. That dream has blossomed into a global company with millions of independent sales force members in 40 markets. For over 60 years, the Mary Kay opportunity has empowered women to define their own futures through education, mentorship, advocacy, and innovation. Mary Kay is dedicated to investing in the science behind beauty and manufacturing cutting-edge skincare, color cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and fragrances. Mary Kay believes in preserving our planet for future generations, protecting women impacted by cancer and domestic abuse, and encouraging youth to follow their dreams. Learn more at marykayglobal.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

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1.  Recyclable only where facilities exist.
2.  Percentage of post-consumer recycled content may vary based on availability and geographic region. 
3.  While the Company has provided philanthropic support to charitable causes for many decades, official documentation began in 1996 with the founding of the Mary Kay Ash Foundation® (U.S.).
4.  Women Representation and Leadership at Mary Kay (May 2026). 
5. SaaS platform solution: a cloud-based software model that allows users to access applications remotely via the internet. 
6. Global ERP Solutions: specialized resource planning systems designed to manage multinational operations across multiple countries, regions, currencies, and languages, business processes such as finance, HR, sales, and inventory management into a single platform, enabling seamless data flow and real-time analytics.
7. “Source Euromonitor International Limited; Beauty and Personal Care 2026 Edition, Value Sales at RSP, 2025 Data”
8. Alan Schwarz (October 14, 2025). Forbes – Best Customer Service 2026. https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-customer-service/ 
9. Alan Schwarz (March 17, 2026). Forbes – Best Brands For Social Impact 2026. https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-brands-social-impact/

• The latest feature in CNH’s A Sustainable Year digital series tells the story of Moreland Farms, a fourth-generation farming operation using technology to protect and improve the land for the next generation.
• Case IH FieldOps™, AIM Command FLEX™ II, and AccuSync® help the farm connect machines and turns operational data into practical action.
• Precision spraying, automation and connected data help improve productivity, reduce unnecessary overlap and support more informed input decisions.

For family farms, land is more than a business asset. It is a legacy to protect, improve and pass on to the next generation. Today, precision technology, automation and connected data are helping farmers make better decisions in the field — improving productivity while managing inputs more accurately and responsibly.

The latest story in CNH’s A Sustainable Year digital series features Moreland Farms, a fourth-generation farming operation across Oklahoma and Southern Kansas, USA. The article shows how Case IH technology is helping the family bring data into the center of its daily operations: from machine coordination and application records to harvest insights, nitrogen management and long-term land stewardship.

Together with an in-depth explainer on CNH precision spraying technologies, the story shows how CNH is helping customers turn advanced technology into practical value: improving efficiency, supporting more responsible land management and enabling farmers to make confident decisions in an increasingly data-driven agricultural world.

Read the full story here.

As previously seen on the CSRHub blog.

By Bahar Gidwani

We’re proud to share that CSRHub’s ESG ranking data has once again been featured in Site Selection magazine’s annual 2026 Sustainability Rankings, published in May and now in their 17th consecutive year. The rankings identify the countries, U.S. states, and metro areas best positioned for sustainable corporate growth, and CSRHub is glad to contribute the corporate-responsibility layer of the composite index behind them.

Site Selection’s index blends a wide set of signals — green building square footage per capita, happiness, federal Energy Star certifications, healthy workplaces, renewable-energy manufacturing, sustainability-oriented incentives, and corporate social responsibility. CSRHub supplies that last piece: an independent, consensus view of how companies in each region actually perform on ESG.

At the country level, the United States takes the No. 1 spot, with Spain (No. 2), Ireland (No. 3), Sweden (No. 5), Germany (No. 6), and the United Kingdom (No. 7) rounding out the leaders.

https://2489059.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/2489059/hubfs/blog-2026-site-selection/top_10_countries_7_26_1000x.webp?width=600&name=top_10_countries_7_26_1000x.webp

Among U.S. states, California ranks first, moving up from No. 2 last year, followed by Texas (No. 2), Colorado (No. 3), Arizona (No. 4), and North Carolina (No. 5), with Ohio also landing in the top 10.

https://2489059.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/2489059/hubfs/blog-2026-site-selection/top_10_states_7_26_1000x.webp?width=600&name=top_10_states_7_26_1000x.webp

On the metro side, the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos area holds the No. 1 spot, pairing rapid corporate growth with strong sustainability fundamentals, while the Washington, D.C. region was one of the year’s biggest upward movers, climbing from No. 11 to No. 7.

https://2489059.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/2489059/hubfs/blog-2026-site-selection/top_10_metros_7_26_1000x.webp?width=600&name=top_10_metros_7_26_1000x.webp

The two methodologies are worth reading together precisely because they don’t always line up. Site Selection weights its factors equally, while CSRHub scores regions on its own 12 measures of sustainability performance — and the gap between the two views is often the most interesting part. A region’s incentives and green infrastructure don’t always track the on-the-ground ESG performance of the companies based there, and seeing both perspectives side by side says more than either does alone.

Each year, CSRHub examines how the corporate facility investment activity that Site Selection tracks by geography — through its Conway Projects Database — aligns with the sustainability profiles of the companies doing the investing. Matching where capital actually flows against independent ESG ratings is a powerful way to gauge whether a region is drawing sustainability-conscious investment. As the analysts at Tractus put it, “Across capital-intensive sectors, sustainability is no longer adjacent to competitiveness — it is embedded within it.”

About CSRHub

CSRHub provides access to the world’s largest corporate social responsibility and sustainability database, powered by expert consensus sustainability ratings, information, and tools. Clients use CSRHub’s decisive data platform for global benchmarking, supply and value chain risk assessment and compliance readiness solutions. Founded in 2007, CSRHub covers nearly 60,000 public and private companies, and provides ESG performance scores on 42,000 companies from 134 industries in 158 countries. Our Big Data platform uses algorithms to aggregate, normalize and weight ESG metrics from 1,000 sources to produce a strong consensus signal on corporate sustainability performance. Interested in learning more about CSRHub?

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Bahar Gidwani is CTO and Co-founder of CSRHub. He has built and run large technology-based businesses for many years. Bahar holds a CFA, worked on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody, and with McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to a number of major companies and currently serves on the board of several software and Web companies. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy. He plays bridge, races sailboats, and is based in New York City.

Dewar’s celebrates its 180th anniversary this year, going back to 1846 when John Dewar opened his wine and spirits shop in Perth, Scotland. Jacqui Seargeant is the keeper of the Dewar’s archives, along with overseeing other archivists working within parent company Bacardi, and her work has helped inspire new Dewar’s releases and add context to the family history. She’ll join us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. 

In the news, trade tariffs are back in the headlines as President Donald Trump threatens to impose a 50% tariff on Canadian whisky and other goods to retaliate for the provincial boycotts of American alcohol. We’ll have all the details, as well as the upcoming closure of Moonshine University in Louisville. 

Click here to listen to Episode 1172: July 26, 2026

 

ROCKY HILL, Conn., July 30, 2026 /3BL/ – Henkel, a leading manufacturer of well-known consumer and industrial brands such as Dial® soap, Schwarzkopf® hair care, all® laundry detergent, and Loctite®, Technomelt® and Bonderite® adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, has been recognized as a 2026 World’s Top Disability Inclusive Business based on its performance on the Disability Index®, the leading global benchmark for disability inclusion in business.

Developed by Disability:IN, the Disability Index® is the world’s leading third-party benchmarking tool for evaluating corporate disability inclusion and is used by hundreds of leading companies across the globe, evaluating disability inclusion across multiple areas of business using a structured, data-driven methodology that enables consistent benchmarking across companies and industries.

Henkel’s programs and accommodations for people with disabilities were a strong factor in this recognition, including the continued work of its Awareness of Visible and Invisible Disabilities (AVID) Employee Resource Group. Led by passionate employee volunteers, AVID advances accessibility and inclusion by providing support and resources while creating opportunities for learning. Recent activities include:

• Expanded awareness of inclusive communication by providing sign language resources and educational materials.
• Partnered with Henkel’s IT team to host accessibility learning sessions and highlighted digital tools that support different audio/visual needs.

“We’re honored to receive this recognition because it reflects our commitment to creating a workplace where every employee can thrive. I’m especially proud of our AVID members, whose passion continues to strengthen accessibility, increase awareness and foster empathy and connections across our organization.” said Robert McNamee, Chief Legal Officer, Henkel North America and Executive Sponsor of AVID Employee Resource Group. “At Henkel, we remain committed to the ongoing learning and action to strengthen our culture of belonging so all employees feel valued, respected and empowered to do their best and shape the future.” 

The Disability Index is trusted by over 70% of the Fortune 100 and nearly half of the Fortune 500 and provides data-driven insights to assess performance, identify opportunities, and drive continuous improvement over time.

“This year’s Disability Index shows that leading companies are embedding disability inclusion into the core of how they operate. It’s shaping how businesses design products, build trust, and drive innovation. The companies leading today are the ones building more adaptable, resilient, and future-ready organizations,” said Jill Houghton, President and CEO of Disability:IN.

NEW YORK, July 30, 2026 /3BL/ – Sustainability consulting and research firm Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A) and global law firm Ropes & Gray have released new research on interactions between sustainability and legal teams within companies, at a time of increasing sustainability-related regulation and oversight.

The report, titled Side by Side: Sustainability and Legal – A Look Inside Two Corporate Functions Navigating Complexity & Uncertainty Together, finds that regulation is driving greater collaboration and re-ordering of reporting lines. While the stakes and demands are rising, corporate sustainability teams and sustainability-focused legal teams continue to be quite lean, requiring professionals to wear many hats and make the most of limited resources. All of this makes effective cross-functional collaboration more important, and the results of our engagement clearly indicate that this has already begun and all signs point to it continuing to increase.

The researchers engaged sustainability and legal professionals from 35 leading companies across a range of industries through a structured survey and in-depth interviews. Our engagement took place between September 2025 and February 2026, a time marked by the ramp-up and subsequent pause of portions of California’s climate disclosure laws, the stay of the climate-related disclosure rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), revisions to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and other reversals and evolutions. Taking stock of corporate teams’ experiences during this time revealed that the work of corporate sustainability has changed dramatically in just the past few years.

In light of these rising demands and quickly changing expectations, it is clear that sustainability is increasingly intertwined with compliance and legal concerns. Amidst the pressures and uncertainties, the story that emerges is one of greater functional overlap between sustainability and compliance, and as a result, sustainability and legal teams adapting quickly. This means increasingly working hand-in-hand, and navigating the benefits and challenges that emerge as they do so.

The report details:

• Current state of sustainability-focused teams
• Which regulations are most responsible for the increase in pressure on sustainability and legal teams
• Specific risks companies see increasing
• Reported benefits and challenges of collaboration
• Current gaps in support for in-house teams
• Actions that can improve collaboration between sustainability and legal teams

Louis Coppola, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder at G&A, remarked, “In G&A’s 20 years advising companies at the intersection of sustainability and governance, we’ve watched this collaboration between sustainability and legal teams grow into one of the defining operational questions for corporate sustainability programs — 39% of the sustainability functions in our research now report into legal, 87% of sustainability leaders told us regulation has increased their interactions with legal in the past year alone, and not one expects their role in this work to decrease. What stands out most is the alignment: put a sustainability leader and a chief legal officer in the same room and they largely tell you the same things about what they need. G&A is ready to help companies use these findings to build stronger, more effective collaboration between these two functions.”

Michael Littenberg, Partner and Global Head of the ESG, CSR and Business and Human Rights Compliance Practice at global law firm Ropes & Gray, added, “We are delighted to have partnered with G&A on this important piece of research. It confirms trends we are seeing in the market and will help companies with their future planning and efforts to build an effective, efficient sustainability compliance function.”

The report is available through G&A’s research hub. 
 

About G&A Institute
For more information, visit https://www.ga-institute.com.

About Ropes & Gray
For more information, visit https://www.ropesgray.com/.

Media Contact:
Louis D. Coppola, CEO & Co-Founder
Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc.
Tel 646.430.8230 ext 14
Email lcoppola@ga-institute.com

Originally published on CVS Health Company Newsroom

WOONSOCKET, R.I., July 30, 2026 /3BL/ – CVS Health® (NYSE: CVS) today announced that it has been named Overall Winner and earned four gold awards at the 2026 US Customer Experience Awards (USCXA26), the country’s premier independent recognition program for CX excellence.

Competing against organizations across industries, CVS Health secured top honors in four categories: Best Use of AI, Best Measurement in CX, Best Employee Engagement, and Customers at the Heart of Everything — a sweep that underscores the company’s commitment to delivering human-centered, data-driven care at scale. CVS Health was also named this year’s Overall Winner, USCXA26’s top distinction recognizing the strongest performance among all category winners in the program. The 2026 US Customer Experience Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate excellence, innovation, and measurable impact in customer experience. Awards are determined by an independent panel of judges following rigorous evaluation of submitted entries.

The “Best Use of AI” award is for innovation in developing and deploying agentic twins. With 65,000 active agentic twins already deployed, the platform is a strategic decision support tool. The “Best Measurement in CX” award is for a proprietary machine-learning framework that replaced a survey-only methodology with a predictive engine that now covers nearly 100% of the active member population. The “Best Employee Engagement” award is for the Customer Experience Everyday Heroes program, which recognizes frontline colleagues exclusively through verified consumer feedback from survey submissions. And the “Customer at the Heart of Everything” award is for the Connection Counts framework, the Little Things & Customer Kudos initiative that transformed passive survey feedback into proactive, empathy-led outreach.

“Being named Overall Winner, on top of four gold awards, reflects what our team has built with purpose and precision: a CX ecosystem that places the consumer at the center of every decision,” said Sri Narasimhan, VP of Enterprise Customer Experience and Insights, CVS Health. “Whether we are deploying cutting-edge AI to simulate the needs of our most vulnerable patients, or hand-delivering a care package to someone navigating a terminal diagnosis, everything we do is grounded in the belief that every single person deserves to feel heard.”

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About CVS Health

CVS Health is a leading health solutions company simplifying health care one person, one family and one community at a time. As of March 31, 2026, the Company had approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations, more than 1,000 walk-in and primary care medical clinics and a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 88 million plan members. The Company also serves an estimated more than 37 million people through a broad range of health insurance products and related services. The Company’s integrated model uses personalized, technology driven services to connect people to simply better health, increasing access to quality care, delivering better outcomes, and lowering overall costs.

Media contact

Tara Burke
646-765-4971
BurkeT1@CVSHealth.com