Tag: 3BL

Early building sustainability planning maximizes the opportunities to conserve resources, enhance resiliency, and reduce operating costs while being mindful of the project’s overall timeline and budget.

Biopharma and F&B manufacturers are taking concrete action to positively impact our planet and the health and well-being of those on it. Across these industries, manufacturers are reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, using water more efficiently, and developing facilities with the employee’s wellness in mind. In addition to satisfying corporate sustainability goals and shareholder demand, implementing sustainable strategies makes good business sense.

But how do you develop a sustainable manufacturing facility in an energy and resource-heavy plant with unique FDA requirements? The key is in your early-stage planning. A good way of ensuring the primacy of sustainability within your future manufacturing facility is to convene a sustainability charrette during a project’s early design phases. This collaborative process brings key stakeholders together to align on the project’s priorities and to budget for, clearly communicate, and develop a realistic path to meet sustainability goals.

How does sustainability impact your building’s design?

Sustainable design goals can influence every aspect of your facility’s development, from site selection and utility requirements to air change rates and the final coat of paint selected. This is especially true if you aim for ambitious sustainability goals, like saving millions of gallons of water per year or achieving a net-zero carbon facility.

Early-stage alignment opens the door to big-picture decisions that can make the biggest impact, from the building’s structure to the basis of utility generation, such as reducing natural gas and water by switching from a distillation-based water-for-injection (WFI) system to one that uses ambient WFI and membrane filtration or by installing onsite renewable energy. Your project may also look to the building’s architecture and interior design to incorporate WELL building concepts, such as amenity spaces that connect employees with nature or promote the use of stairs. Including these concepts at the start means they are incorporated into the budget and timeline of the project’s baseline scope, avoiding rework or missed opportunities down the road.

Benefits of creating a project-specific sustainability plan

A successful sustainable building design does not just happen—it takes foresight, planning, and collaboration. At CRB, this begins with a sustainability charrette.

What is a charrette?

A charrette is an interactive workshop with key stakeholders that involves designing and planning a new or retrofitted building. It is a conversation between the project owners, their architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) partners, and trade partners. The charrette occurs at the beginning of an architectural or engineering project; the earlier it occurs, the more effective it will be.

What is a sustainability charrette?

A sustainability charrette is a collaborative identification of the project’s sustainability goals and exploration of what is necessary to meet them. This includes a review of local, industry, and policy trends, established corporate sustainability goals and guides, regional priorities and project-specific scope to inform the priorities and metrics appropriate to the project. The charrette can reinforce sustainability at subsequent stages of design, construction, and operation, including future expansion or retrofits. The sustainability charrette process was developed by CRB’s Energy and Sustainability Fellow, Jeff Wegner, as a necessary first step to planning a sustainable building’s design.

Your building’s early-stage sustainability planning is critical to:

Align the project with corporate sustainability goalsAdhere to local environmental and GHG regulationsIdeate solutions to reduce GHG emissions, water, and wasteSet stakeholder expectationsMeet budget and timeline while achieving ambitious sustainability goals

Who should be involved in creating the building’s sustainability plan?

Having expertise from all areas of the project will broaden the discussion to ensure concerns are voiced, needs are met, rippling impacts are identified, and opportunities are captured. Key stakeholders in sustainability planning should always include representatives of the executive team since they will have insight into high-level initiatives and influence the project’s overarching direction. The conversation must also include project managers, facility and utility owners, and core engineering and architectural teams. Optional participants include people from maintenance, quality, or equipment suppliers.

Owner:

Executive sponsorSite leadershipProject managerProcurementConstructionFacilities maintenanceAutomation/ITQuality

Sustainability design partner:

Project sponsorProject directorDesign & construction PMsSustainability specialistsKey design leadsKey technical leadsEquipment suppliers

The structure of the charrette fosters a team atmosphere, ensuring it’s the project team as a whole indicating how to meet the project’s sustainability goals. It also serves to integrate the entire project team—project owners, AEC partners, and trade partners—to outline the ‘whys’ of the project and reach agreement on the drivers. The entire team gets the opportunity to contribute and take ownership of meeting goals.

5 steps to planning your sustainable building design

Step 1. Set the tone

At CRB, we follow a template with topics, questions, and open dialog to guide the charrette process. It allows the team to see the global, regional, local and corporate sustainability goals and factors influencing their project. The group of stakeholders is encouraged to engage and think collectively about the importance of sustainability to the project, community, and to your organization.

The process begins by defining key sustainability terms to ensure everyone has the same baseline of understanding. What is sustainability? And what are net zero carbon emissions?

We discuss industry trends, including carbon pricing and the move toward carbon neutrality and carbon zero; renewable energy standards and options for onsite renewable energy use; and potential onsite energy storage for resiliency. If a site is already selected, we may also look to that region’s natural resource sensitivities.

List of common sustainability definitions, goals and building certifications

Scope 1, 2, & 3 emissions

Carbon neutral

Net-zero carbon

LEED

WELL

Fitwel

Additional sustainability terms and goals can be found in our guide to building sustainability planning pdf.

Step 2. Identify and prioritize sustainability goals

The group collectively assesses the importance of natural resources as the foundation of your building’s sustainability goals. At times, industry-standard building certifications (e.g., LEED or WELL) may guide the conversation.

Stakeholders assess sustainability priorities and resources such as:

Building certificationsCarbon emissionsEnergy resiliencyWater useWaste reductionHealth and wellnessRefrigerant use

Discussing sustainability priorities can lead to unexpected results. For one project without any overarching corporate goals, participants were surprised to realize that reducing carbon emissions was the top priority of the entire project team. This led to a discussion of how far to reduce emissions; there was clear agreement that they wanted to achieve carbon zero.

Goal prioritization has the added benefit of resolving conflicting design strategies, pitting, for example, carbon emissions against water use. The team can reference the list of priorities set by the stakeholders and more easily reach a consensus based on what they collectively agreed was most important to the project.

Step 3. Consider project-specific factors

Each project is uniquely guided by your company’s sustainability goals, industry best practices, and challenges and opportunities specific to your project.

Design guides and best practices

We assess your company’s design guidelines, general construction practices, and corporate sustainability goals. The local project teams may already be aware of global company guidelines that can significantly impact the project design. For example, it’s common for larger companies to have existing design guides that mandate a certain percentage of renewable energy, greywater reuse, or criteria for using natural refrigerants. Expectations for external certifications, such as LEED or WELL, may also affect the project.

Project-specific challenges

Since every project—regardless of location or scope—has limitations, it’s important to identify these as early as possible to allow for more efficient decision-making and design. Specialized sectors, like biopharma and food and beverage manufacturing, possess unique design challenges. These can include:

Less flexibility in terms of what materials can be used, including the use of sustainable materials (e.g., renewable, natural, organic), which needs to be balanced with the increased risk of microbial contamination and GMP/GLP integrityCleanliness requirements sometimes necessitate the use of so-called ‘red list’ materials and those containing VOCs or high-embodied carbonExcessive energy and water use may prompt additional considerations for steam-based systems

Project-specific opportunities

Including all project owners, AEC stakeholders, and key trade partners in the goal-setting and early discussion allows multi-disciplinary identification of integrative strategies. Ideation sessions spur innovative thinking and early planning to incorporate synergies between teams. This process enables multiple goals at minimal cost compared to projects that attempt to incorporate sustainability during later design and construction phases. Concepts may include:

Onsite renewable energy, allowing grid resiliency and carbon reductionPassive ventilation to improve health and wellness while reducing energy costsProgrammatic planning to enable flexibility with in-person work to encourage health and wellness while reducing footprint and required energy costsWater reclamation from purified water generation systems to offset potable water used for non-potable needsGreen walls that encourage higher air quality and contribute to biodiversity gains

Step 4. Define and agree upon expectations

Once priorities are established, the team can start to make strategic sustainable design decisions. Expectations can then be set and agreed upon—here at CRB, we call those expectations our conditions of satisfaction. Many of the sustainability-specific conditions of satisfaction will overlap with those in the project charter. Conditions of satisfaction for sustainability may include:

BudgetSchedulingBuilding (LEED or WELL) certificationsZero carbon considerationsRenewable energyElectric grid independencePotable water targetsConstruction waste diversion rateEmbodied carbon targetsBiodiversity needs

Including conditions of satisfaction with a hierarchy of priorities provides a common destination for the entire cross-discipline team to work toward. Each team can then leverage its technical expertise to incorporate the right equipment, systems, and materials to meet the project’s sustainability goal.

Step 5. Consider future sustainability goals

It’s important to identify additional goals, whether they be lofty corporate sustainability goals or just beyond the scope of the current project. These long-term or big-picture plans may suggest a need for utility or energy master planning to align future goals with the current project’s infrastructure. For example, if you want your building to achieve carbon zero by 2030, you may need to run conduit and allocate switchgear space for future photovoltaic (PV) panels. In the case of a renovation, the next step may include equipment and utility data collection.

Early sustainability planning promotes this forward-thinking problem-solving and proactive cost-savings to meet near-term facility goals and long-term corporate goals.

When is the best time to start planning for a sustainable building’s design?

At CRB, we like to address client corporate sustainability goals as early as possible. Ideally, the sustainability charrette occurs prior to site selection or the completion of a feasibility study. This allows project owners and their partners to align the goals in the most beneficial way.

Even when the makeup of the project team is in flux or there’s a lack of time or scope before the proposal starts, it is valuable to include an evaluation of sustainability within the proposal phase, even if it has to be on a smaller scale than a full charrette.

When introduced late in the project timeline, sustainability efforts may be seen as a cost or schedule adder. Even worse, if the conversation begins at the construction phase, you may discover that the certifications or desired standards are far more difficult or expensive to attain.

Do all new development projects need a sustainability analysis?

If the project is beyond just equipment procurement or involves more than one space, the project will benefit from a sustainability charrette. Any large construction, renovation, or project with a multi-disciplinary design scope should incorporate a sustainability charrette as soon as possible.

Retrofits also benefit from sustainability charrettes

Retrofitting an existing building is almost always beneficial to meeting sustainability goals, as it minimizes new land development, reuses existing infrastructure, and reduces waste and the use of new materials. A sustainability charrette identifies the goals for the facility, the existing building, and the key stakeholders before jumping into the project. This provides an idea of how development will impact the existing infrastructure so the team can begin to establish a roadmap toward future sustainability targets.

Constraints around utilities and infrastructure during a retrofit can impact goals. As such, getting to carbon neutral on day one of operations may be difficult. Understanding the baseline use of existing utilities and when and how those are going to be phased out allows a plan to be developed for the next few years. As equipment is replaced, the facility’s sustainability goals can be achieved.

Choose experts in sustainability planning

Getting your sustainability goals right from the outset goes a long way to reducing cost, smoothing the path to market, and meeting corporate goals. Download our sustainability charrette template to get started or integrate sustainability planning into our project charter phase allows us to work with you to bring creative and innovative solutions to your projects.

Ready to achieve your building’s sustainability goals? Let’s talk.

When considering the role of testing in the healthcare industry, the process of diagnosing and tracking patient progress comes to mind most often. But there is a whole other angle of testing that is critical to positive patient outcomes, and that is healthcare software and system testing. While a more behind-the-scenes testing, it is imperative that physicians and support staff have access to high quality software, systems, and digital tools throughout the patient care process. And, while automated testing practices have been utilized across many industries to improve such solutions, a recent survey revealed that the healthcare industry lags in deploying test automation solutions. This is where technology companies, like Keysight, can play a role in improving patient outcomes in healthcare management and help drive quality improvements in the medical field.

Importance of Healthcare Software Testing

Software and digital systems are employed across the healthcare ecosystem, from wearables and instrumentation to communications systems, telehealth applications and, of course, electronic medical record (EMR) systems. The pandemic sped this transition to digital and integrated systems in support of more virtual patient management — and those changes are here to stay. Ensuring these digital solutions function and interface accurately is critical for medical staff to be able to make quick, sometimes lifesaving, decisions for their patients. Poorly designed user interfaces, system glitches, and lack of cross-system integration can lead to medical errors. This is what makes testing so important.

Challenges of Healthcare Software Testing

The exponential growth in systems and software has strained healthcare quality assurance leaders who have needed to quickly scale systems amid talent shortages, budget and time constraints, and strict regulations on protected health information. However, because of these challenges, testing tended to rely on traditional methodologies, manual, or sometimes homegrown solutions.

Speeding Quality Deployments with Test Automation

Test automation methodologies used by other industries can also help speed deployment of quality healthcare systems. Automating testing can enhance testing coverage, reduce time to release, free up staff and resources, and lead to fewer software defects. As a result, healthcare leaders are eager to embrace test automation. In fact, 75% of respondents in the Vital Signs survey — a collaboration between Keysight Technologies and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) — stated that they “plan to move to primarily automated testing during the next five years.”

That is good news for the healthcare industry, medical professionals, and patients alike.

To help healthcare IT professionals in this endeavor, Keysight offers an AI-powered suite of software test automation solutions tailored to their industry. We are committed to building intelligent test automation solutions for the healthcare industry and help bring quality care to everyone.

Originally published on wildlifehc.org

We’ve all heard the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Science has even backed up the powerful impact of imagery, with research showing that people tend to remember ideas presented in pictures better than in words.

Professionals who work in sustainability often find themselves needing to make the case for conservation. Whether that’s championing an effort like composting waste scraps from the campus cafeteria, securing funds to plant a pollinator garden on-site or informing community members about a local threatened species, convincing the stakeholders involved in these decisions requires using all the tools available — and that’s where conservation photography comes in.

Like all forms of photography, conservation photography tells a story, often about the beauty and majesty of nature as well as the factors that threaten species’ or ecosystems’ survival. When it comes to getting buy-in from key decisionmakers, educating students or just inspiring the general public, conservation photography is a powerful way to demonstrate the far-reaching impact of conservation work. This blog will explore how corporate conservation professionals (or anyone!) can use photography to support their conservation goals.

Bring wildlife close to home

Photography literally provides a close-up look at species or environments that people might not encounter otherwise. It can be easy to focus only on the animals or plants we see every day, which means it can also be easy to forget about those that exist half a world away. Conservation photography is a helpful reminder of the sheer diversity of life on earth. It also provides perspective, serving as a reminder that even the ecosystems and species found at one’s own workplace or in the backyard are just as valuable as those in exotic locales.

Tell a story

Like all artforms, conservation photography is storytelling at its core. Neuroscience confirms that stories impact the brain’s neurons, making them fire similarly to the person telling the story and creating a bond between the storyteller and the audience. This even leads to the release of dopamine, a feel-good chemical that helps people recall the story later. Using still images or video to illustrate the needs and experiences of a particular species reaches audiences on a visual, intellectual and emotional level.

Wildlife filmmaker and WHC Board member Chris Morgan is no stranger to the power of storytelling. Through his documentary projects like BEARTREK and Path of The Bear, Morgan’s own story and the stories of biologists and conservationists coincides with the bear species he is documenting. BEARTREK, for example, charts Morgan’s seven-year journey across three continents to understand the conservation efforts protecting species like the spectacled bear, polar bear and sun bear. By weaving human stories into the stories of rare species, conservation photographers and filmmakers build a strong bond with their audience.

Contribute to scientific research

Conservation photography provides visual data, especially when it comes to rare species. In addition to observing what a specific plant or animal looks like, photographers are incidentally also identifying its abundance, location, condition and behavior, which are all important data for understanding a population. Contributing to citizen or community science efforts allows anyone to be part of the study of a particular ecosystem or species. Amateur and professional photographers alike can submit photos and other data to initiatives like NestWatch, iNaturalist and other community science programs in order to contribute to the widespread understanding of a species.

Demonstrate a change over time

Nature is fluid, constantly evolving and adapting. Conservation photography illustrates both the harmful and beneficial changes that have occurred in an environment over time. Taking a photo of the same location at different times throughout the year — also called photo point monitoring — can show the effects of industrialization or habitat degradation; however, these repeat photographs can also showcase the positive effects of conservation efforts, from grassland restoration to the return of a species that had previously lost its habitat.

Get employees involved

One way to encourage conservation photography as well as employee engagement is through contests. Employee photography contests showcase the on-site biodiversity to a company’s entire employee base, explained Ann George, Senior Scientist at WHC member mining company Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), which has held an employee contest for over 10 years. “When people think of a mining company, they don’t think of wildlife,” George said, so a photography contest is a great way to educate employees and the broader community about how a company is managing and preserving biodiversity.

FCX develops a specific set of criteria for entries, including the exclusion of any invasive or ornamental species. The company’s biodiversity task force reviews the entries, of which they receive 400-500 each year, and the top choices are submitted to WHC’s annual calendar, printed and hung in the corporate office and showcased on computer lock screens across the company.

WHC member CEMEX also holds a photography contest for employees. “CEMEX’s ‘Nature Positive’ photo contest has helped us to connect with our employees around their positive experiences with nature on our sites, while demonstrating the important role that industry can play in halting and reversing biodiversity loss,” explained Jerae Carlson, Senior Vice President of Sustainability, Communications & Public Affairs at CEMEX USA. Not only does the contest raise awareness about on-site wildlife, but it also creates connections between coworkers. “Employees are often eager to share their positive experiences with nature and to see nature through the lens of their colleagues.”

For companies thinking about starting a photography contest, Carlson and George provided some tips. “Make it easy for everyone to participate,” said Carlson. CEMEX developed several submission options for employees, including a specific email address as well as a QR code that allowed employees without a company email to submit photos from their phones. Promoting the contest is also key: George recommended publicizing the contest thoroughly to employees and marketing it as an opportunity to hone photography skills while learning more about the company’s biodiversity projects.

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to have a positive impact on conservation with your photos. Armed with a smartphone, a keen sense of observation and a little bit of patience, anyone can capture moments in nature that support greater conservation goals.

Whirlpool Corporation has been named one of the 2023 Best Companies for Multicultural Women by Seramount, part of EAB. The award recognizes the top 80 companies that create and use best practices in hiring, retaining and promoting multicultural women in the United States.

“Inclusion is a key pillar of Whirlpool Corp.’s enduring values, and we have continuously worked to create a culture where every person is welcome, respected, valued and heard,” Kim Kavala, senior director of inclusion & diversity and global learning, said. “We are proud these efforts have once again been recognized by Seramount and remain committed to celebrating diverse perspectives and taking meaningful action to embed inclusion and belongingness throughout our organization and the communities where we live.”

For 111 years, Whirlpool Corp. has been committed to supporting its employees, who embody the company’s dedication to improve life at home, in the community and on the planet. CEO and Chairman Marc Bitzer became a Catalyst CEO Champion for Change signatory in 2018, pledging to increase the Whirlpool Corp.’s female representation in executive and senior level positions and ensure accelerated inclusion of women, including women of color, in senior roles. Representation of women at the most senior levels has increased overall as a result of this focus. The company also made significant strides to progress its U.S. Racial Equality Pledge including establishing new unconscious bias training, expanding its mentorship program to facilitate relationships for Black managers and senior managers.

Whirlpool Corporation maintains 17 employee resource groups (ERGs) globally to further raise awareness for an inclusive culture, including the Whirlpool Women’s Network (WWN), which empowers and engages women at all levels within the corporation and community through engagement, development and career progression.

The company is frequently recognized for its efforts to cultivate an inclusive and diverse workplace and was recently honored by U.S. News & World Report as One of the Best Companies to Work For in 2023 as well as named One of America’s Most JUST Companies for 2023.

To create its annual list, Seramount asked companies close to 600 questions on representation; hiring, attrition, and promotion rates; recruitment, retention, and advancement programs; and company culture. The 2023 Seramount survey also assessed progress for women by specific racial/ethnic group as well as factors influencing that progress, including mental health, anti-racism progress, and participation in mentoring and sponsorship programs. The report found that there has been significant progress in creating cultures encouraging multicultural women to join and rise through the ranks.

This year’s Best Companies for Multicultural Women employ about 3.9 million people at 39,810 work sites in every state across 16 industries. Key findings in the survey showed that multicultural women make up 10 percent of corporate executives this year, in comparison to only 8 percent last year. In addition, multicultural women represent 15 percent of the highest earnings, 1 percent more than last year.

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From May 30 to June 2, Lenovo joined the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) in Helsinki, Finland. The WCEF gathered forward-looking thinkers and doers and presented the game-changers in the circular economy, including Lenovo. Starting with a great opening on “Circular solutions for nature and the economy”, the event delivered strong messages on the urgency to act now. The concept of a circular economy is now well established but needs to move to the next step and be implemented in our economy. This implementation will require education, regulations, and investments from all industries. Most importantly, embracing the circular economy can create more sustainable supply chains, decoupling greenhouse gas emissions from business growth for the future.

WCEF attendees were able to learn about Lenovo’s transition to a circular economy through innovations in our supply chain, product design and services. “It was enlightening to meet with companies – like our project end-of-life management partners, who are on the front lines of creating a circular economy for electronics. We saw first-hand how Lenovo’s focus on repairability and durability contributes to the prolonged lifecycles of refurbished and reused systems, creating opportunities throughout the circular value chain,” said William Dominici, Director PCSD Strategy, Lenovo. Lenovo’s innovations in packaging and product design were presented, like the Lenovo ThinkVision P32pz-30 monitor with 95% of post-consumer content (PCC) plastic ABS in the real cover recycled metals steel and its industry first plastic-free packaging.

Rather than focusing on making a single product line sustainable, Lenovo is holistically integrating closed loop recycled plastic (plastic from electronics) into a wide range of products, including the recently announced Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 laptop and the Lenovo Tab Extreme which features a chassis made of 100% recycled aluminum. Lenovo’s packaging engineers never stop thinking about ways to make our packaging more sustainable through recycled materials and elimination of plastic. ThinkPad Z13 packaging is made from 100% bamboo and sugarcane fiber, and Lenovo Tab Extreme is also the first Lenovo tablet to have plastic free packaging.

Lenovo’s participation in the WCEF was also the occasion to discuss Lenovo’s sustainability services and Lenovo’s participation in the circular economy across products’ lifecycle. Considering there are more than 50 million tons of e-waste produced per year, Lenovo Asset Recovery Services can help give IT hardware a second life by encouraging the reuse, recycle and refurbishment of devices.

As a global technology powerhouse, we were proud to join the conversation at this year World Circular Economy Forum, demonstrate our commitment to this field, and contribute to the solutions it represents. “Having the chance to learn, interact and share with fellow circular economy advocates was beyond encouraging, said Claudia Contreras, Executive Director Global Sustainability Services, Lenovo. While we have a long road ahead, it is extremely motivating to know that we in Lenovo are putting real action behind commitments.”

Read more about Lenovo’s efforts to create a smarter, more sustainable future for all in the company’s FY 2021-22 ESG Report.

Tapestry aims to be a work environment where employees look forward to contributing and feel fully supported in pursuing their own growth and development. We look to provide the right tools for our employees, to use when and where those resources best suits them. One of the ways Tapestry does is this is through our Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs), voluntary, employee-led groups that aim in our mission to not only foster a greater diversity of perspectives within each of our brands and across Tapestry but empower our employee community to be the best version of themselves at work. For Tapestry, unlocking the power of our people is truly a superpower.

Tapestry’s Working Parents & Caregivers EBRG was created to support families of all types through all phases by providing resources, guidance, and encouragement to assist in work-life integration.

Want to learn more about what its like working at Tapestry? Check out our careers page for more information: https://careers.tapestry.com/.

NEW YORK and LONDON, July 12, 2023 /3BL/ – AccountAbility, the trusted global ESG Consulting and Standards firm with a three-decade history in guiding leaders to build better companies, is pleased to announce that CEO Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser recently engaged in an exclusive interview with Nareit, the worldwide representative voice for REITs and listed real estate companies with an interest in U.S. Real Estate and Global Capital Markets.

In the interview, Mr. Misser shared insights on the latest trends in ESG practices, and the evolving landscape of sustainability within the corporate sector. This was framed against the ESG predictions and patterns observed by Mr. Misser over the past decade. Notably, the Consolidation and Standardization of ESG Frameworks and Standards at the highest level, and the significant shift as ESG metrics sit alongside financial metrics in predicting the future health of a company.

“Standardization and Consolidation of ESG Standards, Frameworks, Reporting, and Disclosure has occurred. ESG Metrics are now entering the mainstream of business. With this, ESG metrics will not be used to just report and disclose a company’s financial health, but more importantly predict it,” comments AccountAbility CEO Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser.

Mr. Misser spoke in detail on emerging ESG Trends that are shaping the corporate agenda, including the impact of geopolitical disruption across all facets of the global economy: Disruption of Supply Chains, Cost of Capital, Managing Inflation, Access and Cost of Energy, and Clear Direction of Monetary Policy. Business will need to respond to this New “G” (Geopolitics) in ESG while maximizing resilience to macro shocks and prioritizing uninterrupted service delivery.

Corporate Boards have long played a key role in setting an organizations culture, values, and business practices. Now, the structure of Boards is changing. Mr. Misser spoke to this trend and the emergence of Boards that will be purpose built with diversity of thinking (beyond just diversity of pigmentation) sitting alongside gender, socio-economic, professional, and cultural backgrounds as central to effective, future-focused Boards.

These emerging trends, as detailed within the AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report, together with the economic factors impacting specific geographies and industries, make clear the need for companies to integrate sustainability into their core business strategies to remain competitive and resilient in today’s rapidly evolving global market.

The AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 – Highlights

The Net Zero Landscape: Against an unprecedented volume of net zero commitments, what are the risks for those that fail to act, and the opportunities for businesses to lead? Stakeholder Activism Is Getting Louder: As businesses face increasing pressure to take a stance and demonstrate actionable progress on a range of ESG issues, how best can leaders balance this with the imperative to maximize shareholder value? Geopolitics: The New “G” In ESG: In an era of increasingly globalized business operations, how can organizations address the outsized role that the new G (Geopolitics) is playing in the business landscape? Building an Effective, Future-Focused Board: As demands and expectations shift, how best to equip future-focused Boards to meet the requirements of the evolving business environment? Next Generation ESG Disclosure and Reporting: A shift from voluntary to mandatory ESG Disclosure is set to heighten attention on corporate sustainability disclosure practices. How will these changes impact ESG Reporting? The Road to a Sustainable Value Chain: How can the integration of sustainability criteria into supply chains drive organizational shifts towards a more context-aware and competitive value chain? Nature Based Assets Will Drive Valuations: As nature-based assets are increasingly recognized for their significant impact on valuations, what steps can companies take to achieve nature-based performance goals?

AccountAbility is committed to fostering knowledge sharing and collaboration and to helping advance the Global ESG agenda. By engaging in discussions with industry leaders such as Nareit, and with their 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report, the firm continues to advance the collective understanding of ESG trends, challenges, and opportunities that are shaping the business landscape.

The full Nareit interview with Mr. Misser can be viewed here.

Download the AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report.

About AccountAbility 

AccountAbility is a 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. Learn more at www.accountability.org.

Contact: 
Mr. Jon Packer 
AccountAbility 
Head of Marketing & Communications 
Phone: +1 416 543 9179 
Email: jon.packer@accountability.org 
Web: www.accountability.org

A recent study by Brand Finance reveals that the world’s biggest brands are at risk of losing billions of dollars if their perceived sustainability doesn’t match their actual sustainability performance.

See Top 10 Potential Added Value Brands

Brand Finance used CSRHub data in its inaugural Sustainability Gap Index that measures the gap between sustainability perceptions and the performances of big global brands. The results show that many brands are either putting their value at risk or not utilizing their full potential by not meeting stakeholders’ sustainability perceptions.

CSRHub’s overall rating scores were used to calculate the gap value for each brand based on their divergence from their sector median sustainability performance score.

See Sustainability Gap Value

Among the brands analyzed, Tesla is found to have the most at risk, with over $4.1 billion on the line. On the other hand, Microsoft has the highest positive gap value, indicating that its sustainability performance exceeds its perceived sustainability. Microsoft has the opportunity to generate an additional $1.5 billion if they prioritize effective communication of its sustainability initiatives.

Chanel serves as an example of a brand that successfully aligned its sustainability performance with its perception by engaging with stakeholders and effectively communicating its authentic sustainability efforts. Chanel demonstrates how brands can improve their sustainability perception and protect their value.

View the full report for more details and analysis of the huge risk and opportunities for big brands and their sustainability gaps on Brand Finance.

About Brand Finance PLC

Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. We advise strongly branded organizations on how to maximize their value through the effective management of their brands and intangible assets. We have conducted thousands of brand valuations for clients of all sizes and across most sectors. Our clients include international brand owners, tax authorities, lawyers, government bodies and investment banks. See www.brandfinance.com.

About CSRHub, LLC

CSRHub provides access to corporate social responsibility and sustainability ratings and information on over 7,000 companies from 135 industries in 90 countries. By aggregating and normalizing the information from 200 data sources, CSRHub has created a broad, consistent rating system and a searchable database that links millions of rating elements back to their source. Managers, researchers and activists use CSRHub to benchmark company performance, learn how stakeholders evaluate company CSR practices and seek ways to change the world. See www.csrhub.com.

Originally published in International Paper’s 2022 Sustainability Report

At International Paper, we prioritize and structure responsibility and sustainability. We rely on the daily actions and personal accountability of each of our employees and business partners. We instill trust and respect — the underpinnings of our reputation — through sound governance practices.

Stakeholder engagement 

Our stakeholders span our entire value chain: customers, employees, shareholders, communities, governments, non-governmental organizations and suppliers. By consistently engaging with them, we identify material issues that are important to us and prioritize emerging global issues and industry trends.

Ethics and integrity 

We’ve codified our ethics in the International Paper Code of Conduct, which serves as an ethical compass to keep us on course as we pursue our vision to be among the most successful, sustainable and responsible companies in the world. The Code helps us successfully navigate ethical challenges as they occur in the course of our day-to-day job duties. Our policies, guidelines and best-practice processes support the messaging in the Code by reinforcing our values and standards, including our commitment to treat each other with respect and dignity, act fairly and honestly in all our business dealings, safeguard natural resources, and protect and advance human rights around the world. Our commitment to integrity and excellence is at the heart of our business operations and relationships, and we seek out partnerships with suppliers and other third parties who share our high standards.

Responsible sourcing 

Our global fiber procurement policy is the foundation of our commitment to healthy and abundant forests and states, “We will not knowingly accept fiber from illegally logged forests or from forests where high conservation values are threatened by management activities.” To that end, we engage in responsible fiber sourcing, which includes:

Conducting due diligence throughout our supply chainValidating origin on direct uncertified purchasesUsing best-in-class digital mapping systems to monitor harvest activities and policy compliance via ForSite™, our innovative, GIS-based mapping system

A critical supplier network 

Our global network of more than 80,000 suppliers is critical to our business success and the implementation of our Vision 2030 strategy. So we seek out suppliers who are as committed as we are to our core values.

We embrace innovation and collaboration with these suppliers, and expect quality products and services that are competitive, sustainable and meet our stakeholders’ expectations. To ensure that commitment, our Third Party Code of Conduct is built into contractual agreements. It outlines expectations regarding the workplace standards and business practices required of suppliers, their affiliates and others in their supply chain. In addition, we screen potential suppliers for a wide variety of risks, including corruption risks.

To track, analyze and address risks and operate responsibly and sustainably, we incorporate environmental, social and governance considerations (ESG) into our everyday processes. See the Sustainability Oversight section on page 17 for details.

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.

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Originally published by Walgreens Boots Alliance

Senior leaders, partners, customers, industry experts, suppliers, and team members came together virtually from around the world for a special Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) event on March 9 to celebrate the release of its annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, and highlight the innovative ways WBA is making a difference on the health of our communities and our planet in the last year.

Hosted by Alethia Jackson, WBA senior vice president of ESG and chief DEI officer for the U.S., and Una Kent, WBA vice president of ESG and DEI international, the event underscored the significant impact of the company’s efforts to responsibly serve the needs of our communities and planet, and create greater access to care, improving health outcomes and driving health equity.

Here are six key takeaways from the event:

1. WBA is leading the way in accountability and sustainability, and that positive impact is being felt in communities around the world.

Ornella Barra, WBA chief operating officer, international, and ESG committee chair, delivered opening remarks that featured the company’s successes in giving back to our communities, with a cumulative fiscal year 2022 total of $100 million donated, a 21.2% reduction in global carbon emissions, and a 204 metric ton savings of plastic.

Barra noted WBA’s ESG approach is designed around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework of the United Nations, with WBA among the first to embrace those goals after their publication in 2015. Among the 17 SDG’s, she emphasized “Partnership for the goals,” which aligns with one of WBA’s key values of partnership. “When it comes to our global ESG efforts, collaboration with our partners and stakeholders is key,” she says.

2. An embedded ESG strategy in an organization’s business strategy is critical to success.

WBA CEO Roz Brewer, in conversation with Jackson and Kent, emphasized the importance of integrating a company’s ESG strategy with its business strategy. For WBA, this is especially important in its transformation to a healthcare company, especially for customers, patients and team members, all of whom demand transparency.

Brewer says having an ESG strategy that is integrated and in lock step with business strategy provides something to stand behind that is important to defining who WBA is as a company. She pointed to work during the COVID pandemic that continues to inform our work with health equity, and current initiatives like streamlining HIV antiviral distribution that have provided deeper insights into what underserved communities need, while underscoring the importance of the relationships our pharmacists have with patients and customers.

3. Building partnerships and developing relationships are key to making progress toward health equity.

The first ESG pillar, Healthy Communities, begins locally, so it must be nurtured in communities and regions by building partnerships and developing relationships, says Georgia Lehoczky, Walgreens regional healthcare director for South Florida and Puerto Rico, and Shauna Markes-Wilson, director of pharmacy and retail operations for Walgreens region 28 in Georgia and Florida.

The combination of Walgreens scale with strong local partners has proven an incredible formula to addressing health inequality, vaccine hesitancy, and chronic conditions, according to Lehoczky. Working with community-based organizations—outside the walls of our retail pharmacies—to interact with patients where they live has been a successful strategy to reach the people who need health services the most.

According to Markes-Wilson, this strategy works because of the trust pharmacists and technicians have built within their communities. “We know trust is a critical component of health equity, so it matters where the data comes from and who’s delivering it,” she says. “Because many of our pharmacists and technicians live and work in the communities they serve, and look like the communities we’re trying to reach, they are seen as highly trustworthy sources of health information among their community members. That combination is a catalyst for success, and puts communities that need our services within reach,” she says.

4. Key stakeholders expect sustainability to a core element of an organization’s strategy.

For people to be healthy, we need a Healthy Planet, so sustainability needs to be a core element of an organization’s strategy, says Amy Brachio, global deputy vice chair, sustainability at EY, in conversation with Walgreens director of ESG Lauren Stone. Global initiatives to reduce environmental impact and lessen the effects of day-to-day business are not only better for the planet, they are also good for business and generate significant value.

Brachio listed three key groups that sustainability resonates with: investors, employees and customers. The investor community is increasingly looking for reassurance on sustainability and brand protection. For employees, people want to work for companies that have strong sustainability strategies, particularly since those companies have 55% better employee morale and 38% better employee loyalty. And customers also have ambitious sustainability expectations, with 86% of them more likely to trust a company that reports its sustainability results, and 80% wanting to purchase goods that reflect strong corporate social responsibility over those that don’t.

Ultimately, Brachio says, there is a strong connection between a healthier planet and driving sustainability that helps people live healthier lives. “It’s hard to imagine how you live a joyful life if you don’t have access to clean air and water, and access to food,” she says.

5. Misconceptions surrounding the topic of disability are often an incomplete picture drawn from people’s own experiences.

Holly May, WBA EVP and global chief human resources officer, and Joe Riddle, director of Neurodiversity in the Workplace, discussed the importance of WBA’s third ESG pillar, Healthy and Inclusive Workplace, emphasizing the creation of a workplace that is welcoming, inclusive and representative of the global communities we serve, which is illustrated by the company’s commitment to disability hiring and inclusion.

Riddle countered a series of myths and misconceptions about hiring people with disabilities, pointing out that one-in-four U.S. adults have a disability, and that companies that focus on disability inclusion with supporting initiatives perform better, with 28% higher revenue and 30% higher profits than companies that don’t. Additionally, most accommodations that help people with disabilities to succeed have little to no cost. If we can give people access to those tools, Riddle says, we can enable them to do their best, while creating a larger talent pool.

6. Transparency is critical to bringing products and services to market in a way that’s honest, safe, and sustainable.

From sourcing to packaging, we strive for transparency in our supply chains and in those of our partners to deliver brands that our customers can truly trust, says John Kallend, WBA’s SVP of global partnerships, who spoke with Kris Licht, president of health and global chief customer officer at Reckitt, a WBA global supplier, about WBA’s fourth ESG pillar, Sustainable Marketplace.

Much of the impact we can have lays not just within the four walls of our plants and warehouses, but also out in the world helping consumers use products smarter, better and in a more sustainable way. “We have to ask ourselves questions,” says Licht. “What is the footprint we have as businesses and as employers? What is the environmental footprint of our brands, and what happens after the sale of a product?” Asking these questions allows for the optimization of product formulations and designing products and packaging to improve the sustainability footprint of the product portfolio.

Watch the full event replay or segment clips, or download the full 2022 ESG Report.