Tag: 3BL

• Exclusive collaboration combines Giammarco Technologies’ proven process with Baker Hughes’ world-class turbomachinery
• Companies to deliver integrated, fit-for-purpose and cost-competitive solutions that enable energy and industrial decarbonization, at scale
• Joint solution to build on pilot plant testing and experience from more than 400 HPC industrial projects.  

FLORENCE and VENICE, Italy, February 27, 2026 /3BL/ – Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, and Giammarco Technologies S.r.l., renowned licensor of Hot Potassium Carbonate (HPC) process, announced an exclusive collaboration to advance and commercialize HPC solutions for post-combustion capture across a range of energy and industrial sectors. The announcement was made at the 2026 Baker Hughes Annual Meeting in Florence, Italy.

Giammarco Technologies’ proven HPC process is already widely used across more than 400 industrial projects and leverages a safe and sustainable potassium-based solvent to efficiently capture CO₂ from gas streams. Under the collaboration, this process will be integrated with Baker Hughes’ turbomachinery technology – including trains for flue gas compression and expansion and mechanical vapor recompression – for post-combustion capture applications.

Together, the companies will seek to leverage multi-sector pilot plant testing and deliver fully integrated, customized solutions that will help lower the cost of carbon capture. Already supporting customers with feasibility studies and prospecting front-end engineering design (FEED), the companies will deliver projects through full execution across multiple industries.

“We’re proud to collaborate with Giammarco Technologies. Together, our complementary capabilities will expand the use of HPC across hard-to-abate sectors and unlock new pathways for energy and industrial decarbonization at scale,” said Ahmed Eldemerdash, vice president of Climate Technology Solutions at Baker Hughes. “This collaboration underscores our commitment to advancing technologies that improve the economic viability of CO₂ projects and to being a trusted partner to reduce emissions worldwide.”

“We are proud to enter into a strategic collaboration with Baker Hughes, representing a major step forward in the global deployment of our HPC process and further strengthening Giammarco Technologies’ position as a technology leader in post-combustion carbon capture,” said Giuseppe Giammarco, CEO of Giammarco Technologies. “Our advanced process, combined with Baker Hughes’ global execution capabilities, enable the delivery of high-performance, cost-effective and fully integrated solutions for industrial and energy sector decarbonization.”

Through this strategic collaboration, the HPC offering is now part of Baker Hughes broad portfolio of CCUS solutions, which includes consultancy, front-end design, capture and purification systems, fit-for-purpose compression and liquefaction technology, well design and construction for injection and monitoring, as well as long-term site stewardship.   

About Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes (NASDAQ: BKR) is an energy technology company that provides solutions to energy and industrial customers worldwide. Built on a century of experience and conducting business in over 120 countries, our innovative technologies and services are taking energy forward – making it safer, cleaner and more efficient for people and the planet. Visit us at bakerhughes.com.

About Giammarco Technologies
With over 70 years of expertise and more than 400 industrial references, Giammarco Technologies is a trusted leader in licensing advanced processes for capturing CO₂ from industrial emissions. Built on Hot Potassium Carbonate solvent, its sustainable and scalable solutions help industries worldwide reduce their carbon footprint and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future. Visit us at giammarcotechnologies.com.

For more information, please contact:

Media Relations
Melanie Kania 
832-727-5195 
melanie.kania@bakerhughes.com 

Media & Communications
Gabriele Olivo
+39 041-719387
g.olivo@giammarcotechnologies.com

Published by Las Vegas Sands on January 29, 2026

In December, the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) culminated the first semester of the 2025 UNLV STEM for Girls Camp, a year-long extracurricular program for elementary and middle school-aged girls aimed at encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and the variety of careers in these areas.

With an initial $75,000 contribution from Sands Cares to kick off the program, the 2025 camp included 16 girls selected for participation from eight Clark County schools. Between September-December, they participated in weekly sessions centered on interactive learning and team-based design challenges that balanced technical rigor with creative, real-world applications.

Each week, students learned about a different STEM topic, such as electronics, mechanical energy and design thinking, and completed projects coordinating with the topics. Curriculum challenged students to solve problems by creating products, building simple machines like a cotton ball launcher, and working circuits and an electrical fan.

UNLV established the STEM for Girls Camp to address the wide gender disparity in STEM-related fields. The American Association of University Women estimates that women make up only 26% of the STEM workforce. Gaps appear early, with women underrepresented in STEM majors in higher education, particularly in engineering and computer science.

“We truly appreciate Sands making this possible, both with philanthropic support and the inspiration to launch a program that helps break stereotypes and will hopefully lead to more women in STEM fields,” Yingtao Jiang, Ph.D., associate dean in UNLV’s Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, said. “As we look forward to the next segment, the girls will be meeting more female mentors in engineering fields and continue to work on projects that build excitement, confidence, STEM literacy and pride in their work.”

In the current spring 2026 semester, the program features a critical thinking workshop and project clusters on chemistry and material science, physics and engineering mechanics, and human-centered design. In addition to learning sessions and hands-on experiments, project highlights include building articulated robot hands to understand how tendons and joints function as simple machines, as well as designing accessibility tools for people with disabilities and environmentally conscious solutions for resource conservation. The camp concludes with students presenting their work in a show-and-tell day.

Sands’ involvement in the UNLV STEM for Girls Camp aligns with the company’s focus on workforce development and helping build an inclusive workforce of the future through education, mentorship and skills development programs.

“Research shows that teams with gender diversity consistently deliver the strongest innovation,” Matt Perkins, vice president of global process innovation at Sands said. “Today, women make up about 15-16% of the engineering workforce, yet when they’re included, creativity and problem-solving soar. For the best outcomes, we need more women in engineering – our national security, economic strength and global competitiveness depend on it.”

Perkins said that means tackling barriers head-on by building mentorship programs and visible role models, as well as strengthening the education pipeline.

“Girls need to see STEM as a natural choice if we are to create inclusive workplaces where women can thrive and lead. When we do this, we unlock the full potential of every mind, and that’s how we keep innovation moving forward.”

To learn more about Sands’ workforce development and education initiatives, read the company’s latest environmental, social and governance report: https://www.sands.com/resources/reports

Published by Las Vegas Sands on January 29, 2026

In December, the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) culminated the first semester of the 2025 UNLV STEM for Girls Camp, a year-long extracurricular program for elementary and middle school-aged girls aimed at encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and the variety of careers in these areas.

With an initial $75,000 contribution from Sands Cares to kick off the program, the 2025 camp included 16 girls selected for participation from eight Clark County schools. Between September-December, they participated in weekly sessions centered on interactive learning and team-based design challenges that balanced technical rigor with creative, real-world applications.

Each week, students learned about a different STEM topic, such as electronics, mechanical energy and design thinking, and completed projects coordinating with the topics. Curriculum challenged students to solve problems by creating products, building simple machines like a cotton ball launcher, and working circuits and an electrical fan.

UNLV established the STEM for Girls Camp to address the wide gender disparity in STEM-related fields. The American Association of University Women estimates that women make up only 26% of the STEM workforce. Gaps appear early, with women underrepresented in STEM majors in higher education, particularly in engineering and computer science.

“We truly appreciate Sands making this possible, both with philanthropic support and the inspiration to launch a program that helps break stereotypes and will hopefully lead to more women in STEM fields,” Yingtao Jiang, Ph.D., associate dean in UNLV’s Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, said. “As we look forward to the next segment, the girls will be meeting more female mentors in engineering fields and continue to work on projects that build excitement, confidence, STEM literacy and pride in their work.”

In the current spring 2026 semester, the program features a critical thinking workshop and project clusters on chemistry and material science, physics and engineering mechanics, and human-centered design. In addition to learning sessions and hands-on experiments, project highlights include building articulated robot hands to understand how tendons and joints function as simple machines, as well as designing accessibility tools for people with disabilities and environmentally conscious solutions for resource conservation. The camp concludes with students presenting their work in a show-and-tell day.

Sands’ involvement in the UNLV STEM for Girls Camp aligns with the company’s focus on workforce development and helping build an inclusive workforce of the future through education, mentorship and skills development programs.

“Research shows that teams with gender diversity consistently deliver the strongest innovation,” Matt Perkins, vice president of global process innovation at Sands said. “Today, women make up about 15-16% of the engineering workforce, yet when they’re included, creativity and problem-solving soar. For the best outcomes, we need more women in engineering – our national security, economic strength and global competitiveness depend on it.”

Perkins said that means tackling barriers head-on by building mentorship programs and visible role models, as well as strengthening the education pipeline.

“Girls need to see STEM as a natural choice if we are to create inclusive workplaces where women can thrive and lead. When we do this, we unlock the full potential of every mind, and that’s how we keep innovation moving forward.”

To learn more about Sands’ workforce development and education initiatives, read the company’s latest environmental, social and governance report: https://www.sands.com/resources/reports

Published by Las Vegas Sands on January 29, 2026

In December, the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) culminated the first semester of the 2025 UNLV STEM for Girls Camp, a year-long extracurricular program for elementary and middle school-aged girls aimed at encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and the variety of careers in these areas.

With an initial $75,000 contribution from Sands Cares to kick off the program, the 2025 camp included 16 girls selected for participation from eight Clark County schools. Between September-December, they participated in weekly sessions centered on interactive learning and team-based design challenges that balanced technical rigor with creative, real-world applications.

Each week, students learned about a different STEM topic, such as electronics, mechanical energy and design thinking, and completed projects coordinating with the topics. Curriculum challenged students to solve problems by creating products, building simple machines like a cotton ball launcher, and working circuits and an electrical fan.

UNLV established the STEM for Girls Camp to address the wide gender disparity in STEM-related fields. The American Association of University Women estimates that women make up only 26% of the STEM workforce. Gaps appear early, with women underrepresented in STEM majors in higher education, particularly in engineering and computer science.

“We truly appreciate Sands making this possible, both with philanthropic support and the inspiration to launch a program that helps break stereotypes and will hopefully lead to more women in STEM fields,” Yingtao Jiang, Ph.D., associate dean in UNLV’s Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, said. “As we look forward to the next segment, the girls will be meeting more female mentors in engineering fields and continue to work on projects that build excitement, confidence, STEM literacy and pride in their work.”

In the current spring 2026 semester, the program features a critical thinking workshop and project clusters on chemistry and material science, physics and engineering mechanics, and human-centered design. In addition to learning sessions and hands-on experiments, project highlights include building articulated robot hands to understand how tendons and joints function as simple machines, as well as designing accessibility tools for people with disabilities and environmentally conscious solutions for resource conservation. The camp concludes with students presenting their work in a show-and-tell day.

Sands’ involvement in the UNLV STEM for Girls Camp aligns with the company’s focus on workforce development and helping build an inclusive workforce of the future through education, mentorship and skills development programs.

“Research shows that teams with gender diversity consistently deliver the strongest innovation,” Matt Perkins, vice president of global process innovation at Sands said. “Today, women make up about 15-16% of the engineering workforce, yet when they’re included, creativity and problem-solving soar. For the best outcomes, we need more women in engineering – our national security, economic strength and global competitiveness depend on it.”

Perkins said that means tackling barriers head-on by building mentorship programs and visible role models, as well as strengthening the education pipeline.

“Girls need to see STEM as a natural choice if we are to create inclusive workplaces where women can thrive and lead. When we do this, we unlock the full potential of every mind, and that’s how we keep innovation moving forward.”

To learn more about Sands’ workforce development and education initiatives, read the company’s latest environmental, social and governance report: https://www.sands.com/resources/reports

For Materials Engineer Tiffany Waymer, sustainability is all about working smarter with what you already have – from how aluminum is recycled to how engineering talent is valued. Her work shows what circularity looks like in practice.

Not blowing things up: What a materials engineer really does

If you picture a materials engineer as someone lighting things on fire in a lab, Tiffany is quick to reset your expectations. “No, I don’t go around blowing things up. Though back in my day, as my son would say, I did start out in a test lab doing grad research on decoys for heat-seeking missiles for the Navy.”

Today, Tiffany is a trained metallurgist at Trane Technologies, working across teams and facilities to solve complex manufacturing and sustainability challenges using the materials already in play. “Last week, for example, I was in a scrap yard, looking at what most people would call waste. I was trying to understand, based on the scrap metals coming in, how much can we reclaim and can we get any value out of it?”

Innovating from the inside out: Working with what you’ve got

Tiffany didn’t always plan to become a metallurgist. In high school, she thought she’d be a chemical engineer. Then, she took an introductory engineering course at Purdue.

“My professor had a big influence on me. He made me realize that you could actually alter how a material performs at an atomic level by changing the chemical composition. I thought that was pretty cool.”

That curiosity helped shape her career and the way she approaches problem solving. “I don’t think about materials as fixed,” Tiffany explains. “I think about the problem and how we can use existing materials to solve it better.” At Trane Technologies, it’s this mindset that informs how materials are selected, tested and pushed further to support sustainability without sacrificing performance.

Sustainability as a team sport: “We’re not in this world by ourselves”

Despite the positive strides Trane Technologies is making for the planet, Tiffany acknowledges that sustainability doesn’t work in silos. “We’re not in this world by ourselves,” she says. “You can do this sustainable thing over in a corner, but what kind of impact is that?”

For her, the answer lies in working alongside other innovators through groups like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, where companies pool knowledge and push progress together. “Through the WBCSD, you find the other companies who are like-minded innovators. They may not be using the same alloys, but they’re trying to make the same impact. And, they understand that we have a responsibility to the environment and to be a good neighbor.”

Closed-loop recycling: Giving new life to old materials

That same belief in collective action carries into Tiffany’s work inside Trane Technologies, where global commitments are translated into concrete engineering decisions. “I get to support the Gigaton Challenge directly, from a sustainable and circular approach,” Tiffany explains.

Learn more about the Gigaton Challenge and how we’re helping our customers reduce 1 gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

One of the circularity projects Tiffany is proudest of is a closed-loop aluminum recycling pilot, launched in 2022. “Instead of selling scrap into the open market, we’re returning it directly to suppliers to be remelted into high-quality raw material that we can use again.”

Tiffany and her team zeroed in on aluminium, which is notoriously energy hungry. In fact, smelting aluminium accounts for around 4% of global electricity consumption. “We started with aluminum because it’s about 95% more energy-intensive to use virgin aluminum than recycled content, so it was low-hanging fruit.”

What began as a tightly controlled pilot, focused on a single aluminum alloy at one manufacturing site with one supplier, has since expanded to include copper and steel, six manufacturing sites, two scrap vendors and five suppliers.

For Tiffany, circularity is about how systems recognize and reuse value that already exist – and this doesn’t just extend to materials. In fact, this same principle shows up in how Trane Technologies thinks about its people.

Relaunching a career after a gap: Reclaiming valuable experience

Tiffany’s career path hasn’t been linear, and she’s grateful for the opportunities Trane Technologies gave her after a break in her career.

“My journey really has been a journey,” she says. “I had my son and prioritized my husband’s career advancement, so I stepped away from work for a while.”

When she was ready to return, she didn’t start from scratch. Instead, she stepped into a role where her experience was recognized and respected.

Tiffany initially applied for a few direct roles, but her mentors encouraged her to think bigger. “They told me, ‘You’ve done the floor work. You’ve done manufacturing. You already have that skill set. Do something more in line with what you actually want to do.’”

After time away, her confidence had taken a knock. “It had been a long time, and I was doubting myself a little. But I trusted the people who knew me and who knew the company. So, I went for it and here I am.”

For Tiffany, that return reflects something broader about the culture at Trane Technologies.

Solving challenges through circular design and firm fundamentals

The same circular design discipline carries through Tiffany’s day-to-day work. Rather than defaulting to new solutions, she starts by understanding what already exists, where value is being lost and what constraints matter. That means defining the problem clearly, working within real-world limits and designing solutions that preserve performance, economics and long-term impact.

“When I can solve a problem for someone that’s been bugging them, that’s the bee’s knees,” she says. “That and connecting two pieces to find an answer. At the end of the day, that’s who I am. I’m an engineer and a problem solver.”

Whether she’s working with design teams, suppliers or factory operators, that mindset shapes how she approaches challenges, and it’s something she advises budding engineers to adopt, too. “You really need to focus on the fundamentals. Learn how to think as an engineer. Define the problem first. Because if you don’t have the right problem defined, your solution isn’t going to be right either.”

Learn more about our circularity strategy.

Explore careers at Trane Technologies that make an impact.

At the recent 2026 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector held in Paris, responsible purchasing practices, upstream due diligence, and the industry’s role came into focus.

The Cascale team was privileged to contribute this year, participating in four formal sessions.

Interim chief executive officer Harsh Saini spoke at a mainstage workshop on upstream due diligence titled “Moving Beyond Direct Business Relationships” led by the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct’s garment and footwear program manager Peter Higgins, and Lauren Shields, lead of sustainability initiatives. Setting the scene for the workshop, fellow speakers included Clare Woodford, Alpine Group’s vice president of impact and sustainability and Ines Kaempfer, CEO of The Center for Child Rights and Business.

During the session, Cascale’s Saini highlighted the need for greater alignment across the sector to make due diligence workable in practice. She emphasized that focusing only on Tier-1 suppliers is insufficient and risks perpetuating fragmentation and audit fatigue for manufacturers.

“For more than 30 years we’ve been asking suppliers for more and more information, yet we keep duplicating efforts instead of coordinating them,” said Saini. “If we want due diligence to work upstream, we have to move beyond Tier-1, align expectations, and stop overburdening suppliers with fragmented requests.”

She noted that collaboration between initiatives, including Fair Wear, the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), Better Buying and others, together with shared data from tools such as the Higg Index, is essential to support upstream due diligence and credible decent-work outcomes across supply chains.

The workshop featured a discussion-style format with attendees divided into groups after initial firestarter prompts on upstream due diligence. Groups included brands, manufacturers, sustainability initiatives, and trade unions, CSOs, and policymakers.

Cascale also hosted a virtual side session drawing on insights from the Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index (BBPPI) 2025, “Sustainable Supply Chains in Turbulent Times: Regional Differences in Suppliers’ Experiences of Buyer Purchasing Practices in the Age of Tariffs.”

Katie Hess, head of product at Cascale’s Better Buying, and Orsolya Janossy, senior sustainability manager at Recover, guided the conversation. The virtual session underscored Cascale’s Better Buying data, collected confidentially from suppliers in Spring 2025. It unpacked regional challenges faced by suppliers, the impact of local contexts and business environments on buyer purchasing practices, and how buyer companies can adapt to volatility – while upholding responsible practices during turbulent times.

“This isn’t just a pricing conversation,” said Hess. “It comes down to a stability and feasibility issue. When costing isn’t realistic, it becomes a due diligence issue. Compliance and decent work are what gets squeezed first.”

“What we learned is that responsible sourcing isn’t just about auditing compliance or sourcing compliance, it’s about building a win-win sustainable partnership,” said Janossy.

She showcased a case study from Recover’s suppliers in Bangladesh, where fire safety often lags. Together, they prioritized long-term stability through shared risk management and improved grievance mechanisms and training.

In a separate virtual side session, Cascale’s Jeremy Lardeau, senior vice president of the Higg Index, moderated a discussion hosted by The Industry We Want as part of a Retailer Roundtable (RRT). Representatives from Fair Wear, retailers Zalando and Boozt, and brand member Ecco also joined the conversation. The session explored the essential and often overlooked role of third-party retailers in implementing and upholding effective Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD). Using the RRT to foster a pre-competitive space for retailers, the session examined the role of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) to share and promote best practices. Together, these efforts aim to develop aligned solutions grounded in the OECD Due Diligence for Responsible Business Conduct framework.

In addition, Gabriele Ballero, public affairs manager at Cascale participated in a multi-stakeholder roundtable co-organized by Policy Hub and SLCP, focused on the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in the textile sector. The discussion gathered brands, manufacturers, policymakers and civil society representatives to assess the practical implications of the Omnibus changes and priorities for upcoming guidance.

Participants emphasized that the sector is not starting from scratch and that implementation should recognize credible existing tools and initiatives rather than create parallel systems. The discussion also highlighted the need for clarity around “reasonably available information,” warning that without guidance companies may over-collect data or face legal uncertainty. Stakeholders broadly supported a progressive, risk-based approach, greater interoperability across instruments, and collaboration to address deeper tiers of the supply chain while reducing audit fatigue.

Also in attendance were Cascale’s Carolina van Loenen, director of stakeholder engagement; Orine Dsouza, senior manager, Higg Facility Tools; and Hanna Griesbeck Garcia, Manager, stakeholder engagement, EMEA. As in years past, the stakeholder engagement team played a leading role in event preparation.

At the recent 2026 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector held in Paris, responsible purchasing practices, upstream due diligence, and the industry’s role came into focus.

The Cascale team was privileged to contribute this year, participating in four formal sessions.

Interim chief executive officer Harsh Saini spoke at a mainstage workshop on upstream due diligence titled “Moving Beyond Direct Business Relationships” led by the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct’s garment and footwear program manager Peter Higgins, and Lauren Shields, lead of sustainability initiatives. Setting the scene for the workshop, fellow speakers included Clare Woodford, Alpine Group’s vice president of impact and sustainability and Ines Kaempfer, CEO of The Center for Child Rights and Business.

During the session, Cascale’s Saini highlighted the need for greater alignment across the sector to make due diligence workable in practice. She emphasized that focusing only on Tier-1 suppliers is insufficient and risks perpetuating fragmentation and audit fatigue for manufacturers.

“For more than 30 years we’ve been asking suppliers for more and more information, yet we keep duplicating efforts instead of coordinating them,” said Saini. “If we want due diligence to work upstream, we have to move beyond Tier-1, align expectations, and stop overburdening suppliers with fragmented requests.”

She noted that collaboration between initiatives, including Fair Wear, the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), Better Buying and others, together with shared data from tools such as the Higg Index, is essential to support upstream due diligence and credible decent-work outcomes across supply chains.

The workshop featured a discussion-style format with attendees divided into groups after initial firestarter prompts on upstream due diligence. Groups included brands, manufacturers, sustainability initiatives, and trade unions, CSOs, and policymakers.

Cascale also hosted a virtual side session drawing on insights from the Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index (BBPPI) 2025, “Sustainable Supply Chains in Turbulent Times: Regional Differences in Suppliers’ Experiences of Buyer Purchasing Practices in the Age of Tariffs.”

Katie Hess, head of product at Cascale’s Better Buying, and Orsolya Janossy, senior sustainability manager at Recover, guided the conversation. The virtual session underscored Cascale’s Better Buying data, collected confidentially from suppliers in Spring 2025. It unpacked regional challenges faced by suppliers, the impact of local contexts and business environments on buyer purchasing practices, and how buyer companies can adapt to volatility – while upholding responsible practices during turbulent times.

“This isn’t just a pricing conversation,” said Hess. “It comes down to a stability and feasibility issue. When costing isn’t realistic, it becomes a due diligence issue. Compliance and decent work are what gets squeezed first.”

“What we learned is that responsible sourcing isn’t just about auditing compliance or sourcing compliance, it’s about building a win-win sustainable partnership,” said Janossy.

She showcased a case study from Recover’s suppliers in Bangladesh, where fire safety often lags. Together, they prioritized long-term stability through shared risk management and improved grievance mechanisms and training.

In a separate virtual side session, Cascale’s Jeremy Lardeau, senior vice president of the Higg Index, moderated a discussion hosted by The Industry We Want as part of a Retailer Roundtable (RRT). Representatives from Fair Wear, retailers Zalando and Boozt, and brand member Ecco also joined the conversation. The session explored the essential and often overlooked role of third-party retailers in implementing and upholding effective Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD). Using the RRT to foster a pre-competitive space for retailers, the session examined the role of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) to share and promote best practices. Together, these efforts aim to develop aligned solutions grounded in the OECD Due Diligence for Responsible Business Conduct framework.

In addition, Gabriele Ballero, public affairs manager at Cascale participated in a multi-stakeholder roundtable co-organized by Policy Hub and SLCP, focused on the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in the textile sector. The discussion gathered brands, manufacturers, policymakers and civil society representatives to assess the practical implications of the Omnibus changes and priorities for upcoming guidance.

Participants emphasized that the sector is not starting from scratch and that implementation should recognize credible existing tools and initiatives rather than create parallel systems. The discussion also highlighted the need for clarity around “reasonably available information,” warning that without guidance companies may over-collect data or face legal uncertainty. Stakeholders broadly supported a progressive, risk-based approach, greater interoperability across instruments, and collaboration to address deeper tiers of the supply chain while reducing audit fatigue.

Also in attendance were Cascale’s Carolina van Loenen, director of stakeholder engagement; Orine Dsouza, senior manager, Higg Facility Tools; and Hanna Griesbeck Garcia, Manager, stakeholder engagement, EMEA. As in years past, the stakeholder engagement team played a leading role in event preparation.

At the recent 2026 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector held in Paris, responsible purchasing practices, upstream due diligence, and the industry’s role came into focus.

The Cascale team was privileged to contribute this year, participating in four formal sessions.

Interim chief executive officer Harsh Saini spoke at a mainstage workshop on upstream due diligence titled “Moving Beyond Direct Business Relationships” led by the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct’s garment and footwear program manager Peter Higgins, and Lauren Shields, lead of sustainability initiatives. Setting the scene for the workshop, fellow speakers included Clare Woodford, Alpine Group’s vice president of impact and sustainability and Ines Kaempfer, CEO of The Center for Child Rights and Business.

During the session, Cascale’s Saini highlighted the need for greater alignment across the sector to make due diligence workable in practice. She emphasized that focusing only on Tier-1 suppliers is insufficient and risks perpetuating fragmentation and audit fatigue for manufacturers.

“For more than 30 years we’ve been asking suppliers for more and more information, yet we keep duplicating efforts instead of coordinating them,” said Saini. “If we want due diligence to work upstream, we have to move beyond Tier-1, align expectations, and stop overburdening suppliers with fragmented requests.”

She noted that collaboration between initiatives, including Fair Wear, the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), Better Buying and others, together with shared data from tools such as the Higg Index, is essential to support upstream due diligence and credible decent-work outcomes across supply chains.

The workshop featured a discussion-style format with attendees divided into groups after initial firestarter prompts on upstream due diligence. Groups included brands, manufacturers, sustainability initiatives, and trade unions, CSOs, and policymakers.

Cascale also hosted a virtual side session drawing on insights from the Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index (BBPPI) 2025, “Sustainable Supply Chains in Turbulent Times: Regional Differences in Suppliers’ Experiences of Buyer Purchasing Practices in the Age of Tariffs.”

Katie Hess, head of product at Cascale’s Better Buying, and Orsolya Janossy, senior sustainability manager at Recover, guided the conversation. The virtual session underscored Cascale’s Better Buying data, collected confidentially from suppliers in Spring 2025. It unpacked regional challenges faced by suppliers, the impact of local contexts and business environments on buyer purchasing practices, and how buyer companies can adapt to volatility – while upholding responsible practices during turbulent times.

“This isn’t just a pricing conversation,” said Hess. “It comes down to a stability and feasibility issue. When costing isn’t realistic, it becomes a due diligence issue. Compliance and decent work are what gets squeezed first.”

“What we learned is that responsible sourcing isn’t just about auditing compliance or sourcing compliance, it’s about building a win-win sustainable partnership,” said Janossy.

She showcased a case study from Recover’s suppliers in Bangladesh, where fire safety often lags. Together, they prioritized long-term stability through shared risk management and improved grievance mechanisms and training.

In a separate virtual side session, Cascale’s Jeremy Lardeau, senior vice president of the Higg Index, moderated a discussion hosted by The Industry We Want as part of a Retailer Roundtable (RRT). Representatives from Fair Wear, retailers Zalando and Boozt, and brand member Ecco also joined the conversation. The session explored the essential and often overlooked role of third-party retailers in implementing and upholding effective Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD). Using the RRT to foster a pre-competitive space for retailers, the session examined the role of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) to share and promote best practices. Together, these efforts aim to develop aligned solutions grounded in the OECD Due Diligence for Responsible Business Conduct framework.

In addition, Gabriele Ballero, public affairs manager at Cascale participated in a multi-stakeholder roundtable co-organized by Policy Hub and SLCP, focused on the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in the textile sector. The discussion gathered brands, manufacturers, policymakers and civil society representatives to assess the practical implications of the Omnibus changes and priorities for upcoming guidance.

Participants emphasized that the sector is not starting from scratch and that implementation should recognize credible existing tools and initiatives rather than create parallel systems. The discussion also highlighted the need for clarity around “reasonably available information,” warning that without guidance companies may over-collect data or face legal uncertainty. Stakeholders broadly supported a progressive, risk-based approach, greater interoperability across instruments, and collaboration to address deeper tiers of the supply chain while reducing audit fatigue.

Also in attendance were Cascale’s Carolina van Loenen, director of stakeholder engagement; Orine Dsouza, senior manager, Higg Facility Tools; and Hanna Griesbeck Garcia, Manager, stakeholder engagement, EMEA. As in years past, the stakeholder engagement team played a leading role in event preparation.

Originally published on GoDaddy

TEMPE, Ariz., February 26, 2026 /3BL/ — GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) recentlyy announced an integration with Salesforce’s MuleSoft Agent Fabric that helps companies of all sizes discover AI agents and verify their identity. This helps prevent rogue agents from interacting with business systems and sensitive data.

As organizations deploy more AI agents across different platforms and teams, many lack a consistent way to confirm where an agent came from, who published it, and most importantly, whether it is trusted by the business. Without that verification, businesses often face a difficult choice: slow agentic AI adoption to manage risk or move quickly without sufficient safeguards.

GoDaddy’s Agent Name Service (ANS) registers AI agents and publishes them to the public Domain Name System (DNS), the global directory that makes the internet work.

ANS extends the use of DNS to support AI agent registration. Once an agent is registered, it becomes discoverable from any network on earth within seconds, with a verified identity linked to the owner’s domain name. Other agents and systems can look up that identity using standard DNS queries, with no special tools or access to ANS required.

How GoDaddy ANS Integrates with MuleSoft Agent Fabric

MuleSoft Agent Fabric intelligently discovers, orchestrates and governs any AI agent, regardless of where it’s built, and now MuleSoft customers can configure GoDaddy ANS as a trusted source for agent discovery. MuleSoft’s Agent Scanners pull verified agents from ANS into MuleSoft Agent Registry, where they appear for review and approval before accessing enterprise systems. From there, teams can:

• See each agent’s verification status and publisher details
• Click through to cryptographic proof of identity
• Set policies that determine which APIs and data agents can access

Read details about the integration on the MuleSoft blog.

Raising the Bar for Agent Security

“The agentic ecosystem on the open internet is exploding, so trust and identity need to keep up,” said Travis Muhlestein, chief technology officer of product and AI at GoDaddy. “This integration helps organizations verify the identity of AI agents so they can scale adoption with stronger confidence and accountability.”

“Open ecosystems have always been critical for enterprise success, and we are committed to building one where customers can safely discover and govern AI agents, regardless of where they originated,” said Andrew Comstock, SVP & GM, MuleSoft at Salesforce. “By integrating GoDaddy’s ANS with MuleSoft Agent Fabric, we’re providing the ‘digital passport’ customers need to manage agent sprawl and help ensure every agent in their catalog is authenticated and trustworthy.”

To learn more about the GoDaddy ANS, visit www.godaddy.com/ans.

About GoDaddy
GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar, helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services and accept payments. GoDaddy Airo^®, the company’s AI-powered experience, makes growing a small business faster and easier by helping them to get their idea online in minutes, drive traffic and boost sales. GoDaddy’s expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

Source: GoDaddy Inc.

Originally published on Guiding Stars Health & Nutrition News

By Mark Kantor

The Guiding Stars algorithms, the formulas used to assign Stars to foods and beverages, were recently updated to reflect new information about nutrition science and the current landscape of food product labeling in grocery stores. The Guiding Stars Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) continually monitors new developments in nutrition and public health to determine if any changes in the algorithms are warranted. This year, after carefully reviewing federal nutrition guidance, Food and Drug Administration regulations, and nutrition science research, the SAP approved updates to four algorithms, resulting in the following key changes:

Star-Earning Yogurts

The FDA amended some of its labeling rules for yogurt in 2021. Among other things, the changes gave manufacturers the option of declaring “contains live and active cultures” (or a similar phrase) if products contain a certain minimum level of live and active bacterial cultures. In addition, the rule required yogurt labels to state “does not contain live and active cultures” if products were treated to inactivate viable microorganisms. To help shoppers identify more nutritious options in grocery stores, the SAP decided to award 1 bonus point for foods that declare “contains live and active cultures.” (Previously, only beverages could earn this credit). This bonus equates to a 1-star increase, which resulted in over 350 shelf tag changes, so shoppers will now see Stars on products such as whole milk plain yogurt and lightly sweetened yogurts, provided they don’t contain additives to limit, like artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners.

The Science: Live and active cultures in yogurt are a type of probiotic. When consumed, these “good bacteria” add to the population of microbes already found in the large intestine, or gut. This helps create a balanced and diverse gut “microbiome” – the entire community of microorganisms along with their genetic material – which is associated with such health benefits as improved digestion, a stronger immune system, reduced inflammation, and less constipation.

Addressing Food Additives

The Guiding Stars algorithms include an “additives to limit” component that considers the type and frequency of certain ingredients commonly found in highly processed foods. The “additives to limit” list includes ingredients such as artificial colors and flavors, synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners, chemical preservatives, sugar alcohols, and other additives used for such functional purposes as imparting texture and maintaining consistency. Although food additives are approved by FDA for use in certain foods at specified levels, many additives are often found in foods with poor nutritional quality, and some additives have been controversial over the years due to potential safety issues or public health concerns. The SAP monitors new research and policy issues related to food additives and considers not only their use in the U.S. but also how other countries view their safety.

To better guide consumers towards products that support good nutrition and promote health, the SAP chose to update the debit on “additives to limit” so that it is applied consistently across all the Guiding Stars algorithms. Now, all foods and beverages will receive a debit for one of these additives. Products that contain more than one additive to limit will be ineligible to earn any Stars.

The Science: For each additive included in the algorithm, there is evidence suggesting potential adverse health effects. For example, chemical preservatives like nitrates and nitrites found in cured meats can be converted to carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines. Potassium bromate, used in baked goods to strengthen dough and help it rise, was linked to kidney and thyroid cancers and DNA damage, and was banned in several countries, including those in the European Union. The World Health Organization, based on what it considered to be limited evidence, classified the artificial sweetener aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic,” especially when consumed at very high levels. Many food additives are not necessary for producing tasty and nutritious foods or have not been shown to be effective for weight control, and they often can be replaced with less toxic ingredients.

Learn More: You can learn more about the science behind the Stars by accessing the white paper that details the Guiding Stars algorithms.

About Guiding Stars

Guiding Stars is an objective, evidence-based, nutrition guidance program that evaluates foods and beverages to make nutritious choices simple. Products that meet transparent nutrition criteria earn a 1, 2, or 3 star rating for good, better, and best nutrition. Guiding Stars can be found in more than 2,000 grocery stores, in Circana’ Attribute Marketplace, and through the Guiding Stars Food Finder app.