Tensie Whelan, director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, returns to ESG Talk. Tensie is joined by Kelly Fisher, head of corporate sustainability at HSBC Bank USA, alongside Workiva’s Mandi McReynolds. The group shares case studies showcasing how companies are driving financial performance with sustainable investments and urges business leaders to reconsider how they measure ESG’s ROI.
Looking for more? Subscribe to the ESG Talk podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, and YouTube.
Originally published on April 19, 2023
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. /3BL Media/ – ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year LG Electronics USA is helping U.S. consumers make smart energy choices with its newest dishwashers that have earned the coveted ENERGY STAR “Most Efficient 2023” designation due to their leading energy efficiency and cutting-edge technology.
LG dishwashers that received the 2023 ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2023 designation can save homeowners up to $1,9001 and over 100,000 gallons of water (versus hand washing) over a 12-year period, which is the average lifespan of a dishwasher.
ENERGY STAR Most Efficient dishwashers include LG’s new smart top-control unit with one-hour wash-and-dry capability using the QuadWash™ Pro and Dynamic Heat Dry™ features (model LDTH7972S). This innovative combination of technologies delivers a rapid and sparkling clean in just one hour, making this one of the most effective and time-efficient dishwashers on the market.
According to the EPA, LG was the first ENERGY STAR Partner to certify models to the “Version 7” dishwasher specification – models that also meet the new ENERGY STAR Most Efficient criteria. To be eligible for the Most Efficient 2023 designation, products have to meet the recognition criteria outlined by the EPA, along with a cleaning performance floor.2 So far this year, 10 LG models meet the criteria, making LG one of the top listers of ENERGY STAR Most Efficient dishwashers.
Dishwashers that earn this environmental distinction must outperform the federal minimum standard with less than or equal to an annual energy use of 240 kilowatt-hours and water consumption of less than or equal to 3.2 gallons per cycle.3 LG’s new models use only 238 kilowatt-hours-per-year of electricity and only 2.9 gallons of water per cycle. ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2023 LG dishwasher models also meet per-cycle Cleaning Index requirements.4
“As ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, LG is committed to producing energy-efficient products that deliver environmental benefits,” said Victor Jacobia, dishwasher product manager at LG Electronics USA. “With our new ENERGY STAR Most Efficient dishwashers, consumers can have peace of mind knowing they are saving energy, time and money while helping to protect the environment.”
LG’s commitment to ENERGY STAR aligns with the company’s mission to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 from the use of seven major product categories by 20 percent by 2030, while LG intends to expand its cumulative use of recycled plastics in its products to 600,000 tons over the next seven years.
At the same time, LG is working toward carbon neutrality by cutting emissions from operations through various measures such as high efficient buildings, fleet electrification and carbon offset projects. LG Electronics is pursuing a company-wide goal for 100 percent renewable energy in its worldwide operations by 2050.
For more information on LG’s full line of dishwashers and ENERGY STAR certified products, visit LG.com.
EDITOR’S NOTES:
Based on the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2023 Dishwashers Recognition Criteria released September 2022.
1 When using an electric water heater.
2 Product performance must be certified by a certification body recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
3 Determined by the U.S. Department of Energy test procedure 10 CFR 430, Subpart B, Appendix C1.
4 Assessed under the ENERGY STAR Test Method for Determining Residential Dishwasher Cleaning Performance.
About LG Electronics USA
Ten-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $68 billion global innovator in technology and manufacturing. In the United States, LG sells a wide range of innovative home appliances, home entertainment products, commercial displays, air conditioning systems, energy solutions and vehicle components. The company’s commitment to environmental sustainability and its “Life’s Good” marketing theme encompass how LG is dedicated to people’s happiness by exceeding expectations today and tomorrow. www.LG.com.
Media Contacts:
LG Electronics USA
JL Lavina
jl.lavina@lge.com
+1 917 386 4213
Devyn Doyle
Devyn.Doyle@lg-one.com
+1 770 653 7239
Originally published in Key’s 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance report
With each wildfire, flood, and extreme storm, it is increasingly clear that our planet is under stress. Given the devastating impacts related to climate change, investors, clients, regulators, public officials, and employees expect the financial services industry to drive climate action.
Key is committed to leveraging our expertise, relationships, market influence, and resources to help address the pressing challenge of climate change. For this reason, we expanded our climate commitments to further minimize the environmental impact of our operations, provide more solutions to our clients, and support environmental equity.
As we continue to build internal knowledge and awareness of climate risks and opportunities, we are taking action. We are pleased to share our progress toward the environmental targets we announced in April 2022:
To date, Key has financed or facilitated $5 billion toward our $38 billion sustainable finance commitment to address climate change and support green initiatives by year-end 2026.
Notably, we have reached 36% of our goal to achieve carbon neutral operations across our scope 1 direct emissions and scope 2 indirect emissions1, by year-end 2030.
Joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) and completed an initial assessment of financed emissions.
To learn more about Key’s ESG efforts, read the 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report here.
1Refer to The Greenhouse Gas Protocol for scope definitions.
Originally published on Rayonier.com
Rayonier foresters spend more time planting trees than they do harvesting them. We look at the extensive planning and location-specific methods we use for planting trees in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the U.S. South and New Zealand.
With logs rushing to meet the needs of today’s consumers, do you ever find yourself asking, “Are we going to run out of trees?”
Believe it or not, sustainable forestry companies like Rayonier plant many times more trees than we harvest. In the typical year, Rayonier foresters put more than 30 million trees in the ground. We reforest most areas we cut within two years of the harvest. The trees we plant will provide for the next generation.
It’s not just a simple process of dropping seeds and leaving them alone for decades. It takes years to plan each planting operation. We combine everything we know about genetics, agriculture and soils. We also consider the unique conditions of each region where we plant to help each forest thrive.
For this story, planting teams in three different parts of our ownership, the U.S. South, the U.S. Pacific Northwest and New Zealand, explain how we plant trees in each of those regions.
Planting forests over a lifetime
Imagine working as a farmer, but rarely being able to harvest the crops you plant. You nurture them every day, but it will be for another generation to actually gather the fruits of your labor.
That is the work of a forester. They plant trees knowing they will grow for decades before it’s time to cut them.
On rare occasions, a longtime forester may see the process from start to finish. Dan Hildebrand, a Rayonier resource land manager who’s been with our company more than 30 years, has done it. He harvested the same trees he planted many years prior. Then he replanted that same field again.
How to plant trees in the U.S. Southeast
During a recent planting operation near Jesup, Georgia, Dan climbed aboard a refrigerated van. He checks it each day to ensure his loblolly pine seedlings inside are nice and cool.
The van, powered by a diesel engine, maintains a 37 degrees Fahrenheit temperature to ensure the trees stay dormant. Warmth might signal that it’s time to grow. This would stress the trees unnecessarily in the already stressful transition from our nursery to the forest.
Planting trees in the coldest months
The goal is to plant all the trees in the coldest winter months, November through February. That ensures the roots have time to become established in the ground before the seedlings begin to grow.
“We have about 475,000 trees per vanload,” Dan says. “We try to plant them all in about one week.”
While some parts of our ownership rely on outside nurseries to grow our seedlings for us, in the Southeast we use trees grown in our own seedling nursery in Elberta, Alabama. That region’s rich soils grow healthy rootstocks, giving the trees a great start.
The seeds for these trees come from Rayonier seed orchards. We breed our best-performing trees in the orchards and harvest the seeds from their pine cones.
Site prep keeps trees dry in rainy months
Out in the forests Dan’s crews are replanting, all the “site prep” work has already been done to prepare the ground for planting. Since many of these properties are low-lying, we often row the soil into long, straight raised beds. That will ensure the trees are above the water table and don’t drown before they’re established. Thanks to GPS on the tractors, the rows are perfectly straight and exactly the right distance apart to ensure the right spacing for the trees.
Throughout the day, Dan checks on various planting crews, each of whom will plant thousands of trees per-day. They use a tractor to pull a “hopper” through the planting area, and a person sitting in the hopper drops the seedling in the ground at just the right moment.
“In the front is a 36-inch, knife-like disk that looks like a pizza cutter,” Dan explains. “It cuts a narrow slot in the ground. You drop the tree in the slot, and then the wheels on the back of the hopper packs the slot back together.”
Dan says the planters use a “cadence,” planting every two or three seconds to ensure each tree is 5 feet apart. The spacing will ensure even growing conditions, similar to how one would plant a garden.
Ensuring the trees are planted right
Dan walks the field and performs what our foresters call “an audit.” He checks the trees to ensure they’re being planted deep enough, giving a gentle tug on their tops. He makes sure the roots are planted straight down and the stems haven’t been handled too roughly.
Since all trees are primarily alive only in their outer cambium layer, Dan explains, “The live part of this 1-year-old tree is thinner than a piece of paper. It has to be planted deep in the soil to stay protected.”
Once they’re in the ground, these trees will be under a careful forest management plan for the next two decades. They will receive fertilizer treatments, competing weeds will be removed, and, in about 12 years, the weakest of the trees will be thinned out and used for pulp products like toilet paper, cardboard and paper.
Somewhere between 18 and 25 years from now, the remaining trees will be harvested for products such as lumber and fencing. It’s a long time, but as you’ll see, in other areas, our trees grow twice as long.
How to plant tress in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Our planting operations in the Pacific Northwest are done with entirely different trees, methods and terrain. Near the small Washington town of South Bend, David Springe pulls on a jacket to fend off the chilly weather.
Out here, the cold Washington air is just right to keep our Douglas-fir seedlings dormant.
David, a resource land manager for our Hoquiam team, picks up a seedling and admires its root system.
“This has a good root to shoot ratio,” he says, explaining a tree should have a generous amount of roots for the amount of green “shoot” coming out of the ground.
While our trees in the Southeast were only about a year old at planting time, here they grow an extra year in the nursery, reaching their second birthday before they’re replanted to ensure they’re about two feet tall before they’re exposed to the infamously rainy weather of the Washington mountains.
Leaving stumps and branches on the ground
While we plow neat rows in the South, here in Washington we leave most stumps and tree debris (known as “slash” to the locals) on the ground after the previous forest is harvested. That will help hold the soils in place, preventing erosion on the steep slopes and keeping sediment out of waterways below. It conserves the organic matter and nutrients within the soils. And, as the slash breaks down, it will also serve as a natural, slow-release fertilizer for the trees we plant today.
Planting each tree by hand
With steep slopes and rough terrain, these forests aren’t planted using tractors or other heavy equipment. Out here, each tree is planted by hand and shovel.
While the work isn’t easy, experienced planters can put more than 1,000 trees per-person in the ground in a single day. Just like the tractor planters in the Southeast, these planters develop a rhythm that keeps them planting at a steady pace while they’re evenly spaced apart from one another.
“They dig a hole by stomping on their shovel and wrenching it back and forth, which loosens the soil. Then they place the seedling with the roots hanging straight down and use the shovel to push the soil back in,” David explains.
Each person on the planting crew wears two bags loaded with trees: the pair weighs about 40 lbs. when full.
Watching as a crew planted across a picturesque hillside, David said, “They’re choosing the best location to dig every hole. It’s one of the most important decisions made in each of these trees’ lifetimes.”
The typical forest in the Pacific Northwest will grow Douglas-firs about 40 years before they’re harvested.
How to plant trees in New Zealand
Our New Zealand team, Rayonier | Matariki Forests, also plants primarily on steep terrain, so hand-planting is the most common method. Seedlings come from a number of independent nurseries who work closely with us.
“I enjoy working with the tree breeders, seed producers and nursery growers to deliver treestocks that are ‘fit for purpose’ for our field sites, silviculture and target wood products,” says Forest Estate Manager Paul Adams. “Nurseries are like ‘mini’ plantations, and each year they produce treestocks that are the start of the next age class of productive, high-quality forests across our estate.”
Delivering Seedlings with Care
The team has a carefully-planned process to deliver seedlings to the forest in the best possible condition.
“Many of our regions are able to plant tree stocks within 24 to 48 hours of lifting. There are generally daily deliveries of stock from the nursery to planting sites using a pod system to reduce compression of stock from boxes stored on boxes,” Paul explains.
“These boxes are then carried in the field, commonly on a belt around the planter’s waist. The seedlings are taken directly from the box and planted in each planting hole.”
The work is undeniably challenging.
“Hand planting can be a difficult job due to the terrain, weather conditions and the physicality of the work,” says Forest Estate Manager Paul Adams. “It can take two to three years before a planter is proficient.”
Planters hard to find
While the scenery is beautiful and the work is consistent throughout the winter, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find enough planters to keep up with the demand. The New Zealand team is looking closely at advancing technology in the hopes that there will one day be efficient mechanical methods to assist with planting efforts. But, for now, there is nothing better than hand-planting.
With the coldest weather coming at the opposite time of year versus the United States, in New Zealand the prime time to plant is from mid-May to early August. The New Zealand team plants mostly radiata pine, some Douglas-fir and—on high altitude sites—some pine hybrids.
At times, the team is able to plant without having to prepare the ground beforehand, like our Pacific Northwest team. Other times, there is so much tree “residue” left behind that it would be too difficult to plant on. In those instances, the team uses mechanical site preparation. They collect the “residues” from the previous harvest into windrows, or “heaps.” If soils are compacted so much that they will limit tree growth, then ripping or mounding may be undertaken. In frost-prone areas, the team uses “spot mounding” to plant seedlings above ground level, where it will be warmer.
Taking pride in the trees we plant
Our foresters take pride in the trees they have planted. They’re contributing to the forests’ lifecycle, the health of the environment now and the needs of generations to come. Just ride along with one of them through the forest, and they’ll point out each stand they remember planting.
For Dan, there are many, many forests in the Southeast that he had a hand in planting.
“These trees will be used by my children and my grandchildren and their children,” he says.
To Learn More about our planting process:
Read our article, How Foresters Use Controlled Pollination to Improve Tree Performance, to learn more about our genetic breeding process.
Watch our video, Planting and Lifting Seedlings at Rayonier’s Tree Nursery, to learn more about our pine tree nursery.
See a timeline and videos about all the steps of a tree’s life in the forest on our Lifecycle of a Forest web page.
Originally published by National Parks Foundation
Part of the Subaru-funded Don’t Feed the Landfills Initiative, Yosemite’s composting and fuel cylinder diversion and recycling programs have grown tremendously over the last year. One woman, Tina Moseley, leads the charge.
“Just a heads up, it’s going to smell pretty bad,” Tina Moseley said, peering down into the compost bin’s undistinguishable mass of eggshells, apple cores, soggy paper, and mystery slop.
As the Don’t Feed the Landfills and Sustainability Coordinator at Yosemite National Park, a position funded by Subaru, Moseley built and implemented most of the composting and fuel cylinder recycling program for the park and the surrounding communities.
For Yosemite National Park, Moseley and her colleagues hope that change will look like diverting as much waste as possible and composting or recycling everything else. The impact, they hope, will help both Yosemite and the gateway communities surrounding the 750,000+ acre park.
Mariposa County, home to much of the park, has a population of 17,000, while Yosemite National Park hosts roughly 4 million visitors each year. The contrast of populations means that Yosemite National Park’s waste footprint places an outsized burden on the surrounding communities responsible for processing waste.
In response, Subaru worked with the National Park Foundation (NPF), the National Parks Conservation Association, and park concessionaires to launch the Don’t Feed the Landfills initiative at three of the country’s iconic national parks – Denali National Park and Preserve, Grand Teton National Park, and Yosemite National Park.
Suzano is a Brazilian company guided by the purpose of “Renewing life inspired by trees.” We are the world’s largest pulp producer and one of the largest paper producers in Latin America, and a benchmark in the development of sustainable and innovative bio-based solutions. Our products are part of the lives of more than 2 billion people in approximately 100 countries.
To showcase the progress made by Suzano toward a more sustainable future and as part of our commitment to transparency, we are publishing our 2022 Sustainability Report, which details Suzano’s financial and ESG performance in Brazil and abroad. The document also describes the progress we made regarding our business strategy and the implementation of our Commitments to Renewing Life, our long-term targets related to people and the planet.
Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment in 2022, marked by inflationary pressure and high interest rates, Suzano achieved solid financial results and made important progress regarding its strategic agenda, increasing its ability to generate and share value with stakeholders.
The Report also highlights the company’s vision that the future of our business depends on our ability to innovate, through the development of sustainable products that are made from renewable sources and promote the bioeconomy. Accordingly, we are committed to being, today, leaders in the creation of this future of biopossibilities and in the pursuit of solutions to current and urgent problems, such as the climate emergency.
Check out some of Suzano’s highlights in 2022:
Progress regarding the Commitments to Renewing Life, including: more than 18,300 people lifted out of poverty in Brazil, totaling 29,600 since 2020; progress in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; 179,400 hectares of restoration for ecological corridors in our protected areas in the three focus biomes (Amazon, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest) for our commitment to biodiversity conservation.Improvement of the main ESG indices and ratings: low risk classification by Sustainalytics; top 10% in the industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index; “A” score in CDP’s Water Security questionnaire; and Top 10 in the S&P Yearbook 2023.Inclusion in The 2022 GlobeScan – Sustainability Leaders Survey as one of 17 global companies recognized for integrating sustainability into business strategy.Launch, during COP27, of the company Biomas, formed in partnership with Marfrig, Vale and the banks Itaú Unibanco, Rabobank and Santander to restore and conserve 4 million hectares of land.Start of the largest forest formation program in the world, planting approximately 1.2 million seedlings per day.R$7.4 billion invested in the Cerrado Project, Suzano’s new pulp mill under construction in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, which, when it starts operations in 2024, will be the company’s most competitive unit.
Suzano’s 2022 Report is available in two browsable PDF formats:
2022 Sustainability Report, a more concise document about our performance2022 Sustainability Report | Complementary Information, with more details and in-depth information
Our Report was prepared in accordance with the 2021 Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the metrics of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics. Its content has been assured by PwC.
We invite you to read both documents that make up our 2022 Report. For more information, check out Suzano’s Sustainability Center, a content hub that includes approximately 450 ESG performance indicators.
If you have comments or suggestions, contact us at relatoriosuzano@suzano.com.br
Media Contacts:
Hawthorn Advisors – Suzano’s PR Agency
Johanna Pemberton, Hawthorn Advisors
Email: suzano@hawthornadvisors.com – Phone: +44 (0)7565 621 723
Tetra Tech released our 2023 Sustainability Report, advancing our commitment to improving the lives of 1 billion people by 2030.
Tetra Tech’s 2023 Sustainability Report, in honor of Earth Day, shares our progress to improve the lives of 1 billion people by 2030, reporting a total of 545 million lives improved around the world to date.
For nearly 60 years, we have leveraged cutting-edge expertise and the latest technology to provide more sustainable solutions to clients and continually improve the way we do business. The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles we apply to our projects are reinforced through our commitment to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and Science Based Targets Initiative.
Our commitment to sustainability is holistic, rooted in our internal culture, and extends throughout our projects around the world. Tetra Tech is developing industry-leading solutions for safe water supplies, net zero energy programs, biodiversity preservation and restoration, and community resilience across the globe.
Improving lives through our 1 Billion People Challenge
Tetra Tech’s greatest impact on the world is through the more than 100,000 projects our scientists, engineers, and technical specialists perform each year across more than 100 countries. We support our clients as they work to improve sustainability of water supplies, increase biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions, increase renewable energy generation, restore ecosystems, and implement responsible social and governance programs.
Last year Tetra Tech launched the first-of-its-kind measurement of the global impact of our projects and progress toward our 1 Billion People Challenge, which measures project impact and lives improved around the world. With the addition of 138 million people over the past year, we have advanced to 545 million people’s lives improved.
We align our project impact analysis with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and track the ESG benefits of the projects we perform across five key metrics, reporting the following additions:
502 billion gallons of water per year treated, saved, or reused1,023 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy per year identified, planned, or generated6.7 million hectares (ha) of land and water ecosystems per year protected, managed, or restored80.6 million metric tons (MT) of CO2e avoided or captured32.2 million lives benefited from social and governance programs
In our Sustainability Report, we highlight global projects from 2022 that contribute to our baseline metrics. They are representative of the tens of thousands of projects we perform for our clients that improve lives each day.
Mitigating climate impacts through sustainable business practices
Tetra Tech set a 2030 goal to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operations by 50 percent from our 2021 baseline. This goal reaffirms our commitment to a reduction in GHG emissions and aligns with the global 1.5-degree Celsius target of the Paris Agreement.
In 2022 our total GHG emissions from global operations was 48,188 MT CO2e, or 2.08 MT CO2e per employee. Our GHG emissions decreased by 25 percent per employee for Scope 1 and 2, which includes operationally related direct impacts and indirect impacts such as purchase of electricity and heat. We continued to expand upon the scope of data sets included in our Scope 3 emissions, including business travel (air, rental car, hotel, and fleet vehicle miles traveled), upstream purchases and deliveries, and waste generation.
We took several actions that had a beneficial impact on our GHG emissions in the 2022 reporting year and which will continue in future years. In 2022 we reduced our overall office footprint per employee by 26 percent, decreasing to 132 square feet per employee, already achieving our 2030 goal of less than 150 square feet per employee. We also continue to leverage technology solutions to provide high connectivity, flexibility, cybersecurity, and efficiencies for all our employees.
Promoting employee development and inclusion
Tetra Tech’s foundation is our people—our engineers, scientists, and technical specialists who create innovative solutions for our clients’ complex challenges. In 2022 we reaffirmed our commitment to nurture a thriving employee community by supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across our operations. We are tracking our progress toward workforce gender balance, racial and ethnic diversity, employee engagement, and professional development goals. Our global Employee Resource Groups (ERG) Program, which fosters a safe, supportive environment where all voices are heard and all employees feel safe and can thrive, saw a 35 percent increase in employee participation during 2022.
A thriving community is a healthy community, and Tetra Tech recognizes the importance of our employees’ mental and physical health in the office, in the field, and in their personal lives. In 2022 we saw a 39 percent increase in employee engagement in corporate wellness initiatives. Our wellness initiatives include quarterly Wellness Webinars, a Wellness Week as part of our holistic Safety Month campaign, and our annual 30-day Healthy Life Challenge and year-round Healthy Life Community. These programs encourage employees and their families to live healthy, balanced lives at work and at home.
Our offices around the world demonstrated their commitment to social and environmental sustainability by donating resources and volunteering their time to better the environment and enrich their local communities. Across our global operations, we support financial and in-kind giving, volunteering, and various community-based initiatives with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. In 2022 Tetra Tech employees donated more than $492,000 to community programs around the world.
Advancing towards our sustainability goals
Sustainability at Tetra Tech is integrated across our global business, throughout our operations, projects, and community activities. We are working to reduce our GHG emissions, support global efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree Celsius target, and improve the lives of 1 billion people.
On behalf of our 27,000 employees at Tetra Tech, we reiterate our commitment to using our Leading with Science® approach to produce scalable solutions that will reduce the effects of climate change and contribute to a better world.
April is National Volunteer Month and Entergy is celebrating in the best possible way, by giving back. Our employees are getting involved and volunteering at several Earth Week activities that are taking place this week across our communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Our employees and retirees logged a total of 110,810 volunteer hours in 2022. The hours employees spent volunteering last year increased by 10,200 hours compared to 2021, creating an economic impact of over $3 million across our service area.
We are passionate about giving back to our communities and making the world a brighter, more sustainable place to live. Throughout the year, Entergy strongly encourages employees and retirees to volunteer in the local communities, providing several volunteer resources and opportunities – and time to take off to do so.
“We’re proud of our employees and their commitment to give back year-round,” said Patty Riddlebarger, vice president of corporate social responsibility. “In honor of National Volunteer Month, Entergy continues its journey towards achieving our environmental goals and making a difference in our communities today, tomorrow and for future generations.”
Over the past decade, in addition to volunteer service, Entergy’s legal department employees have performed nearly 20,000 hours of pro bono services. That’s a $5.6 million in-kind donation to our local communities. Last year, our legal professionals donated more than 2,200 hours of pro bono time.
For more than 100 years, Entergy has proudly served its communities through charitable giving, volunteerism and advocacy. This achievement of reaching more than 110,000 volunteer hours is a significant milestone that reflects the company’s longstanding commitment to sustainability and the passion of its employees to make a positive impact across our region.
Our corporate social responsibility initiatives help create and sustain thriving communities, position the company for sustainable growth and are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Our top CSR priorities are education/workforce development, poverty solutions and environmental programs. Each year, Entergy shareholders contribute $16-18 million in grants to more than 2,000 nonprofit organizations in the communities where we operate.
WILMINGTON, Del., April 28, 2023 /3BL Media/ – The Chemours Company (“Chemours”) (NYSE: CC), a global chemistry company with leading market positions in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials, has earned Wildlife Habitat Council’s (WHC’s) Conservation Gold Certification® at three of its manufacturing sites. The Gold Certification signifies Chemours’ leadership among more than 600 WHC Conservation programs.
WHC’s Conservation Certification® is the only voluntary sustainability standard designed for broad-based biodiversity enhancement and conservation education activities on corporate lands. Chemours’ WHC programs are site-led, enabling employee volunteers to engage with, and give back to, the local communities in which it operates. Programs include wildlife habitat management, creating or improving habitats, providing conservation education and community outreach initiatives. The WHC conducts an objective, third-party evaluation of programs prior to certifying sites under the program.
“At Chemours, our pledge to community members extends to the diverse wildlife surrounding our sites and the forests, beaches and land they call home,” said Amber Wellman, Chemours’ Chief Sustainability Officer. “This certification is a recognition of Chemours’ commitment to environmental leadership, an important piece of our Corporate Responsibility Commitment goals, and the hard work of our volunteer teams to make our communities stronger and more vibrant.”
Chemours has seven WHC-certified sites located in Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. In 2023, four of these sites accomplished the necessary work to recertify their programs. Of the four, three received recertification at the gold level and the other at the silver level. The remaining sites will be up for recertification in upcoming years. Together, Chemours’ WHC-certified sites are engaged in 67 actively managed WHC projects. Examples include:
Avian projects benefiting osprey, kestrel, bald eagles, and various cavity nesters in Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, and TennesseeGrassland and forestry projects in Delaware, Mississippi, and North CarolinaPollinator garden projects aimed at supplying critically needed bee habitats at sites in Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, and TennesseeNature trails creation through the mountains of West Virginia for use as field classrooms by local elementary schoolsProjects impacting species management
The DeLisle site, located along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, has a strong history of environmental programming. The property spans 2,600 acres, with more than 2,000 acres dedicated to its wildlife habitat area. The site plans to expand its Least Tern avian program, set up bee colonies in low-traffic areas, and continue its partnership with the Mississippi State University Extension Center to install a living shoreline.
The Chemours Chambers Works wildlife habitat area in New Jersey encompasses approximately 500 acres of fields, wetlands, wooded areas and ponds, providing a habitat for many species of flora and fauna. There are nature trails throughout the area, and the site is exploring opportunities for greater community engagement with the wildlife habitat area.
The Fayetteville Works Plant has approximately 1,500 acres of dedicated wildlife habitat at its site. The local team completed several projects to support the recertification process, including bluebirds, eastern wild turkey, white tail deer, a pollinator garden, and more. Employees continue to engage the local community through its wildlife habitat projects.
Additional Chemours sites certified through WHC include the New Johnsonville site in Tennessee; the Washington Works site in West Virginia (Gold certified); the Newport site in Delaware (Gold certified); and the Hay Road Landfill in Delaware (Silver certified).
Chemours’ programs achieving gold certification this year will be recognized at the 2023 WHC Conservation Conference, June 20-21 in Baltimore.
Co-Chaired by Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados
Supported by Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor Leste; and the Government of Zambia
globalcitizen.org/powerourplanet
NEW YORK, April 27, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Today Global Citizen, the world’s leading international advocacy organization on a mission to end extreme poverty NOW, launched its new global campaign, Power Our Planet: Act Today. Save Tomorrow. Announced during the Global Citizen NOW action summit in New York City, and Co-Chaired by Prime MinisterMia Mottley of Barbados, Power Our Planet is a global effort to mobilize critical financing for developing countries to fight climate change and extreme poverty.
Global Citizen, together with Power Our Planet’s Co-Chair and supporters, is calling for a seismic shift in the way the world’s financial systems work, and is urging governments, development banks, philanthropists and major corporations to give the world’s poor and developing nations access to the financing they urgently need to quicken their transition to clean energy, strengthen defenses against natural disasters, and more rapidly invest in critical health, food, and education programs for their populations.
Power Our Planet will galvanize millions of global citizens around the world to take action, raise their voices and demand urgent changes from world leaders, starting with delivering on the financing promises they’ve already made, including closing the $16.7 billion* climate finance gap outstanding from the Paris Agreement. The campaign will amplify their calls for action through advocacy initiatives, activations, and live events. Inflection points throughout this year will include the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan in May; the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris, France in June; the G20 summit in New Delhi, India in September; Global Citizen Festival during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, USA in September; and COP28 in Dubai, UAE in November.
“Increasing inequality and climate change threaten to undo a generation’s progress on ending extreme poverty and push millions more people into oppression that is entirely preventable,” said Hugh Evans, Co-Founder & CEO, Global Citizen. “Power Our Planet is a coalition of governments, leaders across sectors, global citizens, artists and activists, and together we’re demanding that it’s time for accountability on past promises and bold, new commitments from world leaders. And we have a clear message for the heads of the World Bank and the IMF – it’s time for major institutional reform.”
“We call on all institutions, including the World Bank, to release the funds necessary to help the world poorest countries to adapt, to transition, and to withstand the climate crisis, not tomorrow but NOW,” said Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. “The leaders of wealthy countries must step up and pay up on the $16 billion of climate financing they have promised if we are to help save the planet and save lives. The climate crisis is our reality, and adaptation is key. Join me and take action as part of Global Citizen’s Power Our Planet campaign.”
An alliance of world leaders representing both Global North and Global South countries has joined the Power Our Planet campaign alongside Global Citizen and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, including supporters Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor Leste; Biman Prasad, Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji, the Government of Zambia and the Alliance of Small Island States.
Power Our Planet’s coalition of supporters also includes leading activists, philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organizations, and private sector leaders, including Dr. Rajiv Shah, President, Rockefeller Foundation; Mark Malloch Brown, President, Open Society Foundations; Benedict Oramah, President of Afrexim Bank; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization; Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi; Kate Higgins, CEO, Cooperation Canada; Jennifer Jones, President of Rotary International; Ban Ki-Moon, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations; Eloise Todd, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Pandemic Action Network; Ineza Umuhoza Grace, Co-Founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition and 2023 Global Citizen Prize winner; and organizations including the Center for Environmental Peace building; the Focus 2030; German watch; Malala Fund; The ONE Campaign; Oxfam; and ReWild.
Further details of the campaign will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information visit globalcitizen.org/powerourplanet.
*In 2009, wealthy nations promised to allocate $100B annually in climate financing by 2020 as part of the Paris Agreement. There is an outstanding $16.7 billion yet to be delivered from countries including the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Australia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Greece and Portugal.
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About Global Citizen
Global Citizen is the world’s leading international advocacy organization on a mission to end extreme poverty NOW. Powered by a worldwide community of everyday activists raising their voices and taking action, the movement is amplified by campaigns and events that convene leaders in music, entertainment, public policy, media, philanthropy and the corporate sector. Over the past 10 years, $43.6 billion in commitments announced on Global Citizen platforms has been deployed, impacting nearly 1.3 billion lives. Established in Australia in 2008, Global Citizen’s team operates from New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Melbourne, Toronto, Johannesburg, Lagos and beyond. Join the movement at globalcitizen.org, download the Global Citizen app, and follow Global Citizen on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and Twitter.
Contact
Global Citizen media inquiries: media@globalcitizen.org
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