Tag: 3BL

World class equipment and services company, CNH, has released its 2024 Sustainability Report.

The report highlights how it worked to support its customers, employees and communities last year.

The report outlines CNH’s commitment to sustainability in projects such as conducting 78 energy-saving initiatives that resulted in further significant reductions its energy consumption and CO2 emissions. CNH also made great strides in renewable electricity adoption – which now accounts for 70.4% of the company’s total electricity use.

Read the full report here.

Published by Action Against Hunger.

Contact media@actionagainsthunger.org for inquiries.

NEW YORK and BEIRUT, May 27, 2025 /3BL/ – Despite hopes for peace after a ceasefire agreement six months ago in November 2024 in Lebanon, military activity remains intense in southern parts of the country, the Bekaa Valley and southern suburbs of Beirut. Around 90,000 people remain internally displaced, and nearly 1.2 million suffer from high levels of food insecurity. The civilian population remains at high risk, and recent attacks have targeted populated areas, further endangering lives and livelihoods.

“One of the last air strikes was on 8 May,” explains Suzanne Takkenberg, director of Action Against Hunger in Lebanon. “On that day, there were more than 19 attacks in the space of an hour in southern Lebanon, close to our distribution points, forcing us to temporarily halt our activities.”

1 in 6 people Cannot Return Home

According to the International Organization for Migration, approximately 90,000 people remain internally displaced in Lebanon. While over 900,000 people have returned to their communities, many have found their homes uninhabitable. Families are forced to live in borrowed flats or rent temporary housing, and the risks of unexploded ordnance and violence remain.

One such displaced person is Ali (name changed for safety). Ali’s home was completely destroyed, and he lost his job due to the conflict. He had no choice but to flee. Like hundreds of others, Ali took refuge at the emergency shelter in Bir Hassan School in south Beirut, where now, eight months later, he remains.

Displaced people like Ali struggle to access clean water, healthcare, and sanitation. “Displacement, extraordinary increases in the cost of living, interruptions in food supply, loss of livelihoods and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure are some of the barriers that prevent civilians from meeting their most basic needs,” said Takkenberg.

Agriculture and Food Crisis 

According to the latest UN report on food security in Lebanon, nearly 1.2 million people, including Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians suffer from high levels of acute food insecurity despite the ceasefire. The situation is mainly due to the protracted impact of the conflict, continued forced population displacement, and the deep economic crisis of recent years.

The livelihoods of families, especially those who make their living from agriculture, have been severely impacted. According to the World Bank, damage to the agricultural sector is estimated at a minimum of $11 billion in losses since the start of the conflict in October 2023. The border area was one of the worst affected during the escalation of the conflict.

Jaafar, a farmer in Beit Lif, a predominantly agricultural region along the border with Israel, says that “because of the drones, everyone is afraid. All the land and all the fields are destroyed in this area in the south. The trees have either been uprooted or damaged.” Beit Lif’s population used to be 7,000, but now only 125 remain as lack of access to fertilizer, water, and fuel makes land cultivation nearly impossible.

Mahmoud, a displaced person from Odaisseh says, “There is no life. There are no plants. There is nothing left.” He has been living with his family for over a year and a half and cannot return home due to the level of destruction. “We didn’t expect the conflict to last so long, so we didn’t bring many things with us. If humanitarian organizations stopped working here, it would be like leaving us at the mercy of the desert,” he concludes.

Action Against Hunger’s Humanitarian Response 

“Many families are struggling to afford essential food items, and food insecurity is widespread. The most urgent needs include emergency shelter, access to clean water, hygiene kits, and sanitation facilities,” explains Suzanne Takkenberg. “Damage to water and sanitation infrastructures makes it very difficult for families to return home permanently. The risk of waterborne diseases remains high. The efforts of humanitarian organizations are crucial to protect the well-being and dignity of those affected.”

Action Against Hunger is providing emergency support in Beirut, the Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Nabatiyeh, and southern Lebanon. Activities include:

• Distributing food, clean water, blankets, mattresses, and hygiene kits
• Supporting collective shelters like Bir Hassan School
• Offering health services and nutritional support
• Rehabilitating farmland and water infrastructure
• Delivering cash assistance to displaced and returning families

***

Action Against Hunger leads the global movement to end hunger. We innovate solutions, advocate for change, and reach 21 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a nonprofit that works across over 55 countries, our 8,900 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. We strive to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good.

May 27, 2025 /3BL/ – In its 50th anniversary year, Traditional Medicinals and its nonprofit arm, the Traditional Medicinals Foundation, have together invested more than $275,000 to increase access to high-quality herbal wellness. This includes $75,000 in grants to community-based nonprofits and over $200,000 toward
consumer-facing herbal education and awareness.

Rooted in the belief that wellness should be a right, not a luxury, Herbs for All launches with two cornerstone programs:

Planting Wellness: Through the Traditional Medicinals Foundation, this grant program supports grassroots organizations delivering culturally relevant herbal education and care. Initial recipients include Oko Farms (Brooklyn, NY), a leader in environmental justice and herbal workshops, and The Botanical Bus (Sonoma County, CA), which provides bilingual, community-led wellness services.

Plant Wisdom Collective: A new digital education platform created by Traditional Medicinals, this free video series explores the art, science, and traditions of herbalism. Led by in-house herbalists and scientists, the platform offers interactive learning tools and consumer resources to support informed, everyday plant-based wellness.

“These investments reflect our long-standing commitment to making herbal wellness more accessible, especially for communities that have been historically excluded from it,” said Jamie Horst, Chief Purpose Officer. “Herbs for All is how we honor the plant wisdom we’ve learned from and help share it more widely.”

Herbs for All brings together Traditional Medicinals’ purpose-driven sourcing, community investment, and herbal education into one unifying vision for a more equitable and inclusive wellness future.

Learn more: www.traditionalmedicinals.com/pages/plant-wisdom-collective

Originally published on SaportaReport
By Maria Saporta

The Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC), a focal point to invite people to experience the natural environment and the Chattahoochee River, has launched a $9.6 million capital campaign to make the center even more welcoming.

The campaign will fund several projects to make CNC more open and more inviting to both young people and adults.

Other major donors include $1 million from the James M. Cox Foundation, $250,000 from the Waterfall Foundation, $160,000 from the Georgia Power Foundation, $328,000 from the Tony Parker family, $100,000 from Judy and Walter Hoyt, $75,000 from the Koch/Georgia-Pacific Foundation as well as $558,000 from CNC’s board of trustees and $500,000 from Fulton County.

Continue reading here.

Hershey

By Mark Taylor
Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing

Key Takeaways:

• Hershey is focused on sourcing responsibly and smartly so that we can make our products and grow our business for another 130 years. 
• Despite signs pointing to a cocoa surplus, prices remain volatile and disconnected from physical market realities.
• Our team are always exploring a variety of purchasing options that mean we can provide the products our consumers love at a price that keeps them accessible.

In my years in this industry, I’ve never witnessed a cocoa market quite like the one we’re experiencing today. Every day, we see more bombastic headlines that chocolate is at risk due to cocoa supply shortages and sky-high prices. These headlines are greatly exaggerated of course, but the volatility, price swings, and market dynamics we’re seeing are truly unprecedented, and I wanted to share some thoughts on what’s happening and how we at Hershey are responding.

The Far-Reaching Impact of Cocoa Prices

The reality is that high cocoa prices profoundly affect our entire sector. Price has become a critical consideration for everyone—businesses, customers and consumers alike. Across the board, high prices due to inflation are impacting consumer demand, as people make tough choices about their spending. Throughout the snacking industry, companies must find creative ways to manage costs so that we can provide the products our consumers love at a price that keeps them accessible.

Today’s cocoa market is not healthy, and while external pressures like adverse weather conditions and crop disease continue, current levels of volatility are not a reasonable reflection of those impacts. The outlook is far more nuanced. While some regions face challenges with productivity, others are increasing their output. In fact, the 2024-25 year is expected to see the first surplus in four years, given factors such as:

• Production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana is up from last year’s challenges, with arrivals currently up 20%
• Cocoa origins outside these traditional powerhouses are growing quickly and now make up roughly half of global supply
• Growth in these alternative sourcing regions is pacing at more than 10% versus the previous year

A Disconnect Between Financial and Physical Markets

All these factors should be contributing to a moderation in price. Yet, paradoxically, we continue to experience an extremely volatile cocoa market with high prices and swings that seem to defy the fundamental market outlook.

At Hershey, we’re increasingly concerned that the cocoa exchanges are dysfunctional due to a lack of liquidity. The intent of commodity exchanges is to provide an orderly and fair method for buyers and sellers to achieve price transparency and hedge risk. However, we’re observing a troubling disconnect—while cocoa bean prices in origin countries have fallen, prices on the exchange often move in the opposite direction.

We believe action can be taken to dampen the volatility, improve liquidity and ensure that the exchange can again perform its primary function of being an effective risk management tool for the sector.

Building a Resilient Supply Chain

While high cocoa prices impact our operations and require extreme agility, Hershey remains committed to building a resilient cocoa supply chain.

Our purpose is to Make More Moments of Goodness. This means that we believe that chocolate should be affordable and accessible. For this to continue to be possible, as an industry we must drive efficiency, resiliency and sustainability to ensure that consumers can continue to enjoy chocolate for decades to come.

We recognize a fundamental truth: without successful farmers, food businesses could not succeed. Equally, without successful businesses, there would be significantly less investment in farmers and sustainable practices.

Through Cocoa For Good, our sustainable cocoa strategy, we are making a multi-year $500 million investment, which we are busy putting to work. We have already invested more than half of that, and we’ve made an additional $40 million commitment to improving farmer livelihoods with our Hershey Income Accelerator Program, which we’re expanding this year.

The Path Forward: Collaboration

We believe the way forward requires thoughtful collaboration. Many companies, including Hershey, have made significant investments to strengthen the cocoa supply chain, and this work must continue.

It’s important to recognize that the cocoa supply chain is global, and each origin may require different solutions. There is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all approach. What we’ve learned through years of experience is that creating lasting change requires a holistic approach:

• Working with governments on necessary public sector actions to foster healthy markets and support farmers
• Consistent action from companies, suppliers, and others in the private sector
• Bringing in expert implementation partners from the NGO sector to take proven, data-backed steps

In these unprecedented times, our commitment to creating a resilient cocoa supply chain remains unwavering. By working together across the entire value chain, we can navigate these challenges and build a stronger future for cocoa—from farmer to consumer.

UPDATE: May 19, 2025

Community Support Update

T-Mobile teams continue to help communities stay connected in St. Louis, Missouri. We are currently offering free Wi-Fi and device charging at two local Fire Departments. Community members — including first responders — are welcome to stop by anytime. The locations will be open 24 hours a day but may change.

• St. Louis Fire Department Engine House 26. Address: 4520 Margaretta Ave., St. Louis, MO 63115
• St. Louis Fire Department Engine House 28. Address: 4810 Enright Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108

 

UPDATE: May 18, 2025

Community Support Update

T-Mobile teams are on the ground in St. Louis, Missouri helping communities stay connected. We are currently offering free Wi-Fi and device charging. Community members — including first responders — are welcome to stop by anytime. The location will be open 24 hours a day but may change.

• Metro by T-Mobile retail store at Grand Blvd. Address: 1411 N Grand Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63106

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May 16, 2025 

T-Mobile is actively responding to and continues to monitor powerful storms that have brought tornadoes, damaging winds and widespread lightning to parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. This turbulent weather is expected to extend across the Great Plains and to the east coast.

Network Readiness 

T-Mobile’s network has held up well, with power outages leading to only minimal localized disruptions. In places where the network has had impacts, restoration efforts are underway. Permanent network hardening, including backup power and overlapping coverage, are helping to support the network. And our automation and AI-enabled Self-Organizing Network (SON) continues to help dynamically reroute traffic and maintain coverage while recovery continues.

We have activated our emergency teams who are deploying portable generators and providing refueling support to restore and maintain connectivity to impacted locations.

First Responder & Agency Coordination 

We are coordinating with emergency management agencies across the affected states to provide support as needed.

Community Support Readiness 

Our Community Support team is monitoring shelter and other needs. We remain ready to deploy portable Wi-Fi, charging stations and connectivity solutions if conditions require.

We will continue to monitor conditions and share updates as the situation evolves. Please visit T-Mobile Emergency Response. Follow the T-Mobile Newsroom on X and Instagram for the latest updates.

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If your facility manufactures, processes, or uses certain toxic chemicals, you may be required to report to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). TRI is not just a regulatory obligation – it’s a transparency tool that informs the public and helps facilities improve their environmental performance.

In a recent webinar entitled, “Toxic Release Inventory Reporting: A Q&A with Kara and Friends,” Kara Van Blarcum, CESCO, Antea Group’s Waste and Materials Management Service Line Leader, led a conversation with Jason Lagowski, CPG, Senior Consultant; Mike Pauli, Water Management Service Line Leader; and Tony Rossano, Senior Manager, on this subject.

This blog recaps the webinar and breaks down the key requirements, recent updates, and common compliance pitfalls to help you prepare for the July 1, 2025, reporting deadline for the 2024 calendar year.

Watch On-Demand

What Is TRI and Why Does It Matter? 

TRI reporting is mandated under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which was enacted in 1986 in response to major chemical disasters in Bhopal, India, and Institute, West Virginia. TRI aims to provide communities with information about the presence and release of toxic chemicals in their area.

Unlike Tier II reporting, which tracks hazardous chemicals stored onsite, TRI focuses on the release and management of specific chemicals that exceed reporting thresholds.

TRI data is publicly available, which means accuracy and transparency are critical—for both compliance and reputation management.

Do TRI Requirements Apply to You? 

A facility must meet all three criteria to be subject to TRI:

1. Employee Threshold: 10 or more full-time employee equivalents (about 20,000 work hours per year).
2. NAICS Code Coverage: Your primary industry code must be on EPA’s list of covered sectors (e.g., manufacturing, utilities, mining, etc.).
3. Chemical Use: You manufacture, process, or otherwise use a TRI-listed chemical above the reporting threshold.

Thresholds by Activity: 

• 25,000 lbs. for chemicals manufactured or processed,
• 10,000 lbs. for chemicals otherwise used,
• 100 lbs. or less for Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic (PBT) substances like lead or PFAS.

Common TRI Chemicals: 

• Metals and metal compounds (e.g., lead, copper)
• Nitric acid, ethylene glycol, solvents
• Diesel byproducts like naphthalene and polycyclic aromatic compounds
• Wastewater treatment chemicals
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

Understanding Key Definitions 

• Manufactured: Intentionally produced, imported, or created during processes (e.g., ammonia generated during commercial baking).
• Processed: Incorporated into a product, blended, or packaged for distribution (e.g., solvents in paint).
• Otherwise Used: Utilized without being part of the final product (e.g., nitric acid in wastewater treatment).

Article Exemption: 

Articles like copper tubing or wire may be exempt from reporting—unless they are cut, melted, or ground in a way that releases TRI chemicals.

Calculating Releases: What Counts? 

If thresholds are exceeded, you must quantify how much was released or managed, including:

• Air emissions (stacks, fugitive)
• Wastewater discharges (from treatment systems)
• Stormwater runoff
• On-site disposal or treatment
• Off-site transfers (e.g., hazardous waste, scrap metal)

Tools used include: 

• Stack testing, water sampling data
• Waste manifests and profile sheets
• Material balance or engineering calculations

You’ll then report using Form R or Form A via the EPA’s TRI-MEweb platform on CDX.

TRI and PFAS: What’s New for RY 2025? 

PFAS reporting has evolved rapidly:

• 2020: PFAS first added to the TRI list
• 2024: EPA added 9 new PFAS compounds, including 7 PFOS variants
• De minimis exemption removed for all PFAS in 2024
• PFAS now designated as chemicals of special concern (PBTs)
• Form A no longer allowed for PFAS reporting—must use Form R

Currently, there are around 180 TRI-listed PFAS and that number is expected to grow. The current reporting threshold is 100 lbs., but future rules could reduce it to 10 lbs.

Many safety data sheets (SDSs) do not clearly list PFAS—screening tools or supplier outreach may be required.

Quick Look: Reporting Deadlines 

• July 1, 2025 – Reports due for calendar year 2024
• Use TRI-MEweb via EPA CDX
• All data is public, and EPA may follow up on year-over-year discrepancies

Common Audit Findings 

Antea Group’s audit teams frequently encounter these issues:

• Failure to Evaluate Applicability: Many facilities meet TRI criteria but have never assessed thresholds.
• Missed Releases: Things like fugitive lead from soldering or byproducts from wastewater processes (e.g., nitrate formation) are often overlooked.
• Misuse of Exemptions: Activities like wire grinding may invalidate the article exemption, triggering reportability.

Regular evaluations, good records, and updated SDS reviews are essential to avoid violations.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: We just learned we should’ve been reporting. Do we need to go back? 
A: Yes. TRI requires 5 years of historical review. It’s better to self-disclose than wait for EPA to flag missing reports.

Q: Are TRI chemicals listed on the SDS? 
A: Yes—check Section 15 and Section 3. But suppliers may delay updates, so verify CAS numbers against EPA’s TRI list.

Q: Is there a checklist to conduct an evaluation? 
A: There’s no universal template, but a good process includes:

• Reviewing your product inventory and SDSs,
• Calculating chemical usage and comparing against thresholds,
• Evaluating all potential release pathways (air, water, waste).

Q: How do I find my NAICS code and determine if it’s TRI-covered? 
A: Check your OSHA 300 log, EPA ECHO portal, or use an online SIC-to-NAICS crosswalk to see if you’ve ever reported it before. If not, you will need to review the NAICS list to determine which best matches with your operations. Then compare against EPA’s TRI-covered NAICS list.

Q: If my SDS doesn’t mention PFAS, should I keep looking? 
A: Yes. PFAS may be hidden under trade names or proprietary listings. Use screening tools or request supplier certifications.

Q: Do any states have separate TRI reporting? 
A: Massachusetts has a parallel program, the Toxic Use Reduction Act (TURA), requiring additional forms. All others follow federal TRI rules.

Q: Can I revise a TRI report if I find a mistake? 
A: Yes. Revisions can be made within five years via TRI-MEweb.

Q: If I move or close a facility, do I still report? 
A: Yes. If thresholds were exceeded at any point during the year, even a closed or relocated facility may require reporting.

Q: I exceeded the threshold but have no releases—do I still file? 
A: Yes. You must still submit a form—likely Form A, unless the chemical is a PBT or otherwise disqualified.

Final Thoughts 

TRI reporting is complex—but manageable with the right systems in place. Consistent tracking, supplier engagement, and periodic audits can help you stay ahead of evolving requirements, especially as PFAS and PBT oversight increases.

Do you need help with TRI applicability evaluations, report preparation, or PFAS disclosure? Reach out to Antea Group’s experts today to get guidance every step of the way.

LinkedIn

The KFC Foundation surprised the Kentucky Humane Society with their $10,000 Kentucky Fried Wishes grant! The grant will be used for their Women Warriors program which will connect women veterans, women first responders, and female family members of veterans, with rescue horses.

Star of the celebration was definitely Walter, a cutie patootie kitty who has moderate Cerebellar Hypoplasia (CH), which makes him just a bit wobbly.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, May 27, 2025 /3BL/ – Tetra Pak has received the Environmental Initiatives Award at the 2025 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards for its Approach to Nature framework. The SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement and Leadership) Award recognises Tetra Pak’s framework as an industry-leading example of how major companies can leverage their expertise to guide and collaborate with partners throughout the value chain to realise their own sustainability goals and address regulatory requirements.  

Tetra Pak launched its comprehensive Approach to Nature framework in 2024 to address nature-related impacts across the value chain. This ambitious approach is built upon concrete actions and more than 20 measurable targets and practical actions, defining the company’s contribution to halting and reversing nature loss, supporting the restoration of ecosystems and enhancing water security.

As well as internal goals and actions, the framework also addresses supplier and customer nature-related impacts, including those connected to packaging end-of-life.

Significant progress has already been made against the framework. In its own operations, Tetra Pak aims to reduce total water withdrawal by 35% by 2030 (from a 2019 baseline). Tetra Pak’s Kunshan site in China is an example of success in this regard, with rainwater harvesting implemented to irrigate over 6,000m² of green plants, cutting annual water use by more than 120 tonnes.¹

Francesca Priora, Vice President, Climate & Nature, Tetra Pak comments: “We are honoured to accept this award from SEAL Awards for our Approach to Nature framework. This recognition highlights our commitment to reversing and halting nature loss by reducing the negative impacts of our value chain on nature and supporting landscape restoration.

“We are proud to collaborate with customers, suppliers and partners on our journey to restore ecosystems and improve water resilience. Approach to Nature is one of the ways we are working together to transform food systems to ensure a more secure, resilient and sustainable future for all.”

The framework has also been recognised by ‘It’s Now for Nature’, a joint global campaign led by Business for Nature – a coalition that brings together more than 100 influential partner organisations and forward-thinking companies to “drive credible business action and policy ambition to achieve a nature-positive economy for all by 2030”.²

Find out more about the SEAL Awards, alongside a full list of winners.

Discover more about Approach to Nature, including quantitative targets and practical actions.

Media contacts

Olivia Tomblin 
Brands2Life 
+44 (0)20 7592 1200 
olivia.tomblin@brands2life.com

¹ P.57 TetraPak_Sustainability_ReportFY23

² Business For Nature

As we move into May, my garden in Austin Texas is at its best, the Japanese Maple is flourishing, and the roses and lantana are giving pops of color. The garden benefits from the mild temperatures and gentler spring conditions to allow plants to establish strong roots before the summer heat arrives.

I find myself wondering if there’s an AI tool that would help me keep some of my more challenging plants alive before the weather machine turns to “broil”. This takes me back to my day job, which includes working with energy grid operators to help build the strong roots of cyber security.

April has been an eventful month for the world’s energy grids, let’s look at some of the key developments.

In the U.S., the House Committee on Energy and Commerce heard from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt about the impact and reliance of AI on the energy grid. Schmidt told Congress “Many people project demand for our industry will go from 3 percent to 9 percent of total generation, an additional 29 gigawatts by 2027 and 67 more gigawatts by 2030, this is at a scale I have never seen in my life in terms of energy planning.”

“If China comes to superintelligence first, it changes the dynamic of power globally, in ways that we have no way of understanding or predicting.”

AI’s dependence on the energy grid is clear and if the US cannot keep up with power needs, other countries like China could gain a competitive edge. The energy requirements of data centers are predicted to skyrocket, especially with more advanced and power-hungry systems on the way. The energy grid is being stretched beyond its limits and AI could push up energy prices and create shortages. The energy grid is essential to powering the boom in AI and makes it a prime target for threat actors seeking to destabilize AI leadership or dependent critical systems.

In April we also saw massive blackouts across Spain, Portugal and parts of France that halted public transportation, banking cashpoints and internet connectivity, in one of Europe’s biggest ever power system collapses. Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy had no electricity, Red Eléctrica de España, the grid operator, is working to figure out what led to this worst-case scenario, a system completely devoid of energy. Whatever the cause, it is an admonitory tale of the importance of a resilient energy grid.

Although some have ruled out cyberattacks as the cause of the recent blackouts, attacks in the sector are growing. Energy systems are increasingly dependent on IT at every stage of the supply chain-generation, transmission, and distribution- all of which must be protected. The need to strengthen grid security has become more urgent since the invasion of Ukraine.

Over the course of a series of blogs we will explore how Keysight is helping grid operators and manufacturers rise to the challenge of improving power generation and cybersecurity while maintaining agility and regulatory compliance. We will discuss the latest trends and how operators can stay ahead of attackers. You will see coverage of IoT, OT and device security, cloud, and network security, as well as the importance of resilient time in the energy grid.

In today’s blog we will focus on the increasing susceptibility of AI to the hidden threats in IoT/OT and devices in the energy sector.

AI’s demand for electricity

The world’s data centers are using ever more electricity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global electricity usage by data centers will double in just four years, increasing from 460 terawatt hours of electricity in 2022 to 1,000 terawatt hours annually by 2026. This demand is roughly equivalent to the total electricity consumption of Japan. With governments around the world announcing multi-billion-dollar investments in AI, data center electricity consumption is expected to grow at a rapid pace as AI applications begin to penetrate the market.

Goldman Sachs Research estimates that data center power demand will grow by 160% by 2030. Currently, data centers globally consume 1-2% of overall power, but this percentage will likely double to 3-4% by the end of the decade. The overall increase in data center power consumption from AI is expected to be roughly 200TWh/year between 2023 and 2028, with AI representing about 19% of total datacenter power demand.

This heightens the dependence as well as the risk profile of the energy systems that support the AI datacenters and applications, making them targets for cyberattack.

It is also worth highlighting the additional dependency on water consumption. Data centers use fresh mains water, rather than surface water, so that the pipes, pumps, and heat exchangers used to cool racks of servers do not get clogged up with contaminants. Microsoft’s global water use soared by 34% while it was developing its initial AI tools, and a data center cluster in Iowa used 6% of the district’s water supply in one month during the training of OpenAI’s GPT-4. Therefore, cyber-attacks impacting water supply to the datacenter operations may also be of concern.

The energy sector is a major target for cyberattack

The energy grid faces persistent threats from cyber criminals and hostile states such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea exploiting ransomware, AI, and advanced intrusion tools. State-linked cyber groups increasingly target industrial control systems pivotal to energy infrastructure. There are major areas of concern in the energy supply chain, where vulnerabilities exist in interconnected systems, for example GNSS and GPS for timing, and the targeting of subsea cables.

In 2021 the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware attack disabled its IT computer systems resulting in fuel shortages and panic buying in affected states. In 2022 a Russian attack on satellites knocked out communications and control of thousands of wind turbines in Ukraine. In 2023 the China-linked group, RedEcho, attacked India’s power sector during border tension.

According to the E-ISAC, Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the nation state actors targeting the US energy sector in 2024 included Volt Typhoon, Salt Typhoon, Lemon Sandstorm/UNC757, APT 29 – Midnight Blizzard and GRU Unit 29155.

Last year Volt Typhoon, a China state-sponsored threat actor, targeted energy, transportation, and water sectors in the US and Canada. Its campaigns affected industrial sectors including Electricity Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Chinese hackers were active in Massachusetts’ Littleton Electric Light & Water Departments (LELWD) for over 300 days without detection.

We have seen CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn (CARR) confirm attacks on US water and energy facilities. Hunt3r Kill3rs targeted internet exposed OT/ICS devices in the US, Europe, and Israel. And just in the last couple of days I saw a new headline about a cyberattack against a Canadian operator, Nova Scotia Power.

In addition to the IT-focused attacks such as Colonial Pipeline which have downstream impacts on industrial control systems (ICS), there has also been an increase in ICS-targeting malware intentionally designed for adverse effects on operational technology (OT) environments. FrostyGoop Malware is an ICS-specific malware tracked by Dragos. It interacts with ICS devices over Modbus TCP/502, a standard ICS protocol used worldwide. It is undetectable by common antivirus software and was used in Ukraine heating outages in 2024.

Legislation and proactive cyber security testing

Laws like the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations and EO 13636 require enhanced resilience in critical sectors, including energy. The cyberattacks in the US and elsewhere are why regulators like Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) are updating their requirements, to ensure power companies are preparing for the latest threats. FERC has begun to take steps to increase stricter cyber security controls for grid and power providers. FERC 887 and NERC CIP 003-9 are new regulations that impose stricter requirements on electric utilities for internal network security monitoring and remote access.

The costs of non-compliance can be significant. Back in 2019 NERC fined Duke Energy $10 million for cybersecurity failings relating to the CIP (critical infrastructure protection) compliance program.

How Keysight can help

With cyberattacks in the energy sector on the rise it is crucial to implement proactive security measures to safeguard your infrastructure and mitigate potential risks. It is important to validate new devices, networks, application workloads and traffic mixes. Our security testing solutions replicate your environment and support a wide range of protocols and applications with real-world test scenarios.

Keysight can help you to validate and refine your security posture, improving resilience to cyberattacks and ensuring adherence to cyber security requirements. To safeguard your infrastructure Keysight helps you in several ways including awareness and training, configuration management, incident response, risk assessment, security assessment, access control, identification, and authentication, as well as system and communications protection.

Let us explore further how Keysight can help you with device and IoT security.

Spotlight: Device and IoT security in the energy sector

As the energy sector becomes increasingly connected, communications networks will include both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks which open up additional attack vectors. Back in 2022, Starlink terminals were hacked using voltage fault injection and side channel attacks to gain access to the Starlink network.

Keysight can conduct security assessments of devices connected to the energy grid, including validation of Smart Meters to the relevant Common Criteria Protection Profile. We analyze the hardware (debug and test interfaces and memories), software design, secure boot process, OS (Linux, Android, RTOS), as well as application security and perform targeted reviews to understand the security of your device. We can also analyze the security of the chipsets by considering logical, fault injection and side-channel threats, as well as the immutable firmware on the chips and the overall architecture.

Upgrades, especially of production OT devices, can be very expensive. Do you really want to take a substation down because you need to upgrade the firmware to fix a security flaw? This is why it is so important to do extensive pre-deployment testing of smart inverters, relays, phasors, and other operational devices so you can fix as many problems as possible early. It is also important to maintain an SBOM of deployed devices so that you can get immediate notification if a vulnerability is discovered in a library utilized in a device’s firmware so that it can be remedied or mitigated before hackers can exploit it.

With a long history in the energy sector, Keysight is dedicated to safeguarding critical national energy systems. You can read more about how we keep energy grids safe on our Grid Modernization page.

Keysight is your partner for energy cyber security.