Tag: 3BL

T-Mobile Starlink satellite-to-smartphone technology to bring critical emergency alerts to 500,000+ square miles of land currently unreachable with earth-based cell towers

Emergency alerts will work for everyone – even Verizon, AT&T and other wireless provider customers will receive critical emergency alerts

BELLEVUE, Wash., September 12, 2024 /3BL/ — Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires – the type of catastrophic events that often trigger a wireless emergency alert – don’t care about wireless coverage zones. Soon it won’t matter.

Today, T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) announced that it successfully sent and received – for the first time ever in the U.S. – a wireless emergency alert (WEA) via satellite. The breakthrough opens up the 500,000 square miles of lightly populated, mountainous and/or uninhabitable land across the country to critical, life-saving emergency alerts.

“This is one of those days, as the CEO of a wireless company, that makes me pause for a moment and reflect on how technology advancements and the work we’re doing is truly impacting life and death situations,” said Mike Sievert, CEO, T-Mobile.

At 5:13 PM PT on Thursday, September 5th, T-Mobile initiated a test alert for a hypothetical evacuation notice. The alert was sent 217 miles into space where it was received by one of the more than 175 Starlink direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low earth orbit that effectively function as cell towers in space. The alert was then broadcast to a geographic area impacted by the hypothetical evacuation notice and received by a T-Mobile smartphone.

In total, it took emergency operators just seconds to queue up an emergency message and deliver that message via Starlink satellites to users on the ground.

The life-saving benefits of satellite-enabled WEAs are immense. Take the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California as an example. The fire, which ultimately burned more than 150,000 acres, forced the evacuation of 52,000 people, destroyed 19,000 structures including most of the city of Paradise and, most devastatingly, took 86 lives, erupted in the rural Sierra Nevada mountains.

Those who lived, worked or played off the cellular network grid – relatively common in lightly populated areas with significant elevation changes – had no access to emergency alerts due to lack of wireless service coverage. The fire also took out a reported 17 cell towers on the first day of the fire and 66 total during the first two weeks of the blaze making communications – with first responders or loved ones – nearly impossible for many.

T-Mobile and Starlink, with more than 175 direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low-earth orbit, are currently testing satellite-to-smartphone service. Additional SpaceX launches are scheduled over the coming months to add more satellites to the current constellation, further blanketing the country with wireless coverage. As that happens, T-Mobile intends to beta test the service before launching it commercially.

Follow @TMobileNews on X, formerly known as Twitter, to stay up to date with the latest company news.

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About T-Mobile 
T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is America’s supercharged Un-carrier, delivering an advanced 4G LTE and transformative nationwide 5G network that will offer reliable connectivity for all. T-Mobile’s customers benefit from its unmatched combination of value and quality, unwavering obsession with offering them the best possible service experience and undisputable drive for disruption that creates competition and innovation in wireless and beyond. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Sprint. For more information please visit: https://www.t-mobile.com

Media Contacts 
T-Mobile US, Inc. Media Relations 
MediaRelations@t-mobile.com

Investor Relations Contact 
T-Mobile US, Inc. 
investor.relations@t-mobile.com 
https://investor.t-mobile.com

Complimentary Webinar

Ask the Experts: Your Food Safety Questions Answered

September 19th, 2024 | 12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT

REGISTER

Join leading food safety experts from Grimmway Farms, Misfits Market and SCS Global Services for a groundbreaking panel webinar. This interactive session offers you the chance to:

• Ask your pressing food safety questions

• Share and learn best practices

• Get crucial regulatory updates for year-end compliance

• Prepare your team for a strong finish to the year with actionable tips

Engage in a dynamic discussion format with industry leaders. Submit your questions in advance during registration to ensure your concerns are addressed.

Register today to secure your spot!

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By registering, you will get access to the webinar recording.

For inquiries, contact:

Shyama Devarajan 
Senior Marketing Manager, SCS Global Services 
sdevarajan@scsglobalservices.com

PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP

Mary Kay is committed to product stewardship and gives special consideration to the environmental impact of a product over its entire lifecycle through product development, design, responsible sourcing, and using eco-friendly plastics.

MARY KAY JOINS GLOBAL SHEA ALLIANCE

In 2023, Mary Kay joined Global Shea Alliance (GSA), a non-profit industry association that designs, develops, and delivers strategies that drive a competitive and sustainable Shea industry worldwide. This new partnership aligns with Mary Kay’s commitment to sustainability and its mission to empower women around the world.

Together with GSA, we aim to help establish new industry standards for social and environmental responsibility, foster a more resilient future for the 16 million of women in West Africa who depend on Shea and contribute to the preservation of the Shea parklands. Mary Kay’s priority is on assessing traceability and gaining a better understanding of how our suppliers engage with GSA.

“We are absolutely thrilled to join the Global Shea Alliance,” said Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer at Mary Kay. “This partnership marks a significant step in our journey to promote sustainable beauty practices. By collaborating with the GSA, we aim to further harness the transformative potential of Shea in skincare and cosmetics.”

Mamatou Djaffo, President of the Global Shea Alliance, expressed her enthusiasm about the new partnership. “We extend a heartfelt welcome to Mary Kay Inc,” said Mamatou Djaffo. “Their stellar reputation as champions of corporate social responsibility and sustainability perfectly aligns with our mission. We are thrilled at the prospect of collaborating with Mary Kay to drive substantial positive change within the cosmetics industry. Together, we aim to establish new industry standards for social and environmental responsibility, transcending beauty to empower individuals, promote sustainability, and foster a more resilient future for the millions of women who depend on Shea.”

End of 2023, Mary Kay hosted Aaron Adu, GSA Managing Director, and Olawunmi Osholake, GSA Deputy Managing Director, at its manufacturing facility, the Richard R. Rogers (R3) Manufacturing / R&D Center in Lewisville, Texas, U.S.A. for a site visit followed by a meeting exploring synergies and engagement opportunities.

PARTNERSHIP WITH ECOVADIS

Mary Kay continues its partnership with EcoVadis, a third-party supplier ESG desktop assessment, that evaluates supplier actions in four main ESG areas using validated evidence: Ethics, Environment, Labor & Human Rights, and Sustainable Procurement. EcoVadis is a globally trusted platform for sustainable business ratings.

To honor September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, AEG’s LA Kings partnered with AmeriCorps to support 9/11 Day’s Meal Pack Program and help thousands of families in need across Southern California.

The Los Angeles Meal Pack event, sponsored by AmeriCorps, brought together more than 1,200 employees from the LA Kings, AmeriCorps, Dignity Health and Delta, among others. The volunteers assembled 400,000 meals that were distributed by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to help those experiencing food insecurity in the local community.

Since its inception in 2001, 9/11 Day has transformed into the largest single day of giving in the U.S. This year’s national Meal Pack program mobilized volunteers across 21 cities, including Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and New York, assembling over 9 million meals for vulnerable communities. The initiative honors those lost and the survivors of the September 11 attacks by encouraging acts of service and compassion.

“The LA Kings are proud to honor the legacy of those who acted with courage in the face of tragedy on September 11, 2001. Coming together for 9/11 Day is a powerful reminder of how communities can unite in service, especially in times of need,” said Amanda Apel, Senior Director of Community Relations, LA Kings. “Today, we are pleased to and stand alongside our partner AmeriCorps, as well as Blue Shield of California who support our volunteer efforts as part of the LA Kings G.O.A.L.S. Program. By assembling meal kits for local families, we not only address food insecurity but also uphold the legacy of compassion and resilience that 9/11 represents.”

September 11, 2001, is etched in the history of the LA Kings organization as a day of profound loss. Twenty-three years ago, two members of the LA Kings scouting staff, Garnet “Ace” Bailey and Mark Bavis, tragically lost their lives aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which was hijacked and flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Created shortly after the September 11 attacks, 9/11 Day’s mission is to inspire millions of Americans to rekindle the remarkable spirit of unity and compassion that arose in the immediate aftermath of September 11. The organization aims to perform good deeds and other acts of service in tribute to the 9/11 victims, survivors, first responders, and members of our military who bravely rose in service in response to the attacks. To learn more about 9/11 Day click here.

Young people from Manhattan to Mongolia are leveraging technology to address issues of climate change. Those most impacted are also the most incentivized to do something about it. Over 1 billion children — half of all children globally — are at an “extremely high risk” due to the impacts of climate change. Organizations that support young people, including UNICEF, are rallying their support around young innovators addressing the opportunities and the risks climate change poses for youth.

SAP is also committed to finding solutions to climate change and working across generations to make it happen. As the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software, SAP plays a complementary role to organizations like UNICEF. With a unique ability to help the world’s largest companies achieve more across their value chains and drive sustainability at their core, there is enormous potential to use SAP technology for good. Coupled with its technological expertise, there is also a long-standing commitment to accelerate solutions by connecting corporate financial and nonfinancial resources with the expertise of young innovators.

Air pollution is a complicating factor of climate change. On International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, the world looks at this issue that is not locked within borders, making it difficult to address. It warms the global climate, exacerbating natural disasters and risking the health of millions of underserved people living in vulnerable areas.

In Mongolia, air pollution is particularly problematic as the country deals with rapid urbanization and a harsh climate. The country has a strong reliance on burning coal because it is inexpensive and readily available. Coal represents 90% of the energy used and is a huge economic export, creating jobs and wealth in a high-need country. Even though coal was banned in Mongolia’s capital city in 2019, coal use has led to enormous levels of smog and mounting health risks for thousands of citizens. In a country known as the “Land of the Eternal Blue Sky,” local youth like Enkhuun Byambadorj are not willing to accept this reality.

Enkhuun was just 17 when she co-founded Breathe Mongolia, an organization leveraging data and technology as a differentiator in solving pollution. With family members affected, she had deeply personal reasons to create tangible action. She quickly understood the value of leveraging technology to scale solutions to the masses and built a centralized source of air quality data for Mongolian communities. “These are all tech-based tools that we use to reach more audiences and more people than we could otherwise,” she said. Today, with information available in English and Mongolian, Breathe Mongolia has become a go-to source for air quality data in the region.

With Climate Week on the horizon, taking place during the annual UN General Assembly, SAP will step forward to represent the value of working with young innovators like Enkhuun with GenU. GenU was founded in 2018 as part of UNICEF aiming to equip youth with the necessary skills and resources to participate in key conversations around pressing global issues.

When given the opportunity, youth bring an impressive passion for creating impact, coupled with a digital-first mindset, that allows decision-makers to channel new solutions. Breathe Mongolia is one of the millions of impact organizations operating globally and putting people and planet first. SAP wants to ensure its success and that of the more than 10 million social enterprises operating globally, many led by young people. Together with leading youth social impact partners like Generation Unlimited, ChangemakerXchange, and We Are Family Foundation (WAFF), SAP is hoping to close the opportunity gap and ensure that youth have the resources they need to innovate and fulfill their potential. This commitment for youth inclusion extends beyond Climate Week and UNGA. Throughout the year, SAP and its leadership team lead by example, involving expert young leaders in the company’s innovation strategy and sustainability programs, opening doors that provide them with a seat at the table.

Whether you are attending Climate Week or participating virtually from home, every sector and individual has a role to play to combat issues like climate change. To better understand the challenges that youth face and the potential to incorporate youth voices in challenging projects, leverage The Possibilists global study on young changemakers and WAFF’s global study on intergenerational collaboration.

If you are a young climate innovator based in North America or Sub-Saharan Africa, we also encourage you to check out resource support through Changemakers for the Planet.

Young people from Manhattan to Mongolia are leveraging technology to address issues of climate change. Those most impacted are also the most incentivized to do something about it. Over 1 billion children — half of all children globally — are at an “extremely high risk” due to the impacts of climate change. Organizations that support young people, including UNICEF, are rallying their support around young innovators addressing the opportunities and the risks climate change poses for youth.

SAP is also committed to finding solutions to climate change and working across generations to make it happen. As the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software, SAP plays a complementary role to organizations like UNICEF. With a unique ability to help the world’s largest companies achieve more across their value chains and drive sustainability at their core, there is enormous potential to use SAP technology for good. Coupled with its technological expertise, there is also a long-standing commitment to accelerate solutions by connecting corporate financial and nonfinancial resources with the expertise of young innovators.

Air pollution is a complicating factor of climate change. On International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, the world looks at this issue that is not locked within borders, making it difficult to address. It warms the global climate, exacerbating natural disasters and risking the health of millions of underserved people living in vulnerable areas.

In Mongolia, air pollution is particularly problematic as the country deals with rapid urbanization and a harsh climate. The country has a strong reliance on burning coal because it is inexpensive and readily available. Coal represents 90% of the energy used and is a huge economic export, creating jobs and wealth in a high-need country. Even though coal was banned in Mongolia’s capital city in 2019, coal use has led to enormous levels of smog and mounting health risks for thousands of citizens. In a country known as the “Land of the Eternal Blue Sky,” local youth like Enkhuun Byambadorj are not willing to accept this reality.

Enkhuun was just 17 when she co-founded Breathe Mongolia, an organization leveraging data and technology as a differentiator in solving pollution. With family members affected, she had deeply personal reasons to create tangible action. She quickly understood the value of leveraging technology to scale solutions to the masses and built a centralized source of air quality data for Mongolian communities. “These are all tech-based tools that we use to reach more audiences and more people than we could otherwise,” she said. Today, with information available in English and Mongolian, Breathe Mongolia has become a go-to source for air quality data in the region.

With Climate Week on the horizon, taking place during the annual UN General Assembly, SAP will step forward to represent the value of working with young innovators like Enkhuun with GenU. GenU was founded in 2018 as part of UNICEF aiming to equip youth with the necessary skills and resources to participate in key conversations around pressing global issues.

When given the opportunity, youth bring an impressive passion for creating impact, coupled with a digital-first mindset, that allows decision-makers to channel new solutions. Breathe Mongolia is one of the millions of impact organizations operating globally and putting people and planet first. SAP wants to ensure its success and that of the more than 10 million social enterprises operating globally, many led by young people. Together with leading youth social impact partners like Generation Unlimited, ChangemakerXchange, and We Are Family Foundation (WAFF), SAP is hoping to close the opportunity gap and ensure that youth have the resources they need to innovate and fulfill their potential. This commitment for youth inclusion extends beyond Climate Week and UNGA. Throughout the year, SAP and its leadership team lead by example, involving expert young leaders in the company’s innovation strategy and sustainability programs, opening doors that provide them with a seat at the table.

Whether you are attending Climate Week or participating virtually from home, every sector and individual has a role to play to combat issues like climate change. To better understand the challenges that youth face and the potential to incorporate youth voices in challenging projects, leverage The Possibilists global study on young changemakers and WAFF’s global study on intergenerational collaboration.

If you are a young climate innovator based in North America or Sub-Saharan Africa, we also encourage you to check out resource support through Changemakers for the Planet.

Originally published in American Airlines’ 2023 Sustainability Report

Voluntary Carbon Markets

Aviation is regarded as one of the sectors that is hardest to abate in terms of climate impact. Many of the decarbonization technologies needed do not yet exist, are not yet economically feasible or are not expected to scale quickly enough to achieve the insector reductions needed to reach net zero by 2050. As a result, to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the aviation sector will need to rely on carbon offsets and removals to neutralize residual emissions. The availability of high-quality offsets and removals requires a well-functioning voluntary carbon market and investment in innovation to strengthen the reputation of this marketplace.

How American is helping accelerate solutions

Reducing emissions within our operations is and will remain American’s priority. To date, we have not purchased any offsets as part of advancing our net zero commitment, but we recognize that carbon offsets and removals will need to play a future role in eliminating aviation’s residual emissions.

We are helping to accelerate and scale the CO2 removal market as the inaugural customer of Graphyte, whose innovative carbon casting process removes and stores CO2 permanently and cost-effectively. (See page 26 for more information.) American also partners with Cool Effect, a leading nonprofit provider of carbon offsets, to give our customers the opportunity to purchase offsets.

The Potential

Necessary for addressing residual emissions for hard-to-abate sectors like aviationCan create cobenefits in areas such as air and water quality, biodiversity, human health and job creationCan bring social and economic benefits such as human health improvements and job creation in rural communities

Actions Needed

Collaboration among market participants to agree on standards and verification to promote integritySound public policies and oversight for effective functioning of the marketNew financing models to mobilize more capital and increase participation in the voluntary carbon market

The Challenges

Supply of quality, robust and verifiable carbon offsetsCost of carbon removals — and the need for technological innovation to bring down costsDegree of permanence of removalsVerifying additionality, meaning the project only exists because of funding from carbon markets

Accelerating Low-Cost, Permanent Carbon Removal

Graphyte, backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is a carbon removal startup that is pioneering a new pathway for low-cost, permanent carbon removal. Graphyte’s Carbon Casting process leverages readily available biomass, such as residues from timber and farming operations, that have already captured significant CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The biomass is then dried to prevent decomposition, converted into dense carbon blocks, wrapped in an environmentally safe polymer barrier and monitored in a state-of-theart underground storage facility. Relative to existing carbon removal approaches, Carbon Casting permanently removes and stores CO2 using significantly less energy and at a substantially lower cost. In early 2024, Graphyte began operating the largest carbon removal facility in the world, its Loblolly facility in Arkansas.5

In 2023, American signed a deal with Graphyte to purchase 10,000 tons of permanent carbon removal to be delivered in early 2025, making us its inaugural customer.

Mitigating the Climate Impacts of International Aviation Through CORSIA

The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) regulates emissions from international aviation, and American has endorsed its goal of achieving carbon-neutral growth in emissions after 2019. Airlines and other aircraft operators will offset any growth in CO2 emissions above a revised 2019 baseline established in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, American and other airlines did not face offsetting obligations under CORSIA, as international flight volumes were still below prepandemic levels, but we expect that we will need to purchase carbon offsets to comply with our obligation for CORSIA’s first phase, which covers 2024–26 emissions. While we would prefer to meet our CORSIA obligations by increasing our use of SAF, we recognize offsets will also play a role. American will continue to monitor the offsets market in preparation for implementing our purchase strategy.

Through American’s partnership with Cool Effect, our customers can purchase carbon offsets. Cool Effect uses more than 90% of each offset dollar to fund a portfolio of carbon projects that aim to protect and conserve our planet’s resources. Learn more at cooleffect.org/american-airlines.

Sustainable Operations

While we are keenly focused on reducing the carbon footprint of our flights, our other environmental sustainability efforts extend to the ways in which we design and build facilities, our approach to recycling, use of renewable energy, adoption of environmentally friendly materials and much more.

Our Environmental Policy Statement, which was updated in May 2023, articulates American’s commitment to developing and implementing sustainable business practices designed to address climate change, efficiently use natural resources, reduce waste, prevent pollution, reduce noise, conserve biodiversity and help stop deforestation.

In 2023, we reached the goal we set in 2019 of sourcing 2.5 million gigajoules (GJs) of cost-competitive renewable energy to power our operations. Originally targeted for 2025, we accomplished this feat two years ahead of schedule. American purchased 673,176 GJs of electricity from renewable sources for our operations in north Texas and at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) during the year. Both were 100% powered by renewable energy. As of April 2024, American was the highest-ranked U.S. airline — and 44th company overall — on the EPA’s Green Power Partnership Fortune 500® Partners List.

Incorporating sustainability into our building designs and airport lounges

Many of our facilities across the United States have received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement. Three buildings at our corporate headquarters campus are LEED Gold certified, including the Skyview 6 hospitality complex that opened in January 2023, Skyview 7 and Skyview 8. Our campus incorporates several other environmentally friendly features, including 90 acres of preserved woodlands and 9.3 miles of walking trails.

We have taken a sustainable approach to our new and redesigned Admirals Club lounges as well, using locally sourced wood whenever possible and focusing on their use of natural light and energy-efficient LED lighting. As a result, our Admirals Club at Denver International Airport, which opened in October 2023, is pursuing LEED Gold certification. Our recently expanded Admirals Club at LaGuardia Airport is LEED Silver certified, and the Admirals Club that opened in September 2023 at Newark Liberty International Airport also incorporates many sustainable elements into its design.

American has undertaken many initiatives across our Admirals Club lounges in recent years, including switching from plastic to compostable flatware and transitioning to a compostable straw that is available upon request only. We have begun testing reusable flatware in selected lounges, and our bottled water brand, JUST Water, comes in a carton made from 88% plant-based materials. We have also discontinued the mailing of plastic Admirals Club membership cards and physical welcome kits in favor of a digital-only approach.

Reducing aircraft noise

American is committed to addressing the concerns that local communities raise around aircraft noise. For example, we participate in several airport community roundtables on this topic, and we received a 2022 gold award from the Los Angeles International Airport Fly Quieter Program. We have also voluntarily retrofitted all pre-2014 Airbus A320 jets in our fleet with fuel vent vortex generators, which help reduce aircraft noise.

American continues to meet or exceed International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) noise certification standards as well. ICAO standards currently specify that operators can fly Stage 3, Stage 4 or Stage 5 aircraft. All our mainline and regional fleet meet Stage 4 noise certification levels, and 20% meet Stage 5 noise certification levels.

Identifying opportunities for composting and reducing food waste

Our new catering facility at DFW, which opened in 2023, was also built with sustainability in mind. The largest airline catering kitchen in the country, it participates in a program that turns food waste into compost. As trays and dishes are cleaned, this waste is collected by a vendor and distributed to farms and compost facilities. Pre-consumer composting from this facility and our Admirals Club locations at DFW yielded more than 419,000 pounds in 2023.

In late 2023, we began a trial with one of our caterers to measure food waste from meals served on flights from London Heathrow Airport to DFW. This project takes pictures of trays after flights and uses AI to analyze the food that is left behind. This helps us determine passenger preferences for certain dishes, adjust our offerings accordingly and reduce waste. Rightsizing the food we have on board will help us lower costs, while the weight savings can help us cut down on fuel use and the associated emissions.

Leveraging recycled plastic and other alternatives in our cabin offerings and cargo operations

American has long recycled cans, paper, bottles and other trash removed from our aircraft. We have also been exploring ways to reduce or eliminate single-use plastics on board our aircraft, including the possibility of using recycled plastic alternatives.

For the relaunch of our soft goods program in April 2024, American collaborated with the inflight textile company John Horsfall to develop bedding made with recycled materials from its Re-Thread® collection. Nearly all the pillows, duvets and blankets created for American flights are made with recycled fibers that maintain a premium feel, while filled bedding includes 100% recycled fill.

To reduce single-use plastic waste connected to the distribution of pillows and blankets, customers traveling in Flagship® First, Flagship® Business and Premium Economy will now receive their bedding in a reusable zipper bag also made with recycled fibers. Using the bag is expected to eliminate 25 tons of plastic waste per year.

In our Cargo operations, we expanded our transition to the BioNatur Plastics™ that we began using in 2022 to replace traditional plastic stretch wrap and pallet covers. This product line fully biodegrades in eight to 12 years under landfill conditions — compared with the more than 500 years it can take for normal plastics — and it is designed to be fully recyclable in normal waste collection streams.

In 2023, we extended the use of BioNatur Plastics beyond our U.S. hubs to include regional domestic stations, such as Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Honolulu International Airport and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. We also began using the product line at select locations outside the United States, including Carrasco International Airport in Uruguay and Santiago International Airport in Chile. As a result, this helped American reduce long-term plastic waste in landfills by over 150,000 pounds for the year (equivalent to approximately 8.6 million plastic bottles). That represents a more than 15% improvement compared with 2022.

Read more

5 See https://www.graphyte.com/post/bill-gates-s-carbon-removal-company-is-opening-for-business for more information.

Originally published in American Airlines’ 2023 Sustainability Report

Voluntary Carbon Markets

Aviation is regarded as one of the sectors that is hardest to abate in terms of climate impact. Many of the decarbonization technologies needed do not yet exist, are not yet economically feasible or are not expected to scale quickly enough to achieve the insector reductions needed to reach net zero by 2050. As a result, to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the aviation sector will need to rely on carbon offsets and removals to neutralize residual emissions. The availability of high-quality offsets and removals requires a well-functioning voluntary carbon market and investment in innovation to strengthen the reputation of this marketplace.

How American is helping accelerate solutions

Reducing emissions within our operations is and will remain American’s priority. To date, we have not purchased any offsets as part of advancing our net zero commitment, but we recognize that carbon offsets and removals will need to play a future role in eliminating aviation’s residual emissions.

We are helping to accelerate and scale the CO2 removal market as the inaugural customer of Graphyte, whose innovative carbon casting process removes and stores CO2 permanently and cost-effectively. (See page 26 for more information.) American also partners with Cool Effect, a leading nonprofit provider of carbon offsets, to give our customers the opportunity to purchase offsets.

The Potential

Necessary for addressing residual emissions for hard-to-abate sectors like aviationCan create cobenefits in areas such as air and water quality, biodiversity, human health and job creationCan bring social and economic benefits such as human health improvements and job creation in rural communities

Actions Needed

Collaboration among market participants to agree on standards and verification to promote integritySound public policies and oversight for effective functioning of the marketNew financing models to mobilize more capital and increase participation in the voluntary carbon market

The Challenges

Supply of quality, robust and verifiable carbon offsetsCost of carbon removals — and the need for technological innovation to bring down costsDegree of permanence of removalsVerifying additionality, meaning the project only exists because of funding from carbon markets

Accelerating Low-Cost, Permanent Carbon Removal

Graphyte, backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is a carbon removal startup that is pioneering a new pathway for low-cost, permanent carbon removal. Graphyte’s Carbon Casting process leverages readily available biomass, such as residues from timber and farming operations, that have already captured significant CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The biomass is then dried to prevent decomposition, converted into dense carbon blocks, wrapped in an environmentally safe polymer barrier and monitored in a state-of-theart underground storage facility. Relative to existing carbon removal approaches, Carbon Casting permanently removes and stores CO2 using significantly less energy and at a substantially lower cost. In early 2024, Graphyte began operating the largest carbon removal facility in the world, its Loblolly facility in Arkansas.5

In 2023, American signed a deal with Graphyte to purchase 10,000 tons of permanent carbon removal to be delivered in early 2025, making us its inaugural customer.

Mitigating the Climate Impacts of International Aviation Through CORSIA

The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) regulates emissions from international aviation, and American has endorsed its goal of achieving carbon-neutral growth in emissions after 2019. Airlines and other aircraft operators will offset any growth in CO2 emissions above a revised 2019 baseline established in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, American and other airlines did not face offsetting obligations under CORSIA, as international flight volumes were still below prepandemic levels, but we expect that we will need to purchase carbon offsets to comply with our obligation for CORSIA’s first phase, which covers 2024–26 emissions. While we would prefer to meet our CORSIA obligations by increasing our use of SAF, we recognize offsets will also play a role. American will continue to monitor the offsets market in preparation for implementing our purchase strategy.

Through American’s partnership with Cool Effect, our customers can purchase carbon offsets. Cool Effect uses more than 90% of each offset dollar to fund a portfolio of carbon projects that aim to protect and conserve our planet’s resources. Learn more at cooleffect.org/american-airlines.

Sustainable Operations

While we are keenly focused on reducing the carbon footprint of our flights, our other environmental sustainability efforts extend to the ways in which we design and build facilities, our approach to recycling, use of renewable energy, adoption of environmentally friendly materials and much more.

Our Environmental Policy Statement, which was updated in May 2023, articulates American’s commitment to developing and implementing sustainable business practices designed to address climate change, efficiently use natural resources, reduce waste, prevent pollution, reduce noise, conserve biodiversity and help stop deforestation.

In 2023, we reached the goal we set in 2019 of sourcing 2.5 million gigajoules (GJs) of cost-competitive renewable energy to power our operations. Originally targeted for 2025, we accomplished this feat two years ahead of schedule. American purchased 673,176 GJs of electricity from renewable sources for our operations in north Texas and at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) during the year. Both were 100% powered by renewable energy. As of April 2024, American was the highest-ranked U.S. airline — and 44th company overall — on the EPA’s Green Power Partnership Fortune 500® Partners List.

Incorporating sustainability into our building designs and airport lounges

Many of our facilities across the United States have received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement. Three buildings at our corporate headquarters campus are LEED Gold certified, including the Skyview 6 hospitality complex that opened in January 2023, Skyview 7 and Skyview 8. Our campus incorporates several other environmentally friendly features, including 90 acres of preserved woodlands and 9.3 miles of walking trails.

We have taken a sustainable approach to our new and redesigned Admirals Club lounges as well, using locally sourced wood whenever possible and focusing on their use of natural light and energy-efficient LED lighting. As a result, our Admirals Club at Denver International Airport, which opened in October 2023, is pursuing LEED Gold certification. Our recently expanded Admirals Club at LaGuardia Airport is LEED Silver certified, and the Admirals Club that opened in September 2023 at Newark Liberty International Airport also incorporates many sustainable elements into its design.

American has undertaken many initiatives across our Admirals Club lounges in recent years, including switching from plastic to compostable flatware and transitioning to a compostable straw that is available upon request only. We have begun testing reusable flatware in selected lounges, and our bottled water brand, JUST Water, comes in a carton made from 88% plant-based materials. We have also discontinued the mailing of plastic Admirals Club membership cards and physical welcome kits in favor of a digital-only approach.

Reducing aircraft noise

American is committed to addressing the concerns that local communities raise around aircraft noise. For example, we participate in several airport community roundtables on this topic, and we received a 2022 gold award from the Los Angeles International Airport Fly Quieter Program. We have also voluntarily retrofitted all pre-2014 Airbus A320 jets in our fleet with fuel vent vortex generators, which help reduce aircraft noise.

American continues to meet or exceed International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) noise certification standards as well. ICAO standards currently specify that operators can fly Stage 3, Stage 4 or Stage 5 aircraft. All our mainline and regional fleet meet Stage 4 noise certification levels, and 20% meet Stage 5 noise certification levels.

Identifying opportunities for composting and reducing food waste

Our new catering facility at DFW, which opened in 2023, was also built with sustainability in mind. The largest airline catering kitchen in the country, it participates in a program that turns food waste into compost. As trays and dishes are cleaned, this waste is collected by a vendor and distributed to farms and compost facilities. Pre-consumer composting from this facility and our Admirals Club locations at DFW yielded more than 419,000 pounds in 2023.

In late 2023, we began a trial with one of our caterers to measure food waste from meals served on flights from London Heathrow Airport to DFW. This project takes pictures of trays after flights and uses AI to analyze the food that is left behind. This helps us determine passenger preferences for certain dishes, adjust our offerings accordingly and reduce waste. Rightsizing the food we have on board will help us lower costs, while the weight savings can help us cut down on fuel use and the associated emissions.

Leveraging recycled plastic and other alternatives in our cabin offerings and cargo operations

American has long recycled cans, paper, bottles and other trash removed from our aircraft. We have also been exploring ways to reduce or eliminate single-use plastics on board our aircraft, including the possibility of using recycled plastic alternatives.

For the relaunch of our soft goods program in April 2024, American collaborated with the inflight textile company John Horsfall to develop bedding made with recycled materials from its Re-Thread® collection. Nearly all the pillows, duvets and blankets created for American flights are made with recycled fibers that maintain a premium feel, while filled bedding includes 100% recycled fill.

To reduce single-use plastic waste connected to the distribution of pillows and blankets, customers traveling in Flagship® First, Flagship® Business and Premium Economy will now receive their bedding in a reusable zipper bag also made with recycled fibers. Using the bag is expected to eliminate 25 tons of plastic waste per year.

In our Cargo operations, we expanded our transition to the BioNatur Plastics™ that we began using in 2022 to replace traditional plastic stretch wrap and pallet covers. This product line fully biodegrades in eight to 12 years under landfill conditions — compared with the more than 500 years it can take for normal plastics — and it is designed to be fully recyclable in normal waste collection streams.

In 2023, we extended the use of BioNatur Plastics beyond our U.S. hubs to include regional domestic stations, such as Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Honolulu International Airport and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. We also began using the product line at select locations outside the United States, including Carrasco International Airport in Uruguay and Santiago International Airport in Chile. As a result, this helped American reduce long-term plastic waste in landfills by over 150,000 pounds for the year (equivalent to approximately 8.6 million plastic bottles). That represents a more than 15% improvement compared with 2022.

Read more

5 See https://www.graphyte.com/post/bill-gates-s-carbon-removal-company-is-opening-for-business for more information.

September 12, 2024 /3BL/ – Ahead of Hurricane Francine making landfall in Louisiana, T-Mobile has activated its emergency plans to help keep customers, communities, first responders and others connected through expected heavy rains, flooding and hurricane-force winds. Here’s how we’re working to support the communities we serve and the network they rely on:

Network Preparation

Our Emergency Management team, local market teams and National Operations Centers, are vigilantly monitoring the storm and our network’s performance. T-Mobile’s teams have also pre-staged equipment at critical and strategic locations for rapid deployment after the storm and taken steps to ensure that permanent backup power resources are ready, including:

T-Mobile’s Mobile Emergency Operations Center (EOC): Large RV with network management and monitoring equipmentSatCOLTs and SatCOWs: Satellite cell-on-light-trucks and satellite cell-on-wheels that teams can drive to impacted areas to temporarily restore or boost serviceQuick-deploy and portable VSATs: Satellite dishes called “Very Small Aperture Terminals” that can provide a layer of coverage across broad areas and quickly provide temporary wireless service to send and receive data from T-Mobile’s networkMicrowave solutions: Network technology that offers high throughput and low latency for better data usagePortable Generators: Portable power solutions that can be quickly set up to power sites and help customersPermanent Batteries and Generators: Generators and batteries permanently installed on key sites — such as cell sites, data centers and switching centers — along Francine’s predicted path and surrounding areas have been topped up

In addition, T-Mobile’s network modernization allows local network teams to quickly and digitally optimize the network to a critical location when increased signal concentration is needed. By redirecting antennas and towers, T-Mobile can enhance connectivity for rescue operations, Incident Command Centers, hospitals, shelters, reunification centers or other crucial efforts and locations.

Public Safety and First Responders

T-Mobile for Government and our Emergency Response Team are engaged with numerous federal, state and local officials and emergency management agencies from Texas to Alabama including: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), as well as others including the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM), City of Houston Office of Emergency Management (OEM), Harris County Office of Emergency Management, Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) and others.

Agencies needing communications assistance can reach out to our 24-hour emergency hotline at 888-639-0020 or email at ERTRequests@T-Mobile.com.

Community Support

Our Community Support Team is staged and ready to assist impacted customers and communities following the storm with Wi-Fi, device charging and charging supplies. Specific equipment prepared to support includes Community Support trucks and trailers that provide Wi-Fi and up to 80 charging ports each, along with charging supplies such as battery chargers and cables. This assistance is open to anyone who needs it.

Customer Concessions

While the majority of our customers are on plans with unlimited talk, text and data, for those who aren’t we are offering unlimited talk, text and data for T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Assurance Wireless customers from today, September 11, through Tuesday, September 17 in the following parishes and counties:

Louisiana: Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Catahoula, Concordia, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, La Salle, Lafayette, Lafourche, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Orleans, Ouachita, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, Richland, Saint Bernard, Saint Charles, Saint Helena, Saint James, Saint Landry, Saint Martin, Saint Mary, Saint Tammany, St. John the Baptist, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Terrebonne, Union, Vermilion, Vernon, Washington, West Baton Rouge, West Carroll, West Feliciana and WinnMississippi: Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Issaquena, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lafayette, Lamar, Lawrence, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Newton, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Walthall, Warren, Wilkinson and YazooTexas: Jefferson and Orange

Employees and Retail Stores

We are monitoring potential impacts on our employees, retail stores and other locations. For updates on local store operations, please use our store locator to check your nearest store, as some locations may be temporarily closed or operating under modified hours in the coming days.

By Candace Higginbotham

Leroy Abrahams, head of Community Engagement at Regions, welcomed the attendees of the third annual Regions Bank CDFI Convening by outlining shared priorities for the leaders in the room.

“We have a vested interest in helping communities grow,” Abrahams said. “We all benefit when our communities are successful, and CDFIs play a critical role in that growth and success.”

Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, are private financial institutions dedicated to delivering responsible, affordable lending to help low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged people and communities join the economic mainstream.

Support for CDFIs has long been a part of Regions’ community engagement strategy, and the collaboration has increased in recent years. Regions Bank and the Regions Community Development Corporation continue to provide lending and investments, and Regions Bank offers shared bank services, as well as subject-matter expertise, collaboration and technical assistance.

The annual CDFI Convening is a good example. Abrahams and Wendi Boyen, head of Community Development Lending and Investment at Regions, launched this program a few years ago to bring leaders from Regions and CDFIs together in the same room to share ideas and talk about how to leverage these important relationships to better serve our communities.

“CDFIs are valuable because of their interaction with communities and flexible products and services,” Abrahams said. “They can do things midsize and large banks can’t do.”

This year, Regions hosted 14 CEOs and leaders from CDFIs across the bank’s footprint.

As in past years, the agenda featured presentations by executives from Regions and guest institutions, covering topics suggested by the CDFI participants.

But the real conversation originated off the podium. Instead of a series of one-way presentations, the meeting consisted of two half-days of dialog and Q&A.

We all benefit when our communities are successful, and CDFIs play a critical role in that growth and success.

Leroy Abrahams, head of Community Engagement at Regions

And that’s exactly what Abrahams and Boyen wanted.

The CDFI executives had a lot of questions for Regions Treasurer Deron Smithy and Chief Investment Officer Alan McKnight, who talked about the economic landscape, balance sheet management, interest rate risk and liquidity management. The audience encouraged the speakers to elaborate on hedging strategies, deposit pricing and other topics of keen interest.

“We’re all facing the same economic risks, no matter the size of the institution,” Smithy said. “We just have to understand the range of things that can happen and be prepared, even for the unexpected.”

The participants were also highly engaged with the Regions Human Resources team, who talked about recruiting, talent development, succession planning and benefits. Top of mind topics for the audience were attracting and retaining younger workers and employee engagement.

That conversation was a good segue into Paula Drake’s talk, which advised the group about how to tell their story to win business and attract and retain employees. Drake, head of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Regions, told the leaders their brand is their most important commodity, and they should use it effectively to build a greater connection with their stakeholders.

The CDFI leaders were very interested in hearing from Brian Jackson, head of Consumer Products and Origination Partnerships, and Brandon Greve, a Consumer Banking executive at Regions. The attendees had the opportunity to visit the downtown Birmingham branch just outside the meeting room to see first-hand the design and technology innovations Regions is successfully implementing throughout its footprint.

One of the most interactive discussions of the meeting focused on Risk Management. Chief Risk Officer Russ Zusi had an open dialog with the executives around topics that all financial institutions are dealing with right now including credit, liquidity, cyber security, compliance, data management, change management, consumer protection and climate risk.

The conversation around climate risk continued when Brandon England, director of energy efficiency lending at Pathway Lending, took the floor. Much of that discussion centered on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a new EPA program created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The fund mobilizes financing and private capital for greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects in communities.

Pathway Lending has administered the Tennessee Energy Efficiency Loan Fund since 2010 to finance energy-saving lighting, efficient HVAC replacement units, solar panels, cool roofs and other projects.

“Our clients have seen energy benefits, as well as improved business impacts from the program,” England said. Using the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund capital, Pathway Lending and other CDFIs will be able to finance these types of projects throughout the country.

Another CDFI participant, John Olaimey president and CEO of Southern Bancorp Bank, led a discussion about the history and primary objectives of CDFIs and how their corporate organizational structure allows them to effectively serve their communities. Olaimey recounted that Southern Bancorp was one of the first CDFIs in existence and talked about their priority to “balance margin and mission.”

This was one of our most enlightening sessions, with so much information and helpful insight from both our internal Regions leaders and our community partners.

Wendi Boyen, head of Community Development Lending and Investment at Regions

“We’re a social justice organization but our shareholders ensure we generate returns,” he said.

The final hour of the meeting was dedicated to a roundtable discussion about business loan underwriting, led by Danielle Ware of Hope Credit Union and Charlie Breedlove and Lawrence Johnson of Friend Bank. These executives outlined their innovative and solutions-based underwriting processes and services.

“You have to dig a little deeper and understand your customer, their unique situation, their business – and be an advocate for them,” Ware said. With audience heads nodding, others could obviously relate to this description of a boots-on-the-ground, community-focused way of doing businesses.

And that brought the meeting full circle, recalling Abraham’s opening comments about the unique capabilities of these institutions and why they’re so important to Regions. Growing and maintaining these business relationships ensure individuals and families in our communities have access to banking products and services to help enrich their financial lives.

“This was one of our most enlightening sessions, with so much information and helpful insight from both our internal Regions leaders and our community partners,” Boyen said. “The informal conversations will continue, and we’re gathering feedback to ensure these meetings deliver actionable content to everyone involved.”