Tag: 3BL

BETHESDA, Md., December 13, 2023 /3BL/ – WHC (Wildlife Habitat Council) offers a new white paper available for download today, The Corporate Nature-Positive Journey | Private Sector Biodiversity Methodologies, From Strategy to Implementation. The white paper is available for free on our website.

It has become clear that the world is facing a biodiversity crisis in tandem with both a climate and pollution crisis. Within the last few decades, climate change mitigation and source reduction have become widely regulated and material concerns to the private sector, but until very recently, the escalating global loss of biodiversity has not been given the same widespread attention. As all industries rely on and impact nature, private sector action is a necessary part of global efforts to stop biodiversity loss and restore habitats.

Because of recent events and initiatives, companies are increasingly exploring how to start, scale up or report on their nature-positive action, generally described as actions that halt and reverse current trends of ecological loss. Initiatives like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) highlight the need for private, financial and governmental sectors to commit to nature positivity. In response to emerging governmental regulations, voluntary frameworks are emerging to help companies meet new reporting expectations.

Unlike other goals like net zero, the concept of “nature positive” is not a destination, but rather an ongoing set of approaches and strategies — the Nature-Positive Journey. The nature-positive journey looks different for every company, and taking the first step can seem confusing or intimidating.

As the only international NGO focused exclusively on enabling private sector action for nature, WHC supports companies through each step of the nature-positive journey — from developing a comprehensive corporate biodiversity plan to operationalizing on-the-ground action to sharing successes. This white paper traces the journey towards nature positivity that WHC has blazed throughout its 35-year history, with examples of available solutions and successful collaborations with members and partners.

About WHC:

WHC has been working at the nexus of business and nature for 35 years. It is the only international NGO focused exclusively on enabling private sector action for nature. WHC builds strategies and frameworks that connect corporate ambition for nature to robust action on corporate lands. WHC works with mostly Fortune 500 corporations, traversing value chains, jurisdictions and geographies. It seeks to integrate nature, especially biodiversity, with climate, equity and engagement to support sustainable ecosystems and healthy communities. WHC’s corporate members represent some of the leading national and multinational corporations seeking to support sustainable ecosystems and the communities that surround them. These efforts have resulted in more than 1,000 certified programs across 47 states and 28 countries.

Originally published on HARMAN Newsroom

NORTHRIDGE, Calif., December 13, 2023 /3BL/ — HARMAN Professional Solutions, the global leader in audio, lighting, and video and control technologies, announced it has completed the previously announced acquisition of FLUX SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (“FLUX::”). The purchase includes FLUX::’s immersive, processing, and analysis solutions across live production, installation sound, content creation, and post-production.

The acquisition broadens HARMAN Professional’s offerings across multiple applications with world-class immersive technology, in addition to establishing a foundation for future innovation by bringing together FLUX::’s team with the hardware and software engineers of HARMAN Professional.

“With the growing demand from our customers for immersive audio solutions, we are thrilled to welcome the FLUX:: team to the HARMAN family,” said Brian Divine, President, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “The FLUX:: team is made up of a very passionate group of people who have dedicated their careers to creating exceptional audio experiences. We are excited to work together to create new products that push technological boundaries and create culturally significant experiences.”

“We are extremely honored to join the HARMAN brand portfolio, and work alongside the teams from some of the most legendary brands in the audio industry,” said Gaël Martinet, Founder and CEO of FLUX SOFTWARE ENGINEERING. “We look forward to continuing our work developing immersive audio solutions with the significant investment, infrastructure and support that HARMAN will provide.”

France-based FLUX:: was founded in 2006 by then seasoned sound recording engineer and current CEO, Gaël Martinet, for the purpose of creating intuitive and innovative audio software tools. Now, the portfolio of nearly 20 products is used globally by talented professionals across many applications.

FLUX:: SPAT Revolution is a powerful object-based and perceptual immersive mixing solution providing artists, sound-designers, and sound-engineers the tools to design, create, and mix outstanding real-time immersive experiences.FLUX:: Analyzer is a modular RTA-system providing an extensive range of analyzer options for any audio analysis and measurement application.FLUX:: Processing includes a comprehensive suite of plugins including channel strips, EQs, dynamics processing, and more.

For more information on FLUX::, visit flux.audio.

ABOUT HARMAN PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS 
HARMAN Professional Solutions engineers and manufactures audio, lighting, and video & control products for entertainment and enterprise markets, including live performance, audio production, large venue, cinema, retail, corporate, education, government, hospitality, broadcast and more. With leading brands including JBL Professional®, AKG®, Martin®, AMX®, Soundcraft®, BSS Audio®, Crown®, dbx Professional®, and Lexicon Pro®, HARMAN Professional delivers powerful, innovative and reliable solutions that are designed for world-class performance. HARMAN Professional Solutions is a Strategic Business Unit of HARMAN International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. For more information, visit http://pro.harman.com/.

ABOUT HARMAN

HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In March 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

GLOBAL

David Glaubke

Director, Global Corporate Communications

HARMAN Professional Solutions

+1 (818) 895-3464 O

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December 13, 2023 /3BL/ – Ceres applauds world leaders for reaching a final negotiated Global Stocktake at COP28 that recognizes the need for deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas pollution in line with the Paris Agreement. Limiting average temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius will require all nations to act even more swiftly and ambitiously. The agreement published today lays out a number of critical actions nations must take to address the impacts on our dangerously warming planet, including transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly, and equitable manner, accelerating zero and low emissions technologies and deployment of zero emissions vehicles, tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, and doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030, key milestones in global efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

Ceres President and Chief Executive Officer Mindy Lubber issued the following statement at the conclusion of the global summit in Dubai:

“We applaud world leaders for reaching an agreement in the final hours of COP28 that begins to acknowledge the need for a critical economic transition, but its success — and ultimately its legacy — will be determined by the actions that follow. We, along with hundreds of institutional investors and companies, have called on countries to take the most ambitious actions possible to prevent the worst outcomes of climate crisis by moving away from fossil fuels, investing in abundant renewable energy and innovative solutions, and supporting a just transition to a clean, sustainable, and inclusive economy.

The mention of fossil fuels in the COP28 text marks a milestone for a COP agreement, which has never been so explicit in naming the primary cause of the climate crisis. But because the language is vague and potentially presents loopholes that could undermine its own potential, it is, therefore, essential that these measures are interpreted properly and implemented aggressively to deliver emission reductions at the speed and scale that our global climate and economic security goals require.

The agreement comes at an urgent moment. Extreme weather and other climate-related catastrophes are already causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage each year. The world is at severe risk of far greater challenges as we are on track to miss the 2030 goals of the Paris Agreement and achieve a zero emissions economy in time to prevent catastrophic climate change. At the same time, governments, businesses, and investors have a monumental opportunity to invest in secure, affordable, and reliable clean energy technology that brings enormous economic benefits and job growth.

As pivotal public policies — such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. — are fully implemented and funded, it becomes even more feasible, beneficial, and cost-effective to transition away from fossil fuels and shift to abundant, reliable, and affordable clean energy. This major step by the U.S. to tackle its own domestic pollution has spurred a surge of investment in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, offering proof that climate action is both a matter of economic risk management and an economic opportunity that benefits and brings an abundant clean energy future to all, especially energy, rural, and disadvantaged communities.

COP28 featured other signs of progress to celebrate — led on the first day by the announcement of a long-awaited Loss and Damage Fund, a key milestone for both climate justice and climate finance. It is a matter of basic fairness that the wealthy countries that have contributed the most to climate crisis, including the U.S., fund poorer nations that are the least responsible for our warming planet, as they prepare for the dangerous effects that will cause their people to suffer the most. It is also a matter of pragmatic necessity, as this is a global challenge that will not be solved without the participation of every nation. The Loss and Damage Fund and other similar funds will help to kickstart further investment in the least developed countries and small island developing States.

Additionally, oil and gas companies committed to take action to curtail methane emissions — the most potent greenhouse gas. While a necessary step, significantly more action is required from this sector to meet the goals of the agreement. Also encouraging is the commitment of nearly 130 countries to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030, and among more than 150 countries to build more sustainable food systems with resilient agricultural practices that benefit people, nature, and the climate. And six major food companies including Ceres’ network members Danone, General Mills, and Nestle announced the launch of a new global business alliance with EDF to drive action on methane emissions in their dairy supply. Each of these objectives are crucial to tackling the climate crisis and must now be followed by immediate and concrete actions to achieve them.

We look forward to working with Ceres’ network members, partners, and other stakeholders to ensure we build on the progress achieved at COP28 to create a stronger, more resilient and just economy.

About Ceres

Ceres is a nonprofit organization working with the most influential capital market leaders to solve the world’s greatest sustainability challenges. Through our powerful networks and global collaborations of investors, companies and nonprofits, we drive action and inspire equitable market-based and policy solutions throughout the economy to build a just and sustainable future. For more information, visit ceres.org and follow @CeresNews.

Media Contact: Reginald Zimmerman, rzimmerman@ceres.org, 617-247-0700 ext. 136

Co-founded by longtime Frito-Lay employee Chris Wallace, MAN UP Mentoring is an Orlando-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering at-risk youth through mentorship programs, educational support, and character development. With an organizational motto, penned by Frederick Douglass, “It is easier to empower youth; than to repair broken men,” the organization aims to cultivate responsible leaders and positive role models within the community.

MAN UP Mentoring has four core values that are found throughout the work they do, which are to connect, serve, lead, and empower. In addition to its core values, MAN UP is rooted in four pillars as well, those being mentorship, education, social services, and food security. To fully support these values and pillars, MAN UP’s mentoring curriculum framework is based on the Whole Child Model. According to Transcend Education, creator of the Whole Child Model, the model is “rooted in the understanding that children’s academic success is inextricably linked to their overall well-being”.

Since its inception in 2014, MAN UP Mentoring has supported over 1,200 youth and nearly 300 families, while serving six schools within the Orlando area. This support has equated to nearly 12,000 pounds of food distributed with a value totaling over $15,000. Frito-Lay North America (FLNA), Chris Wallace’s employer over the past 35 years, has proven to be a substantial contributor to MAN UP Mentoring’s mission. Over the years FLNA has supported the organization much more than just financially. The company has numerous volunteers from the local plant and also provides product donations.

On average, youth members participate in MAN UP’s programming for five years. As stated by youth.gov, the U.S. government resource for youth programming, “close, healthy, supportive relationships between mentors and mentees that last a significant portion of time (i.e., more than one year) are central to success,” which correlates to the immense success MAN UP Mentoring has had. The program has seen 100% of youth graduating high school with 96% of those youths not offending or reoffending in the Juvenile Justice System. When asked about his commitment to service through MAN UP Mentoring, Chris Wallace says, “It is our goal to introduce our mentees to the best version of themselves, offer them love, support, and hope, while igniting their vision.”

December 13, 2023 /3BL/ – Malnutrition treatment works—it saves lives and helps 90% of children regain their strength in about six weeks. But what happens after those children recover?

A new study released today from Action Against Hunger, a nonprofit leader in the global movement to end hunger, shows that a significant percentage of children successfully treated for severe acute malnutrition are vulnerable to relapse, providing valuable new insights that could save lives by improving the long-term impact of threadbare aid budgets. Globally, 47 million children are acutely malnourished, but prior to this study, little was known about their prognosis after treatment is complete.

This first-of-its-kind study tracked outcomes of children treated for severe acute malnutrition (SAM), a life-threatening form of hunger, across three different countries: Mali, Somalia and South Sudan. It monitored their progress for six months after treatment and compared it to their otherwise healthy peers.

“Each year, we treat millions of children for malnutrition, and most of the time, they make a full recovery. Yet, we have long wanted to know what happens after they leave our treatment centers,” said Heather Stobaugh, PhD., a Senior Research and Learning Specialist at Action Against Hunger and the principal investigator of this study.

“We found that children recovering from malnutrition are extremely vulnerable and tend to be smaller, thinner, and shorter than their peers who have not been malnourished. Practitioners can realistically expect a large proportion of recovered SAM children to relapse, as high as 30-50% in some rural and resource-limited settings.”

Key study findings include:

Urban versus Rural Context – The study found that relapse rates are nearly 50% higher in rural areas, where populations have limited access to healthcare, cash, or other assistance programs. In urban Mogadishu, Somalia, researchers observed low relapse rates (5%), even among internally displaced populations. Study authors hypothesize that access to services such as health care, cash, remittances and food distributions play a significant role in determining the longer-term well-being of children after they recover from the life-threatening form of malnutrition: severe acute malnutrition.Need for Longer-Term Services – Children who recover from SAM are up to five times as likely than their peers to need future intervention after being malnourished. Prior to this study, it was assumed that children who recovered from malnutrition are as healthy as their peers, yet these new findings suggest the risk for poor outcomes is much higher once a child has experienced SAM. This potentially opens the door for follow-up services that could reduce the health impacts and costs associated with relapse.Children Who Respond Quickly Are More Likely to Sustain Recovery – Children who respond quickly to treatment for malnutrition are more likely to sustain their recovery, even if they live in households dealing with food insecurity. Study authors hypothesize that those who do not respond quickly to initial treatment likely have extenuating biological or social factors that hinder their response to treatment and continue to be problematic after treatment.Boys More Vulnerable Than Girls – In Mali, researchers found that boys, as opposed to girls, are more likely to relapse to malnutrition. This coincides with other new findings showing boys are generally more susceptible to acute malnutrition than girls.Community and Context Matters – Broader community and context matter more to sustaining recovery from malnutrition than factors associated with specific individuals or households. This insight helps organizations like Action Against Hunger to better understand in which contexts children will be more vulnerable after initial recovery. Also, it could lead to solutions that focus on providing households greater access to community-wide services, such as healthcare, cash transfers, or other support services.

“After we provide medical treatment, children who have recovered from malnutrition still need continuous monitoring and support to prevent them from falling back into a malnourished state,” says Sarah King, a Nutritional Epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Humanitarian Health team who led the implementation of the study in the three countries.

“Sustained recovery from malnutrition requires access to affordable, high-quality food. Also, relapse seems to be significantly influenced by local availability of other services such as access to healthcare, clean water, and cash transfers, as well as family and other community-level support. This is a testament to the importance of multi-sectoral interventions after medical intervention to successfully save lives.”

“There is still a lot we do not know, and as a next step, we hope to secure funding for future research that tests new approaches to ensure that children sustain their recovery and can thrive in childhood,” Stobaugh said. “With a global hunger funding gap of 53 percent, we need evidence-based ways to make aid budgets stretch farther and act as efficiently as possible. Ideally, we need solutions that don’t involve re-treating the same children over and over again.”

The research spanned different types of treatment centers run by government health agencies, nonprofit humanitarian groups such as Action Against Hunger, and a hybrid model where a nongovernmental organization (NGO) helps to build government capacity. To collect the data, full-time research staff from Action Against Hunger were hired and trained to measure children, conduct surveys, collect samples, and more, building their own capacity to go on to work in further research projects.

“While it is too early to make definitive recommendations on proven interventions that reduce relapse, we hope that new evidence will translate into more effective programs,” Stobaugh said. “These findings suggest that assistance programs should be targeted toward children who were previously severely malnourished, and that additional focus should be placed on rural contexts with lower access to community and social services. We also need resources to test new interventions that could help prevent relapse.”

The study was released shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued updated guidelines for managing acute malnutrition in childhood. While the WHO acknowledged the importance of so-called “post-exit” outcomes, its new guidelines provide relatively little information on the topic, highlighting the need for this type of research and further studies on the important issue.

“Ultimately, we hope this kind of research will help the WHO to better define relapse after initial recovery from malnutrition and to set targets for humanitarian organizations and governments alike,” Stobaugh said. “Today, the humanitarian and health sectors have an accepted target for at least 75% of treated children to recover from malnutrition. We should have similar goals for an annual reduction in the number of children who relapse once treatment is complete.”

Funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, the study was co-authored by individuals from Action Against Hunger, CDC, the London School of Tropical Medicine, and Washington University of St. Louis. The findings also will be presented at the Research Dissemination Event in Washington, D.C., on December 15th, 2023, providing an opportunity to further explore the data and potential next steps.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger leads the global movement to end hunger. We innovate solutions, advocate for change, and reach 28 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a nonprofit that works across 55 countries, our 8,900 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. We strive to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good.

A comment often heard several decades ago in sustainability and ESG investing circles was that U.S.-headquartered companies were distinct laggards in disclosing information and especially performance data on their environmental, social, and governance responsibilities. And that they were notably behind non-U.S. peers in publishing structured reports for investors and stakeholders on these topics. European companies were way ahead, so went the common wisdom for years.

Serious change began with passage by the U.S. Congress of the Sarbanes-Oxley package of legislation in 2002, and adoption of reporting rules by the SEC over the following years. Over the past two decades, annual reporting by U.S. companies on what is now commonly referred to as ESG or sustainability steadily increased — in terms of relevant policies, strategies, practices, performance, and achievements (or outcomes).

The G&A Institute team had long monitored and analyzed corporate sustainability reporting and the first trends report we shared publicly in 2012 focused on 2011 reporting by companies included in the S&P 500 Index©. These reports carried such titles as “Corporate Responsibility”, “Social Responsibility”, “Environmental Progress”, “Corporate Citizenship”, and a growing number, “Corporate Sustainability”. “ESG” was steadily adopted as a preferred title in more recent years.

Our research team found that about 20 percent of S&P 500 companies were publishing such reports for public consumption in 2011. (Note: the S&P 500 index is an important benchmark for many asset managers, and represents about 80% of available market capitalization.)

The “hockey stick” effect for such reporting became obvious in our next report, when the volume of sustainability reporting in 2012 escalated to more than half (53%) of the S&P 500 companies. For the 2013 reporting year, our research showed the percentage moved to three-quarters of the universe of companies; and by the 2019 reporting year our research showed 90% — nine of ten companies in this important index — were publishing ESG reports. Five years ago, we added the “next 500” of large-cap and mid-cap companies to our annual analysis, as represented in smallest half by market cap of the Russell 1000 Index©.

The 2023 edition of our “Sustainability Reporting in Focus” report clearly shows that U.S. companies are no longer “reporting laggards!” In the 2022 reporting year, S&P 500 companies approached 100% reporting and the total Russell 1000 companies grew to a record 90% reporting. Mid-cap companies in the smallest half by market cap of the Russell 1000 had the biggest jump, increasing to 82% reporting.

In the current report, the G&A team, which includes our outstanding analyst-interns, compiled a wealth of information about the 1,000 largest publicly-traded U.S. corporations’ sustainability reporting practices for year 2022. Included is the 12-year track record of S&P 500 (corporate) reporters, and the overall trends of Russell 1000 reporters. Our team looked closely at the use of the key reporting frameworks or initiatives by large and mid-cap corporate reporters (GRI Standards, SASB Standards, CDP, TCFD, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Science Based Targets initiative). We are also tracking trends of external assurance of such reports.

We invite you to read the results of our full year’s in-depth research effort, which contains an abundance of useful information for sustainability professionals.

The 2023 Trends report is here for your download.

This is just the introduction of G&A’s Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view the full issue.

Originally published in Elgin Community College’s Impact Magazine, Fall 2023 edition

At Elgin Community College, there is an unwavering feeling that students can do anything.

But often, those considering college — and even currently enrolled students — are uncertain about what to study or how to afford it. Some of the uncertainty stems from not having exposure to a particular career or field of study. And so, with the support of the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the ECC Foundation is helping to change that.

The Motorola Solutions Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola Solutions, committed to diversifying the workforce and creating opportunities for up-and-coming innovators in technology and engineering. Since 2017, the organization has awarded more than $170,000 to the ECC Foundation to champion student scholarships. The Motorola Solutions Foundation Scholars Program at ECC supports 20 women and minority students pursuing degrees in public safety, engineering, and technology.

“Motorola Solutions sees value in our students, especially those who may not ordinarily look at engineering and technology as a career choice,” said Susan Taylor-Demming, executive director of institutional advancement and the ECC Foundation. “They are helping students realize their worth, supporting them academically and financially, and allowing them to see the breadth of opportunity the industry provides.”

For Motorola Solutions, the partnership is a win-win. Innovation has been at the core of the company’s 95-year history, and it aims to inspire and cultivate future engineers and inventors by supporting organizations that foster new thinking in education. “We want to nurture the next generation to continue innovating and pushing the boundaries of technology and possibility. And for innovation to benefit everyone positively, we need individuals from all walks of life, with different lived experiences, to contribute to it,” said Karem Pérez, executive director of the Motorola Solutions Foundation.

For Taylor-Demming, the best part of awarding this scholarship is the student-employee interaction. Scholarship winners tour the Motorola Solutions facility in Elgin and meet with employees. “The chance for students to talk to employees in the field they want to pursue is extremely gratifying, and there’s nothing like it,” said Taylor-Demming.

Students also find this experience rewarding. ECC graduate Kathryn Chappel is now studying at the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The scholarship helped her worry less and perform better, and with it, she got into her top-choice school. “The Motorola Solutions Scholarship allowed me to focus more on academics and getting good grades and less on paying for school. I really enjoy my classes, and I got involved in the school by joining the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society,” said Chappel.

Scholarship funds directly support students’ tuition and college expenses, such as books, lab fees, transportation, and food insecurity. The connection forged between students and Motorola Solutions is a wealth of opportunity. “What we hope students take away from their grant tenure is the feeling that they can accomplish anything and a desire to pay it forward at some point,” said Pérez. For the ECC Foundation, it’s a great partnership — and for the community, this partnership strengthens students’ interest in and access to these fields. “We believe a thriving community is one in which each person has a chance to reach their full potential,” said Pérez.

Read the entire fall 2023 issue of Impact magazine online here.

December 13, 2023 /3BL/ – Today Bath & Body Works announces its inclusion on Newsweek’s ranking of America’s Most Responsible Companies.

Newsweek partnered with global research and data firm Statista for their fifth annual list of America’s Most Responsible Companies. The publication based its rankings on a holistic view of corporate responsibility and equally considered the three ESG areas—environment, social and corporate governance—in its findings.

“Being represented on this important ranking is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of our new ESG strategy and commitments,” says Jeff King, Group Vice President, Head of ESG for Bath & Body Works. “This year Bath & Body Works launched its first ESG report which outlines our approach toward a more resilient and responsible future. We look forward to progressing on our journey as we work take care of the things that matter most.”

In addition to making Newsweek’s ranking of America’s Most Responsible Companies, Bath & Body Works recently has been recognized in several other ways including:

America’s Greatest Workplaces for VeteransAmerica’s Greenest Companies by NewsweekWorld’s Most Trustworthy Companies by NewsweekAmerica’s Greatest Workplaces by NewsweekAmerica’s Best Workplaces for Women by NewsweekAmerica’s Greatest Workplaces for LGBTQ+ individuals by NewsweekMost Trustworthy Companies in America by NewsweekDiversity in Business Award by Columbus Business FirstForbes List of America’s Best Large EmployersForbes List of America’s Best Employers for WomenA Diversity First Top 50 Company by the Diversity Research Institute

For more information about Bath & Body Works’ ESG commitments and to read the company’s inaugural ESG report, visit bbwinc.com/about-us/esg.

ABOUT BATH & BODY WORKS

Home of America’s Favorite Fragrances®, Bath & Body Works is a global leader in personal care and home fragrance, including top-selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap. Powered by agility and innovation, the company’s predominantly U.S.-based supply chain enables the company to deliver quality, on-trend luxuries at affordable prices. Bath & Body Works serves and delights customers however and wherever they want to shop, from welcoming, in-store experiences at more than 1,840 company-operated Bath & Body Works locations in the U.S. and Canada and more than 450 international franchised locations to an online storefront at BathandBodyWorks.com.

For more information, please contact:

Bath & Body Works, Inc.: 
Media Relations 
Emmy Beach 
Communications@bbw.com

Throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, teammates who are part of our HOLA employee resource group demonstrated their commitment to combatting food insecurity, a pressing issue affecting Hispanic communities across the U.S. Their efforts — which included more than 190 hours of volunteer service — spanned multiple Clorox locations, including the San Francisco Bay Area; Alpharetta, Georgia; Durham, North Carolina; and Sunrise, Florida.

California 
In Alameda County, where 1 in 4 residents faces food insecurity and 13% of the Hispanic population in California is affected, HOLA teammates packed 16,258 pounds of food, equivalent to 13,494 meals, at Alameda County Community Food Bank. Their work supported local efforts to alleviate hunger, with the food bank distributing enough food to serve 60,000 people daily. Over 40% of the food bank’s clientele are Latinos residing in the nearby communities of West Oakland and East Oakland and in the corridors of Hayward, San Leandro and Newark. This substantial percentage underscores the impact we can make right in our local neighborhoods. The Bay Area team is dedicated to making this an annual event with the goal of continually helping fight hunger in the community.

Florida 
In Sunrise, where 10% of the Hispanic population experiences food insecurity, HOLA teammates sorted, packed and palletized 6,000 meals, supporting Feeding South Florida‘s efforts to address this issue.

North Carolina 
In the 10th-hungriest state in the U.S., 17% of the Hispanic population faces food insecurity. Our HOLA teammates in Durham packed 1,500 pounds of food, enough to feed 225 families meals, furthering the impact of the local food bank. In Inter-Faith Food Shuttle‘s seven-county service area alone, more than 222,000 people are food insecure, and the efforts of our volunteers helped address this pressing need.

Georgia 
In Alpharetta, where 12% of the Hispanic population faces food insecurity, members of HOLA sorted and packed 10,000 pounds of food, equivalent to 8,264 meals, supporting the Atlanta Community Food Bank‘s mission to combat hunger.

The Clorox Company Foundation extended these efforts through $65,000 in contributions to all four local food organizations. An additional $95,000 was donated to help address hunger experienced by children in the summer months. During that time, millions of children lack consistent access to food because they rely on nutrition programs through their schools, leaving them without reliable access to food. The foundation also made donations on behalf of our teammates to food organizations in six other Clorox communities.

Innovation is changing the agricultural landscape to lead us into a new age of food production.

For a look into how new technologies are affecting the future of farming, Hormel Foods asked Ithaca College Assistant Professor Dominique Saint Malo to share her insights on developments in the industry. Note: Hormel Foods does not endorse companies mentioned in this report.

Over the last 50,000 years, humans have settled and resettled around the world, clearing land in the pursuit of expanding agriculture. With a growing world population, innovation in farming is necessary for us not only to thrive, but to survive.

Global agricultural production on our available agricultural land has increased over the years, and according to Our World in Data, a British research organization, we can continue increasing production with the space we have allocated to date, so long as we reconsider the way we use it. Luckily for us, we are reaching a new age of farming. At this moment, for both independent and large farms, agricultural machinery manufacturers and grassroots organizations are rethinking and reinventing farming.

Has the world passed peak agricultural land?

Agricultural land is the sum of cropland and pasture used for grazing livestock. This is shown for three sources, which use different methods of estimation. While they disagree on how much land is used for agriculture, and the exact date that it peaked, they do all agree that we have passed the peak.

A New Age of Farming

Demand and population are increasing, and so is waste of all sorts — from animals, crops, forests and discarded food. Dumping this waste causes pollution, but smaller farms and companies are finding ways to reuse waste.

Worldwide, about $120 billion worth of agricultural waste is burned in the open each year, but India-based startup Takachar, an MIT spinoff, is turning this biomass problem into profits with their small-scale, portable system that transforms rural agricultural waste into carbon-rich bioproducts.

“You can think of this as a biomass roasting machine,” says Vidyut Mohan, Takachar’s CEO and cofounder. “Similar to a coffee roaster, we put agricultural waste into the equipment and it is heated in minimal amounts of oxygen; it leaves behind a dense, carbon-rich material used to make fuels, fertilizers or activated carbon.” These carbon-rich materials (known as biochar and made from waste like straw, rice husks, coconut shells and pine needles) are then redistributed into the soil, making it healthier and reusable at a quicker rate than waste-burning would allow. The farmers see more yields faster, leaving a smaller carbon footprint.

Reusing Waste

Innovative companies are also using food waste to feed animals. Typically, about 40% of food from restaurants and grocery stores is unsold. While some is donated, much of it is ultimately thrown away. In 2019, about 35% of unsold food went to landfills. Bedminster, New Jersey–based Do Good Chicken takes nutritious surplus food from grocery stores to the company’s facilities where it converts the food into feed for chickens; those chickens are then sold at the grocery stores from which Do Good Chicken gets its ingredients. This closed-loop system reduces both food waste and the amount of carbon associated with raising chickens.

While these savvy business models and innovations are exciting, until one or more of them prove they can scale, there will always be the question of accessibility. Can we truly guarantee companies like Do Good Chicken and Takachar will reach every corner of the world? Maybe not, but even smaller startups are focusing on markets more local to them and changing not just the farming landscape, but food culture at the same time.

Smallhold is an aptly-named company that started small. In fact, the success of this company seems to be attributed to its ability to keep things small. “The future is fungi” is one of the company’s slogans, and it may be onto something. Smallhold is a Brooklyn-based mushroom farm, but its high-yield, low-impact urban farms and spaceship-like microfarms located inside grocery stores have sprouted in several U.S. cities. These mushrooms grow from sawdust (lumber industry waste) and don’t have to be packaged or travel thousands of miles to reach the grocery store. Smallhold farms foster a regenerative agricultural loop, using waste like seed hulls to grow the mushrooms and subsequently working with scientists to create rich composts that are returned to the earth to enhance ecological resilience.

Insects in Agriculture

The “tsunami” of vertical insect farming is “on its way,” says Jeffrey K. Tomberlin, entomologist and professor at Texas A&M. “It’s probably going to revolutionize what agriculture is today. It’s going to take agriculture and add another link into a more circular system.” Organic waste feeds insects, whose waste then creates excellent fertilizer and enriches soil quality. Insects also provide high nutritional value to farmed animals, offering a more eco-friendly approach to raising livestock.

According to PROteINSECT, a project headed by the Food and Environment Research Agency in the United Kingdom, a typical chicken requires about 925 grams of protein during its lifetime. House fly larvae meal, a main focus of the PROteINSECT project, is highly digestible, provides an abundance of amino acids, and has a protein content of up to 63% (compare this to the roughly 18% provided by typical premium feed). Farmers can also “grow” these flies virtually anywhere, which cannot always be said of other feed ingredients — like corn — depending on a farm’s location. Flies require far less space to farm and time to reproduce (a female house fly can lay up to 500 eggs in her 30-day lifetime) and thrive on a range of organic wastes. This means that while feeding chickens and keeping them healthier longer, they offer a crucial environmental waste-management benefit, reducing the volume of most organic waste by about 60%. And they aren’t the only ones. Mealworms, crickets and earthworms also check these boxes.

AI AND ADVANCING

Farming Technology

While many of these startups and innovative thinkers are focusing on new techniques and technologies, some are looking at another volatile aspect of farming: the workforce. Farm labor is becoming harder to find despite the increasing amount of work to be done. Using artificial intelligence, huge forest and agricultural manufacturing companies like John Deere are making great strides toward making farming more efficient with fewer hands on deck. The company’s fully-autonomous tractor, introduced in 2022, comes complete with 360-degree, high-speed-processor cameras that use AI to determine where the tractor can or cannot drive. Instead of spending hours plowing, farmers can tend to other farm tasks and check in on their tractors via iPad as needed.

Other innovative farming tools employing AI technology will soon be at our disposal. Climate change accelerates the growth rate of weeds that compete with crops, so farmers perceive a need to increase the use of weed-killing chemicals to keep pace. However, the traditional weed-killing process ends up destroying valuable plant life in addition to weeds. Today’s expensive, widely-used ground sprayers miss the target with 80% of their toxic payload.

Precision AI’s weed-killing drones scan crops for weeds and move in close to efficiently zap only weeds. Precision AI bills its offering as “spray as a service.” Their company will dispatch a truck with several AI-powered drones to a farm and spray their field at a per-acre cost. The farmer sees a higher crop success rate and spends less money on chemicals and traditional farming tools. Not far behind are AI-powered pollinator drones that determine which plants need what kind of pollination when, and AI-powered traps that kill and collect data on pests in a farmer’s field, both also hands-free.

Research to the Rescue

Access to budding technology means nothing without the ability to learn from it; the pursuit of knowledge will help chart a sustainable future, and countless grassroots organizations and educational institutions are leading the way. Schools like Oregon State University and Colorado State University go beyond the classroom, actively participating in local agriculture and collaborating with farmers in their community to determine how ever-evolving farming technology can create a lasting impact on the world around them.

Cornell University — on the list of top 10 schools for both agriculture and computer science/information programs — administers Grow-NY, a food and agriculture startup competition focused on building an enduring, innovative food and agriculture cluster in the central New York region. With access to Cornell’s cutting-edge research, physical labs, specialized equipment, manufacturing facilities and world-class scientists, Grow-NY provides New York State startups and entrepreneurs with resources and support needed to thrive as forward-thinking agriculture companies.

Companies like Do Good Chicken and John Deere share the notion that while the changes may seem small scale now, systemic and scalable shifts in the industry will have quantifiable results. How we make food is changing, and companies are starting to jump onboard. From grassroots organizations to massive global corporations and everyone in between, the evolution of agriculture is already underway.