Tag: 3BL

This column was originally published on Forbes.

By Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of Ceres

There are times when an established company, an investor, a startup makes a move that is so strategic—so in tune with the risks and the opportunities of the moment—that it marks the shift between the market’s past and its future.

We recently witnessed that moment.

In a bold step tailored to meet the existential challenges and colossal financial risks of a warming climate and harness the massive opportunities of the shift to a new clean economy, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the U.S. managing $446 billion, announced plans to invest $100 billion in climate solutions by 2030.

This step, which doubles down on the pension fund’s climate investing plans for the next seven years, underpins the comprehensive strategy that CalPERS laid out for achieving its goal of cutting emissions from its portfolio investments to net zero by 2050 while assuring long-term financial results for its pensioners.

In the process, it makes starkly clear that transition plans—the specific and concrete strategies and timelines investors and companies are adopting for reaching their climate goals and acting on climate-related risk—aren’t about being defensive.

They’re about addressing the major risks that financial markets and companies face as a result of the changing climate—the supply chain disruptions, the diminished worker productivity, the damage to corporate infrastructure and the communities businesses operate in. Risks that continue to escalate. Recent government data shows that weather-driven disasters, including wildfires, flooding, and drought, are happening more frequently in the U.S, costing $150 billion annually, with the number of billion-dollar disasters growing sixfold since the 1980s, from three disasters on average annually to 18 annually in recent years.

Just as critically, transition plans are about embracing the booming new clean economy, creating new markets, and investing in the next batch of winners as this shift continues to accelerate exponentially— and avoiding being left behind with dwindling markets, outmoded business models, and stranded assets. This year, a record $1.8 trillion was poured into clean energy investment alone, far outpacing investment in fossil fuel energy, according to the International Energy Agency.

CalPERS’ investment calculus is based solidly on a transition plan that combines ambition, analytics, engagement, and deep risk assessment. The plan sets a high standard and a plan necessary to remain competitive in the changing economy and take the appropriate steps for managing financial risk and protecting long-term shareholder value.

Because while more investors are adopting transition plans as blueprints for how they make the clean energy shift, too often their plans are incomplete and lack clear goals and timelines, with few strategically addressing all the ways that climate change has created investment risks for different sectors across the economy or seeing clearly the opportunities that will emerge in the new economy.

A few pieces of the CalPERS’ plan highlight why it’s an example of a standout strategy:

Significant climate investment: CalPERS $100 billion investment marks a significant shift in the investment landscape. As the public pension fund that manages retirement and health benefits for more than two million public employees, retirees, and their families in California, CalPERS is responsible for protecting and growing people’s hard-earned savings. Investment in climate solutions, clean energy infrastructure, green real estate, and climate bonds isn’t a risky strategy. It’s a rational market response to the competitively-driven innovation, plummeting equipment and installation costs, and market-based industrial strategies from the U.S. Europe, Japan, and China that are driving increasingly ambitious corporate activity and new financial investment opportunities in electric vehicle manufacturing, decarbonizing buildings, greening the grid, and advanced manufacturing. In just the short 16 months since it was passed, companies and investors have responded to the solid market signals of the Inflation Reduction Act and announced more than $380 billion in new private sector clean energy manufacturing investments in the U.S.Deep engagement and accountability: CalPERS has long supported companies that are managing their risks responsibly and preparing for their transition to the net zero economy. It is now bolstering this engagement by adding an assessment of companies’ net zero plans that will focus on financial risk analysis, and pinpoint investment opportunities in companies that are built to withstand the risks of climate change and leverage the transition to the clean energy economy. Based on this insight, CalPERS is prepared to assure that its holdings in companies manage their risks and produce credible net zero plans. This will make CalPERS’ engagements with companies particularly effective, as smart firms will respond with more robust transition plans – which is in the long-term best interests of their shareholders anyway.Alignment with global momentum and the changing regulatory environment: Following the passage of historic climate risk disclosure laws in California in September and the anticipated release of new climate disclosure rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission designed to give the market the information it needs to make informed decisions, CalPERS is solidly part of the momentum behind transparency. Just as investors have been the driving force in calling for the companies they invest in to disclose their climate-related risks so that they have the information they need about how companies are managing risk, they must be equally transparent. CalPERS’ transition plan is a comprehensive and exemplary investor climate action plan that follows the emerging global norms developed by Ceres and our global partners, as well as new principles the U.S. Treasury recently released, for providing the decision-useful information needed for fully functioning capital markets.

The changes that CalPERS just rolled out in its transition plan are a pivotal leadership moment, one that is needed more than ever. The recent slew of sobering reports, including the National Climate Assessment and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change first global stocktake report, makes clear how far off track the world is to avoiding the worst impacts of the warming climate on our planet and economy— and yet how we have all the tools we need to avoid this fate.

During the 2023 United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28), other investors should be inspired by CalPERS’ ambition, recognize the competitive advantage it is staking out, and act boldly themselves to capitalize on the opportunity of the clean economy transition and prudently manage the financial risks that they and their investments face.

Originally published by KFC

PLANO, Texas, December 8, 2023 /3BL/ – KFC announced key milestone store openings with two new restaurants in Haryana, India and Bucharest, Romania, as KFC expands in markets across the world. A new KFC opens somewhere in the world every 3.5 hours and in 2024, KFC plans to enter its 150th country. This global growth is fueled by KFC’s mission to serve feel-good food, at scale, through inclusive, equitable and sustainable business practices.

“As one of the fastest-growing retail brands in the world, our growth is driven by our passion to lead with inclusivity, build with purpose, drive system sales and grow our brand in every market that we operate,” said Sabir Sami, CEO of KFC Global. “I’m humbled by these achievements and see this as an opportunity to celebrate the incredible work of every business partner and team member as we continue to share the joy of our best-tasting fried chicken with more of the world.”

With over 29,000 restaurants, KFC serves billions of people while also creating nearly one million jobs worldwide. KFC leverages the strength of its long-standing relationships with its trusted franchise partners to build momentum and scale growth.

“While we’re a global brand, we aim to meet the unique needs and expectations of our guests on a local level, ensuring that restaurants are designed to connect with the local community and feel paired with menus that resonate with the local culture and flavors,” said Nivera Wallani, Chief Development Officer of KFC Global. “We are keenly focused on sustainable growth and building with purpose. Globally, we are scaling efficiently, while collaborating with our partners on industry-leading business practices and innovative ideas.” 

KFC Set to Open 1,000th Restaurant in India

KFC’s 1000th restaurant in India is slated to open before the end of the year in DLF Cyber Hub in Gurgaon, Haryana. KFC’s growth in India is accomplished in partnership with two major franchise partners, Devyani International Limited (DIL) and Sapphire Foods India Limited (SFIL) who help run over 900 restaurants in the country. The 1,000th restaurant is being opened with Devyani, which has been a partner with Yum! Brands for over two decades.

Since 1995, KFC has strengthened its brand distinctiveness throughout India, while continuing to expand its core menu of finger lickin’ good food by adding flavors such as our Peri Peri Chicken which is enjoyed by local consumers.

KFC India has pioneered local sustainable development with over 20 restaurants which integrate energy efficiency, the use of responsible materials and the application of waste diversion across design and operations. These restaurants have also committed to ensuring that all plastic-based, consumer-facing packaging will be recoverable or reusable by 2025. 

KFC’s local social purpose program Kshamata helps to bridge the gender and ability gap by empowering women and people with disabilities, which comes to life in part through KFC India’s 38 restaurants operated by employees who are speech and hearing-impaired.

KFC Opens 1,000th Restaurant in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE)

KFC’s 1,000th restaurant in CEE opens in Bucharest, Romania. Many of these restaurants exemplify digital forward features such as modern kiosks, digitized drive-thrus, updated ecommerce platforms and data-informed artificial intelligence. Sustained and local growth is fueled by restaurant expansion, specifically in rural communities throughout the country.

KFC CEE has the ambition to be the leading quick service restaurant in the region, with an average of 100 stores slated to open annually. As the restaurants scale, KFC also grows its employee base, leveraging its S.T.A.R.T. Refugees Program to hire more than 2,500 refugees over next three years. 

Maria Cacciapuoti, General Manager in Central Eastern Europe, leads the region’s operations with a focus on scaling a talented team and leveraging partnerships with 20 franchisees across 26 countries to maintain its status as a high performing region.

About KFC
KFC is a global chicken restaurant brand with a rich, decades-long history of success and innovation. It all started with one cook, Colonel Harland Sanders, who created the Original Recipe more than 90 years ago, a list of 11 secret herbs and spices scratched out on the back of the door to his kitchen. Today, while honoring our heritage, we remain committed to modernizing the colonel’s vision, by serving feel-good food, at scale, through inclusive, equitable and sustainable business practices. We continue to follow his formula for success, with real cooks breading and freshly preparing our delicious chicken by hand in more than 29,000 restaurants in nearly 150 countries and territories around the world. KFC is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM).

Media Contacts:

kfcinternationalmedia@yum.com
kfcmedia@apcoworldwide.com

Since joining Clorox, we’ve both embraced our company purpose to champion people to be well and thrive every single day. But what would it mean to see it come to life, intersecting with our professional passions? After all, the “S” in our ESG approach represents a multifaceted commitment to social impact and responsible sourcing – efforts that sit at the crossroads of our teams. To find out, we traveled to Tamale in Northern Region of Ghana, West Africa, to immerse ourselves in the heart of our responsible sourcing work.

We traveled to Tamale, located in the northern region of the country, to learn about Clorox’s partnerships with the Global Shea Alliance and three of our most strategic shea and beeswax ingredient suppliers. Rooted in our mutual dedication to sustainability, biodiversity, responsible sourcing and the empowerment of vulnerable populations, these collaborations not only secure a steady supply of high-quality shea and beeswax for our various Burt’s Bees products, but they also cultivate resilient, thriving communities where these raw materials are sourced.

Throughout our visit we were awestruck by the fortitude and shared sense of community among the women who showed up, often with their children in tow, to learn about the crafts of beekeeping and collecting, processing, and preserving shea. From bustling shea processing centers to swarming beehives across six communities and facilities, we were able to get a glimpse into Clorox’s impact championing women-centered agriculture, economic empowerment and commerce.

In the communities we visited, we witnessed one of our shea supplier’s most successful initiatives supported by Clorox: improved cook stoves. These stoves are essentially a zero-cost alternative to traditional three-stone stoves widely used throughout West Africa, made with locally available and sustainable materials such as cow pats, dried straw and termite sand.

We accompanied a group of roughly 50 women to learn how to construct the improved stoves, joining the thousands of women trained since this program launched in 2016. Clorox was the first partner to begin training programs on rocket stoves in shea communities in 2017.

In addition to learning how to build the stoves, we were also taught how doing so helps mitigate environmental degradation and fight desertification. Depending on the size of the stove, this alternative method can save anywhere from 33% to 65% of wood, which in turn reduces the community’s carbon footprint. The rocket stoves are not only more efficient and safer to use in homes with children, but they also save the women time they would otherwise spend collecting the wood from their local bush.

We also visited several communities where one of our suppliers sources shea kernels (the same used to make shea butter for our Burt’s Bees products) directly from the women who collect and process them.

We saw firsthand how this partner works with women’s groups that sell shea kernels in a traceable and transparent way. They’re trained on shea parkland management practices aimed at improving biodiversity and the health of shea trees year-round. We were also able to see one of the last shea kernel purchases of this year’s season, where roughly 30 women gathered to weigh and sell the kernels they had collected, parboiled, cracked and dried. This entire purchase was a premium paid to the women’s group since they had already fulfilled their volume projections for the season. Later in the week we visited another supplier’s shea butter processing center, which had been constructed with funding from Clorox. Ownership of the center was later transferred to the women’s group in 2019. There we learned how kernels are dried, milled and kneaded by hand to create handcrafted shea butter that goes into Burt’s Bees products.

This work further solidifies the commercial value of shea and strengthens the economic empowerment of these women and their roles as Clorox business partners.

Finally, it was time to suit up to visit the hives and processing centers managed by the SheKeeper program. As a partnership among the U.S. Agency for International Development, Partnership for Natural Ingredients, Burt’s Bees and three strategic ingredient suppliers, the program supports a resilient supply chain through improved biodiversity, women’s and children’s empowerment, and the protection of human rights.

Beekeeping is a crucial link in the supply chain for many of the ingredients used by Burt’s Bees. Though the craft is almost exclusively practiced by men around the world, SheKeeper puts women at the center, training them how manage the hives as well as how to collect and sell the honeycomb. Backed by a three-year, $2 million investment, this initiative has upgraded shea processing facilities, constructed and distributed 6,200 beehives, trained over 900 women in Ghanaian shea communities in beekeeping, and created over 1,200 new farmer jobs to date.

The SheKeepers we spoke with all had one thing in common: a profound appreciation for the financial security and sense of autonomy gained from being a part of the beekeeping community.

As we reflect on this incredible journey around Tamale, we’re reminded that investments like these extend beyond Clorox’s corporate citizenship — they also happen to be successful business choices that help us deliver products people love. The experience left us with an exciting (if not daunting) question: How do we amplify and scale the learnings of these partnerships to other areas of our business?

With that important challenge in mind, we returned to the U.S. feeling immensely proud to be a part of a company responsible for life-changing work that’s actively shaping a positive and lasting impact. It’s a testament to the values that define our company.

Learn more about Clorox’s ESG goals here and IDEA strategy here. Want to make a positive impact on the world? Learn about Clorox careers here.

Sold exclusively at Albertsons Companies, Extending Smiles flowers by debi lilly design™ make a difference one bouquet at a time. This program supports various causes and charities, and in 2023 enabled donations to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Trinity Health, Homes for our Troops, and Family Promise. Every Extending Smiles bouquet purchase includes a $0.75 donation to charity and has raised over $1 million for those in need since 2019.

Read more about debi lilly design™ Extending Smiles bouquets here, and learn about Albertsons Companies’ Recipe for Change on our website.

Time

December 13, 2023 | 12:00 PM EST

About

Electric vehicle (EV), electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) manufacturers and EV charging infrastructure providers are striving to reach that magical tipping point where range, charging time, availability, safety, and price come together to help EVs become the consumer’s preferred choice. However, any single design fault in this complex ecosystem will cost money and delayed time-to-market. As more EVs roll on the roads, real issues are surfacing, on top of those discovered during R&D phase. In addition, there is the challenge of learning new and evolving conformance standards. This webinar will focus on the test of Combined Charging System (CCS) high-power chargers and vehicles. The same principles are also applicable for the Chinese charging standard GB/T, Japanese CHAdeMO, and ChaoJi-1/-2.

Learn the concept of harmonized conformance and interoperability testing, current trends in charging technology like bidirectional charging and Megawatt Charging, and the broad Keysight Charging Test Solution portfolio.

Handouts

Poster: Validating E-Mobility Charging Interfaces Download

White Paper: E-Mobility: Navigate Safety, Interoperability, and Conformance Download

Application Note: Scienlab Charging Discovery System – Verification of Interoperability of all EV and EVSE Charging Interfaces Download

Webpage: E-Mobility Test Solutions Download

Brochure: Scienlab Charging Discovery System Download

Presenters

Wolfgang Kalthoff

Keysight Technologies, Business Development Engineer, Charging Test Solutions

Wolfgang Kalthoff joined Keysight Technologies in 2018 as Business Development Engineer for charging test solutions. Wolfgang holds a Master of Science in Sales Engineering and Product Management from the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany.
In his current role, Wolfgang is in charge of WW Business Development for EV/EVSE Charging Test Solutions by Keysight.

Jens Schmutzler

Keysight Technologies, Strategic Portfolio Planning, EV Charging Technology

Jens Schmutzler joined Keysight Technologies end of 2021 when VERISCO became part of Keysight Technologies Deutschland GmbH. He was co-founder and managing director of VERISCO GmbH in Dortmund, Germany and is involved in communication technology for EV charging systems since 2009. He is an active member of DIN (German Standardization Body) and Project Team leader within the ISO/IEC 15118 Joint Working Group for standardization of conformance tests for the Vehicle-to-Grid Communication Interface.
Before his time at VERISCO, Jens was a senior researcher at the Communication Networks Institute (CNI) at TU Dortmund University, Germany. At CNI he was head of the ICT for Energy Systems and E-Mobility research group with about 10 staff members and coordinated national and international research projects on interoperability of EVs and charging infrastructures. His research background is embedded Web Services and their impact on constrained communication networks. Jens Schmutzler graduated at TU Dortmund as Dipl.-Ing. and studied one year at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in the fields of computer science and electrical engineering.

Reserve your spot here

FORT WORTH, Texas, December 8, 2023 /3BL/ – Local real estate developers, community partners and residents celebrated the grand opening of Cowan Place Senior Living. It was built with the assistance of a $750,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) subsidy provided by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas through one of its members, Texas Capital Bank in the Stop Six neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas.

The development is part of a transformation plan designed to improve the Stop Six neighborhood in Fort Worth with affordable housing and neighborhood amenities. The plan includes replacement of the former Cavile Place public housing community with new, mixed- income rental residences in six phases of development. It includes a neighborhood hub for recreation, educational, health and safety services, commercial districts and space for healthcare and educational, economic and other support services.

In addition to affordable housing for seniors, Cowan Place amenities include rooms for a library and theater, fitness studio, salon, billiards, crafts and other spaces for private meetings with health care professionals.

“The AHP funds were vital in closing funding gaps to make sure that we could finish construction on this project,” said Mary-Margaret Lemons, Fort Worth Housing Solutions president. “We could not have finished this project without the money provided by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and Texas Capital as a partner. It was critical for us to get over the finish line and finish this during COVID, and so it was really a game changer for us to be able to have full funding of this project to get started.”

FHLB Dallas awards AHP subsidies through its member financial institutions to benefit very low-to moderate-income households across its five-state District. 

“These are the type of projects that we get involved in because of the impact that they have on communities such as this; we want to assist in making life better for the individuals, businesses and communities in Fort Worth,” said Worley Barker, director of Community Development Lending and Investments for Texas Capital.

Affordable Housing Program (AHP) funds are intended to assist FHLB Dallas members in financing the purchase, construction and/or rehabilitation of owner-occupied, rental or transitional housing, as well as housing for homeless individuals in their community. AHP funds must be used to benefit households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median income for the area.

“It can be difficult to develop affordable housing, and the AHP is a funding source that can help fill the gap to make a deal like this work,” said Melanie Dill, community development and AHP rental manager at FHLB Dallas. “Not only does the AHP help to fill a funding gap, but it can also help our members create new business opportunities, support their communities and meet CRA objectives.”

SOURCE: TEXAS CAPITAL / FHLB DALLAS

About Texas Capital
Texas Capital Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (individually and collectively with all affiliates and subsidiaries, “Texas Capital”), is a full-service financial services firm that delivers customized solutions to businesses, entrepreneurs, and individual customers. Founded in 1998, the institution is headquartered in Dallas with offices in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth, and has built a network of clients across the country. With the ability to service clients through their entire lifecycles, Texas Capital has established commercial banking, consumer banking, investment banking and wealth management capabilities. All services are subject to applicable laws, regulations, and service terms. Member FDIC. For more information, please visit www.texascapital.com.

International Olympic Committee news

The Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) has today announced that it will be collaborating with Nike in order to help displaced young people find belonging through sport.

The ORF and Nike have entered into an agreement, which includes making a financial contribution dedicated to supporting the ORF in its work to ensure displaced women and girls benefit from safe sport through the ORF’s flagship Terrains d’Avenir programme in Paris. The ORF and Nike will also work together to increase the capacity of coaches to provide a safe and inclusive sport environment.

As part of the agreement, Nike will also make a further in-kind donation to the Foundation for the provision of training and competition uniforms for the Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team competing at Paris 2024.

Jojo Ferris, Head of the Olympic Refuge Foundation said: “At the Olympic Refuge Foundation we want to ensure that young, displaced people around the world have access to sport and its benefits.”

She added: “The refugee Athletes we support demonstrate the resilience and courage of 110 million people who have been forced to flee their homes – they are role models inspiring millions around the world. Sport has the potential to improve mental health and rebuild a sense of belonging for all displaced people and their communities. In all this work, the Olympic Refuge Foundation greatly appreciates the collaboration with Nike.”

Making an impact in Paris and beyond

Terrains d’Avenir is the Olympic Refuge Foundation’s flagship programme in Paris. It aims to provide 7,000 young people affected by displacement with access to sport by 2025, and to shape a movement that will continue to have an impact long after the Olympic Games.

The programme is co-financed by the French Ministry of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, delivered by Kabubu, PLAY international, Emmaüs Solidarité, Ovale Citoyen, Fútbol Más and the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, with support from the Ville de Paris, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and UNHCR France.

Beyond Paris, the Olympic Refuge Foundation has an ambitious goal for one million young people affected by displacement to access safe sport by the end of 2024. So far, 215,000 young people have had access to safe sport as a result of the ORF’s work. The Foundation works through partnerships to build a movement that guarantees young people affected by displacement have access to safe sport and ensure that safe sport is widely adopted as a tool to support those affected by displacement.

Funded by Olympic Solidarity and managed by the Olympic Refuge Foundation, the Refugee Athlete Support programme gives scholarships to athletes, contributing to their training and helping these individuals to prepare for and participate in high-level competitions. To date, there are 63 Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders being supported through the programme and training hard in order to be selected for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team for Paris 2024. They are from 12 countries and live in 23 host countries, representing 13 sports.

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

Yesterday, at Consumers International’s Global Congress in Nairobi, held once every four years to bring together consumer advocates and marketplace leaders, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (The Center) and Consumers International announced a new partnership to progress a comprehensive global effort aimed at improving protection and empowerment for vulnerable consumers in the digital finance sector. The project seeks to establish a new community of stakeholders, including digital financial service providers, regulatory bodies, consumer advocates, and technology companies, to address the increasing complexity of the digital finance ecosystem.

Consumer advocates worldwide share that only 20% of consumers are included in deliberations about design of new technologies in their country. This lack of voice means that risks for vulnerable consumers in digital finance are not effectively addressed or anticipated, and solutions are not effectively designed for the people they are intended for.

A grant from the Mastercard Center, through the Mastercard Impact Fund, will accelerate the research and development of a global framework for consumer protection and empowerment in new and emerging digital infrastructure to ensure the potential of these platforms is realized. The effort is focused on driving consumer protection frameworks, with a focus on underserved populations, that keep pace with the rapid evolution of the digital finance landscape.

The initiative will focus on up to a dozen target countries identified based on representative digital finance ecosystems and consumer advocacy presence, collaborating with local stakeholders to identify and elevate the voice, needs and well-being of vulnerable consumers. Outputs will prioritize driving trusted digital experiences that go beyond access to ensure quality service.

“Consumer protection frameworks and systems have simply not kept up with these surging levels of complexity. They no longer work to inform, protect, and empower consumers effectively. As a result, consumers are subject to significantly increased risks such as fraud and scams, which then reduce consumer trust and stall progress. This is particularly the case for lower income consumers, women, and other consumers with systemic vulnerabilities.” Helena Leurent, Director General of Consumers International. “Working in partnership with Mastercard, we can unlock unique perspectives and unite a global community behind consumer financial health and wellbeing with consumer protection at its core.”

“Technology is best used when it works for us – not against us. As the digital finance ecosystem evolves, it is incumbent upon all stakeholders to ensure advances drive benefit to everyone, everywhere,” said Shamina Singh, founder and president of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. “Our partnership with Consumers International will ensure that new schemes and solutions are built not just with, but for the people they serve.”

Consumers International aims to establish a fair and secure global marketplace by advocating for consumer rights and promoting access to digital financial services which are inclusive, safe, data protected and private, and sustainable. Over the past three years, Consumer International’s Fair Digital Finance Accelerator engaged a network of 65 consumer associations across low-and middle-income countries, reaching 1.2 million people via regulator and financial service provider engagement. The organization has played an influential role in successfully driving regulation, evolving business practices and transparency and accountability within the digital finance sector. Mastercard joins Consumers International’s network of governments, academics, civil society, foundations, and business as part of their unique multi-stakeholder impact approach to achieving a fair, safe, and sustainable marketplace for all people.

The philanthropic funding, delivered by the Mastercard Impact Fund, is part of Mastercard’s ongoing commitment to help advance equity and economic opportunities for underserved communities and increase access and usage of digital financial services.

Originally published by The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
Check out more content from The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

A determined group of people will brave the freezing night at McDonald Park in Kamloops, BC on Dec. 8. They’re not homeless, but they want to put a spotlight on youth homelessness.

A Way Home Kamloops (AWHK), a non-profit organization, has organized an annual Campout to End Youth Homelessness since 2017 to promote awareness around the issues of youth homelessness, and raise funds to support youth programs.

“The idea is that people get to experience a little taste of what it might be like to be homeless for one night,” says Tangie Genshorek, AWHK Executive Director. “We encourage people to take part in any way they can that could give them a bit of perspective on youth homelessness.”

Genshorek stresses that youth homelessness differs from street homelessness, often remaining hidden, with youth sleeping in cars, on couches, or in inappropriate or unsafe housing.

A Way Home Kamloops offers housing and support services to at-risk youth up to the age of 27. The society also serves as a transitional home for those who have no place to go after leaving the foster care system at age 19. Founded in 2012 by Katherine McParland, a former homeless youth, the group also offers a variety of programs for necessary life skills, aiming to foster independence and healthy community integration.

“We offer life skills training programs like self-development, physical and mental health wellness planning, as well as education and employment development,” says Genshorek. “The first step youth need to take is come to us, ask for help. We’ll do a housing intake, which will help us understand how we can best support their needs.”

A Way Home Kamloops currently has 30 beds to house homeless youth, but the numbers of young people in need are rising and AWHK is seeing younger and younger youth looking for help. The provincial government is working with the organization to build a place with 39 units of low-barrier housing for youth at risk of homelessness, called Katherine’s Place, in honour of McParland, who passed away in 2020. Katherine’s Place is set to finish construction by year-end with a targeted opening date in October 2024.

Meanwhile, the annual campout began to raise funds to help support the youth programs initiated by McParland. This year, they aim to raise $155,000, targeting 100 people to campout in person and online. In 2022, 50 camped out at McDonald Park, with an additional 25 joining online from their backyards, parking lots, and even on top of Harper Mountain.

Five Enbridge employees have pledged to join the campout in person. The company also donated $10,000 to support the organization through its Fueling Futures program.

“It’s alarming to consider that almost half of our region’s homeless population has experienced youth homelessness,” says Dean Freeman, Director of Field Operations for Enbridge’s BC Pipeline system. “Our community should provide these vulnerable young people the shelter they rightfully deserve. A Way Home Kamloops embodies this mission, and we are grateful and proud to be a part of it.”

On December 10, 2023, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s a day to honor and remember the universality and indivisibility of human rights.

For this occasion, I sat down with SAP Chief Sustainability Officer Daniel Schmid and Stephanie Raabe, human rights officer at SAP, to explore what role enterprises including SAP play, what’s new in the company’s recently updated human rights commitment statement, and what trends and challenges both see for human rights in business.

Q: Daniel, what do human rights mean to you? And why is it important for businesses to respect human rights?

Daniel Schmid (DS): Human rights are basic rights for all people to live a life in dignity and be treated equally. For me it’s about ensuring a good life for all within the planetary boundaries. And businesses have a key role to play in this. While they can be a force for good around the world, they can also harm people and the planet; for example, through discrimination, unsafe working conditions, or industrial pollution and accidents with implications on human health. That is why the United Nations Guiding Principles (UN GPs) for Business and Human Rights not only set out the responsibility of states to protect human rights, but also the responsibility of business to respect human rights.

Q: How does this look in practice? How do companies in general and SAP specifically live up to their responsibility to respect human rights?

Stephanie Raabe (SR): Globally recognized frameworks such as the UN GPs or the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct provide clear guidance for companies. They describe how to establish ongoing human right due diligence processes to “know and show” where a company’s actual and potential negative impacts on people are and what actions are taken to prevent or mitigate these. This also entails tracking the effectiveness of actions taken over time, and communicating about efforts and results — internally and externally.

More than two years ago, we launched an interdisciplinary human rights due diligence project at SAP to take our existing human rights commitment statement, governance, processes, and disclosure to the next level and prepare for compliance with rising legal requirements such as the modern slavery acts in UK, Australia, or Canada, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), and the upcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. We identified gaps in our policies and procedures, which we have been working to close.

Q: What kind of gaps? Could you share one or two examples?

SR: One example is our grievance mechanism. We collaborated across teams to expand the existing “Speak Out at SAP” tool to cover human rights and environment-related complaints from anyone, be it internal or external. We defined clear rules of procedure of how incoming complaints are processed and followed up on in a confidential and, if desired, anonymous way.

DS: Another example coming to my mind is related to living wages. As a founding member of the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA), we applied the living wage methodology co-developed within the VBA. This helped us find few employees in SAP Brazil in 2022 whose compensation had to be adjusted to meet our ambition of ensuring a decent living wage for our own workforce as measured through the VBA methodology. We are now working toward regular reassessments to avoid future deviations.

SR: I would like to add a third example related to our supply chain. As we proceed with integrating human rights due diligence into our supplier code of conduct and procurement processes, we increasingly notice how important it is to get not just colleagues from SAP’s procurement organization onboard, but also all other employees involved with supplier selection. All of us need to consider human rights and environmental criteria in our buying decisions. The earlier this happens, the better. The point at which contract negotiations with suppliers start may be too late.

Q: Coinciding with Human Rights Day 2023, SAP just recently updated and expanded its Global Human Rights Commitment Statement. What’s the reasoning and what’s new?

DS: When looking back at our sustainability journey that started in 2009, I remember human rights being embedded in SAP’s holistic understanding of sustainability from the beginning. It has been part of our objective to create positive economic, social, and environmental impact all along. We therefore also established our first Global Human Rights Commitment Statement in 2011.

SR: That’s right. SAP’s commitment to respect human rights is not new. But it evolved during the past years beyond our operations to also encompass our extended supply chain and product lifecycle.

In the latest update of our Global Human Rights Commitment Statement, we have expanded the description of our downstream action areas and how we aim to avoid negative impacts that can result from the use or abuse of SAP’s products and services. We added an entirely new chapter on the implementation of human rights due diligence at SAP, elaborating in detail on our procedures, including governance, risk analysis and prioritized risks, preventive measures, complaints process and remediation, monitoring and reporting, and stakeholder dialog. It makes transparent the results of our human rights due diligence project and helps us better meet the requirements by the UN GPs as well as the German Supply Chain Act.

Q: Speaking about the human rights impacts through the use of SAP solutions, where do you see the biggest risks and opportunities at the moment?

SR: As part of SAP’s downstream human rights due diligence, we have identified artificial intelligence (AI) as high impact solution area in the context of human rights. It’s also been frequently addressed as key topic throughout the recent UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. AI is transforming our economy and society. This trend is expected to accelerate in the coming years, bringing new opportunities and challenges for society and human rights. SAP actively addresses legitimate concerns, coming up with new AI technology through SAP’s Guiding Principles for AI Ethics and dedicated due diligence governance, processes, and the SAP Global AI Ethics Policy. In addition, we have started to investigate human rights risks and mitigation measures in our upstream supply chain linked to the outsourcing of generative AI training.

DS: On the other hand, I also see the opportunity for SAP to advance human rights by developing innovative solutions that help customers embed human rights into their business and supply chain strategies. This includes our supply chain management solution that offers risk mapping based on financial as well as sustainability indicators, which also cover human rights aspects. Our human resource management solutions furthermore provide tools and features to address unconscious bias in recruitment and hiring, support inclusivity, and ensure equitable remuneration and career advancement. Finally, there is also the opportunity to leverage corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to advance economic, societal, and cultural rights that support youth-in-need to thrive in the sustainable and digital economy. A prime example of our efforts is SAP Educate to Employ, targeting youth-in-need aged 14 to 30 with skill-building programs to bring them into jobs in the broad SAP ecosystem and beyond by linking education with employability within a sustainable and digital economy.

Q: Would you agree that, with mandatory human rights due diligence on the rise, embracing human rights in business is becoming mainstream? Against this backdrop, how is SAP doing compared to others?

DS: In my conversations with customers and peers in leading sustainability positions, compliance with human rights legislation definitely comes up as a key priority. However, I also notice that companies continue to struggle to manage their social effects. It did not really surprise me, when I read that a 2022 Economist survey revealed that companies haven’t made as much progress on social as on environmental issues, and only 36% had incorporated social impact into corporate strategy compared with 47% for environmental. This shows that we still have a way to go.

SR: Indeed! According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 160 million children are still engaged in child labor. More than 27 million people around the world are in conditions of forced labor. And globally, 2.4 billion women of working-age are still not afforded equal economic opportunity. These are just some numbers that underline the need for more action by businesses.

The good news is that mandatory human rights due diligence helps get more companies on board and strengthen the efforts of those that already are. There is good and open exchange and mutual learning among companies. It therefore seems less of a competition in which one enterprise strives to outperform the others. You rather share experiences and gain insights where you are already doing really well and where you can further improve.

Overall, I would say that SAP has been progressing well and is on track but can still do even better. Our ambition definitely is to not limit ourselves to compliance with mandatory human rights due diligence, but to go beyond.

Q: Looking into the future, what trends and challenges do you see?

DS: I believe that the momentum for taking respect for human rights seriously in business will further increase, driven not only by legislative pressure but also increasing stakeholder expectations. It’s important, however, that we as business leaders do not get consumed by navigating the regulatory landscape and ensuring compliance. Let’s not allow this to become a check-box exercise — we must keep people in the center. The aim is to improve people’s lives.

SR: I fully agree. Some of the legislation does keep you very busy with a lot of administrative burden. This unfortunately takes away your attention and resources from ultimately making a difference for the affected people. I also see a risk that because value chains are becoming ever more complex with reliable data missing and because managing the human rights risks down to tier-n can seem so overwhelming, companies chose to prioritize de-risking. They rather pull out of high-risk countries which may actually worsen the human rights situation. The increasing complexity of geopolitical crises and need for heightened due diligence further exacerbates this risk.

As companies mature in human rights due diligence, they will need improved databases and methodologies to help them measure their actual and potential impacts on people, prioritize their efforts and assess the effectiveness of the preventive and remedial measures they put in place. We are testing some of the approaches for SAP at the moment and I am hopeful that they will help guide us toward achieving better outcomes both for people as well as for our business.

Christine Susanne Mueller is deputy human rights officer at SAP.