Tag: 3BL

How do you choose the ideal venue for your company’s networking events to ensure it is aligned with your brand and values while championing sustainability?

Planning and hosting corporate events can take its toll on the environment, particularly from a food waste viewpoint, which is why we do our best to keep our impact as low as possible whenever we gather our clients together.

In alignment with Sustainable Gastronomy Day, which took place on June 18th, we reflect on our recent networking events to spotlight the venues we have recently used that go above and beyond when it comes to sustainability.

Firstly though, you might be wondering…

What is sustainable gastronomy? 
It mainly refers to local cuisine, produced and prepared to ensure our precious natural resources are not wasted by considering the origin of the ingredients, how the food is grown and transported and how the journey ends on our plates.

The United Nations designated Sustainable Gastronomy Day to raise public awareness of its contribution to sustainable development. With an extra two billion mouths to feed by 2050 (making it an estimated total of nine billion people to nourish across the globe), the environmental challenges that come with our increasing demand for food are leaving a bitter taste in our mouths.

So, here are the venues striving to effect change through their daily operations and providing diners with delicious, high-quality food and drinks that have less impact on the environment.

1. Apricity 
London 
If Apricity’s waitlist is anything to go by, it’s possible you’ve heard of this Green Michelin Star restaurant in the heart of Mayfair. Founded by multi-award-winning chef Chantelle Nicholson, the team’s fine-tuned focus on low-waste food and beverages is inspirational. 
The restaurant only uses locally-sourced/foraged produce for net positive impact, using regenerative-farmed meat, sustainably-sourced fish and wine produced from agroecological processes to boost biodiversity.

2. Native 
London 
British heritage cooking, using homegrown ingredients, is the brainchild of co-founders Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis who have transitioned their dining prowess from street food markets to London’s Mayfair. 
Passion and knowledge of foraging to supply the forward-thinking restaurant is demonstrated via innovative, sustainable cooking using fresh home-grown ingredients. Ivan is a River Cottage-alumnus and honed his culinary skills at Blue Hill Farm in New York, before settling in London.

3. Capital Kitchen 
Amsterdam 
Amsterdam’s innovator when it comes to sustainable food and drink creations has developed a community by collaborating with those who are mutually striving for a better planet.

Based in Capital C, the city’s creative hub, the restaurant blends locally-sourced dishes with art and storytelling to create an exquisite, unusual dining experience.

4. Chef’s Table 
Singapore 
The epitome of a home-from-home feel, this gem in Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar district utilises the finest seasonal produce that underpins its ethos on sustainable dining.

Diners can indulge in a choice of three menus, all under the fine-dining umbrella, curated by Stephan Zoisl and his team of culinary experts. 
Produce, including carefully-selected wines, is sourced on a small batch basis to avoid waste and during the cooking process, diners are able to interact with the chef who can share best practices, thanks to its intentional open kitchen design.

5. Gallow Green Rooftop 
New York 
Having been sensationally shut down just days after World War II broke out, this legendary hotel re-opened to the public decades later and offers a theatrical experience for the ultimate in entertainment.

From being sealed up for years (just six weeks after it opened in 1939), The McKittrick Hotel could have been the most luxurious hotel of its time. It has re-opened its doors and New York’s best kept secret rooftop bar (until now!), Gallow Green, awaits those looking for something a little different. Filled with an abundance of greenery for biodiversity fans, it’s a great place to feel closer to nature.

Has your business hosted an event at a sustainable venue that hasn’t been highlighted in this blog? Please contact us with more details about how your choice of venue aligns with your organisation’s ethos.

If you would like to embed sustainability into all functions of your business and need support to unearth the right talent and skill set, Acre is the world’s market leader in search, recruitment, talent development and advisory. With 20 years’ experience in the sustainability recruitment space, we look forward to hearing from you.

About Acre

At Acre, we work with the most aspirational businesses with potential to make real change; from those who are just starting out to those who are well on the journey to crafting a legacy.

Our 18 years’ experience in sustainability recruitment, combined with our extensive global network, enables us to provide talent solutions that are designed to deliver this change.

Through our unique behavioural assessment technology, we understand the types of people, skills and behaviours required to create impact. We can develop these qualities within your existing teams too.

We find talented people and develop their skills to ensure they make a true impact in ambitious, progressive organisations.

Acre. Making companies ready for tomorrow.

Originally published in International Paper’s 2022 Sustainability Report

A shining example of IP’s approach to responsible fiber procurement is our partnership with American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and the Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI). This partnership includes developing bird-focused management recommendations for private forest landowners, conducting field-based workshops with forest landowners and our suppliers, and species-specific work, including capturing, tagging and tracking swallow-tailed kites, one of North America’s most beautiful birds of prey.

The swallow-tailed kite is a large black-and-white bird, with long narrow wings spanning four feet across and a distinctive forked elongated tail. They are long-distance migrants that spend their spring and summer months in the Southeastern U.S., then migrate to their wintering grounds in central South America. They are excellent ambassadors for sustainable working forests, as they’re easily recognized in the field and thrive in sustainable managed working forests.

In 2022, we captured and tagged a kite near our Savannah, Georgia mill. An article in the Winter 2021/2022 issue of ABC’s magazine led to an excellent short documentary, “Kites in the Trees,” filmed and produced by South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV). This effort confirms that nature-positive outcomes occur within working forest landscapes. Managed working forests can provide society with a renewable source of fiber without compromising critical wildlife habitat.

About International Paper

International Paper (NYSE: IP) is a global producer of planet-friendly packaging, pulp and other fiber-based products, and one of North America’s largest recyclers. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., we employ approximately 39,000 colleagues globally who are committed to creating what’s next. We serve customers worldwide, with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, North Africa and Europe. Net sales for 2022 were $21.2 billion. Additional information can be found by visiting InternationalPaper.com.

About International Paper – EMEA

In Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), International Paper focuses on the production and marketing of fiber-based packaging and pulp, employing approximately 4,200 people. As a leading supplier of high-quality corrugated containers for a multitude of applications, we serve customers throughout the region from our network of two recycled containerboard mills and 23 box plants in France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Pulp production is centered in Gdansk, Poland. Other products available from International Paper in the region include Kraft linerboard and recycled containerboard, as well as pulp.

Read more

June 2023 was a vibrant celebration of LGBTQ+ acceptance at AMD, filled with a diverse range of activities organized by the AMD Pride Employee Resource Group. Across AMD sites in North America, Ireland, and in the United Kingdom, the Pride Flag was raised, and AMD executives spoke about our company’s commitment to ensuring LGBTQ+ equality and inclusivity. Globally, AMDers joined volunteer opportunities, participated in intersectional discussions, networked and hosted streaming events on the AMDTwitch channel, eager to make a positive impact.

Our largest flag-raising ceremonies were held in Austin, Texas and San Jose, California. In Austin, Suzanne Plummer, corporate vice president and Pride executive sponsor, and Alexandria Thomas, product development engineer and Austin Pride lead, spoke about the importance of inclusivity and the emphasis AMD places on providing a safe and healthy work environment for those within the LGBTQ+ community at AMD. In Silicon Valley, Senior Vice President and Pride C-Suite sponsor, Ruth Cotter, spoke about creating an inclusive place where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.

Content creators from the AMD Red Team, a community of PC builders, gamers and AMD fans, took over the AMD Twitch channel and participated in social videos celebrating Pride month. They hosted 18 streams where they entertained the AMD community for more than 60 hours while playing games, hosting conversations about the meaning of Pride month and where they find support and offering giveaways.

Giving back was also top of mind for Pride Month. Partnering with peers at fellow semiconductor company Silicon Labs, the companies’ employees in Austin helped build a home for a family in need through the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity. This event showcased eagerness and motivation to give back to the community. In Silicon Valley, several AMD Pride ERG members weeded, swept, cleaned-up trash and performed overall beautification of an entire parking lot area of the Billy De Frank LGBTQ+ Community Center. Afterward, the center reflected a more welcoming look to match its reputation.

In honor of Pride Month and Juneteenth, the Advancing Black Leadership & Experience (aBLe) and Pride ERGs came together to co-host a live and virtual event that focused on the connections between our social identities and broadening the representation of underrepresented groups in the technology industry. Award-winning Information Technology business leader Gina Tomlinson, founder and CTO of T5 Solutions Technology Consulting Services, discussed how your authentic self can be your competitive advantage. Gina shared her personal journey and how leaning into her authentic self helps her advance across her personal and professional roles, and she provided insight into how we all can benefit from allowing ourselves to be “vulnerable and open-hearted.” Gina’s keynote followed an engaging Q&A session with live questions from audience members at AMD locations in San Jose, Austin, Markham, Ontario, Canada and Boxborough, Massachusetts.

Gina’s closing remarks for the event echo an important message that speaks to the entire month of celebrations: “being able to be authentic, being able to be open and live your true self really will free all of us.”

For more information on AMD Diversity, Belonging and Inclusion program and initiatives, please visit: https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/corporate-responsibility/diversity-belonging-inclusion.html

One of the biggest challenges facing patient care is a lack of access to HCPs, which in turn leads to delays in diagnosis and difficulties retaining patients in care. The WHO estimates a shortfall of as many as 10 million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle-income countries.2 

In 2022, Viatris continued our partnership with the American College of Cardiology, the World Heart Federation and the NCD Alliance on the NCD Academy, a web-based, globally accessible and free educational platform for healthcare professionals at every level to improve the prevention and treatment of NCDs. We have a goal to impact 100 million patients via HCP education and outreach regarding prevention, diagnosis and treatment options for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other important chronic conditions to improve outcomes through the NCD Academy by the end of 2025.

More than 19,000 individuals have an NCD Academy account, an increase of nearly 6,000 users in 2022.3 It is estimated that these new users will positively impact approximately 15.1 million patients annually.4

While the courses provided by the NCD Academy are available to any healthcare worker, anywhere in the world, it’s still important to engage actively in each country to build national awareness and drive participation. In 2022, the NCD Academy was expanded in Belgium, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Egypt, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and South Africa.

Through a new NCD Academy course launched in 2022, we hope to educate and inspire healthcare professionals to learn about the role their advocacy can play in supporting NCD prevention and care, share how they can set their own goals and leverage existing resources, provide guidelines on developing advocacy messaging and present opportunities to engage further with existing initiatives. Action is needed from all healthcare stakeholders to advocate for the changes needed to increase access to healthcare around the world.

The NCD Academy’s cardiovascular disease course is now available in 10 languages and most other courses are available in English, Spanish and Chinese. In 2023, we expect courses to be translated in more than 10 additional languages including Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Hungarian, Polish and Bulgarian.

A new NCD Academy course on the integration of NCD care and communicable diseases will be launched in 2023 to further develop the understanding of the primary healthcare workforce on this complex and increasingly relevant topic for patient care. In 2023, we are launching courses in respiratory disease and the social determinants of health.

We also work closely with other partners around the globe on research, education and disease awareness. These efforts are broad and diverse, reflecting various healthcare needs identified by our teams around the world. These include everything from providing education to pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to promote medication adherence, collaborating with hospitals on screening and awareness programs, to bringing together therapeutic area experts to share knowledge.

Examples of our work in 2022 include the following:

Providing HCP Education

Partnered with the European Specialist Nurses Organization (ESNO) to work to prevent nurse shortages by supporting a survey of the current nursing pool in Europe; the formalization of the role of the specialist nurse and their professional capabilities; and the release of a biosimilars guide for nurses to enhance their skills, which will include resources in Dutch, Italian, French, Polish and Portuguese.Developed an online training program on preventing suicidal behavior with the Spanish Association of Primary Care Physicians (SEMERGEN).Partnered with major pharmacy chains in Sweden to develop HCP resources on allergic rhinitis, which is not well understood because of a lack of national guidelines to support disease management.

Promoting Access Equity

Participated in 2022 in the CV Talk Summit attended by more than 10,000 HCPs as part of our ongoing strategic partnership agreement with the Chinese Cardiovascular Association to help improve cardiovascular health in China. Sean Ni, President of Viatris China, delivered the plenary speech at the summit.Sponsored American College of Chest Physicians’ (CHEST) research on “Improving Health Care in Marginal Communities by building Trust Through Listening.”Convened leaders in health equity across multiple sectors to a one-day event to review challenges and opportunities to advance the ACC Foundation’s health equity mission and work together to eliminate barriers in achieving optimal cardiovascular outcomes.

Focusing on Patients 

Developed the first evidence-based exercise treatment application – Yuezhi – for dyslipidemia patients in China. Through personalized programs based on patients’ health conditions, the program promotes physical exercise as an additional prevention or treatment measure. Patients who completed more than four weeks of the program reported improvements in their their follow-up cholesterol tests.Increased education and partnerships around multiple sclerosis, including a project titled Promoting Health Equity in Multiple Sclerosis through Personalized Care. In Ireland, we worked with MS Ireland to provide patients with up-to-date information to help them manage their disease.Worked with community pharmacies in the U.K. to provide education and toolkits in key therapy areas and consultation skills, ensuring patients continue to receive the best care possible. We also hosted a masterclass for HCPs in managing common conditions such as menopause, allergic rhinitis and recurrent urinary tract infections. The goal was to increase the quality of care for patients focusing on early diagnosis and treatment and prevent unnecessary referrals and repeat visits, supporting the government’s Get It Right First Time program.Partnered with the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation to support access to reliable rheumatoid arthritis information for patients in a remote area of Okanagan Valley in Canada.Partnered with European Federation of Allergy and Airways diseases, an alliance of 39 patient organizations across Europe, to improve patient outcomes by advocating expansion of access to epinephrine auto-injectors for emergency use.Participated in the Active Citizenship Network to organize the European Patients’ Rights Day and raise awareness about the unmet needs of patients during and after the COVID pandemic.

Raising Awareness 

Launched initiatives with the national health ministries in South Korea, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates to support disease awareness, screening and patient management for several of the most prevalent NCDs.Together with the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), supported several initiatives in Europe to create awareness around the prevention of venous thromboembolism in medically ill patients, including communication and education events during World Thrombosis Day and a medical education curriculum.

Addressing Systematic Barriers to Access in Emerging Markets

About 86% of deaths from NCDs occur in low- and middle-income countries.1 Healthcare costs associated with NCDs are high, which is especially burdensome for low-income countries. Viatris endeavored to understand systematic issues and healthcare needs across emerging markets and launched the Mapping Actionable Beyond the Pill Solutions (MAPS) exercise in 2022. It focused on hypertension, dyslipidemia, chronic pain and depression. Critical gaps in patient awareness, screening opportunities, early diagnosis, appropriate treatment and long-term medication adherence have been documented with this initiative. Addressing these identified gaps, medical affairs teams across the Emerging Markets region initiated programs, both alone and in partnership with local and regional societies, including education materials and campaigns to support patient awareness and adherence; AI enabled early screening programs; Diagnostic tools, e.g. cardiovascular risk calculator; and experts’ publications on clinical practice recommendations to improve diagnosis and treatment particularly of hypertension and dyslipidemia.

Supporting the healthcare system through capability building of frontline primary care physicians is a priority at Viatris, as these providers are typically the first, and sometimes the only, point of contact of patients within the healthcare system. Through MAPS, we are striving to address systematic barriers for healthcare in emerging markets and improve patient outcomes.

Integrating NCD Care in Patients Living with HIV

Due to the positive impact of ARV drugs, the care of patients living with HIV has dramatically advanced in the past two decades. The rising life expectancy of people living with HIV means that they are as vulnerable to NCDs just as the rest of the aging population. Building on these successes of HIV prevention and treatment, stakeholders in healthcare need to break down the silos between the treatment of NCDs and infectious diseases and take a more patient-centered, holistic approach to care of this so-called syndemic.

To advance progress in this area, we supported in 2022 the release of the paper “Long, full, healthy lives: Delivering on the commitment to integrated NCD care for people living with HIV by 2025” to identify gaps and potential solutions for integrated care of HIV and NCDs. Content included insights from the UNGA side event as well as contributions from leading stakeholders in the NCD and HIV/AIDS space including experts from the WHO, UNAIDS, STOPAIDS, NCD Alliance and Viatris. The report highlights the importance of partnerships in pursuing models of integrated screening, prevention and care for people living with HIV with or at risk of NCDs, and of capitalizing on the platform and treatment cascade already established for HIV.

To advocate and raise awareness of the importance of integration of HIV and NCDs, the NCD Alliance in partnership with Viatris organized multistakeholder events in 2022, including at UNGA and the International AIDS Society (IAS) annual conference, to discuss the issue. We’ve also helped develop an advocacy toolkit targeted at national/regional NCD alliances and, in 2023, will launch a new NCD Academy course on the integration of NCD care and communicable diseases.

Addressing Cancer Screening Inequities

Unequal access to healthcare can lead to low rates of cancer screening, especially among lowincome and ethnic minority groups. In January 2023, we partnered with several groups to publish a manuscript in the International Journal for Equity in Health to raise the importance of including patients, advocacy groups and empowerment organizations in implementing interventions for more equitable cancer screening. The article presents viewpoints from representatives of nine patient and survivor advocacy groups, organizations working for citizen/patient empowerment and health equity experts in the U.S. and Europe. These views include:

The importance of not viewing screening as a single event.Recognizing that there are usually several and varying barriers to a person’s ability to access and willingness to undergo screening.ndividually tailored interventions are likely to be more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach as they may better suit personal beliefs, knowledge, behaviors and preferences.Recognizing that targeting people who are outside of the medical care system and hard to reach are a major challenge that must be considered.Including professional patient advocacy groups and others in the creation of interventions at all stages of design, implementation, and evaluation is essential.

SOURCES:

1 WHO NCD Fact Sheet 
2 WHO Health Workforce 
3 As of Jan. 2023 
4 Patient reach calculated by multiplying the number of HCP learners by the average number of patients treated, as self-reported by HCP learners upon registering for NCD Academy. Patient reach includes unique patients as well as repeat patient encounters

View the full 2022 Sustainability Report here.

Nearly every manufacturing facility uses compressed air. And all share the challenge of keeping compressed air systems running efficiently and reliably.

Depending on the industry (e.g., automotive, consumer goods, mining, etc.), the compressed air system accounts for 10-50% of a plant’s energy usage and is as essential to uptime as electricity. But compressors are inherently inefficient.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) and CaseiZ, a global leader in compressed air solutions, worked together to create a solution to find efficiency gains in compressors, often a hidden source of inefficiency. CaseiZ, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), relies on a Rockwell platform to modernize and integrate obsolete systems. In many cases, these improvements can uncover potential energy savings from 25-50%.

CaseiZ developed AirView Cloud, a monitoring system based on the ThingWorx IIoT platform, connects disparate devices, applications, and data streams to enable secure access to industrial operations data.

“The ThingWorx platform is changing two things,” said Allen King, Jr., manager of operations, CaseiZ. “First, it improves customer visibility into their system. And second, it massively accelerates our efficiency in customer support.”

Learn more about how companies are uncovering potential energy savings and maintaining maximum efficiency in their compressed air systems.

Farm Powered anaerobic digestion is a powerful process that recycles organic waste, mainly food and beverage waste from the manufacturing sector and dairy cow manure, into renewable natural gas. It’s a pretty simple process – think of it as a giant Crock-Pot that is full of methanogens – which are naturally found in cow manure – that gobbles up the food waste and the manure and creates biogas. That biogas is then cleaned, upgraded, and becomes a powerful tool to fight climate change – renewable natural gas. A drop-in replacement for fossil natural gas and is one of the tools in our toolbox to mitigate climate change.

Food waste is a fact of life, whether it be in a home or at a factory. If a batch of ice cream has too few chocolate chips, it can’t be sold. Food and beverage companies have to make a choice of how they choose to dispose of their inedible product – send it to a landfill or find a higher purpose for that waste. Turning that inedible waste into renewable energy is not only good for the planet, but can help a company reach its zero-waste to landfill goals, and gives them a great sustainability story to tell their investors and consumers.

For dairy farmers, manure presents some smelly challenges. Like food waste, you can’t have dairy cows without cow manure. There are several ways that farmers and food and beverage companies can handle their unavoidable waste. We believe that recycling them together through Farm Powered anaerobic digestion provides a sustainable solution for both dairy farmers and food and beverage manufacturers.

There are also many benefits of recycling food waste and dairy cow manure through anaerobic digestion; creating positive impacts on waste management, renewable energy generation, greenhouse gas reduction, and sustainable agriculture.

Vanguard Renewables is taking its Farm Powered process nationwide. Learn more at www.vanguardrenewables.com

Originally published on TriplePundit

Ways of doing business are shifting from a narrowed focus on solely revenue, to a broader vision focused on a company’s purpose to serve all stakeholders, including employees, customers, communities and the environment.

“There’s greater stakeholder interest in what’s going on. External stakeholders are asking more questions, wanting to know and have more visibility on the disparate activities that your company is involved in,” said Grady Crosby, vice president and chief sustainability and impact officer at leading financial services company Northwestern Mutual. “There’s also been a regulatory push for more information on how non-financial factors can impact your business — from the standpoint of the recent pandemic, your ability to attract and retain talent, and your impact in the local community, for example.”

In its 166-year legacy, Northwestern Mutual’s purpose has been centered on helping people and businesses achieve economic success while committing over $400 million to community investments since 1992. These impact investments include fighting childhood cancer, improving education, and investing in the community revitalization of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the company is headquartered.

Since 2013, Northwestern Mutual has invested over $15 million to foster safe neighborhoods and support the growth and well-being of Milwaukee residents. “To close racial and economic disparities in our communities, we work directly with residents to advance their objectives,” Crosby said. “Just in the last year we built on our neighborhood revitalization efforts, offering $1.7 million in grants to nearly 30 nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee’s Amani, Metcalfe Park and Muskego Way neighborhoods.”

Investing in your ‘own backyard’ for long-term sustainability

Investing in local communities with solutions to address the racial wealth gap and other challenges can help restore economic optimism, which continues to be low.

“We have some great initiatives in progress. One is focused on increasing the stock of affordable housing,” Crosby said. “Having access to affordable housing is an economic tool to help people relieve their financial anxiety and bridge the racial wealth gap that we know exists in the U.S.”

To close the gap in their hometown of Milwaukee — where Black homeownership rate is trailing behind other cities — Northwestern Mutual announced a $3 million investment to local housing nonprofits to support Milwaukee’s underserved communities with the resources and tools to achieve financial stability through homeownership.

“The neighborhoods we work in are some of the most economically disadvantaged in Milwaukee,” Crosby said. “So, when we help build a perpetual stock of affordable housing, it goes toward community building, because people who own their home with pride are more likely to take care of themselves and their communities. Owning a home is one of the biggest investments an individual will make, and it’s also that home that allows them to start thinking about the transfer of wealth.”

A shift toward social value proposition

One of the top 10 findings in the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, which surveyed more than 32,000 people across 28 countries, is that people want businesses to do more, not less, to address issues like climate change, economic inequality and workforce re-skilling. 77 percent said they expect CEOs to take a public stand on the wealth gap, and 79 percent said it is a CEO’s obligation to ensure their home community is both safe and thriving.

“We have a strong social value proposition as part of our core business mission which revolves around relieving Americans from financial anxiety,” Crosby said. “To be able to deliver on this, it requires us to put people first and understand their needs. Since serving the communities we impact is at the core of who we are, it only makes sense that when we talk about impact, it starts with community development and neighborhood revitalization.”

Community involvement is a powerful strategy for organizations looking to drive growth and establish trust. By investing time and money in the community, businesses can help address their problems and spur sustainable economic growth.

In 2022, Northwestern Mutual more formally defined its environmental, social and impact (ESI) strategy with accountability at the core. “This strategy builds upon the values that Northwestern Mutual has embraced since its inception,” Crosby said.

Crosby echoes the importance of forward thinking, reminding peers that it takes a marathon, not a sprint to achieve sustainable impact in your communities. “Companies need to roll up their sleeves, be a part of the solution and commit to the journey [because] it’s one that never stops.”

This article series is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Image courtesy of Northwestern Mutual

As published in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

We have been a committed partner to countries around the world for more than 30 years, supporting policies that encourage innovation, foster the advancement of mobile technology and enable business-friendly environments globally. With each new generation of wireless connectivity, we strive to create shared success in collaboration with lawmakers and regulators, and to create new opportunities for local industries and communities.

We implement our public policy approach around four key principles:

Participation: We engage in policy discussions with governments, organizations and industries around the world to advocate for policies that promote innovation and protect and foster new ideas in wireless connectivity. We are committed to helping policymakers at all levels understand our business model and role as an ecosystem enabler.Responsible Governance: We abide by all applicable laws and regulations regarding political contributions and expenditures, and our contributions are subject to the approval of our senior management with oversight by the Governance Committee of our Board of Directors.Transparency: We publicly disclose to the Federal Elections Commission all political contributions made by our Company and our Political Action Committee, and we abide by all legal obligations of the FCPA and similar legislation around the world.Policy Guides: We carefully monitor and evaluate developments that affect the world of wireless connectivity.

Our key public policy topics are 5G, invention and IP, spectrum, privacy, immigration and taxation. Our general positions are outlined below and published on our public policy website.

We published our global tax strategy to highlight our commitment to being a responsible and transparent corporate citizen. Our approach to tax is consistent with our CoBC and Code of Ethics and is premised on complying with applicable tax laws, maximizing stockholder value and delivering transparent tax reporting and disclosures. We also seek to pay the requisite taxes on profits generated from the activities performed in each jurisdiction.

Implementing our business strategy requires specialized engineering and other talent, as our revenues are highly dependent on technological and product innovations. To ensure that we can attract top talent, we must be able to hire the best engineers, regardless of their country of origin. Beyond fierce competition for talent across our industry and with our competitors, existing immigration laws make it more difficult for us to recruit and retain highly skilled foreign nationals, making the pool of available talent even smaller.

We engage in public policy efforts to support regulations that are aligned to today’s economic reality. Our Government Affairs team participates in diverse advocacy efforts that contribute to helping us ensure that immigration laws support our Company’s ability to develop leading-edge technologies specifically and our innovation-based global economy in general. Our advocacy efforts, as they relate to immigration laws and recruiting a global workforce, are generally implemented through collaborations with trade associations and diverse coalitions of employers. For more information on our approach to managing a diverse highly skilled workforce, please see our Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Index.

Key public policy topics

5G: 5G is a unified connectivity fabric that we believe will transform industries, create jobs and usher in an estimated $13.1 trillion in global sales activity in 203523. To achieve these benefits, we believe governments must adopt policies that support a comprehensive 5G rollout plan.Invention and IP: Invention, innovation and protection of IP are core drivers of economic growth and competitiveness. Without robust patent systems and strong global protection of IP, innovation would be significantly weakened.Spectrum: The benefits of wireless connectivity depend on the availability of adequate and appropriate radio spectrum. We believe in freeing new spectrum in a responsible way to meet the demands of consumers and businesses.Privacy: We believe that cultivating consumer trust through a foundation of security and privacy practices helps drive broader adoption and more personalized wireless technology offerings.Immigration: Highly skilled talent, especially in the areas of math, engineering and the sciences, is vital to the success of our Company and to the future of technological innovation around the world.Taxation: We support policies that incentivize innovation and enable American technology companies to comp

Learn more in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

Originally published on Built From Scratch

During his third combat tour with the United States Air Force in May 2011, Technical Sergeant Dan Fye was severely injured by an improvised explosive device (IED). He sustained major damage to his lower limbs. After numerous surgeries and three years of physical therapy, Dan now wears a prosthesis on his left leg and a brace on his right leg for mobility.

Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate volunteer force, recently came together with Semper Fi & America’s Fund to celebrate and acknowledge this local hero at his home in Washington state. They upgraded Dan’s outdoor space by installing fencing and pavers. They also assembled a patio furniture set, built raised flower beds and laid fresh mulch. Finally, the team assembled a gazebo, a chicken coop and a storage shed. Inside the shed was a surprise for Dan and his family: a new Traeger grill, tools and lawn equipment.

These days, Dan enjoys spending time with his family at home. He works on cars and dreams of opening a gym where he can help others with physical challenges learn weightlifting. Dan also serves his community as a firefighter and ER tech.

Giving back to veterans is personal to The Home Depot as more than 35,000 of the company’s associates are veterans or military spouses. Since 2011, The Home Depot Foundation has invested more than $475 million in veteran causes and improved more than 55,000 veteran homes and facilities, ensuring more of our nation’s heroes have a safe, comfortable place to call home that fits their individual needs. The Foundation has pledged to invest half of a billion dollars in veteran causes by 2025. 

To learn more about our veteran initiatives, visit HomeDepotFoundation.org.

Keep up with all the latest Home Depot news! Subscribe to our bi-weekly news update and get the top Built from Scratch stories delivered straight to your inbox.

FORT WORTH, Texas, August 9, 2023 /3BL/ – American Airlines announced the findings of a first-of-its-kind study on contrail avoidance, with results verified by satellite imagery, aimed at reducing aviation’s environmental impact.

Contrails form when airplanes fly through layers of humidity, and they can persist as cirrus clouds for minutes or hours depending on the conditions. While these extra clouds can reflect sunlight back into space during the day, certain contrails can trap heat within the Earth’s atmosphere at night.

The study, led by Google Research and Breakthrough Energy and with support from American, tested whether it is possible to identify atmospheric zones that are likely to create contrails. The team then determined whether pilots could avoid making contrails in flight when supplied with data regarding the location of these zones.

“American is grateful for the opportunity to work with our partners at Google Research and Breakthrough Energy to help advance the science on contrail avoidance,” said Jill Blickstein, Vice President of Sustainability at American. “The results from this small-scale test are encouraging, and, while clearly there are more questions to answer about how to operationalize contrails avoidance across our industry, we’re excited to have played a role in establishing this first proof point. And we’re looking forward to sharing what we learned with stakeholders in the aviation industry and beyond.”

After collecting large data sets — such as satellite imagery, weather and flight path data —Google Research and Breakthrough Energy used artificial intelligence (AI) to develop contrail forecast maps. A small group of American pilots flew 70 flights over six months, using AI-based predictions to make small modifications to routes that were projected to create contrails.

“Our contrails predictions combine the latest in AI research with massive amounts of satellite imagery, weather data and flight data,” said Juliet Rothenberg, head of product for Climate AI at Google Research. “We now have the first proof point that commercial flights can use these predictions to avoid contrails, as verified in satellite imagery. We’re grateful for our partnership with American Airlines and Breakthrough Energy – together we’ve taken a significant step towards understanding a high-potential climate solution.”

After the test flights, Google Research analyzed satellite imagery and found that flights where pilots used the AI predictions to avoid creating a contrail reduced contrail formation by 54%, as measured by distance, compared to flights where pilots did not use the predictions. This first proof point — albeit on a small number of flights — shows that a commercial flight can verifiably avoid creating a contrail. Additional research is necessary to determine if this success can be replicated and scaled.

“Avoiding contrails might be one of the best ways to limit aviation’s climate impact, and now we have a clear demonstration that it’s possible to do so,” said Marc Shapiro, Director of Breakthrough Energy Contrails. “This study is a great example of what happens when creative, ambitious organizations work together to better understand and solve a tough problem, and we’re grateful for American’s and Google’s partnership.”

American is working to make its operations more sustainable with more-fuel efficient aircraft powered increasingly by low-carbon fuel and new technology. To achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the airline has set a number of ambitious intermediate targets. Earlier this month, American issued its 2022 Sustainability Report, providing updates on the company’s strategy and progress on key issues over the year, including climate change.

Learn more in Google Research’s video and blog post.

About American Airlines Group
To Care for People on Life’s Journey®. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL and the company’s stock is included in the S&P 500. Learn more about what’s happening at American by visiting news.aa.com and connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.

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