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EMERYVILLE, Calif., December 2, 2025 /3BL/ – SCS Standards and Assurance Systems is pleased to announce that the established SCS-115 Certification Standard for Product Carbon Intensity and Reduction for Chemicals and Co-products has been expanded to include two new modules that cover requirements pertaining to renewable energy (Module D) and asset efficiency improvement (Module E). These modules were created with technical feedback from industry experts, including RMI and Shell Chemical, among other Standard Development Committee members.

Introduced in April 2024, SCS-115 provides a methodology for third-party certification of the greenhouse gas intensity and reduction in carbon dioxide equivalents of a chemical material. SCS-115 is modular, allowing for different decarbonization levers. SCS-115 Modules D and E should be read in tandem with the core SCS-115 standard.

To download a copy of SCS-115 and all associated modules (A-E), visit the SCS Standards Website: Certification Standard for Product Carbon Intensity and Reduction for Chemicals and Co-products | SCS Standards

To learn more about SCS-115, register here to attend an informational webinar & Q&A session being held at 11:00 AM PST on December 16, 2025.

For SCS-115 Certification Services, please visit the SCS Global Services Website: Carbon Assured™ | SCS Global Services

To review guidance on SCS-115 certification, see the SCS-115 Auditor and Operator Guidance V1.0, which will be updated with information on Modules D and E shortly: Certification Standard for Product Carbon Intensity and Reduction for Chemicals and Co-products | SCS Standards

About SCS Standards

SCS Standards and Assurance Systems is an organization committed to the development of standards that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Standards are developed in alignment with best practices and guidelines provided by internationally recognized bodies to ensure a robust, transparent, and collaborative approach. SCS Standards is the official standards development body for Scientific Certification Systems, Inc. For more information, visit www.SCSstandards.org.

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Sara Rosner| Director—Responsible Investing Research
James Russo| Senior Research Analyst—Strategic Core Equities
Henna Nordqvist, CFA| Corporate Credit Analyst—Fixed Income

AI’s rapid growth is driving demand not only for electricity but also for the clean water needed to run its physical infrastructure. As data centers expand, rising water intensity is straining supplies and testing long-term sustainability. In our analysis, these pressures create both risks and opportunities for active investors.

How Cool Is AI?

AI’s explosive growth shows little sign of ebbing, with a record $350 billion projected for AI-focused business investment in 2025 alone. As a result, global capacity for AI’s server-housing facilities, or data centers, is expected to rise 23% in each of the next five years, with the US dominating.

The build-out is expected to spike data-center electricity demand by 160% in the US, contributing to a 25% increase in overall power demand through 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Meeting greater global power needs will have distinct challenges. But we also see a variety of potential risks stemming from water becoming either more scarce or less pure.

This is because AI’s powerful data centers tend to run extra hot, and many of them require a lot of ultrapure water to constantly chill them. Consequently, a data center’s success will likely depend as much on access to ample and clean water as on reliable power sources.

Rising Water Risk as a Market Disrupter

Data centers aren’t the only AI boom participants in search of water. Semiconductor manufacturers and utilities are also intensive water users and are likely to need even more of it (Display). US power generation—particularly coal and nuclear—accounts for about 70% of all freshwater withdrawals, though most is returned to its source after cooling.

Research we conducted with the Columbia Climate School shows that these three areas combined are expected to grow demand for clean water by 33% through 2030. Location can also add material risk, since many data centers are either situated in or planned for regions already stressed for water, our findings show.

We see a continued ramp-up in data center build-out, chip production and power generation in the near term. And water risk is emerging as a key constraint for these and other industries—potentially more disruptive than climate change itself. For instance, a Bloomberg study found that about $70 trillion in global GDP could be directly exposed to high water stress by 2050.

We’re already seeing companies change up their long-term playbooks due to near-term water concerns—Constellation Brands’ now-abandoned beer plant in Mexico and Google’s nixed plans for a data center in Chile, for example.

That’s why we believe water stewardship is integral to active investment selection. By the same token, company engagement is crucial to determining a business’s water-risk exposure and whether it’s helping to solve the problem for its own benefit and in some cases for others.

Assessing a Company’s Chill Factor

Many companies outside of the tech industry—whether household names or unfamiliar start-ups—are participating in the AI boom in some fashion. But we think progress will come more readily to innovators that share lasting solutions to AI’s biggest challenges, including water scarcity (Display).

We see a significant milestone in harnessing the ocean for cooling solutions. Though costlier than purifying water from municipal sources, desalinating seawater is very effective in semiconductor fabrication. The process uses either evaporation or membrane filters to remove minerals that harm equipment and microchips. Companies such as DuPont Water Solutions, LG Chem and Flowserve are among the key enablers in this growing market, which is expected to top $50 billion by 2032.

Direct-to-chip liquid cooling also has potential in a water-stressed world. This method places metal cooling plates in direct contact with processors to dissipate heat while low amounts of water carry the heat off through grooves. Asetek is one of the leading public companies in this space, which is currently dotted with private firms.

Yet another innovation is closed-cycle cooling, which is highly water efficient and environmentally friendly. The process lowers heat by circulating liquid coolant—mostly water—throughout a system that can range from evaporative towers to condensers. SPX Technologies stands out as a global pioneer in the public markets. However, numerous privately held companies are also leading advancement in this space, such as Kelvion and Hamon Group.

Global water scarcity isn’t a risk unique to AI, but the race for AI domination is increasingly revealing its hidden dangers and potential costs. And with so much of today’s market value tied to a handful of AI leaders, responsible investing requires recognizing water-risk exposure at every level—as well as the opportunities created by it.

The authors would like to thank Maxwell Lulavy, Responsible Investing Research Analyst at AB, for his significant contributions to the research behind this blog. 

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations, do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams and are subject to change over time.

References to specific securities discussed are for illustrative purposes only and should not to be considered recommendations by AllianceBernstein L.P. It should not be assumed that investments in the securities mentioned have necessarily been or will necessarily be profitable.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here.

With the refresh of Chemours’ Corporate Responsibility Commitment 2030 goals, we are sharpening our focus and helping to build a more circular economy by improving manufacturing processes that close the loop on water and waste as well as promoting product and packaging reuse and recycling. We have announced our new circularity aspiration: to decouple our growth from resource consumption and reduce waste by implementing circularity principles in our operations and with our partners. To ensure a positive circularity trajectory, we plan to announce specific targets and key performance indicators in future sustainability reporting.

Our circularity aspiration is part of our broader commitment to make the most of critical resources, prevent waste, take climate action, and support a thriving society. As our understanding of circularity, product carbon footprint, and lifecycle analysis matures, we expect to see intersections between our circularity and climate goals.

Throughout our operations, many existing processes and practices encompass the principles of circularity and enable the use of resources and materials. We support a circular economy through initiatives that advance safe, global recovery, reclamation, and reuse of our products, including refrigerants. This helps our customers contribute to circularity by extending the lifecycle of materials and feeding them back into the value chain, which saves resources, reduces waste, and creates value for the next generation.

Circular Water Processes

Freshwater systems are under pressure in many areas of the world due to increasing demand, ecosystem degradation, and climate change. This makes incorporating circular principles into water stewardship even more important. We manage water at the local level to best address watershed challenges, including water stress, and then tailor our actions to business and stakeholder needs.

We use the World Resources Institute Aqueduct (Version 4.0) screening model and the World Wildlife Fund Water Risk Filter (Version 5.0) screening tool to evaluate local watershed conditions for baseline water stress. Identifying opportunities to reuse and recycle water in operations is a continuing priority. For example, our mining and mineral separation operations in Florida and Georgia continuously reuse and recycle process water during extraction and separation of mineral sands and rehabilitation of the mined lands. At the Mission Mine in Georgia, our careful management allows extensive reuse of the water until it is returned to the surficial aquifer, with only about one-fifth of the water that was originally withdrawn requiring treatment and offsite discharge.

Material Efficiency and Waste Management

We are moving to better embrace circularity, aiming to maintain the highest utility and value of our assets and products while reducing operational waste. Improving material circularity will become a focal point to drive overall improvement in performance. This represents a fundamental shift in how we view and handle waste. Instead of seeing waste as a problem to be managed, this approach treats it as a valuable resource for creating new materials. This shift in thinking has led us to broaden our goal to achieve a 70% reduction in landfill intensity by 2030 to be more holistic in alignment with our new circular aspiration for materials.

We also continue to encourage everyone at Chemours to rethink and improve waste management strategies, including landfill related waste, to reduce our impact on communities and the environment. As an example, our volunteer Landfill Champions Network is helping promote and implement waste reduction and recycling initiatives by inspiring colleagues to adopt more sustainable behaviors and sharing best practices.

Reinforcing Chemours’ commitment to resource efficiency, our Thermal & Specialized Solutions business has created an international F-gas Lifecycle Program across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The program aims to advance the global recovery, reclaim, and reuse of fluorinated gases (F-gases) safely across its low-GWP Opteon™ products, Freon™ refrigerants, and FM-200™ portfolios. Chemours continues to invest in and expand reclaim channels across regions. In a recent feasibility study, we also demonstrated a successful approach to recycling Nafion™ membranes for chlor-alkali production. The goal of the experiment was to extract impurities from the used membranes and reprocess the membrane to obtain a recycled film, with outstanding results.

Our product packaging has a direct impact on our customers’ waste, and we are working to help them reduce their waste footprints by researching and designing product packaging alternatives for recycling and reuse. We will continue to identify and refine opportunities and reporting capabilities. Examples of reusable packaging include railcars, tank and bulk trucks, ISO containers, Flo-Bins, and barges. Examples of recyclable packaging include static-dissipative; flexible, intermediate bulk containers; plastic drums and pails; and metal drums.

The Chemours Company is a global chemistry company with a vision to deliver Trusted Chemistry that makes people’s lives better and helps communities thrive. Read more actions taken toward circularity in Chemours’ latest Sustainability Report.

Mark Thorson began as an intern at Trane Technologies. Today, he’s a Data Platform Manager, leading a global team of experts to build smarter systems for customers. He and his team have powered over $1 million in fuel savings, streamlined product delivery and helped make the company’s data ecosystem faster, safer and more sustainable.

Building a career in data at Trane Technologies

In just over a decade, Mark Thorson went from college intern to leading a team of 15 people across North America and Asia Pacific. Their job? To develop systems that transform raw data into real-time feedback so customers can make better decisions about their equipment. “My team manages the data platform. That means, when all that data comes in, we manage where it’s stored, how it’s processed, and how we turn it into insights for our customers in the form of dashboards, predictive alerts or notifications showing whether their equipment is performing well or not.”

Mark attributes a lot of his team’s success to its structure, dynamism and vision, “We all work together to deliver our objectives. We have the same vision of where we need to go. It’s also a mix of various roles that give us a well-rounded team… from early talents to people that have been working for over 20 years.”

This well-rounded aspect isn’t unique to Mark’s team. In fact, he says it’s something that’s deliberately built into the company through investments in talent, like the Accelerated Development Program (ADP), an internal rotational experience designed to foster future leaders. Mark credits much of his success in the company to the program’s holistic structure. “In the ADP, they encourage you to jump around and try new roles… It helps build a really strong foundation.”

A culture of experimentation and growth

Mark believes this broad, supportive educational structure is what gives Trane Technologies teams the confidence to learn, experiment and grow. “They give you the freedom to experiment, encourage new ideas, and take calculated risks which keeps the team engaged and the work interesting. Also, if you’ve got a good idea and you’re willing to pitch, that’s encouraged.”

The culture of support and experimentation gave Mark the runway to contribute to one of the team’s greatest accomplishments: modernizing Trane Technologies’ analytics environment by transitioning it to Google Cloud. Mark led the DevOps workstream, working alongside colleagues responsible for the Platform and Data Engineering tracks. Together, their efforts used AI and DevOps best practices to dramatically increase deployment speed.

“After our large data migration, we 10x’d our deployment speed,” says Mark. “Now we’re doing about 200 deployments a month. A lot of it’s automated. Security scans automatically happen, and we use AI to help identify security vulnerabilities and it will automatically suggest a fix. It makes life significantly easier.”

Big data with even bigger impact

But for Mark, the true measure of success isn’t just in building smarter systems; it’s in the real-world impact those systems deliver. “When people think of Trane Technologies, they might picture HVAC equipment – not necessarily a data company,” he says. “But the reality is we’re pulling in billions of data points from our connected devices. In Thermo King alone, we’re collecting information from a quarter of a million assets every five minutes.”

That scale of data unlocks insights with massive potential. For one customer, Dot Transportation Inc., a simple change identified through the Thermo King Digital Analytics team’s dashboards translated into more than $1 million in annual fuel savings. That product, now a core feature of Thermo King’s TracKing Pro telematics, continues to deliver measurable impact for customers across the fleet industry. “That’s the kind of result that makes it exciting,” Mark explains.

Sustainability for people and the planet

Making a positive impact on the planet is something that lies at the core of Trane Technologies’ purpose to boldly challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world. But, for Mark, sustainability runs deeper than environmental outcomes.

This tangible impact on teams, customers and the environment is what keeps Mark passionate about his work and excited for the future of digital solutions at Trane Technologies. “The digital side at Trane Technologies is such a great opportunity. As data professionals, we get to experiment with cutting-edge technologies, from AI to advanced analytics, and apply them in ways that will power smarter, more sustainable systems tomorrow.”

Ready to build smarter, more sustainable systems alongside leaders like Mark?

December 2, 2025 /3BL/ – My Green Lab, a global nonprofit dedicated to sustainability in science, today released its 2025 Carbon Impact of Biotech and Pharma Report in collaboration with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The report shows that the sector’s direct operations align with a 1.5-degree Celsius pathway, while supply chain emissions keep the total climate impact closer to 2 degrees and limit some of the progress made by the largest firms.

“Biotech and pharma companies are demonstrating that healthcare can expand while lowering the carbon footprint of their operations,” said James Connelly, CEO of My Green Lab. “Among the leaders in this report, we see operational emissions roughly aligned with a 1-degree Celsius pathway. Once supply chains are included, the sector still leans toward a near-2-degree Celsius rise. Most of the carbon remain in the value chain, and that is the part of the curve companies need to focus on next.”

The analysis uses ICE climate and financial data from 2019 to 2023 for 765 public companies and 290 private firms. These 1,055 companies together are responsible for an estimated 348 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023 across Scopes 1 to 3, with about 224 million metric tons from public companies and 124 million metric tons from private firms. Scope 3 emissions account for approximately 75% of total emissions for public companies in the dataset and 88% for private companies, indicating that most of the sector’s climate impact comes from supply chains and other value-chain activities.

Key findings from the report include:

1. The implied temperature increase for Scope 1 and 2 emissions is 1.04 degrees Celsius, aligning with a 1.5-degree pathway. When Scope 3 emissions are included, the implied temperature rises to 1.9 degrees, which is still above the level needed to meet Paris Agreement goals.
2. Among the 146 companies with the highest-quality disclosures, 75.5% have set targets to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Within this group, 76 companies, or 52%, have medium-term Scope 1 and 2 targets for 2026 to 2035 that align with a 1.5-degree pathway. The report describes this as a tipping point for operational targets but notes that significantly fewer companies have Scope 3 targets with similar coverage and ambition.
3. Since 2019, the 25 largest biotech and pharma companies by revenue have reduced emissions intensity for Scopes 1 and 2 by about 10%, and Scope 3 intensity by roughly 5%. Among the broader group of 243 other public companies, Scope 3 intensity has increased by 2% during the same period. For private companies, the top 25 have lowered Scope 3 emissions by approximately 3% over the past year, while the larger group of 290 private companies has seen a 6% rise in Scope 3 emissions.

“The analysis provides a forward-looking view of how transition risk is developing in this sector,” said Scott Weitze, VP of Research and Technical Standards at My Green Lab and a report co-author. “It shows clear progress on operational emissions at the top of the market and highlights areas where supply chain emissions and inconsistent disclosures still hinder the sector. That level of detail is what investors, regulators, and boards need to plan for the next decade.”

Despite existing gaps, the report shows that biotech and pharma remain among the most active sectors in the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign. Currently, 42 major biotech, pharma, and medtech companies are members, up from 38 last year. Of these, 64% have launched a My Green Lab Certification program, and 63% of those programs operate globally. Leading companies including AstraZeneca, Biogen, and IQVIA have certified over 95% of their laboratories, meeting the sector’s Breakthrough Outcome goal and demonstrating that green lab practices can expand from pilots to entire portfolios.

About My Green Lab

My Green Lab® is a nonprofit environmental organization with a mission to build a global culture of sustainability in science. The organization is the world leader in developing internationally recognized sustainability standards for laboratories and laboratory products—bringing sustainability to the community responsible for the world’s life-changing medical and technical innovations. Laboratories are some of the most resource-intensive spaces in any industry, but they don’t have to be. By introducing a new perspective and proven best practices within a carefully crafted framework, My Green Lab has inspired tens of thousands of scientists and lab professionals to make positive changes in their labs by reducing the environmental impact of their work.

For media requests, contact Christina Creager at christina.creager@mygreenlab.org.

For more information about My Green Lab, visit mygreenlab.org.

December 1, 2025 /3BL/ – Stories have always connected people. They hold the power to raise awareness, deepen understanding and spark meaningful change. At Boehringer Ingelheim, stories are now making an impact on the global stage through Imagine, a new sustainability story hub, that demonstrates how the pharmaceutical industry can drive positive change.

Imagine features 15 stories from 2024, showcasing the company’s commitment and progress in improving health for people, animals, communities, and the planet – driven by their ‘Sustainable Development for Generations’ strategy. These stories from around the world are enriched with strategic insights, an interactive worldmap of achievements, and key figures that illustrate the impact made.

This innovative platform has now won multiple awards for its new approach to sustainability communications:

• An ‘Award of Excellence’ for strategic storytelling from the 31^stCommunicator Awards, which honor excellence and innovation across all areas of communication – judged by a panel of industry-leading professionals.
• ‘Gold’ for Best Design and ‘Silver’ in Pharma at the German Stevie Awards. The 2024 Annual Report also earned Gold for Pharma and Best Annual Reports, underscoring the company’s strength in corporate communications. The Stevie® Awards are the leading global business honors recognizing the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and professionals worldwide.
• The Red Dot Design Award was granted for both Imagine and the Annual Report Magazine, which were published in the same year. These awards recognize exceptional design quality, creativity, and the outstanding collaboration behind these projects.

On top of that, Imagine was shortlisted from over +800 companies for the prestigious REUTERS Global Sustainability Award in the category Sustainability Communications – the world’s leading awards celebrating leadership in sustainable business.

These awards also recognize the dedication of the Boehringer employees worldwide, whose stories are showcased on the hub – driving initiatives, overcoming challenges, and creating real impact. Most importantly, they highlight a powerful message: tackling sustainability challenges requires everyone to be onboard, across industries, sectors, and borders.

Explore the award-winning stories on Imagine: a sustainability story hub from Boehringer Ingelheim (2024 edition).

NEW YORK, December 1, 2025 /3BL/ – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, today announced that its 2025 goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition will accept entries from students aged 6 to 17 through December 31, 2025. Now in its fourth year, the competition encourages students to develop and submit innovative technology solutions that help address global challenges in support of the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This competition provides a platform for young people to showcase their ingenuity, creativity and empathy,” said John DiChiara, global goIT program manager, TCS. “It’s their chance to participate in a global movement to create a more sustainable and inclusive future while using the challenge to develop important skills and acumen that will serve them in future jobs or education pursuits.”

This year’s goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition will consider all classroom-based entries submitted through goIT programming in 2025 and submissions to the goIT Monthly Challenge, as well as any independent submissions made before the deadline. Year-round goIT student challenges underscore TCS’ commitment to engage youth with meaningful digital innovation projects that encourage them to pursue STEM careers and global citizenship. Each is designed to inspire problem-solving and to potentially position entrants as future leaders committed to driving sustainable and inclusive solutions.

The competition invites individual students or student teams to enter by submitting a one-to-three-minute video pitch, a presentation, or a written proposal describing how their technology innovation specifically addresses the world problem. Students can target the 17 SDGs which are most important to them or their communities.

In early 2026, competitions will be held around the world, with finalists from key geographies advancing to the annual goIT Global Innovator of the Year final presentation round later in the year. All entrants will be honored with a certificate of achievement as they compete for rewards including a chance to bring their concept to life, as well as gift cards, mentoring experiences, speaking opportunities, and more.

In North America, parents, guardians, or teachers can submit students’ innovations at https://on.tcs.com/AMERS-IOTY through 11:59 p.m. ET, December 31, 2025.

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ABOUT TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) is a digital transformation and 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.

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 of 590,000 employees 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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ST. PAUL, Minn., December 1, 2025 /3BL/ – Antea Group USA is pleased to announce the addition of Amy Couch Schultz, as a Senior Consultant supporting our Environmental Mergers & Acquisitions practice area. A proven leader with deep experience in professional consulting, insurance, and private industry, she brings a wealth of knowledge in managing and performing environmental due diligence projects in support of mergers and acquisitions of all sizes.

Her M&A and risk management experience includes:

• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) due diligence and transaction services
• Business and environmental risk analysis and mitigation strategies
• ESG evaluations and product stewardship
• EHS management and regulatory compliance (US and International)
• Insurance technical underwriting and claim support
• Sector experience that spans energy, chemical, manufacturing, mining, food, beverage, agri-business, and pharmaceutical industries.

Amy joins Antea Group from Chubb Risk Consulting, where she most recently served as Vice President and Environmental Risk Engineering Program Manager in support of the Chubb Environmental underwriting team. She holds an M.S. in Chemical Hazard Assessment from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, and a B.S., Magna Cum Laude, in Biology from Muskingum College (now Muskingum University).

“We are thrilled to welcome Amy to our team,” said Aaron Lapine, Chief Operating Officer. “Her deep understanding of M&A due diligence, business risk analysis, and complex global operations, particularly within the environmental and ESG space, positions her as a tremendous asset for our clients. Amy’s leadership and specialized expertise will be instrumental as we continue to expand and customize our M&A services for key clients and market sectors we serve.”

Learn more about our Environmental M&A services.

Guest post courtesy of Tannaz Daruwalla and Leonardo Tibaquira from Accion International

While the world’s largest companies dominate headlines and their founders achieve celebrity status, global entrepreneurship looks much different by the numbers. According to the IFC, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make up some 90 percent of businesses, 70 percent of employment, and half of GDP around the world. Micro, small, and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) are essential to the global economy and individuals’ financial stability, yet owners often lack financing, resources, or knowledge of how to access what’s available to them.

Consider Brenda, the owner of Masajes Relajantes, a small spa in a modest neighborhood in Mexico City, located next door to her niece’s beauty salon. In a room just large enough for a massage table and some essential oils, Brenda gives massages that her clients consistently praise — but she charges only 450 Mexican pesos (about $24 USD) per session, less than half the market rate. While she is in the business of relaxation, fear of losing clients and the stress of running her business on tight margins weighs on her. 

Despite her intelligence, passion, and experience, she does not feel knowledgeable about financial best practices, social media advertising, or products and services that could help her stabilize and grow. Brenda needs someone to walk her through the basics of business management, help her organize her operations, and show her how to attract and retain clients without undervaluing her work. She is wary of being scammed and could not afford the interest and fees on a loan from a traditional financial institution. Moreover, existing offerings often overlook small, women-led firms due to their size, perceived risk, or cultural norms.

Enhancing learning and unlocking opportunities for entrepreneurs 

Brenda’s story is not unique. It reflects the reality of many microentrepreneurs across Mexico  who work tirelessly, day after day, yet struggle to move beyond subsistence. They lack the tools and confidence to grow their business sustainably. 

This is where digital tools like Ovante can make a real difference. Ovante is a digital educational program that strengthens the financial, business, and digital capabilities of microentrepreneurs like Brenda. This May, Ovante launched a new WhatsApp-based chatbot providing easy-to-understand videos, tips, tools, and other resources that teach key financial concepts to better manage business accounts and lead to informed decision-making. Users learn about Ovante via digital marketing channels, and, with just a click, can start talking with the chatbot’s avatar, Sofia, about topics that help them grow their business, make informed financial decisions, and build their financial confidence.

Microentrepreneurs can explore topics such as money management, indebtedness and over-indebtedness, financial health, and building a digital footprint. For Brenda, information about building her digital footprint and managing her finances is most helpful as she seeks to attract more clientele and price her products and services correctly. With support from FedEx, Accion launched Ovante’s learning platform as well as the new WhatsApp-based chatbot free of charge to help entrepreneurs like Brenda gain skills and confidence in running their businesses. 

Brenda takes advantage of these learning opportunities in the evenings and on weekends, as long as work and family obligations allow. As the customer base grows, Sofia will help Ovante scale user support while improving the quality, speed, and personalization of content that users receive.

In just a few months since its launch, the Ovante chatbot has proven to be a powerful tool to support entrepreneurs in Mexico. To date, it has recorded over 17,000 chats with more than 12,500 microentrepreneurs chatting with Sofia, reflecting a high level of reach and trust in a segment that is often underserved in terms of training and support. Each conversation averages 18 messages, with sessions lasting approximately 30 minutes – a clear sign that users are not only connecting, but staying engaged, exploring, and going deeper into the content made available to them. 

Beyond the numbers, the quality of the interactions is also evident. The chatbot has achieved an average rating of 4.4 out of five, with nearly 40 percent of conversations extending beyond the industry average of seven interactions, showing richer exchanges and stronger learning opportunities. Moreover, Ovante’s chatbot is reaching Accion’s target audience: 70 percent of users are women microentrepreneurs seeking to strengthen their financial and managerial skills, build their confidence and grow their businesses. These results are not only encouraging, they also confirm that digital innovation can create real opportunities for those who need them most.

Over the past five years, we have launched Ovante in Mexico, Colombia, and India, engaging over 150,000 customers with its content. Two-thirds of these customers were women. Over the next three years, Accion hopes to triple engagement with Ovante via its chatbot. Meeting this target will require continuous innovation and outreach, so Brenda and others have been providing feedback on the Ovante chatbot. 

With accessible, step-by-step assistance to build financial capacity and entrepreneurial skills, Ovante can help women like Brenda build confidence, understand their worth, and take control of their financial future. By investing in inclusive financial education and practical digital tools, we can help microentrepreneurs build their financial and digital capabilities and position them for greater success.

Click here to learn about FedEx Cares, our global community engagement program.

By Scott Register

With an increasingly aging population the US, like many countries around the world, has a healthcare system under pressure. As a result, there has been a continued growth and reliance on digital health, with advancements in medtech, AI, personalized care, wearables and digital pathways.

Innovations in connected medical devices such as diagnostic imaging, surgical robots, health wearables, glucose monitoring and insulin pumps have led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stress the need for stronger controls for device safety, particularly as wireless connectivity and the electronic exchange of health information become more prevalent.

In June 2025, the FDA has updated final guidance for demonstrating cybersecurity of medical devices, which aims to ensure devices are cybersecure by design and resilient to the latest threats.

In today’s blog we will discuss cybersecurity in medical devices and healthcare’s susceptibility to hidden threats within these devices. We will also explore how Keysight is helping medical device manufacturers meet the challenge of improving cybersecurity and achieving regulatory compliance. Finally, we will look at the latest trends and how device manufacturers can stay ahead of attackers.

Healthcare Systems Under Attack

Cybersecurity threats to the healthcare sector have become more frequent and more severe, carrying increased potential for clinical impact. People’s personal and medical information has a value, and that makes it attractive for threat actors too.

According to the HIPPA journal in 2024, there were 14 data breaches involving more than 1 million healthcare records, including the biggest healthcare data breach of all time that affected an estimated 190,000,000 million individuals. Across those 14 data breaches alone, the records of 237,986,282 U.S. residents were exposed or compromised, around 69.97% of the U.S. population. All but two of the 14 data breaches were hacking incidents and 8 involved business associates of HIPAA covered entities.

Events across the healthcare sector have stressed the importance of cybersecurity to patient safety. The WannaCry ransomware affected hospital systems and medical devices across the globe, it cost the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK £92m after 19,000 appointments were cancelled. Vulnerabilities identified in commonly used third-party components, like URGENT/117 and SweynTooth, have led to potential safety concerns across a broad range of devices that are used in various clinical specialties.

Recent Cyber incidents have rendered medical devices and hospital networks inoperable, disrupting the delivery of patient care across healthcare facilities in the U.S. and globally. This has led to patient harm due to delay in diagnoses and/or treatment.

Last year in the U.S. the largest healthcare data breach occurred at Change Healthcare, the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware group accessed the network and used ransomware to encrypt files. Not only was this the largest healthcare data breach of all time it also caused more disruption than any other healthcare cyberattack due to the number of healthcare organizations that relied on Change Healthcare’s systems and the prolonged outage. The attack prevented patients from obtaining medications, and the outage caused severe disruption to healthcare providers’ revenue cycles, pushing many small practices to the brink of closure.

FDA Prescriptive Guidance on Medical Device Cyber Security

The FDA has responded to the reality that medical devices are much more connected than before and thus have a greatly expanded attack surface. Rather than leaving it up to manufacturers to decide what testing is appropriate, the FDA is much stricter and more prescriptive about the mandated cybersecurity testing and artifact submission requirements. Some of the new requirements include:

Fuzzing

Fuzzing is a fairly advanced concept, even for experienced cybersecurity practitioners, and it’s typically used to discover previously unknown vulnerabilities in protocol stack implementations. Fuzzing involves injecting intentional errors into communication streams in an effort to disrupt the Device Under Test at the other end of the connection. For medical devices, this could include protocol fuzzing tests against a Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy implementation, the WiFi stack, CAN bus, and the TCP/UDP/IP stack.

Vulnerability Assessment and Chaining

This entails scanning the device on any exposed network interfaces to determine if any known vulnerability types exist in those interfaces. This could include vulnerability types such as guessable passwords, encryption flaws, susceptibility to injection attacks, API attacks, and other vulnerabilities which would expose the device to significant attacks by threat actors.

Software Composition Analysis and Accurate SBOM Generation

For many manufacturers, this may be the most difficult new hurdle. For most generated software and firmware, around 80% of the total lines of source code come from open-source libraries, and these libraries inevitably contain vulnerabilities which become publicly known either today or in the future. In line with other critical industries, the FDA is now requiring manufacturers to compile an accurate list of the software libraries used in their products, including enumeration of known vulnerabilities and mitigation procedures or proof of non-reachability. The manufacturer must also keep this Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), which lists all included software libraires, up to date with identification of newly identified vulnerabilities in those libraries as part of the revised post-market surveillance process. In addition, the manufacturer must provide a continually updated SBOM to users in a machine-readable format, typically through an online portal. Further complicating the challenge, the vast majority of medical devices utilize the ARM Cortex-M processor which is very efficient but sometimes more difficult for accurate SBOM generation.

Independent Cybersecurity Testing by a Highly Competent, Independent Lab

No longer can manufacturers do all their testing in-house. The FDA wants to be sure that a second set of eyes has examined the product, and that the external agency is very skilled in cybersecurity analysis. This mandate requires neutrality and protects patients from potential exploits which are outside the scope of attacks the manufacturer may be capable of conducting or even have imagined.

How Keysight Can Help

In concert with the enhanced FDA enhancements, Keysight has upgraded our device cybersecurity products and services to allow medical device manufacturers to proceed with confidence, enabling them to bring products to market on time and on budget. Recognizing that medical device manufacturers have a wide range of in-house cybersecurity expertise, Keysight can provide whatever blend of products and services is appropriate.

To address many of the FDA’s new requirements and minimize the chance of problematic and expensive discoveries later in the process, Keysight offers IoT Security Assessment. In a compact desktop appliance, it features protocol fuzzing for Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, WiFi, CAN bus, and TCP/UDP/IPv4 and v6. We’re also excited about the recent introduction of our on-prem SBOM generation capability. All of these features offer complete REST API support for workflow integration, so your sensitive firmware need never leave your site for development testing including SBOM generation. And for post-market compliance, Keysight also offers an SBOM management and publication capability so that users can be automatically updated with accurate information on new releases.

Keysight also brings a wide range of cybersecurity testing capabilities via both our in-house and partner network. For high-assurance validation of critical devices, Keysight offers some of the most advanced testing capabilities on the planet. We have state-of-the-art advanced fault injection and side channel analysis tools, and are trusted by the most sophisticated smartphone, automotive, and semiconductor companies to ensure their products are resilient to attacks from even the most sophisticated attackers. We have ISO17025 certified labs and offer services on multiple continents to help our customers in diverse fields bring compliant products to market. We’ve also integrated a network of partners for medium assurance testing which is more cost-effective and appropriate for some devices; you can decide which type of engagement is appropriate for you.

Enhancing our cybersecurity validation capabilities for medical devices is in line with our commitment to helping our customers bring the best products to market on schedule and on budget. Our medical customers have used our power drain analysis, RF testing, and high frequency digital measurement tools for decades, and now Keysight is your partner for both electronic and cybersecurity validation for medical devices.

So, if you’re ready to take the next step in innovation acceleration and patient safety, let us know – we’re here for you.