Tag: 3BL

We were founded on a simple idea: make the world a brighter, happier place through the power of fragrance. While our products are constantly evolving, what will never change is our dedication to providing our customers fragrances and formulas they can trust.

From initial product development and formulation, product safety is our priority. Our personal care and home fragrance products are extensively tested and evaluated for safety and performance. Our evaluations of ingredients and formulas involve a multi-tiered and multidisciplinary approach to ensure that our products meet or exceed current regulatory and safety standards. We perform this review on every ingredient in every formula to ensure that our customers can use our products with confidence.

Ingredients and Product Formulation

We understand that there is often conflicting information on the safety of various ingredients used in personal care products. Ultimately, chemicals are all around us, and every chemical has a safety threshold — even water. The ingredients used in our fragrances and formulations follow our highly disciplined science-based approach to ingredient selection. Product safety and compliance is built into every product using industry best practices, regulatory requirements and guidance from authoritative bodies, including but not limited to:

U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)Health CanadaEU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS)U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR)International Fragrance Association (IFRA)World Health Organization (WHO)

Safety Reviews 

Our science-based safety reviews, conducted by product safety experts, begin with a thorough scientific evaluation of relevant, available information for each ingredient before we approve its use. If an ingredient does not meet the higher threshold of our safety standards and those set by regulatory bodies in the jurisdictions where the products are sold, it will not be used. After ingredients are confirmed safe for their intended use, our clinical safety experts ensure personal care product safety through confirmatory clinical testing.

Testing methods include controlled in-laboratory studies and in-home use studies with customers.

For our home fragrance products, we have developed best-in-class testing for all new candle materials and technologies, including rigorous burn testing to ensure exceptional safety and performance. The candle testing process is carried out in multiple stages from raw material suppliers to component manufacturers, candle fillers and a leading independent testing lab.

“When it comes to our products, quality and safety are non-negotiable,” says Steve Smith, SVP of Product Integrity at Bath & Body Works. “I’m proud of our incredible team who works every day to ensure every finished product we sell to customers undergoes extensive safety and quality review. Bottom line is that this work is never ending for our team, and we’re proud to offer customers products that we enjoy in our own homes.”

Post Market 

Once products are on store shelves, we continue to monitor feedback from several sources, including our customers, the latest scientific information and new and updated regulations. New information is used to further improve performance and to continue to provide safe, high-quality products to our customers.

No Animal Testing 

We have a long history of no animal testing. None of our branded products or formulations or ingredients have ever been tested on animals by Bath & Body Works, and we do not sell products anywhere that require animal testing.

We are committed to eliminating animal testing worldwide, and our company is an active supporter and a Science Advisory Panel member of the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) — a nonprofit research and testing laboratory dedicated to the implementation and regulatory acceptance of non-animal methods — and we serve as a member of the Industry Council for the Advancement of Regulatory Acceptance of Alternatives (ICARAA). Additionally, our technical experts are involved in innovative research and development to advance the acceptance and adoption of non-animal testing methods around the globe. As the global regulatory landscape changes, we will continue partnering with IIVS, government agencies and other industry leaders for animal welfare and the elimination of animal testing everywhere.

Learn More

To learn more about our commitment to product quality and safety, please visit the Thoughtful Products section of our 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report or see our corporate website at bbwinc.com/product.

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Covia’s commitment to ESG is reflected in our evolving suite of product offerings. We create products that are critical components in helping protect the planet and enhance peoples’ lives in many ways, including:

Supporting Workforce Safety and Health: The advanced designs of DST® Dust-Suppression Technology, ACCEL® Dust-Preventing Polymeric Sand, and BLACK LAB® Blend all help minimize airborne particles, protecting the safety and health of workers. DST® materials assist customers in complying with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards by significantly reducing potential exposure to silica dust. BLACK LAB® Blend is engineered with custom additives including DST® materials, ensuring smooth and easy application for flooring that has less drag and dust. ACCEL® sand helps improve air quality on construction sites by minimizing up to 90% of dust compared to traditional paver sand.Reducing Emissions Along the Value Chain: For U.S.-made sand and powders, LUMINEX™ ultra-white filler offers unique attributes required to achieve the purest of color effects in ultra-white applications and other brightly colored designs. LUMINEX™ ultrawhite filler is manufactured in a high-capacity plant for dependable, just-in-time delivery that allows customers to eliminate their white filler raw material imports, contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions from long-distance transportation.Enhancing the Chemical Safety of Paints: MINEX® functional fillers and extenders add performance and value across a broad spectrum of applications such as paints, coatings, adhesives, sealants, and inks without compromise for chemical safety and environmental responsibility. These products are produced from nepheline syenite, a naturally occurring sodium-potassium-aluminum silicate. In paints, Canadian Nepheline reduces the need for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), significantly lowering paints’ environmental impact and increasing the safety of their use.Promoting Environmental Benefits of Artificial Turf: BIOFLEX® is a coated, hydrophobic sand that is used in stabilizing infill in synthetic turf. This material provides excellent durability and wear resistance, and due to its higher density, has little migration once placed. The coated surface is hydrophobic, therefore having less tendency to freeze while also minimizing bacteria growth. It is also recyclable at the end of the product life. Artificial turf provides numerous environmental benefits, most notably from requiring little to no maintenance, resulting in less water used and fewer chemicals to treat fields.

Our business innovation program inherently incorporates ESG principles. It is simply good business. For more information about Covia’s Innovation and Product Sustainability, visit: https://www.coviacorp.com/markets/.

PHILADELPHIA, July 6, 2023 /3BL/ – Comcast Corporation today announced a new $4.5 million, three-year grant to Per Scholas, a leading national nonprofit advancing economic equity through tech training and career building.

The investment will enable more than 10,000 diverse adults across 15 markets to launch new tech careers, empowering individuals from low-wealth communities to earn a collective $450 million in new wages alone. Notably, the funding will also support Per Scholas’s expansion to three new markets in need of skilled technologists for digital economies — allowing for even greater community impact.

10K+ Diverse adults will be enabled to launch new tech careers through this investment.

“The key to closing the digital divide goes beyond just mere access to the Internet,” said Dalila Wilson-Scott, EVP and Chief Diversity Officer for Comcast Corporation & President of the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation. “With nearly one-third of U.S. workers lacking the basic digital skills needed to function and compete in our increasingly digital job market, we need urgent focus on digital literacy and technical skilling — particularly in communities of color. ”

By continuing our partnership with Per Scholas, we are helping to produce measurable outcomes that will create a more prepared and inclusive workforce and better ensure that no community is left behind.

DALILA WILSON-SCOTT

EVP and Chief Diversity Officer for Comcast Corporation & President of the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation

Since 2021, the Per Scholas-Comcast partnership has resulted in more than 2,500 trained learners across a dozen markets, empowering nearly 1,700 graduates to launch tech careers, generating more than $76 million in collective new earnings. Through this new three-year grant and market expansion, Per Scholas learners will graduate from the “10,000 Accessible Careers in Tech” program equipped with in-demand technical and professional skills that prepares them to succeed in technology careers, with in-house support to identify employment opportunities during and post-graduation. Per Scholas current training tracks include AWS re/Start, Cybersecurity, IT Support, Java Development, and Software Engineering.

“Comcast continually helps Per Scholas unlock potential, building a future of unlimited possibilities,” said Plinio Ayala, President and CEO of Per Scholas. “Our partnership is powerful — Comcast is investing in communities, ensuring digital skills are ubiquitous across America, and hiring Per Scholas-trained technologists.”

Because of Comcast’s support, we just celebrated our inaugural graduation in Indianapolis, and I’m looking forward to making impact together in cities and communities that could benefit most from Per Scholas’s nationally-recognized, proven tech skills training.

PLINIO AYALA

President and CEO of Per Scholas

The 15 markets where the Per Scholas-Comcast partnership is making a difference every day include Atlanta, Baltimore, Greater Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Orlando, the National Capital Region, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, New York, and two new cities to be announced soon. The Per Scholas grant announcement is part of a $25 million comprehensive funding initiative specifically targeted at creating economic opportunity through digital skills building in 2023, and Project UP, Comcast’s $1 billion commitment to help advance digital equity and build a future of unlimited possibilities.

Nasdaq

Increased public scrutiny of corporate action and disclosure on environmental and social topics has generated concern that both leaders and laggards are at risk of unwanted attention.

Amidst the shifting landscape of environmental and social regulations and stakeholder expectations, we gathered input from governance professionals across the Nasdaq network, including corporate secretaries, general counsels, executives, and board members, to identify leading practices informing their approach to ESG and sustainability. They raised corporate sustainability and social responsibility disclosures, as well as the role of ratings in reputation and risk management, as key topics.

Several of the governance professionals we spoke with predict that the days of broad aspirational statements in sustainability and corporate social responsibility reports are waning as risk mitigation further influences the information shared in voluntary disclosures. The resulting approach for many organizations is to disclose the most impactful environmental and social metrics and policies sought by investors and rating organizations, and those most critically aligned with the business strategy and goals.

While organizations are in the habit of responding to stakeholder demands for stronger environmental and social stewardship, governance professionals are increasingly focused on communicating the alignment of topics such as climate and human capital management with business goals and fiduciary duties. Organizations are finding that the entities bringing forth environmental and social proposals, or bringing attention to sustainability issues through other means, are changing. There is such connectivity and ease of information sharing across activist groups today, allowing for the amplification of voices across media channels. As a result, even unsuccessful shareholder proposals can garner significant attention. To mitigate these risks, governance professionals are weighing the impact of strong public positioning on specific sustainability issues in their voluntary disclosures as a risk management strategy.

Given their reputational weight and impact on access to capital, ratings and rankings of ESG performance were also top of mind for the governance professionals with whom we connected, as they rely heavily on public disclosures. These conversations revealed an unexpected upside of ratings in that they can be an effective driver of internal collaboration. Managing ratings is not only a critical risk management and branding strategy, but it also presents an opportunity to democratize and share ownership of the assessment criteria across the organization.

To effectively drive positive ratings, it is essential to first identify those prioritized by the organization’s key stakeholders through an assessment that leverages proprietary capital markets data sources, unique stakeholder engagement tools, and benchmarking. Third parties can facilitate this type of assessment, including the Nasdaq ESG Advisory team. Once a particular rating is categorized as pertinent to the organization’s stakeholders, a gap analysis should follow to identify what can be done to fill disclosure gaps. Then subject matter experts and responsible parties across the organization can weigh in on what should be done. For example, sustainability and investor relations leaders can work closely with the corporate secretary and legal team to support the governance component of ratings—particularly those included in the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) Governance QualityScore.

Looking ahead at the remainder of the year, governance professionals shared that they expect to see corporate resourcing of sustainability, climate, and human capital management goals and priorities to help prepare for regulatory changes and align with stakeholder expectations. Governance professionals believe there remains significant low-hanging fruit toward enhancing organizations’ sustainability profiles and driving long-term value creation.

In addition to corporate sustainability and social responsibility disclosures and the role of ratings in reputation and risk management highlighted above, governance professionals we spoke with raised valuable focus areas to build upon in 2023, including best practices to:

Establish organizational and operational design for strong governanceDefine “materiality” in the context of ESGDeepen board knowledge and education on ESG matters

For more insights—and solutions—that help governance professionals attain clarity around ESG initiatives and functions, get in touch with Nasdaq ESG Solutions: nasdaq.com/solutions/corporate-esg-solutions/contact.

Sustainability has long been central to VMware’s mission. And that’s not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because sustainability is a business imperative. We hear this from customers committed to reducing their carbon footprint to financial analysts who see a healthy Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy and effort translating into a healthy bottom line.

We began this journey back in 1998 with our first virtualization solutions—reducing the infrastructure required to run workloads and cut data center emissions. These solutions were intrinsically sustainable, and since then, we’ve doubled down on that commitment. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2018 and recently began engaging our partners and suppliers to follow suit. We have committed to science-based targets and are working towards net-zero emissions by 2030 and are making meaningful progress on those goals.

So, when VMware created a dedicated ESG team, we decided to locate it within the Office of the CTO (OCTO). At first glance, this might sound incongruous. On the surface, you might think an ESG team is better suited inside a function like human resources or operations. Why put an ESG team in a department focused on technology and innovation? Simple. VMware’s approach to outcome-driven ESG is innovative, and we wanted to set our ESG program up for maximum impact by placing this function in the heart of our organization’s “innovation engine,” giving it the fuel needed to thrive and influence the entire enterprise. It has turned out to be the right decision.

For example, within environmental sustainability, we’re working on ways to use AI to help reduce data center emissions. We also added a VMware “Green Score” to our VMware Aria Operations Cloud, which enables customers to track where they are in their decarbonization journey and how they progress over time. The Green Score includes workload efficiency, utilization of physical resources, virtualization rate, power source, and hardware efficiency. It also provides customers with actionable recommendations for improving energy efficiency and management.

In addition, we are continuing progress on VMware’s Community Microgrid prototype. The microgrid encompasses two buildings on VMware’s campus, supported by two 1 MWh batteries that integrate with existing rooftop solar panels and 100% renewable grid power. A partnership between the City of Palo Alto and VMware, the project’s goal is to test the potential of microgrids to advance energy resiliency and sustainability efforts at the community and corporate levels. Each microgrid can support the community’s Mobile Emergency Operations Center (MEOC), providing connectivity and power for its vehicles. Our list of sustainability initiatives continues to grow.

Recently, we held VMware’s first-ever Sustainable Software Development Workshop (SSDW). We convened individuals from different areas of the company to explore how VMware can further integrate sustainability into even more of its products and services. We explored challenges and opportunities, including 21 lightning talks across four themes: product-led growth, platform thinking, advanced technology, and from the field. It was a great success and laid out a roadmap for future projects.

Mentioning power and sustainable development, I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the impact of AI on energy demand. AI uses more energy than other forms of computing, and training a single model can gobble up more electricity than 100 U.S. homes use in an entire year1. If current AI practices remain unchanged, the energy needed for machine learning and associated data storage and processing may account for up to 3.5% of global electricity consumption by 2030. The need is now, and sustainable innovation is table stakes – at a minimum, we must decouple compute from carbon and swap dirty electrons for green ones. However, the gnarly question before us is, “Is today’s data center infrastructure the best architecture to support the enormous data processing needs of generative AI?” It’s important to emphasize that sustainability isn’t just about talk at VMware; it’s about action, progress, and impact both with our internal operations and also for our customers. It’s part and parcel of our company’s mission and value proposition to customers — and will always be.

1Bloomberg, Artificial Intelligence Is Booming—So Is Its Carbon Footprint, March 9, 2023

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PORCARI (LU), Italy, /3BL/ – Sofidel, one of the world’s leader in the manufacturing of paper for hygienic and domestic use, best known in Italy and Europe for its Regina brand, has decided to donate its products to the Protezione Civile (the Italian National Civil Protection Service) and the Bologna Committee of the Italian Red Cross, which are working to help the people affected by the flooding in Emilia-Romagna.

These associations will be responsible for distributing the materials as needed.

For the Protezione Civile, the operation will be carried out through the Fondazione Banco Alimentare Emilia Romagna Onlus, involving the Imola office and the Parma warehouse. For the Italian Red Cross, the warehouse of the volunteer military corps in Bologna will be responsible.

The donation consists of about 150 thousand rolls, including Regina-brand toilet paper and paper towels. This is the amount needed for one month for the people who are currently displaced, according to data provided by the Protezione Civile.

It is a way for Sofidel and its employees to show support and solidarity for those affected by the disaster at such a difficult time.

Sofidel Group 

The Sofidel Group is one of the leading manufacturers of paper for hygienic and domestic use worldwide. Established in 1966, the Group has subsidiaries in 13 countries – Italy, Spain, the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Romania and the USA – with more than 6,500 employees, net sales of 2,801 million Euros (2022) and a production capacity of over one million tonnes per year (1,440,000 tonnes in 2022). “Regina”, its most well-known brand, is present on almost all the reference markets. Other brands include: Sopalin, Le Trèfle, Hakle, Softis, Nalys, Cosynel, KittenSoft, Lycke, Nicky, Papernet. A member of the UN Global Compact and the international WWF Climate Savers programme, the Sofidel Group considers sustainability a strategic factor with regards to growth and is committed to reducing its impact on natural capital and maximising social benefits, setting as objective the creation of shared added value for all stakeholders. Sofidel’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets to 2030 have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as consistent with reductions required to keep warming to well-below 2°C, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

www.sofidel.com

SOFIDEL S.p.A. 

Via Giuseppe Lazzareschi, 23 – 55016 Porcari (LU) Italy | P +39 0583 2681 | www.sofidel.com

Sofidel Press Office 

Silvia Colleoni – +39 349 3457751 – silvia.colleoni@bcw-global.com

Giorgia Desimini – +39 389 2019708 – giorgia.desimini@bcw-global.com

Andrea Robuschi – +39 327 365 8485 – andrea.robuschi@bcw-global.com

Originally published on TriplePundit

While many companies today seek to align their operations with the imperatives of strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, some firms put the ESG stake in the ground long ago. One of these is renewable energy giant Ørsted.

It was a surprising turn of events back in 2009 when Ørsted, formerly Dong Energy, was a thriving business almost entirely dependent on oil, gas and coal. The company began transitioning to renewable energy in 2010 and has since gone from being one of the most coal-dependent companies in Europe to transitioning its portfolio almost entirely to renewables.

Multiple pressures converge to change the trajectory of a company

The story of how that happened is one of multiple pressures, Ida Krabek, senior director and head of sustainability at Ørsted, told TriplePundit. “We could see the whole momentum around the climate building up and that our legacy business was under pressure. Our top management recognized that the future of energy was renewable energy and that to maintain a profitable business, we had to reconsider how we made our money,” Krabek said.

“There was also civil society pressure, including environmental protests against a new coal-fired power plant we were planning in Germany. And there was regulatory pressure, as the European Union began to launch regulation to tackle climate change,” she continued. “All of this was a very clear sign that the context we were operating under was changing.”

Toward a new kind of energy system

Today, Ørsted’s vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. The company develops, constructs, and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, renewable hydrogen and green fuels facilities, and bioenergy plants. Ørsted is recognized on the CDP Climate A List as a global leader in climate action and was the first energy company in the world to have its net-zero emissions target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

The company has set ambitious targets, including reaching net-zero across the value chain (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) and a 90 percent reduction in absolute emissions (Scope 3, from gas sales) by 2040. In the shorter term, the company is looking to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity by 98 percent by 2025, using a 2006 baseline.

Though net-zero by 2040 may seem a tall order for an energy company, Krabek said the company is on track to meet the target. This is even in light of the Danish government ordering the company to postpone the shutdown of three coal units last year to help guarantee the country’s energy security.

“This has not been an easy journey,” Krabek told us. “It has required that we set a long-term vision for the company and stick to it to build the internal momentum and to have a suite of actions year on year that bring us in the right direction.”

Buy-in from C-level has been a consistent factor. “Our CEO and top management have stayed firm in the belief that this was the right direction for the company, and that has helped to build organizational focus and support over the years,” she added.

Embedding sustainability into governance structures

Another integral part of the company’s journey was ensuring that ESG objectives were integrated into corporate governance. Ørsted is working to ensure sustainability is embedded across all relevant parts of its operating model so that, as the company describes it in its 2022 Sustainability Report, “every colleague, every decision and every business development pull toward the same ambition.”

The company has three interrelated strategic pillars to ensure sustainability is integrated: decision-making and accountability; competencies and governance; and culture and leadership.

“Concern for the climate and the build of renewable energy has been core to our business strategy for more than a decade, so it has naturally been built into our governance structure,” Krabek said. “Our board has oversight, and we have top management who are familiar with taking decisions linked to ESG where the business case is often a bit different and more long-term than the traditional business case.”

ESG is now part of short-term incentive remuneration

In 2022, Ørsted strengthened ESG criteria in its executive team’s short-term incentive remuneration scheme, giving them the same weight as financial KPIs. “It’s not salary alone that incentivizes an organization,” Krabek said, “but it is a very important tool in showing what we value as an organization.”

This level of accountability is one very effective aspect of the company’s approach to governance for sustainability. Another is transparency. In addition to its annual Sustainability Report, Ørsted publishes an ESG Performance Report and each year includes more sustainability information in its Annual Report to investors. Additionally, the company published a Green Bond Impact Report in 2022.

On the data side, the company’s chief financial officer heads its Sustainability Committee and not only has strategic responsibility for sustainability, but is also responsible for ensuring the quality of the company’s ESG data, Krabek explained. 
“I think it’s extremely important that your organization and your top management trust the data that you have available in this space because then you understand the problem better, and it’s also easier to make decisions on what to do next,” she said.

The next frontier: Decarbonizing the value chain

To positively impact the global challenge of climate change, Ørsted leaders recognize the company must look further than its own business. “For us, the next frontier is about making sure that our entire value chain footprint is net zero,” Krabek said. “As a growth business, that means decoupling growth from supply chain emissions. That is the next big challenge.”

Ørsted’s broader vision is to help the world’s energy systems move toward decarbonization — including more challenging sectors such as steel, concrete and shipping — while contributing to biodiversity rather than adding to massive biodiversity loss. The company has committed to net-positive biodiversity impact from all new renewable energy projects commissioned from 2030 at the latest.

The company also embraces the “S” or social impact in ESG in that it has a responsibility to contribute to a just transition to sustainable energy systems while protecting human rights.

“We want to be part of managing the impacts of the green transition in a way that makes it a force for positive change, because it is really a large-scale societal transformation that we will have to go through over the next decade,” Krabek said.

Because sustainability challenges are a moving target, every year Ørsted conducts a sustainability themes analysis to identify, assess, and prioritize the themes that matter to its stakeholders and business. The five issues that emerged in last’s assessment were carbon emissions from renewable energy supply chains, biodiversity and local ecosystems, reusing, recycling and avoiding waste,, communities, and human and labor rights.

“While we want to play a leading role, it’s really an industry ambition that we cannot solve on our own. It requires dialogue with our suppliers and other stakeholders,” Krabek concluded. “Active collaboration is key.”

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

Originally published on HARMAN Newsroom

At HARMAN, our workforce reflects the diversity of the world in which we operate and the communities we serve. We are committed to making every employee feel welcomed, valued, and empowered to bring their best selves to the workplace. People from all walks of life come to work at HARMAN to bring their creative ideas to the table, and in doing so, foster the innovations that our customers, partners and consumers have come to know and love.

In the continuing spirit of embracing diversity and fostering a culture of inclusion, HARMAN proudly joined the LGBTQ+ community in commemorating Pride Month this June. As an organization committed to equality and respect for all, we recognize the importance of creating an inclusive workplace where employees feel safe – psychologically, physically, and emotionally – and celebrated for their authentic selves.

The first Pride marches were held in June 1970 in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Since then, Pride Month has expanded to include a variety of educational and celebratory activities around the globe. This year, HARMAN employees participated in local parades, educational workshops, and other community outreach events, to explore what it means to be an ally and foster an atmosphere of support and solidarity.

Throughout the year, our HARMAN Pride Employee Resource Group (ERG) works to create and maintain a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment for all HARMAN employees. This month, our Pride ERG, in partnership with our DE&I Executive Council, organized a series of in-person and virtual events, including:

A fireside chat with Jen Croneberger, Founder of the HUMAN Leadership Institute, on “Validating Identity and Visibility for the LGBTQ+ Community (And How to Provide a Supportive Work Environment)”A panel discussion focused on supporting and celebrating families with LGBTQ+ membersA presentation on the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, its significance on the history of Pride MonthParticipation in community events like Motor City Pride in Detroit, MI and Pride Munich, where our teams and community members celebrated with an ice cream event at our JBL store which raised funds for the Munich Rainbow Foundation.On-demand and individual diversity training programs as well as local and regional roundtable sessions held at our offices in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and more that emphasized the importance of authentic allyship and understanding

HARMAN remains committed to creating an inclusive culture that empowers and supports everyone, including members of the LGBTQ+ community. While we celebrate the progress we have made, we know that we must still continue our journey towards a more inclusive and equitable future for all. To learn more about our dedication to DE&I, visit: https://www.harman.com/career/diversity

Originally published in SEE’s Global Impact Report

Laura Nenning Tucker is the Vice President of Global Total Rewards at SEE® (formerly Sealed Air). Passionate about making meaningful connections, she is focused on improving our people experience through programs that motivate, attract, and reward employees as well as drive positive engagement that fuels business transformation.

How does our work connect with our purpose to protect, to solve critical packaging challenges, and to make our world better than we find it? 

Our people want to be impactful, and we cannot deliver on our purpose and vision without them. It is important that we cultivate a strong sense of purpose and that every one of us understands how we are contributing in a tangible and real way. Our people want to know how they connect to the broader success of the company and the positive impact we have on society, and that we recognize their contributions to that success.

Heroes work here. Through the most challenging times with global supply chains and business disruptions, our people play a key role when it comes to customers, consumers, and communities having access to the most essential goods. We solve some truly complex challenges. Making that connection between our people and the impact we have comes from strong leadership and managers who instill a sense of belonging and pride in the difference we are making.

Why are digital technologies important to SEE’s people and culture?

We are bringing people together to create a future that is more digitally connected. Through digital platforms, we are ramping up our efforts to retain, attract, and motivate people who want to be a part of a transformation that goes beyond traditional organizational principles and practices. We believe digital connections will positively impact our people and how they work. The digital solutions we provide our customers will impact their businesses and their people as well. We’re implementing digital technology and using data-driven insights to develop meaningful programs, train our team, and develop future leaders—all with the intent of positively shaping our culture to drive better employee engagement.

How does SEE’s culture differ from other companies?

We are not a just a workplace, we are a community of people who are passionate about the business and the impact we can make. Everyone’s individual perspectives are valued here. My father worked at SEE for 38 years in various roles. Like him, I see the opportunity for my career to grow here and just recently transitioned from the legal team to the people team. And, I am not the only second generation employee at SEE. There have been many of us over the years in all facets of the business from manufacturing to the sales organization. Many people who join SEE quickly learn how their talents and insights can influence the company in myriad ways. SEE provides opportunities for each employee to be an owner in the company’s collective success. It’s a place where people are driven by a desire to make our world better.

How is our people transformation fueling our business transformation? 

We’re building a purpose-driven culture at SEE. So much of what defines how we work, including how we work together and how we consistently deliver for our customers, is the unifying purpose that we are all working towards: to make our world better than we find it. This is intentional. We are moving toward this goal in different, but meaningful ways. We are fostering a culture of continuous innovation that prioritizes sustainability. We are ensuring our people are included in our strategy. And we are making sure everyone feels like they belong at SEE by valuing diversity, equity and inclusion.

Read SEE’s Global Impact Report here.

Learn more about SEE’s ESG efforts here.

From human rights to deforestation, businesses are increasingly expected to demonstrate that they have taken reasonable steps to address sustainability risks within their supply chains. And as new legislation and international frameworks demand further corporate due diligence, voluntary sustainability standards and similar systems have an important role to play.

ISEAL has recognised this in its draft Code of Good Practice, which provides a global reference for credible, effective sustainability systems. The revised Code aims to help these schemes put in place the processes they need, including to support, facilitate and strengthen due diligence processes.

While voluntary standards and other third-party sustainability systems are not a substitute for corporate due diligence, they provide useful tools to support effective, fair and impactful due diligence processes. Credible systems offer reliable data and information on supply chains, and can support companies in areas such as identifying risks, defining mitigation and improvement pathways, developing grievance and remediation processes, and improving inclusion of smallholders, SMEs and other stakeholders.

Sustainability systems can support companies that want to go beyond mandatory minimum standards. They provide a common framework that supports collective action and promotes sector-wide consistency and transparency.

In addition, sustainability systems must implement responsible business conduct within their own operations in order to achieve integrity and credibility.

The revised Code – which updates and integrates ISEAL’s existing Codes of Good Practice on Assurance, Impacts and Standard-Setting – addresses due diligence in a number of areas. Several clauses make direct reference to due diligence, and defining due diligence responsibilities is positioned as a key part of strategy development.

ISEAL’s Executive Director Karin Kreider said: “Through the revised Code of Good Practice, we want to make sure sustainability systems can help businesses to meet their due diligence responsibilities and other sustainability challenges within their supply chains. We’re keen to hear your views on the revised Code to ensure it meets your needs.”

Businesses and other interested stakeholders are invited to have their say by taking part in the consultation, which is open until 30 July. Find out how you can get involved by visiting https://www.isealalliance.org/iseal-code-consultation.