Tag: 3BL

December 12, 2023 /3BL/ – New guidance from ISEAL sets out how companies and sustainability systems can credibly communicate about their work on living wages. As corporate action on living wages gathers momentum, so too does the demand for ‘living wage claims’. But, like any sustainability claims, it’s crucial that living wage claims are credible: claims that are unclear, misleading or lacking in evidence can confuse consumers, erode public trust and face the risk of legal sanctions.

In response, ISEAL – the global membership organisation for sustainability systems – has produced a framework to support good practice in this area. Making Credible Living Wage Claims offers guidance to companies, sustainability systems and other organisations to help ensure the living wage claims they make are clear, accurate, relevant and robust.

The guidance can be applied by a range of potential ‘claims-makers’ including upstream and downstream companies; standard-setting organisations and other voluntary sustainability systems; governments; and trade unions and worker representative organisations.

The framework sets out the basic foundations of credible claims-making, and looks at what organisations need to consider when making claims about specific issues like living wages. It explains the different types of commitment, action and outcome-related claims and the information needed to back them up. It includes a step-by-step guide setting out the basic foundations of credible claims-making and unpacks the issues organisations need to think about when making living wage claims – from whether to make claims in the first place, to clarifying the scope and subject, to understanding the context and audience for different types of claims. Because many organisations are involved in collaborative efforts to improve wages, the guide also explores how companies can communicate their collective and individual contributions.

Although the guidance is focused on living wages, its principles can also be applied to other types of issue-based claims.

ISEAL’s Innovations Director, Patrick Mallet, said: “A growing number of companies, sustainability systems and others are making commitments and taking action to ensure workers in supply chains earn a living wage. They want to be able to communicate the work they’re doing to customers, clients and other stakeholders. This guidance will help them to ensure the claims they make are trustworthy and help to advance living wages, which are so important for helping workers achieve a decent standard of living”.

Over the last three years, ISEAL has been working with sustainability systems to support credible supply chain action on living wages.

Credible claims-making is also an important area of focus for ISEAL: truthfulness in claims-making is one of ISEAL’s Credibility Principles, which define the core values of credible and effective sustainability systems.

Notes:

ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. With a focus on credible practices, it advances scalable and effective solutions that make a lasting impact. Through its work to drive collective efforts, ISEAL makes markets a force for good.

Joining ISEAL’s learning community helps sustainability systems to deliver real, lasting, positive change. ISEAL Community Members are sustainability standards and similar systems that are committed to sharing learning that advances scalable solutions and drives positive impacts. ISEAL Code Compliant organisations are ISEAL Community Members who go further, adhering to ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice – a globally recognised framework for best practice.

Find out more about ISEAL: www.iseal.org

Explore evidence on the impacts of sustainability systems: www.evidensia.eco

NEW YORK and LONDON, December 11, 2023 /3BL/ – AccountAbility, a global ESG Consulting and Standards firm with a three-decade history in guiding leaders to build better companies, announces a joint initiative with the Global Commons Alliance Accountability Accelerator (GCAAA) and the High-Level Champions to unveil the Nature and Climate Action Resource Navigator. This innovative resource – launched at the COP28 Nature Pavilion in Expo City, Dubai – helps organizations navigate the landscape of nature and climate assessment methodologies and disclosure frameworks and surfaces leading tools that enable meaningful nature and climate action that can improve their environmental and business performance.

H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 said: “In the race to tackle climate change, nature is our strongest ally. It offers countless opportunities to build resilience and cut emissions – yet nature is under threat. Businesses and financial institutions have a vital role to play in delivering a nature-positive and net-zero economy.” 

The Navigator is an important initiative to address the urgent need for transparency and comprehensive strategies in the face of escalating environmental challenges. As businesses strive to meet sustainability goals and mitigate their impact on the planet, the Navigator can empower them with the resources needed to understand their nature and climate intersections and impacts, make more informed business decisions, track progress towards milestones and targets, and communicate effectively with stakeholders. 

“Today, global leaders across industries and geographies recognize the critical connection between Nature and Climate, and the opportunities and challenges this creates. However, the landscape of frameworks, standards, tools, methodologies, and guidance is evolving and expanding at a rate that is difficult to keep up with,” said Mr. Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser, Chief Executive Officer of AccountAbility. 

“AccountAbility is proud to partner with the Global Commons Alliance’s Accountability Accelerator (GCAAA) and the High-Level Climate Champions to develop the Nature and Climate Action Resource Navigator, which aggregates tools and resources that corporate actors and financial institutions can use to make informed decisions about their nature and climate measurement, management, and disclosure practices. Together, through this important initiative, we hope to advance our shared mission of improving business practices and performance, while delivering positive lasting impact for people and the planet.” 

Global sustainability frameworks and tools that support corporate nature and climate initiatives are evolving quickly. This can make it challenging for organizations to know where to start, where to accelerate and bolster existing efforts, or where to find resources that support their specific needs. The Navigator was created in response to this challenge, to support organizations looking to source sector- and/or use case-specific resources for materiality assessment, value chain mapping, transition planning, target setting, and a host of other applications. 

“The science-backed linkages between climate change and nature loss are established, and the need for collective action on nature and climate has never been more urgent. The Navigator brings vital rigor and clarity for organizations grappling with complex climate and nature priorities as they contribute to a more resilient and regenerative future,” says Ms. Natasha M. Matic, Ph.D., Global Commons Alliance Accountability Accelerator Executive Director. 

The World Bank estimates that the collapse of natural systems could erase US $2.7 trillion per year from the global economy by 2030. With over 25% of earth’s species at risk of permanent loss and credible net zero pathways to 1.5°C of warming increasingly in doubt, the window to achieving transformational change is rapidly narrowing. In launching the Navigator, AccountAbility, GCAAA and CCT are supporting companies and financial institutions in delivering on their nature and climate commitments and strengthening their accountability to meet corporate targets. 

Access the full Nature and Climate Action Resource Navigator here. 
  
About the Global Commons Alliance 
The Global Commons Alliance is a growing coalition of scientists, philanthropists, civil society groups, businesses, and innovators, enabling collective action to safeguard the global commons. The five key components of the Alliance include the Accountability Accelerator (a co-author of this navigator), the Science Based Targets Network, the Earth Commission, Systems Change Lab, and Earth HQ. The collective mission of the Global Commons Alliance is to mobilize citizens, companies, cities, and countries to accelerate systems change and become better guardians of the global commons. Learn more at www.globalcommonsalliance.org

About the United Nations Climate Champions Team 
The current UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP27 and COP28, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin and Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak build on the legacy of their predecessors to engage with non-state actors and activate the ‘ambition loop’ with national governments. Their work is fundamentally designed to encourage a collaborative shift across all of society towards a decarbonized economy so that we can all thrive in a healthy, resilient, and zero-carbon world. Visit www.climatechampions.unfccc.int 

About AccountAbility 
AccountAbility is a specialist global Consulting and Standards firm that works with businesses, investors, governments, and multilateral organizations to innovate and advance the global Sustainability / ESG agenda by improving the practices, performance, and impact of organizations. The firm focuses on delivering practical, effective, and enduring results that enable our clients to succeed. AccountAbility is a Public Benefit Corporation, operating globally through a highly qualified team from offices in New York, London, Riyadh, and Dubai. The firm is the recipient of multiple business awards from the Financial Times, Forbes, and Capital Finance International, and its website is archived with the United States Library of Congress. Learn more at www.accountability.org. 

Contact: 
Mr. Jon Packer, 
AccountAbility 
Head of Marketing & Communications 
Phone: +1 646 507 5900 
Email: jon.packer@accountability.org 
Web: www.accountability.org

December 11, 2023 /3BL/ – The latest COP28 draft agreement published today falls fatally short of what the climate and economy demand: a phase out of unabated fossil fuels.

Ceres CEO and President Mindy Lubber, said:

“While we appreciate the goal to preserve an orderly process for reducing the use of fossil fuels, climate change is not “orderly” and the scale of weather, water, fire, and other impacts on nature, people, and our economies have been catastrophic over the past few years. The time is now for clear, ambitious action by governments, corporations, and investors. There can be no ambiguity—we must phase out unabated fossil fuels.

We applaud the progress made at COP28, including the renewed commitments to renewable energy and sustainability, but we are deeply concerned that the draft agreement text uses the conditional term “could,” which does not reflect the level of urgency demanded by the global climate crisis. The final agreement must call on all countries to move away from fossil fuels and invest in job-creating, cost-saving clean energy technology.

The COP28 draft agreement also lacks specificity and leaves open the potential for procrastination by countries, companies, and industries. We need well-defined interim steps that can act as benchmarks, ensuring a more accountable and measured approach towards net zero goals. These interim measures will be essential in maintaining momentum and preventing complacency in the face of our pressing global sustainability threats that necessitate urgent and concrete actions.”

At COP28, more than 200 companies, collectively generating more than $1.5 trillion in global annual revenue, called on world leaders to phase out unbated fossil fuels, and last year, 600 investors with more than $42 trillion in assets under management called on governments for policies to support a phase out of fossil fuels. In an op-ed recently published in Triple Pundit, Ceres’ Andrew Logan, wrote: “This united front of investors and companies underscores the wide-ranging support for an impactful agreement at COP28. They’re advocating not only for the phased elimination of fossil fuel usage in line with the push to cap global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but also for ambitious targets to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy-efficiency rates by 2030.”

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: Helen Booth-Tobin, booth-tobin@ceres.org, 617-247-0700 ext. 214

Fortifying buildings for health has become a major priority as the building sector is confronted by a range of vulnerabilities from indoor air quality to extreme heat

“There is no planetary health and no human health separately. Both of them go hand-in-hand. We know the balance between them, and we understand that outcomes that are delivered by one benefit the other and vice versa.” This opening statement by Adhishesh Sood, Business Development Manager – Global Strategic Partnerships, Sustainable Building Technologies, Honeywell, set the stage for a provocative and practical conversation on a critical yet often overlooked imperative that is emerging — the need for buildings that are fortified for sustainability and health.

During the webcast, Climate Change Demands Healthier and More Sustainable Buildings, which was co-hosted by IWBI and BuildingAction, Sood shared his unique expert perspective on what’s happening in markets around the world, as well as the role technology and innovation play to help the building sector achieve success across ambitious climate and health goals.

Alongside Honeywell, building industry experts engaged in a discussion on how leaders from across real estate, both commercial and residential, along with leading organizations in the design, engineering and construction industries, and building owners and operators, can move quickly to help support the well-being of the people inside their buildings, while supporting sustainability goals, especially when confronted by these new (yet predictable) vulnerabilities.

As the world turns its attention to the negotiations taking place now in Dubai at the UN Climate Change Conference – COP28 – the questions posed during the webcast remain relevant: what does this all mean for buildings, all the places that, first and foremost, need to protect occupants and keep them safe? Are they ready? Are they prepared? Many buildings — of all types, all sizes and in every part of the world — will now face numerous new, unanticipated pressures, sometimes with devastating effects to property, but also to health.

In his remarks, Russ Carnahan, BuildingAction Co-Founder and Former U.S. Representative (D-MO), shared that during his tenure in the House it was remarkable “how often buildings were not even mentioned…in terms of addressing sustainability, climate and energy issues. And as we all know, you can’t have a serious conversation about global or national sustainability or energy, if you don’t talk about buildings.” As a longtime champion for better buildings and legislation that focused on making them safer, healthier and more sustainable, the former Congressman advocated for partnership between the public and private sectors, which he believes affords a great combination of action, ideas and innovation that can make a remarkable difference when addressing both climate change and public health.

Kevin Kampschroer, Chief Sustainability Officer and Director, Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, General Services Administration – the largest landlord in the United States – highlighted the evolution of the movement to create more sustainable, more resilient, healthier buildings. Starting from an original focus on Sick Building Syndrome, the industry now recognizes how buildings can be influential in ways that support “not just the absence of sickness, but the presence of positive health” of the people inside – from improved sleep patterns to better cognitive abilities. How can buildings be a part of the community? How can they be places of refuge? These types of positive interventions do not need to be expensive, he noted, they are simply a new way of doing things.

As part of the recognition of the health impacts of buildings, many in the global real estate sector are working to support rapid decarbonization, widespread adoption of energy efficiency solutions and other carbon reduction strategies.

According to Kampschroer, the process of electrification and decarbonization of buildings is the next frontier and “a multi-trillion dollar issue for the globe.” The industry must not only modernize our buildings, but also prepare the grid for these changes. Thus far, “the steps have been too small and too slow. We need to take bigger steps and start running,” he said.

Sood agreed with the sense of urgency and brought in the technology angle, stating, “There is a lot of concentration on the profitability of buildings…You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. The tradeoff is not a given” and it is possible to implement technology efficiencies in terms of lighting, HVAC systems and occupancy levels.

That same sense of urgency also applies to climate resilience. When it comes to grid electrification and resilience, as well as bringing on more electric vehicles, systems such as battery energy storage can help with carbon reduction. These steps, too, must be fast according to Sood, and we must continue to take a holistic approach to sustainability, energy efficiency, health and other social elements in buildings.

“Our problems are multifaceted, so our solutions have to grapple with multiple issues. The climate resilience solutions are also human health resilient solutions,” added Jason Hartke, Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Advocacy, IWBI.

From IWBI’s perspective, the WELL Building Standard provides a framework for translating research into practice that allows us to share with our community the strategies and solutions that prioritize people’s health and well-being, including in the context of these climate change-driven health impacts. It’s why we created alignments with leading green building rating systems to better recognize projects that share a commitment to environmental sustainability with a commitment to human health.

In 2023, IWBI and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a streamlined process for projects pursuing certifications under the LEED green building rating system and the WELL Building Standard. This new process creates an opportunity for organizations to apply an integrated approach to health and sustainability, transforming how they unite stakeholders and make key business decisions. Within a matter of months, hundreds of projects enrolled representing more than 100 million square feet of space. USGBC and IWBI aim to continue to expand shared efforts across several other priorities, including social equity, sustainable finance and advocacy – helping to drive efficiencies that can address the sustainability and health-related pressures and vulnerabilities associated with a changing climate.

View the complete webcast recording on-demand: Climate Change Demands Healthier and More Sustainable Buildings.

View original content here.

SWORDS, Ireland, December 11, 2023 /3BL/ – Trane Technologies (NYSE:TT), a global climate innovator, has been named to the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the third consecutive year and the North America Index for the thirteenth consecutive year. The company performed in the 98th percentile in the Building Products industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA score as of Nov. 27, 2023), with a perfect score of 100 in the Resource Efficiency and Circularity category.

The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index represents the top 10% of the 2,500 largest companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index (BMI) based on long-term economic, environmental and social criteria. The North America Index represents the top 20% of the 600 largest U.S. and Canadian companies in the S&P Global BMI. The S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) is an annual evaluation of companies’ sustainability practices, and its scores are used to determine which companies are included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).

“Our continued inclusion on the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability North America and World Indices is a tremendous honor that recognizes our relentless investment in sustainable innovation,” said Dave Regnery, chair and CEO of Trane Technologies. “I’m proud of our team members whose bold ambition has created a positive and lasting impact for our customers, communities and the planet.”

Through industry-leading action and innovation, Trane Technologies is decarbonizing buildings, industry and the cold chain and advancing its 2030 Sustainability Commitments, including the Gigaton Challenge, and its pledge to be net-zero by 2050. The company’s emissions reductions targets have been externally validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

The company recently hit two significant sustainability milestones. Last month, it announced that it’s shipped over a million HVAC units with low-carbon steel to homeowners and commercial customers across the U.S. The company also announced at Solutrans 2023 that it has fulfilled its August 2021 commitment to deliver fully electric, zero direct emission Thermo King® refrigeration solutions for every segment of the cold chain in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region by 2023. 
 

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About Trane Technologies 
Trane Technologies is a global climate innovator. Through our strategic brands Trane® and Thermo King®, and our portfolio of environmentally responsible products and services, we bring efficient and sustainable climate solutions to buildings, homes and transportation. For more on Trane Technologies, visit www.tranetechnologies.com.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices 
S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji 

This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of securities laws, which are statements that are not historical facts, including statements that relate to our sustainability initiatives and commitments, and the anticipated impact of these initiatives and commitments. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause such differences can be found in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as well as our subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. We assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Mondelēz 2022 Snacking Made Right Report

We strive to make sure that the rights of people in our value chain are respected and promoted and that the communities where we matter most are resilient. To this end, we run pragmatic human rights due diligence across the value chain and focus on key areas where we believe we can make a greater impact, including tackling human rights risks in our sourcing of key commodities.

The Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) protocol is used to evaluate our internal manufacturing sites against a common set of corporate social responsibility standards, developed for the consumer goods industry.

OUR GOALS AND AMBITION 

Our 2025 ambition is to implement robust, risk-based human rights due diligence across our value chain, and we have the following 2025 goals:

100% of our manufacturing sites completed a SMETA audit within the past 3 years100% of our prioritized supplier sites completed a SMETA audit within the past 3 years100% of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa are covered by a Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation System (CLMRS)

Strong Focus and Governance 

We strive to ensure the rights of people along our value chain are respected and promoted. This includes our approximately 91,000 employees around the world, people working for our suppliers, and people growing our ingredients.

As set out in our Human Rights Policy, we follow the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as a framework to guide our approach to identify and address risks, and to disclose our progress. For more information, please see our annual Human Rights Due Diligence Report.

Our Human Rights Working Group defines our human rights due diligence strategy and drives its implementation throughout our organization. This working group reports regularly to functional and business leaders and annually to the Board’s Governance, Membership and Sustainability Committee.

We collaborate with peers in the Consumer Goods Forum Human Rights Coalition (CGF HRC) to help make the approach mainstream, learn from each other, and show the way for the sector more broadly, including publishing a human rights due diligence (HRDD) roadmap.

In 2022, we also worked with a range of external advisors, including TwentyFifty, Embode, and our Cocoa Life External Advisory Board, to help us assess and strengthen our approach.

Moreover, we support legislative efforts to make human rights due diligence mandatory for all companies along the value chain.

“We strive to work with suppliers and partners with comparably high standards of conduct when it comes to responsible sourcing. We expect them to follow our Human Rights Policy, and to communicate these expectations throughout their supply chain. We take a riskbased approach and pragmatic steps to rollout human rights due diligence and inform our sourcing practices from our direct suppliers to our key upstream ingredient supply chains. We are committed to making our human rights due diligence system better every day and wherever possible strive to join forces with industry peers to accelerate progress.” 

Thomas Gaengler 

Chief Procurement Officer

Mondelēz International

Ongoing Due Diligence Efforts We undertake practical, proactive, ongoing human rights due diligence to identify, mitigate, and reduce the likelihood of potential and actual human rights impacts within our own operations, and work with our business partners across our supply chain to achieve the same. We identify potential human rights issues and monitor compliance with our policies. We use the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) protocol to evaluate our internal manufacturing sites against a common set of corporate social responsibility standards developed for the consumer goods industry. We also require higher-risk direct suppliers to complete a SMETA audit.

Despite delays in previous years related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to make strong progress towards our 100% audit targets for our own manufacturing sites1 and prioritized supplier sites over a 3-year cycle. As of the end of 2022, approximately 62%of our own manufacturing sites1 and approximately 87%prioritized supplier sites have completed a SMETA audit within the past three years.2 

Despite the continued effects related to the pandemic, we will continue our efforts to execute audits of our remaining global manufacturing sites and supply chain.

Beyond our audit program, we continued to enhance our human rights due diligence systems by building internal capabilities, embedding good practices within our business, and prioritizing key focus areas.

Conducting a New Value Chain Human Rights Assessment 

In 2022, we conducted a new value chain human rights risk assessment. It confirmed key risks and areas we should prioritize. The first priority is to focus on helping to tackle human rights risks in key supply chains (cocoa, palm oil, and hazelnuts), including living wage and income, as well as forced, and child labor.

Supporting Living Wage 

We continued to focus on living wage in own operations by starting to embed living wage benchmarking into our ongoing compensation process and extending our approach to better understand challenges with agency labor in our facilities.

Speaking Up and Investigating 

Our Speaking Up and Investigations Policy empowers our colleagues to ask questions and raise concerns confidentially and anonymously through a telephone HelpLine and an online WebLine. We monitor contacts and work diligently to address concerns raised in a timely fashion.

Continuing to Build our Internal Capabilities on Human Rights 

We offer a Human Rights training program in close to thirty languages and encourage our office-based colleagues worldwide to participate.

“Training our employees across the world is a significant step forward in bringing our Human Rights Policy to life. We aim to help our employees better understand their rights and equip them to look out for one another, so that we can each play our role to Do What’s Right and respect and promote Human Rights.” 

Amy Corona 

VP, Global People Lead, Mondelēz Supply Chain

Mondelēz International

Collaborating Across the Sector 

To help achieve widespread change across whole supply chains, we collaborate with peer companies, expert organizations, and governments with an aim to work together to help tackle issues such as forced and child labor and to uphold human rights.

As a founding and board member of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), for example, we work collaboratively with our peers, suppliers, and civil society organizations to help combat the risks of child and forced labor in the cocoa supply chain, and to drive efforts to strengthen public-private partnership with the governments of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

As a board member of CGF, we work collaboratively to help tackle the risks of forced labor. We support CGF’s Priority Industry Principles on Forced Labor. We also co-chair CGF’s Forest Positive Coalition of Action and the Palm Oil Working Group, are a member of the Human Rights Coalition of Action, and a signatory to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles.

“Tackling the underlying drivers of human rights risks in global value chains takes a systemic collaborative approach. We collaborate with various peers and retailers under the Consumer Goods Forum Human Rights Coalition with an aim to make human rights due diligence mainstream and help put an end to forced labor and other salient issues common to the entire sector.” 

Virginie Mahin 

Senior Director Global Social Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, and Co-chair of the CGF Human Rights Coalition

Taking Action on Palm Oil 

Through our POAP, we require suppliers to respect the labor rights of all workers and embed the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Priority Industry Principles on Forced Labor within both their own operations and supply chains. The POAP requires suppliers to provide annual assurance of continuous improvement, verified by third-party labor rights experts.

To support the mainstreaming of robust due diligence practices in the palm oil sector, we collaborated with peers in the CGF Human Rights Coalition, the Fair Labor Association, and the International Organization for Migration to deploy and test systems at each stage of the supply chain. We also complemented this support to palm oil suppliers with engagement of key actors of the Malaysian recruitment market, as well as joint advocacy towards the Malaysian government and the government of migrant workers’ country of origin.

For more information on our sustainable palm oil sourcing, see pages 47.

Going Further with Cocoa Life 

We made key advances to enhance social sustainability and respect human rights in 2022, through Cocoa Life – our signature cocoa sourcing program. These included launching a new Strategy to Help Protect Children, which sets out our approach to help enhance child protection systems and improve access to quality education in Cocoa Life communities. We also scaled CLMRS in nearly 74%1 of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa and continue our work to further enhance the quality of the system.

For more information on Cocoa Life see pages 31.

1 Reported information for the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 includes a community as covered by CLMRS if the work of identifying children, if any, in or at risk of child labor has been completed by the end of the year, even if any appropriate remediation and post-remediation follow-up occurs in the following year. CLMRS data is provided by third parties. Includes Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

2 Excludes closed manufacturing sites.

3 Prioritized supplier sites are defined as Tier-1 Direct material supplier sites, and excludes suppliers that are not registered on SEDEX, have not yet received a risk score or received a risk score other than High Risk, or have not yet made audit results available to Mondelēz International.

Read more in the Mondelēz 2022 Snacking Made Right Report

On this episode of Baker Tilly’s Healthy Outcomes podcast, Baker Tilly Partner and healthcare provider practice leader Mark Ross interviews Baker Tilly’s Heather Herc, director, and Brad Gummig, senior manager. Together, they discuss the importance of data in healthcare and how healthcare leaders can utilize it to drive data-driven decision making.

Specific topics of discussion include:

Benefits of cultivating a data driven cultureKey activities successful healthcare systems are executing to effectively analyze their business and improve performanceChallenges smaller healthcare systems may face when executing a data analytics strategyCharacteristics / examples of good data analyticsOther areas, outside of expenses, that healthcare systems are pursuing to improve performanceThe process of selecting analytics solutions that will help to maximize ROIUtilization of data and its importance for service line analysis

Connect with the Baker Tilly healthcare team.

Originally published in Alkermes September 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report

We have developed and now manufacture and commercialize proprietary medicines for the treatment of alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder – disease areas with vulnerable patient populations who are often treated in public health and criminal justice settings where systemic inequities are pervasive.

We champion approaches to treatment that recognize the multitude of factors that affect outcomes for patients, caregivers and communities, and are committed to patient and community engagement, disease education and awareness and advocacy for policies that support equitable access to treatment options. Patient advocacy and community engagement are core to our mission. Regular engagements with policymakers and leaders in the patient advocacy community allow us to better understand their perspectives and goals. Learnings from these interactions help to inform our business activities, including with respect to clinical trials, policy and advocacy. Across our endeavors, we are purposeful about staying connected to the reality of living with these complex conditions. We actively seek input from patients and advocates early in our drug development process to help identify unmet patient needs and inform our research. These engagement efforts help us design clinical trials and programs with specific patient outcomes in mind. We continue to consult with patients during the drug development process and beyond, so that patient perspectives continue to inform the development and lifecycle management of our products.

Driven by our patient-centered ethos, we advocate for, among other things, improved access to medicines and other forms of treatment. However, we also understand that access to treatment options addresses only a portion of the needs of the patients, families and communities for whom we develop our medicines. We are committed to working with the people affected by addiction, serious mental illness and cancer, and the organizations that support them, to better understand the complex system of care for these diseases and to achieve our common goal of improving outcomes for these patients and their caregivers.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in Clinical Trials Task Force

Alkermes recognizes the need for increased diversity in populations of patients participating in clinical trials. In 2022, we formed an internal “Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in Clinical Research Task Force”, whose goal is to monitor and share critical DIB-related resources and developments across many areas, including regulatory bodies, U.S. federal, state and local governments and healthcare organizations. This crossfunctional group convenes quarterly and is working to implement a strategic plan aimed at raising awareness and adoption of data-driven solutions to increase diverse representation across our clinical trial programs.

Access

Alkermes believes that every patient deserves quality care, and we are committed to collaborating with policymakers and other industry stakeholders to preserve and enhance access to medicines. We strive to price our medicines in a responsible manner that facilitates broad access. We also offer programs, such as Patient Assistance Programs and CoPay Savings Programs, to provide support to eligible patients who are prescribed our medicines. In 2022, more than 22,000 patients participated in our Co-Pay Savings Programs.

Early Access Policy

Alkermes endeavors to make safe and effective medicines by conducting rigorous clinical trials and obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities, including the FDA. Participation in one of our clinical trials is the optimal way for patients to gain access to our investigational medicines prior to regulatory approval.

However, we understand that some patients may not be able to participate in a clinical trial. If early data from our clinical trials suggest that an investigational treatment might offer benefits for patients facing serious or lifethreatening conditions, Alkermes has a policy under which patients may be eligible to receive access to an investigational medicine outside of the context of a clinical trial. Additional details, including eligibility criteria, can be found in the Alkermes Early Access Policy, a copy of which is available on the Early Access page of the Research & Development section of the Company’s website.

Supporting Our Communities

Alkermes respects the culture, customs and values of the people in the communities in which we operate. We seek to support and positively impact our communities through our grant programs, sponsorship contributions and employee volunteer support.

Sponsorships

We foster and maintain relationships with a variety of health-related and public policy organizations in our local communities. In 2022, we continued to sponsor non-profit organizations such as Mental Health America, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and increased awareness of programs and initiatives of other organizations that work to improve the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. In oncology, we sponsored several initiatives with tumorspecific and pan-tumor advocacy organizations, including the Melanoma Research Foundation, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, National Comprehensive Cancer Care Network and Cancer Support Community, which are focused on patient, survivor and caregiver support, education and research.

Funding in Support of Research and Charitable Organizations

Innovative research, programming and funding are urgently needed to support those who are living with addiction, serious mental illness and cancer. In 2022, Alkermes awarded approximately $1.6 million in research grants and charitable donations in support of these communities.

Between 2016 and 2022, the Alkermes Inspiration Grants® program awarded more than $4.5 million in funding to innovative programs that support the needs of people impacted by addiction, serious mental illness and cancer.

In 2022, we received nearly 250 applications for this highly competitive program, and grants were awarded to nine nonprofit organizations working to address the needs of people living with these complex conditions, including programs serving historically under-resourced or underrepresented communities, including Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), members of the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, women and people impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system.

The nine grant recipients included the following:

Young People in Recovery’s Native American Youth Substance Use Disorder Recovery Support Services Pilot redesigned its existing life-skills curriculum programs to be linguistically and culturally appropriate for Native American youths who struggle with substance misuse or are in recovery.The Foundation for Women’s Cancer’s “Move the Message campaign” was designed to motivate high-risk and historically marginalized communities to take preventive action by increasing awareness of gynecologic cancers through dissemination of vital resources.APA Foundation’s Building Bridges to Care partnership aimed to foster dialogue to improve the understanding of mental health and substance use disorders, reduce stigma and increase connections to care with local community organizations, including faith-based organizations.

Since 2016, the Alkermes Pathways Research Awards® program has provided funding to 23 researchers working to advance our understanding of diseases in the field of neuroscience.

The annual program provides opportunities for individual grants of up to $100,000 per research project for early-career investigators focused on research relating to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Information about past grant recipients can be found on the Research & Medical Grants page of the Research & Development section of our website.

5th Annual Alkermes Pathways Research Awards Program Recipients

Jessica M. Lipschitz, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Applying mobile sensors for mood episode prediction and disease trajectory classification in bipolar disorder: towards precision medicineXiaoting Wu, Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Investigating and rescue of social cognition deficits in schizophrenia mouse models

Community Engagement

Our employees are passionate about helping to care for people and the environment in the local communities in which we work, supporting not only organizations and programs that are connected to the diseases that our medicines treat, but also causes to which they feel a personal connection through their own experience or that of their loved ones.

United States

In 2008, a group of employees started Alkermes in Action, an annual program of volunteering to support our local communities with hands-on activities that align with our values and embody our compassion. Since that time, more than 5,000 volunteers have worked with more than 50 local community organizations, establishing meaningful, long-term relationships with many of them.

In 2022, the Alkermes in Action program consisted of inperson volunteer opportunities with local organizations across our sites. Employees came together to build beds for children in need, sorted donations for local shelters, prepared and served meals for those in need and helped maintain outdoor community spaces.

Ireland

Alkermes employees in Ireland proudly support local organizations that seek to address a range of needs including mental health, cancer care, education, shelter and domestic abuse services and housing insecurity, among others. In 2022, this support was achieved through a combination of financial contributions and employee participation in virtual and in-person events. Some examples of the organizations and initiatives supported include:

Daffodil Day is the Irish Cancer Society’s biggest fundraiser, taking place annually in March and raising millions of Euros to support cancer patients and their loved ones with free advice, resources and critical cancer research. The celebration remained virtual in 2022, and employees were encouraged to donate to this cause and submit photos symbolizing hope.Darkness into Light is a 5K run organized in support of Pieta House, which provides support to people affected by suicide and self-harm. In 2022, Alkermes employees took part in and volunteered at the event, in addition to providing personal financial contributions to the charity.In 2022, Alkermes again partnered with the local secondary school in Athlone as part of a governmentsponsored program to support educational inclusion. This long-running partnership aims to prepare students for the working world while also improving school retention rates for at-risk students by creating a link between education and future employment opportunities. In 2022, the program supported a 2nd year class. It involved four sessions supported by Alkermes employees that focused on teaching practical skills and providing first-hand insights into real-world work environments.

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Trees play a vital role in our environment providing clean air, water filtration, and habitats for animals. For decades, Mary Kay has supported conservation initiatives in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Arbor Day Foundation (ADF) to drive impact in critical areas such as reforestation.

Mary Kay, in partnership with TNC, produced a short film, Forest of Hope, telling the story of Angélica Torres, leader of Mujeres Unidas Para La Conservacion de Laguna de Sanchez, and a group of female entrepreneurs as they combat environmental challenges in the area surrounding Monterrey, Mexico.

In the heart of the Sierra Madre mountain range in southern Mexico, 71-year-old Angélica Torres is determined to change her country’s future. An ecowarrior and entrepreneur from humble beginnings, Torres created a sustainability initiative that is breathing new life into the forest.

The eye-opening documentary takes viewers to a small mountain town surrounded by the Cumbres de Monterrey National Forest where clear-cutting and fires have destroyed more than 30% of the forest. Determined to protect what was left, Torres started “Women United for the Conservation of Laguna de Sanchez” and in turn, created a grassroots movement. Women of her village planted trees, built a greenhouse and together, they are working to not only replenish the forest but also to create a better economic life for their families by selling what they grow.

“At 71 years young, Angélica proves that you’re never too old to make a difference in this world and as a woman myself it was wonderful to find myself inspired by her spirit and the work that she does,” said Cris Graves, Director of Forest of Hope.

“I hope young and old will find inspiration like I have as they get to know Angélica, her family and her community.” Forest of Hope was screened at the 17th annual Dallas International Film Festival, the North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival, Hot Springs International Women’s Film Festival, San Francisco Green Film Festival and La Femme International Film Festival.

The power of women in conservation is an inspiration as Angélica Torres’ passion for protecting the environment is matched only by her compassion for the women in her village.

Mary Kay continues to empower women and partner with TNC as the ADF to do our part to conserve and rebuild our planet’s natural resources through tree plantings. This fall, Mary Kay supported a reforestation effort in Mexico’s Cerro Pelón area, home to a monarch butterfly sanctuary. The new trees planted will help rebuild the ecosystem and nesting ground for the monarch butterfly and empower the community to be good stewards of the forest.

For the most recent updates on Mary Kay’s global sustainability strategy, click here.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., December 11, 2023 /3BL/ – Harvey Couch first electrified The Natural State with Arkansas Power & Light by turning sawdust into electricity in 1913, and the company that would become Entergy Arkansas has been lighting up communities in innovative ways ever since.

In honor of its 110th anniversary, the state’s largest and oldest electric provider is donating more than half a million dollars as part of its “Entergy Arkansas Bright Futures Campaign” to six partner nonprofits to help build strong communities across its 63-county service territory for a total of $660,000. These donations are made possible by profits from the company owners through the Entergy Charitable Foundation and not with customer dollars.

“I cannot think of a more appropriate way to commemorate the last 110 years and look toward ‘Bright Futures’ for our customers and communities,” said Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas. “Entergy Arkansas has been honored to serve for more than a century in our great state, and these grants highlight important partnerships and demonstrate the priority we place on being good corporate citizens by investing in our customers and the places we all call home.”

Six separate grants in the amount of $110,000 from the Entergy Charitable Foundation will be awarded to nonprofits that align with utility’s philanthropic focus on sustaining families, investing in workforce opportunities and a healthy environment. These initiatives are grounded in actions proven to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve now and for generations to come.

“Strategic giving to our communities through philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy is integral to our corporate mission,” said Ventrell Thompson, Entergy Arkansas’ vice president of customer service. “We invest in local solutions that attack the root causes of poverty, support education and workforce development, and protect and preserve the environment.”

The following nonprofits will receive $110,000 grants to commemorate Entergy Arkansas’ 110th anniversary and kick off the Entergy Arkansas Bright Futures Campaign, which will include a number of efforts and initiatives including volunteerism and advocacy, in the coming year and beyond:

The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance will use funds to support hunger initiatives and child feeding programs, including food-filled backpacks, breakfast and after-school meals through the food banks located in the Entergy Arkansas footprint.The Arkansas Community Foundation will administer donations of books through the Dolly Parton Foundation’s Imagination Library program and the Excel by 8 literacy program to help kids throughout our service territory read at grade level by the third grade.The Arkansas STEM Coalition will support STEM education in Arkansas Schools in our service area focused on low-income students.The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas internships for women of color who are juniors, seniors and college-aged provides paid experience and includes housing and transportation. This will expose these women to career opportunities and prepare them to enter the workforce and succeed. Many women-owned businesses are located in the Delta, which is in our service area, and a portion of funding will support the Women’s Economic Mobility Hub.Habitat for Humanity chapters in the Entergy Arkansas service area will receive a total of $110,000 to provide affordable housing to address housing, homelessness and poverty.The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas will use funding to enhance their efforts to protect and restore forests across a 10-county area in the Arkansas Delta and upper Gulf Coastal Plain.

Executive Director Kathy Webb said, “The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is grateful for a long history of collaboration with Entergy, through LIHEAP information, Entergy’s poverty simulation, and more. Collaborating with community-minded partners like Entergy is essential to alleviate hunger in Arkansas, and the underlying causes. Working together, we lessen food insecurity in several ways, including nutrition education, community outreach, supporting our six Feeding America food banks and hundreds of member pantries, and our efforts advocating for positive changes in Arkansas.”

Entergy Arkansas has a long history of supporting local communities financially and with volunteers. In 2022, the company awarded more than 100 non-profit partners and community organizations with $3.4 million in grants. Employees and retirees dedicated more than 25,292 hours of volunteer service valued at more than $757,495.

“This incredible investment comes at a special time, as the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas celebrates turning ’25 Years Bold’ this year. As we recognize two and half decades of boldly working for women and girls in our state, this unique contribution from Entergy Arkansas in recognition of their own 110th anniversary will be a catalyst to help ensure WFA is able to meet the needs of women and girls in our shared community for generations to come,” said Anna Beth Gorman, CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas.

“We are excited and grateful to be part of Entergy Arkansas Bright Futures campaign and the recipient of this generous grant,” said Roger Mangham, state director of the Arkansas Nature Conservancy. “These funds will support our forestry work, keeping the forests we have healthy and planting new trees, which ultimately means better air for us to breathe and cleaner water to drink. We definitely call that an investment in a brighter future!”

Landreaux concluded, “This funding is just the beginning for our ‘Bright Futures’ campaign and will serve as a powerful building block for our core focus areas as we look forward to many more years of powering life for our customers and communities.”

For more information about the Entergy Arkansas corporate giving, visit https://www.entergy.com/csr/giving/.

About Entergy Arkansas

Entergy Arkansas, LLC provides electricity to approximately 730,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Arkansas is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation, a Fortune 500 electric company. Entergy powers life for 3 million customers through our operating companies in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. We’re investing in the reliability and resilience of the energy system while helping our region transition to cleaner, more efficient energy solutions. With roots in our communities for more than 100 years, Entergy is a nationally recognized leader in sustainability and corporate citizenship. Since 2018, we have delivered more than $100 million in economic benefits each year to local communities through philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy. Entergy is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has approximately 12,000 employees. For the latest news from Entergy, visit the Newsroom.