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How Rising Temps in DFW Lead to a Data-Driven Solution

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SOURCE:Alliance Data

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Listening closely to our clients. Digging deeper to understand their goals and challenges. Collaborating with them on innovative solutions. These are critical to our business success – and guide our approach to community relationships.

When our partners at Texas Trees Foundation told us about rising temperatures in Dallas – and the associated effects on public health, infrastructure and the local economy – we listened. Then we funded a comprehensive urban heat island study to learn more.

The findings: Dallas is the second-fastest warming U.S. city, behind Phoenix. Just this July, most of North Texas was under an Excessive Heat Warning, with temps soaring into the triple digits. Because more than one-third of Dallas is covered in pavement and buildings, which contribute significantly to the urban heat island effect, temps in downtown areas can be 15°F more compared to rural areas. The data from the study also supported evidence that trees and green spaces help mitigate rising temperatures, improve community health and offset carbon emissions.

With extreme heat also comes economic disruption. As we saw in summer 2017, high temperatures can force airlines to cancel flights and cause rolling blackouts – stories that are likely to pop up again in the weeks to come. Disruption can also take a heavy toll on health, especially when asthma cases spike and children end up in hospital emergency rooms.

Our response: help Texas Trees Foundation get the message out to decision makers – through video, television and radio interviews, newspaper articles and blogs and social media. We also planted 40 mature trees at the Dallas Farmers Market, in the heart of the heat island, which another group helped transform a park and walking path. Plans are underway for more plantings throughout Dallas and an expansion of the program across North Texas.

What started as a conversation has blossomed into a movement aimed at making our urban spaces cooler, greener and healthier. And, this is just the beginning. We’re working closely with Texas Trees Foundation on a second phase of this project that bring the data uncovered in the study to life.

To learn more about how Alliance Data operates responsibly, check out our 2017 Corporate Responsibility Report.

Tweet me:.@AllianceData collaborates with Texas Trees Foundation @Texas_Trees about rising temperatures in #Dallas http://bit.ly/2nn7VcT and using #data driven solutions to combat problems associated with public health, infrastructure and the local economy

KEYWORDS: Alliance Data, texas trees foundation, Data-Driven Solution, public health, infrastructure


Walmart Reports Progress on Renewable Energy Goal, Reducing Waste and Enhancing the Environmental Sustainability of Key Commodities

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2018 Global Responsibility Report outlines Walmart’s milestones toward increasing economic opportunity, enhancing sustainability and strengthening local communities

SOURCE:ReportAlert

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2018 Global Responsibility Report outlines Walmart’s milestones toward increasing economic opportunity, enhancing sustainability and strengthening local communities

Walmart recently released its eleventh annual Global Responsibility Report (GRR), highlighting the company’s progress and accomplishments in fiscal year 2018 to increase economic opportunity, enhance sustainability of supply chains and strengthen local communities.

To become the most trusted retailer in a way that creates value for business and society, Walmart works in partnership with suppliers, NGOs, thought leaders and elected officials to positively impact entire systems. Walmart aims to lead on the environmental, social and governance issues that matter most to customers, associates, shareholders and communities.

“At Walmart, we believe strengthening societal systems is not only the responsible thing to do, it also maximizes business value,” said Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation and chief sustainability officer for Walmart. “Through our initiatives, we hope to accelerate progress and spark collective action on the issues that matter most to our customers, business and communities – helping to transform retail and retail supply chains for economic, environmental and social sustainability.”

Walmart has made significant progress towards ambitious goals set more than a decade ago including to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy, create zero waste and sell products that sustain people and the environment. The report highlights a number of initiatives including: significant investments in higher wages, training and increased parental leave for eligible associates; a collaborative initiative with suppliers across the value chain to reduce one billion metric tons, or one gigaton, of emissions by 2030 known as Project Gigaton™; and further collaborations with suppliers, nonprofit organizations and others to help combat forced labor in the global supply chain.

Milestones and progress outlined in the 2018 Global Responsibility Report include:

Increasing Economic Opportunity in Retail and Retail Supply Chains

  • Advancing Economic Mobility at Walmart: Walmart promoted more than 230,000 people to jobs of greater responsibility and higher pay in the U.S. in FY2018 with bonuses for hourly U.S. associates totaling more than $625 million.
  • Fostering Inclusion: As of January 31, 2018, Women make up more than 30 percent of Walmart’s company officers and 55 percent of its total U.S. workforce. People of color make up 37 percent of U.S. management promotions and 44 percent of the company’s U.S. workforce.
  • Supporting Retail Opportunity across the Sector: Through the end of FY2018, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have invested more than $80 million of their $100 million Retail Opportunity Initiative in grants to programs aimed at making it easier for frontline workers to advance their careers in retail or adjacent sectors.

Enhancing the Sustainability of Operations and Value Chains

  • Increasing our Renewable Energy Portfolio: Walmart has set a goal to be powered by 50 percent renewable sources by 2025, and has currently achieved an estimated 28 percent, putting Walmart on track to reach the goal.
  • Reducing emissions in Walmart’s Supply Chain: Launched in 2017, Project Gigaton™ strives to reduce emissions from the collective value chain – Walmart’s supply chain and the supply chain of its suppliers - by a total of one gigaton by 2030. To date, more than 400 suppliers have signed on and within the first year of reporting, more than 200 of these suppliers reported emissions reductions that totaled over 20 million metric tons.
  • Enhancing the Environmental Sustainability of Key Commodities: By 2025, all Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, ASDA, Walmart Canada, Walmart Brazil, Walmart Mexico and Walmart Central America fresh and frozen, farmed and wild seafood suppliers will source from fisheries that are third-party certified as sustainable, actively working toward certification or engaged in Fishery Improvement Projects.  Last year, Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club achieved the goal of  100 percent certified for its wild-caught fish, and 98 percent through farmed fish, with the final two percent having plans in place to obtain certification.

Strengthening Local Communities

  • Providing Disaster Relief: Since FY2017, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have provided more than $44 million in funding to support disaster response and preparedness around the world, which includes funding for the devastating hurricanes that hit the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico in 2017.
  • Relieving Hunger: Since FY2015, Walmart has donated over 2.5 billion pounds of food from Walmart Stores, Sam’s Club locations and distribution centers in the U.S., including more than 675 million pounds of food in FY2018.
  • Engaging Associates and Communities: In FY2018, Walmart associates volunteered more than 850,000 hours in the U.S., and the company’s U.S. stores and clubs provided more than $42 million in local grants.
  • Supporting Veterans: Since Memorial Day 2013, Walmart has hired more than 200,000 U.S. veterans and promoted more than 28,000 veterans to roles of greater responsibility.

For more information on Walmart and the Walmart Foundation’s public commitments, priorities and progress, visit corporate.walmart.com/2018grr

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About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, nearly 270 million customers and members visit our more than 11,700 stores under 65 banners in 28 countries and eCommerce websites. With fiscal year 2018 revenue of $500.3 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.

Media Contact:
Walmart Contact:
1-800-331-0085
news.walmart.com/reporter

Read the Report

Tweet me:.@Walmart's Global Responsibility Report highlights progress toward enhancing the #sustainability of #supplychains. Discover how they are working to spark change http://bit.ly/2vuwY22 via @reportalert

KEYWORDS: sustainability, Walmart, ReportAlert

 

A Deeper Look at CECP's Investing in Society: Priorities

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SOURCE:CECP: The CEO Force for Good

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Investing in Society,CECP’s recently launched compendium of data, research, and case studies illustrates innovations in corporate efforts to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Divided into five sections – Priorities, Performance, People, Planet, and Policies – the collection of insights offers a far-reaching assessment of what leading companies are doing in each of the five focus areas.

In the Priorities section, CECP asks, “How are CEOs and the C-Suite infusing the needs of the stakeholder— including communities, customers, employees, and investors—into core business strategies?”

Investing in Society offers several powerful examples of how leading CEOs and their companies have been taking public stands on issues that they – and their stakeholders – care about most deeply, including:

Read the full Priorities section at cecp.co/iis/

Tweet me:How are CEOs and the C-Suite infusing the needs of the stakeholder— including communities, customers, employees, and investors—into core business strategies? Read the PRIORITIES section of @CECPTweets' #InvestingInSociety18 for the latest info: http://cecp.co/iis/

KEYWORDS: Investing, CEOs, CEO Activism, Advocacy, #climateaction, climate action, Corporate Citizenship

   

GM Builds Winning Culture With Diversity

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Diversity & Inclusion Report highlights key initiatives that spur innovation and inclusion

SOURCE:General Motors

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DETROIT, August 9, 2018 /3BL Media/ – Culture is everything in today’s agile business climate. General Motors outlines in its latest Diversity & Inclusion Report (www.gm.com/diversity) how it leverages diversity to build an industry-leading workplace of choice that drives business results.

“At General Motors, we recognize the power of diversity and the role it plays in sparking ingenuity and creativity,” said Ken Barrett, General Motors global chief diversity officer. “As we continue to face new challenges and innovate new solutions, we know the diversity among us will give the company a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.”

Diverse and inclusive teams bring greater perspectives and experiences to help us address global transportation challenges. Each solution drives us closer to a future of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestions.

General Motors’ diversity, in all its dimensions, strengthens our workplace, our products, our understanding of our customers, and is key to reaching our vision and living our values. The Diversity & Inclusion Report highlights key initiatives, strategic partners, workforce development and community engagement, including:

How We Manage Diversity–The General Motors’ Senior Leadership Team, chaired by our Chairman and CEO, serves as the company’s senior diversity council and six additional diversity-focused councils support key internal and external partner groups.

Engaging Workplace Diversity–Our 11 Employee Resource Groups play a key role in fostering an inclusive place to work with nearly one out of three employees belonging to an ERG. In 2017, GM’s ERGs were collectively recognized as number one in the nation by PRSIM International, Inc.
 

Winning Culture for Women– General Motors’ Take 2 program is a key initiative that provides women an opportunity to rejoin the workforce and learn technical skills through a 12-week internship.

Driving a Culture of Inclusion for People with Disabilities –This year, General Motors scored another 100 percent on the Disability Equality Index, which rates the best companies for people with disabilities.

Diversity within the Supply Chain – Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the GM Supplier Diversity program continues its unwavering commitment to the development and growth of diverse suppliers with over $100 billion spent to grow and support these important business partners.

Diversity within our Dealers – General Motors has more minority-owned dealerships than any other car company in the U.S. Today, ethnic minority and women dealerships represent more than 12 percent of the company’s U.S. dealer network.

Diversity in the Community – General Motors is committed to fostering smart, safe and sustainable communities around the world. In 2017, the company supported 266 partner organizations, utilizing more than 18,500 employees to volunteer in community/partner programs, which accounted for more than 161,000 volunteer hours.

To learn more about how General Motors’ leverages diversity, visit www.gm.com/diversity. To learn about some of the other ways General Motors is driving value through environmental, social and governance factors, visit www.GMSustainability.com  

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General Motors is a global company committed to delivering safer, better and more sustainable ways for people to get around. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, CadillacHolden, BaojunWuling and Jiefang brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety and security services, and Maven, its personal mobility brand, can be found at http://www.gm.com/.

 

CONTACT:

Carolyn Markey, General Motors Communications

carolyn.markey@gm.com

313-806-9124

Tweet me:Diversity and Inclusion Report highlights how @GM leverages diversity to build an industry-leading workplace of choice that drives business results https://bit.ly/2P0BzBo

KEYWORDS: GM, General Motors, employee resource groups, women, workforce, disability, supply chain, auto dealers, volunteerism, Employee Engagement, NYSE:GM

Hurricane Recovery Assistance Still Available for Military Families

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Operation Homefront Continues to Support Victims of 2017 Disasters

SOURCE:Walmart

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SAN ANTONIO, T.X. , August 9, 2018 /3BL Media/– As America prepares for the 2018 hurricane season, Operation Homefront, thanks to generous support from the Walmart Foundation and others, are ensuring that military families in Florida and other locations impacted by the devastating series of natural disasters in 2017 are not forgotten.  The need to assist these families continues, as temporary federal programs and moratoriums that were implemented to support the victims of these disasters are now expiring.

Military families from Puerto Rico who were displaced by these disasters and are now living in Florida and other locations on the U.S. mainland are eligible for assistance.

Military families residing in “Declared Disaster” areas who sustained damage from 2017 natural disasters throughout the U.S., including Puerto Rico and the USVI, are also encouraged to apply for assistance through the organization’s Critical Financial Assistance program.  

Operation Homefront can provide military and veteran families in need of assistance with hotel and temporary residence payments, mortgage/rent payments, utilities, auto payments/repairs, auto insurance, and food assistance.  All needs will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Critical Financial Assistance is available to support families of sick, ill or injured military veterans who left military service with an honorable discharge within seven years (or after September 11, 2001 for home repair assistance); as well as those actively drilling National Guard and Reserve personnel.  To qualify, families must show a critical need for assistance.  Detailed information on eligibility criteria is available at the Operation Homefront’s website, visit OperationHomefront.org.  Military families may call 877-264-3968 to receive assistance from an English- or Spanish-speaking caseworker who can help them complete their application.

#     #     #

About Operation Homefront:

Founded in 2002, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive – not simply struggle to get by – in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 92 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year. Operation Homefront provides critical financial assistance, transitional and permanent housing and family support services to prevent short-term needs from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support from thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront proudly serves America’s military families. For more information, visit OperationHomefront.org.

Media Inquiries:

Aaron Taylor, Senior Director of Media Relations

Aaron.Taylor@OperationHomefront.org

(210) 659-7756

Tweet me:With support from @Walmart Foundation, ‏Operation Homefront continues to support victims of 2017 disasters http://bit.ly/2MxpWQN @Op_Homefront

KEYWORDS: Walmart, operation homefront, military families, hurricane relief, walmart foundation

 

Case Study: Bloomberg — From RECs to RE100

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SOURCE:Bloomberg

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This case study, presented by Edison Energy, powered by Altenex, details the renewables efforts made by Bloomberg L.P. — from their initial procurement of RECs in 2007 to a commitment to source 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

Download the case study and explore Bloomberg’s example of scaling a portfolio approach to renewables across a complex enterprise.

Read more about Bloomberg' sustainable operations here

Tweet me:Read the Case Study: Bloomberg — From RECs to RE100 to learn more about Bloomberg's renewable energy strategy. @smartenergy2020 @edison_energy @bloomberg #bloombergimpact http://bit.ly/2MosNLN

KEYWORDS: RECs, RE100, Bloomberg, Green Energy, Clean Energy, renewable energy, Sustainable Operations

Meet One of CBRE's Advantage Builders: Daniel Taylor

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SOURCE:CBRE Group, Inc.

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One of Daniel Taylor’s earliest memories of real estate was asking his dad what “receivership” meant.

Taylor was a nine-year-old in Texas, and the savings and loan crisis barreled through the state like a cyclone. Profligate lending and overbuilding in the 1980s were made worse by an oil bust and a collapse in crop prices. “The Dallas real estate world was wiped out,” Taylor recalled. “I remember people around town losing their houses. I went to elementary school with kids whose dads were in serious financial trouble.”

But his parents and grandfather, all real estate professionals, came through the downturn unscathed. Ethical practices, Taylor’s dad said, were the foundation of business. “For a little guy, that was really formative,” he said. “A lot of values were imparted during that time. They were definitely some of my best mentors.”

As CBRE Managing Director of Retail for the South Central United States, Taylor is now the mentor. “I like coaching and helping other people see the big picture, develop a business strategy and find ways to leverage CBRE’s powerful network of tools, resources and people that can make them successful,” he said. “It’s so important to find someone who is willing to invest in you and help you grow.”

Coaching comes naturally for Taylor, who started playing sports as soon as he could walk. Growing up, he played football, basketball, baseball and golf, wrestled and ran track. “I didn’t care about social life or hanging out – I just wanted to play sports,” he laughed. The fourth of five kids, he spent weekends hunting, fishing and riding horses on his family’s ranch south of Dallas. Sundays meant church, brunch and watching Dallas Cowboy games together.

The summer after graduation, Taylor played catcher for a Texas team that won the Connie Mack World Series, defeating teams of 17- and 18-year-olds from the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Latin America. “All the scouts from the majors were in the stands with radar guns and stop watches,” he recalled. “That was the first time I saw true excellence – we had some guys who went in the first round of the MLB draft. Working with the talent at CBRE is like being on the field with that team. They’re just better, and they make you raise your game.”

A Game Changer

Baylor University recruited Taylor to play baseball. But after a year of balancing life as a collegiate athlete as well as his studies, Taylor decided to hang up his cleats. “For a lot of guys on the team, this was their shot – they wanted to go pro,” he recalled. “I knew there was something for me other than baseball.”

Taylor interned at CBRE between his junior and senior year and loved the work so much he asked his father if he could quit school. “I got bit by the bug – I knew this was what I was meant to do,” he said. His dad convinced him to finish his business degree. When he graduated, Taylor went to work for a small boutique firm which sent him across the country, leading industrial and office transactions.

Eventually, The Staubach Company recruited Taylor to work in its retail practice, where he spent a decade as a multi-market tenant representative for companies such as Verizon Wireless, In-N-Out, J.C. Penney, Toys R Us and Babies R Us. He was a top producer, and repeatedly named a Dallas Fort Worth Retail Heavy Hitter by The Dallas Business Journal. Taylor joined CBRE in 2010, and in 2015 was offered a leadership role. He is currently focused on integrating the CBRE retail team with United Commercial Realty, which was acquired in 2015.

“It’s similar to managing a sports team,” Taylor explained. “You develop a shared vision and common goal, a culture and expectations for performance and behavior, and you figure out how you are going to succeed. And it’s hustle -- not taking no for an answer, finding creative solutions to problems, bringing people together and arriving at a consensus. Just like athletics, it’s the extra stuff you do early in morning or late in the day or on weekends that will separate you from the pack working 9 to 5.”

SAME FIELD, DIFFERENT GAME

When he’s not at the office, Taylor is still coaching – his three- and four-year-old sons, who play soccer and T-ball. “My friends and I joke that we’re in the season of life that’s kind of like Groundhog Day: you go to soccer games and birthday parties and then you do it all over again.” His parents and four siblings – now with their spouses and children – still gather on Sundays for brunch and Cowboys games.

And with three generations of Taylors in the business, they talk about real estate. “Change is happening in retail at the speed of light, right before our eyes,” he said. “That’s exciting to me because we’re on the leading edge of this at CBRE. It’s fantastic. I tell my wife I don’t feel like I’ve ever gone to work a day in my life. For me this is a passion.”

Meet more Advantage Builders

Tweet me:“It’s so important to find someone who is willing to invest in you and help you grow.”- @CBRE's Daniel Taylor http://bit.ly/2nosLbJ

KEYWORDS: CBRE, Investments, Ethical Business Practices, csr, advantage builder

How Mohawk Integrates Innovation with Purpose

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Explore new, innovative and sustainable products and tools in the flooring company’s portfolio

SOURCE:Mohawk Industries

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As part of Mohawk’s commitment to continuous innovation, the leading flooring manufacturer is always looking for ways to push the envelope in product design and project solutions. Whether it’s the latest in virtual reality technology using our Visual Interactive Studio (VIS) for commercial specifiers; creating a completely new residential soft flooring category with the debut of Air.o; or any number of ways we’re always working to improve the customer experience and the breadth of product selection in the marketplace, innovation is an integral part of how we create better flooring solutions for customers across all divisions and all segments in each one of our brands.

Click here to learn how we are changing the flooring industry with innovation at every turn.

Read more in Mohawk’s 2017 Sustainability Report at MohawkSustainability.com.

 

Tweet me:See how @MohawkGroup integrates #innovation with purpose with #sustainable products http://bit.ly/2Ol5bbk #sustainability #SDG12

KEYWORDS: mohawk group

   


Spotlight on Scotiabank's Shirley, a Senior Aboriginal Recruitment Consultant

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Scotiabank Celebrates World Indigenous Peoples Day

SOURCE:Scotiabank

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“I'm still learning about my community and my culture. I owe a lot of my reconnecting to my past and culture to my job through traveling and meeting Indigenous people across the country. I can't really put into words what it’s meant to me to have this opportunity to gain this knowledge and meet these people, to hear their stories.” – Shirlie, Senior Aboriginal Recruitment Consultant

Learn more about World Indigenous Peoples Day

Tweet me:"I owe a lot of my reconnecting to my culture to my job, by traveling and meeting Indigenous people across the country." -Shirley of @ScotiabankViews #IndigenousDay #WeAreIndigenous #LifeatScotiabank

KEYWORDS: World Indigenous Peoples Day, Scotiabank, united nations, csr

Opportunities to Procure Renewable Power in India

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SOURCE:CLP Group

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With the increasing appeal of renewable energy deployment to reduce the environmental footprint and power costs, a new industry guide sheds light on approaches to renewable energy procurement in India for corporate buyers.

The “Accelerating corporate procurement of renewable energy in India” report, released by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), was the result of 23 companies, with CLP in the lead.

It covers options for renewable power procurement, including power purchase agreements (PPAs), and looks into India’s power sector regulations, the challenges facing the development of PPAs and available financing options, sharing good practices with corporate energy buyers.

“Corporate renewable PPAs are one of the most important ways in which companies can reap the benefits of renewable energy,” said Rajiv Mishra, Managing Director of CLP India. “Renewable energy is expected to help India in meeting its Paris commitments, creating jobs and increasing social-economic development. We expect the government and the private sector to continue their focus on renewable energy in India.”

A PPA is a contract under which a power producer sells electricity to a buyer at a pre-agreed price for a pre-agreed period. The report highlights the economic case for renewable PPAs and the varied solar and wind policies in states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat.

As renewable energy costs continue to decline, the report advises corporates to find the right time to buy taking into account technological developments and evolving regulations. Considerations should also be given to contract enforcement, operational barriers and regulatory challenges.

Industry practitioners interested in PPA structures and associated risks in general may also refer to the “Innovation in Power Purchase Agreement Structures” report, in which CLP contributed on the main features and risks of corporate PPAs in India as part of knowledge sharing.

It is also noted that most established renewable energy plants in India will look for two to five-year PPAs while new renewable energy stations will anticipate 10 or more years of PPA tenure mainly to cover their debt repayment period.

To learn more about corporate renewable PPAs across the world, please check out  “Corporate Renewable Power Purchase Agreements – Scaling up globally”. Information on the accounting and financial reporting implications of entering into a PPA can be found in “IFRS accounting outline for Power Purchase Agreements”.

Tweet me:#CLPIndia contributes to a @WBCSD report that helps companies to accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement in India http://bit.ly/2npcvY9 #CLPGroup #PowerPurchaseAgreement #CLPsustainability

KEYWORDS: WBCSD, CLP India, CLP Group, Renewable, power purchase agreement, energy procurement

 

Why Investors Should Diversify More Than Just Their Assets

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By: Peter T. Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg LP and co-founder of the U.S. 30% club

SOURCE:Bloomberg

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The next generation of investors demands more from their portfolios. While they still expect to generate returns that will fund a home, their children's education and retirement, a growing number also expect their investments to make a difference. They believe the power of their portfolios can be harnessed to positively impact the issues they care most about, building more diverse, more sustainable and higher-performing companies.

Click here to read the full story. 
 

Tweet me:Op Ed from @bloomberg chairman Peter Grauer: Corporations with the most ethnically and culturally diverse boards are more likely to gain higher profits, and millennials particularly value SRI strategies that take such factors into consideration http://bit.ly/2nnt1HV

KEYWORDS: Bloomberg, 30 Percent Club, Sustainable Finance, peter grauer

What a Sustainable Business Looks Like – Erb Institute Professor Sara Soderstrom Comments on Brewery Vivant

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U-M Alum: Brewery Vivant Sustains People, Planet, Profit

SOURCE:University of Michigan: Erb Institute | Business for Sustainability

DESCRIPTION:

BY GRETA GUEST

ANN ARBOR—When Kris Spaulding started Brewery Vivant, she did so mindful of the possibilities to create a sustainable business with inspiration sparked at the University of Michigan.

“At Michigan, I developed a more well-rounded perspective of what it means to be a good citizen of the world,” she said.

-Spaulding and her husband, Jason, co-founded the first Silver LEED-certified commercial microbrewery worldwide in Grand Rapids. Combining Jason’s brewery experience with an environmental focus from Kris’ studies at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability, the couple forged an enterprise that’s highly tuned to its carbon footprint.

“We run this business with a triple bottom line approach putting equal emphasis on people and planet, not just profit,” Spaulding said.

“Sustainability is a big part of our identity as a business, and we develop deeper relationships in our community because of it.”

For example, the brewery derives its power from renewable energy sources; it uses cans instead of bottles because the aluminum can is more likely to be recycled, is easier to ship and reduces the carbon footprint; purchases more than 60 percent of supplies in Michigan; and it donates 1 percent of sales locally. A Certified B Corporation, the brewery meets high social and environmental standards.

Spaulding studied environmental policy and behavior at U-M and often reflects back on what she learned around the psychology of environmental action and how to get people to care enough to change their behavior.

“This comes through in how we train our staff about what it means to work at Vivant as well as in my efforts to influence the business community on the benefits of being a mission-driven triple bottom line business,” she said. “As I look at how to have a bigger impact in my community, I also reflect back on the policy side of my degree and the importance of instigating change at that level.”

Previously published on Michigan Impact.

Tweet me:WATCH: @breweryvivant serving up #sustainability with every beer! @UMSEAS grad an inspiration for #sustainable + #business #beerthechange @SoderstromSara @erbinstitute http://myumi.ch/JmX3z #triplebottomline

KEYWORDS: Brewery Vivant, university of michigan, Erb Institute, Kris Spaulding, Sara Soderstrom, Sustainable Business, microbrewing, Triple Bottom Line, sustainability

Digital Innovator Akon Announces First Official AKoin Partner: Lottery.com

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SOURCE:ICO Impact Group

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LOS ANGELES, August 10, 2018 /3BL Media/ -- Grammy-winning artist and techno-philanthropist, Akon, keeps the hits coming with the first announcement towards the goal of creating a digital currency to help empower young entrepreneurs. The renowned artist announced Lottery.com as Akoin’s first official partner in the creation and implementation of the Akoin currency. Lottery.com, the leader in Lottery and creator of a blockchain-powered global impact platform, is the first official Akoin partner.

Lottery.com’s Global Impact Platform is a web and app-based service that offers a unique approach to mass-scale philanthropy. Appealing to traditional donors, as well as players of games of chance, the platform gamifies giving to humanitarian causes on both a regional and global scale, simultaneously increasing awareness, participation, and donations.

“Our vision is to raise billions of dollars to help solve the most pressing humanitarian needs across the globe using impact raffles, sweepstakes, and other games of chance,” explained Lottery.com CEO Tony DiMatteo.

Lottery.com, who opened the pre-sale for their Security Token Offering (STO) surrounding the Global Impact Platform this month, is the leader in taking officially sanctioned games mobile. The company’s mobile lottery platform has revolutionized legacy fundraising models and gaming technology to create a vehicle capable of raising large sums of money quickly for pressing humanitarian needs.

“If you want to reach the masses, you have to create transformational moments -- moments that matter – and you have to make it hot, make it fun,” said Akon. “Lottery.com gets it. I’m proud to announce Lottery.com as Akoin’s first official partner. They bring a combination of technology and experience that’s incredibly rare. And this, together with their passion for emerging entrepreneurs, is going to be critical to the success of Akoin, supporting young people around the world.”

Akoin and Lottery.com are currently collaborating on the design of raffles that will allow participants to enter to win prizes, as well as opportunities that are critical to the success of young entrepreneurs. This has particular significance for start-ups in lean economies, where access to tools such as portable solar chargers, micro-loans, mobile phones, and cash can be gating factors to business success. The Lottery.com global raffle platform effectively distributes the potential for wealth at scale, exposing large groups of social entrepreneurs to opportunity far more quickly than traditional fundraising allows.

“One of our core values at Lottery.com is ‘Everyone is an Entrepreneur,’ and it is something I’m personally passionate about and driven by,” said Matt Clemenson, Lottery.com president and co-founder. “We immediately connected with Akon on that front, and want to do what we can to support their goals in Africa and beyond. Lotteries and games of chance have been around since nearly the beginning of time and are a proven model for social change and progress.”

“With Lottery.com, we’re able to provide immediate access to real resources like training and business capitalization to help young entrepreneurs supercharge their business and exchanges. That’s how you change the game for future generations. That’s how we bring young people up out of poverty and help them take charge of their own destinies,” agreed Akon.

More information about the Lottery.com and AKoin partnership can be found at www.akoin.io/.

Tweet me:.@Akon has announced the first official #Akoin #cryptocurrency partnership with @lotterydotcom to support #AfricanYouth #entrepreneurs http://bit.ly/2vZ0UCO @ryan_scott #SDGs #socinn

KEYWORDS: economic empowerment, ICO Impact Group, Ryan Scott, AKON, TONY DIMATTEO, Social Finance, Sustainable Finance, thought leadership, LOTTERY.COM, STO, ICO, SECURITY TOKEN OFFERING, MATT CLEMENSON, AKOIN

VIDEO | Teen Flies Around World Solo to Raise Money for Family Friend's 8-Year-Old with Brain Cancer

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Logan specifically did the flight for 8-year-old Ethan of Atlanta who is battling a rare form of pediatric brain cancer.

SOURCE:Aflac

DESCRIPTION:

A 19-year-old pilot spent less than a month flying around the world to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research. 

Logan Tinley, who has been a pilot for a little over a year, specifically did the flight for 8-year-old Ethan Lassiter of Atlanta who is battling a rare form of pediatric brain cancer.

Watch the video and read the full article on 11ALIVE.com.

Tweet me:19 year-old pilot Logan Tinley flew around the world to raise funds for family friend battling #pediatricbraincancer. http://bit.ly/2B7DeCm @Aflac #ChildhoodCancer

KEYWORDS: Aflac, Logan Tinley, childhood cancer, Ethan Lassiter, Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center

The Future Is Sweet – and Sustainable – for Allbirds

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SOURCE:EDF+Business

DESCRIPTION:

If you take a quick look around your office, it probably won’t be hard to spot a pair of shoes made by Allbirds, the San Francisco-based footwear company that makes its products using materials like wool and eucalyptus fiber.

The two year-year old company aims to make comfortable, sustainably-made shoes – and they seem to be everywhere. Just last week the company launched a new line of shoes, actually flip-flops, with soles made from sugar-cane instead of petroleum. Allbirds co-founder Tim Brown calls the new material, SweetFoam™, “our biggest sustainable-material innovation moment yet.”

I spoke with Tim to learn more about his approach to design and innovation and to look behind the sustainability curtain at Allbirds.

How did you go from professional soccer player in New Zealand to entering the environmentally friendly footwear market?

I was back in New Zealand playing soccer for the Australian A-League when I noticed a design problem: all of the sponsored footwear I was getting had bright colors, too many logos, and just felt overdone. I saw this opening in the footwear space to do less rather than do more, to create something really simple.

Plus, outside of the fossil-fuel industry the fashion industry’s the largest contributor to carbon emissions. I think that’s a solvable problem if we put our minds to it. How is it that we can send a man to the moon but we can't work out a way to make a T-shirt in a more sustainable way?

When I went into my first footwear factory, I realized that it's an incredibly antiquated process that hasn't changed for hundreds of years – it’s also reliant on low-cost labor and a low-cost mentality that leads shoes to largely be made out of synthetics or low-quality leathers.

More than 20 billion pairs of shoes are made each year, so I saw an enormous opportunity to bring in sustainable materials – not just for the environment but also because they could make more comfortable products – comfort is the number one consideration for shoe buyers.

Most start-ups focus solely on staying in businesses, and sustainability takes a back seat. What has your experience been?

My co-founder Joey Zwillinger and I have a deep empathy for this topic, and from day one believed that there was a business opportunity to bring sustainability to the footwear industry. But then we spoke with Eric Ryan, one of the founders of method® products, who said that if you want to incorporate sustainability into a consumer brand, don’t talk about it. People don't buy sustainability, they buy great products.

That became the first pillar underpinning our approach to launching Allbirds: make a great product, and then work out how to make it as sustainably as possible.

The second pillar is that we believe sustainability should be a non-negotiable for everyone in business today. We all win when we stop talking about this topic, and that evolution is taking place today – though it’s of course a complicated problem to solve. The topic of sustainability is not something that we're going to solve alone or in the 36 months that we’ve been around. There’s a humility to tackling this topic that's really important, and fosters a lot of learning.

The third pillar is that we wanted to be part of a new type of brand and business that is serving to explain sustainability. Regardless of consumer support for the environment, empathy often goes completely out the window at the point of purchase because there's a disconnect between this empathy and buying behavior, in part because of limited options but also because a lack of understanding around what exactly sustainability means. That’s why we’re trying to do our absolute best to try and explain it along the way.

How do you approach the sustainability challenges of a global supply chain?

One of the ways we’re working to understand the impact of our materials is through certifications – they’re incredibly important for us. In the case of wool, we can't be on every farm to see and understand things like animal welfare and land use – that’s why we lean heavily on a certification program called ZQ. Likewise, we rely on Forest Stewardship Council certification, which makes sure that the trees we use for our shoes are harvested ethically.

We’re also conducting “life cycle analyses” of our supply chain. Our first analysis, for wool, was incredibly insightful. But after just completing our second one, we’ve come to terms with the fact that this is a cumbersome, expensive, and time consuming process. That’s why we developed an internal tool that allows us to accelerate the analyses and develop quick estimates that guide our decision making throughout the supply chain.

We’re finding that this lets us bring sustainability into the product and innovation process from the beginning. Part of the ability that we have as a small business with 130 people is that we can move fast and try and innovate both in the products we make and how we make them.

What did you learn from the life cycle assessments?

The most interesting thing to me is that in the footwear industry, no one else really seemed to have done this. We could find very few examples of life cycle assessments for footwear, and what we did find was hard to verify. So we really felt like we were starting again, which was both a challenge and an opportunity.

But they helped us uncover simple things, like, for example, the energy usage in the places you manufacture your products has an enormous impact on your environmental footprint. For example, if you moved manufacturing from China, which relies heavily on coal, to Vietnam, where there is more of an emphasis on hydroelectricity, that can lower your footprint significantly. The same goes for method of shipping.

We’re only in the first or second innings of understanding our full impact, but some of the early lessons have helped set us in a more sustainable direction.

Are you planning on sharing the LCA tool with other startups to help them assess their own materials and supply chains?

Well, before we start screaming from the rooftops that we have all the answers, we need to truly understand how it can be used. But, yes, absolutely we are open to sharing the tool.

Sustainability best practices are better done when they’re shared. For example with SweetFoam™, our sugarcane-material innovation that just launched last week, we've worked in partnership with an enormous green-energy company in Brazil that has invested millions of dollars in allowing us to make a sugarcane-based EVA, which is one of the most commonly used materials in footwear.

What we learned is that if you essentially connect some different pipes in your factory, and you can effectively take the petrol out of this commonly used material and replace it with sugarcane. In its raw form it is a carbon-negative innovation. It's a huge story to tell, and we want to showcase that can be done, and then our plan is to make this innovation available to the larger footwear industry.

How are you thinking about environmental policy or engaging in the policy discussion, given the importance of sustainability to your business?

Given that we’re only two years old, we're not getting on a soapbox at the moment to say that we're anything more than a small company in San Francisco that's pretty fired up about sustainability.

But Joey and I founded this company because we believe that improving environmental impact across the board is the biggest problem of our generation. And we really do feel that business could be a force for good in solving that problem. I also see a great opportunity for small companies to come in and change things themselves, rather than waiting for government intervention.

There’s an emerging group of consumers that want to act responsibly, and they largely just don't know how to, and so they're putting their trust in brands, hopefully like ours, to try and solve that problem for them. So, that's been our vehicle to impact change.

We are also proud to be a B Corp certified company but perhaps even more importantly, we have made the environment one of the stakeholders of our business. Sustainability is written into the governance structure of Allbirds. So if Joey and I get booted out one day, no one can take that away from the DNA of this company. We’ve tried to create a roadmap for how this is done.

As you face market pressure for your next products, how will you balance sustainability and innovation?

Here in San Francisco, the hotbed of startups, sometimes the words disruption and innovation are thrown around too loosely. Innovation isn’t always about adding new things; it can mean simplifying production or using an old product in new ways. For example, we’re using wool and eucalyptus fiber – materials that have been around for a long time. Likewise, rethinking how EVA is made. What we're doing is not rocket science.

But right now, because we make essentially one product, shoes, and we're not changing it all the time unnecessarily to meet different sort of wholesale criteria, we can update the product as we learn about better materials or better processes, like with shoelaces that we now make out of plastic bottles. I’m also really excited about the SweetFoam™ material, which we just took to market in a in a flip-flop and which we’ll roll out across our larger product line over time.

We're going to continue to innovate with new materials as we find them, with a view that any product that we have can be bettered. That sense of innovation and of continuous improvement allows us to move quicker and to focus on materials but also to be very nimble as a business.

In fact, if there's anyone out there that has a sustainable material in development – or even just in your thoughts, we'd love to hear from you.

Last but not least, are you a wool guy or a tree guy?

What I will say is, be careful if you start a footwear company, because you have to wear the product every single day. So that's good incentive to get it right. If someone catches you without it, they assume that you've lost faith. I wear Allbirds all the time except at weddings and funerals. But at the moment, with the warmer weather here, I’m wearing the tree product.

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Tweet me:New blog: @tpmurray speaks with @Allbirds co-founder Tim Brown to take a look behind the company's sustainability curtain @BCorporation https://www.edf.org/D5i

KEYWORDS: Allbirds, footwear company, EDF+Business, wool and eucalyptus fiber, sustainable materials


Kimberly-Clark Recognized at SBA Singapore for its Commitment to Sustainable Business

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SOURCE:Kimberly-Clark Corporation

DESCRIPTION:

Kimberly-Clark and its employees in Asia Pacific received two honors at the Sustainable Business Awards (SBA) Singapore for its sustainable business best-practices in the areas of waste productivity and water management.

The first award, Best Waste and Material Productivity, recognizes Kimberly-Clark for its waste and recycling initiatives, including a program at the company’s Tuas mill that gives trim waste from wet wipes a second lease of life. Through a research partnership with educational institution Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the mill’s trim waste is now being used as a raw material in the treatment of hazardous waste.

In addition, the company received special recognition for its work in Water Management - for their commitment in addressing water scarcity at mills in high water stress regions. At Kimberly-Clark’s mill in Kluang, Malaysia, the team has implemented watershed modeling and conservation initiatives that have reduced its water consumption by over 70 percent since 2011 – the equivalent of 1,800 Olympic pools.

Established in 2012, the Sustainable Business Awards (SBA) is a unique and important resource for businesses worldwide. Now held in four countries, the awards aim to increase awareness of sustainable business best-practices and demonstrate how sustainable business benefits companies, the environment and all stakeholders, today and for the future.

About Sustainability at Kimberly-Clark
At Kimberly-Clark, everything we do is motivated by our vision to lead the world in essentials for a better life. This vision inspires our efforts to make lives better with the products that we sell and the programs that we implement. Through these efforts, we can create a more sustainable future for our business, and the communities where we live and work. Learn more about our Sustainability 2022 strategy, and read stories from our employees and teams around the world, at http://www.sustainability2022.com.

Tweet me:Kimberly-Clark Asia Pacific recognized at @SBAwards for waste, #recycling and #water management http://bit.ly/2MdVVZo #sustainablebusiness @KCCorp

KEYWORDS: Sustainable Business Awards Singapore, Kimberly-Clark, Kimberly-Clark Asia Pacific, waste management, Recycling

 

For Some Kids, Summer's Not so Healthy When School Lunch Goes Away

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How community centers fill the gap

SOURCE:Aramark

DESCRIPTION:

It’s August, and we’re well in to the heat of summer. It should be a carefree time for children, but for those who depend on the National School Lunch Program during the school year, summer may mean poor nutrition, even hunger.

Statistics show that less than 20 percent of kids who qualify for free meals during the school year receive free summer meals for a variety of reasons – lack of access to meal sites, insufficient program awareness, and fewer resources when schools are closed. Add in the fact that summer days are often less structured, some children may actually have less physical activity and turn to less healthy foods than they normally would during the school year, so their health and wellbeing can easily suffer.

Local community centers – many that run not only meal programs, but also health and nutrition programs -- are critical to making sure that kids and their families enjoy a summer of wellbeing. They offer a variety of programs from summer meals to nutrition and cooking classes and community gardens where participants can grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables.

At Aramark, we champion community centers that support health and wellness through Aramark Building Community and our Feed Your Potential 365 Clubs.

Aramark Building Community (ABC) is our philanthropic and volunteer program. Through ABC, our volunteers partner with local community centers to inspire families to lead healthy lifestyles and help youth and adults prepare for the workforce.

Several of the centers we partner with also have Feed Your Potential Clubs 365, an extension of our Healthy for Life 20 By 20® initiative with the American Heart Association (AHA), which has the goal of improving the health of Americans 20 percent by 2020. 

Feed Your Potential 365 Clubs  inspire participants to discover the benefits of a healthier diet. Our talented chefs, registered dietitians and food service managers help facilitate educational experiences developed in partnership with the AHA. They provide knowledge, skills, and confidence in choosing and preparing healthy meals at home:

Our community center partners tell us the clubs are making a real difference.

“This is a program that should be extended to everyone, both young and old, because of the way the participants can learn firsthand from presenters that are experts in their field,” said Anja LeBlanc from Philadelphia’s Federation of Neighborhood Centers.

Ethan Neal, of Pillsbury United Communities in Minneapolis added that “One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that ‘poor’ people don’t care about healthy food. This program… shows unequivocally that that isn’t true…people are truly excited…I’m a true believer in the idea that if children are well fed, they have a much better chance at becoming successful adults.”

But Ethan also notes that without financial support, programs like this “just fall by the wayside,” so at the beginning of 2018 we launched our Feed Your Potential community campaign.

Through the end of the year, for every person who joins our Feed Your Potential 365 campaign to receive tips, recipes and other great information from our culinary experts, we’ll donate $1 to health and wellness programs at community centers like the Federation of Neighborhood Centers and Pillsbury United Communities.

Summer may be coming to an end, but the need for health and wellness programs in our communities continues. Take a minute, join now, and help those in need reach their potential.

Tweet me:Community centers help fill the gap for kids when they no longer receive summer meals; @Aramark Feed Your Potential 365 campaign helps too. http://bit.ly/2KE3C5Z

KEYWORDS: community center, Aramark, chef, dietitian, NYSE:ARMK

  

Smithfield Foods Honors Employees and Facilities with Environmental and Sustainability Awards

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Award-Winning Projects Support Smithfield’s Ambitious Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goal

SOURCE:Smithfield Foods

DESCRIPTION:

SMITHFIELD, Va., August 10, 2018 /3BL Media/ — Smithfield Foods, Inc. has honored multiple facilities and employees with Environmental and Sustainability Awards, recognizing efforts that helped Smithfield save more than 1.1 billion gallons of water, more than 8.8 million kilowatts of electricity, and more than 21.1 million pounds of solid waste generation in 2017.

Smithfield President and Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth M. Sullivan, honored the award recipients earlier this week at a ceremony during the company’s annual Environmental and Sustainability Conference. This conference is designed to engage employees on the company’s sustainability program through case studies, presentations, and breakout sessions.

“Sustainability is firmly ingrained in our company’s culture and is integrated into every aspect of our domestic and international operations,” said Sullivan. “Our employees work tirelessly to do things the right way – the sustainable way – and these award-winning teams exemplify those efforts.”

The facilities honored are instrumental to Smithfield’s industry-leading sustainability program. Their efforts to improve resource efficiency support Smithfield’s larger sustainability goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent by 2025 throughout its entire supply chain.

“These teams demonstrate the direct impact that employees throughout the company have on our sustainability goals,” said Stewart Leeth, vice president of regulatory affairs and chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods. “Each of the more than 54,000 members of the Smithfield Family help contribute to our industry-leading position in sustainability. Their hard work not only strengthens our company and sustainability program, but positively impacts the communities we call home.” ­­­

Environmental and Sustainability Award winners received $5,000 and the facility honored with the President’s Award received $10,000. Each winning team donated a portion of the prize to the charity of their choice.

PRESIDENT’S AWARD WINNER

Springdale, Ohio

Implemented a new ingredient purchasing process, which resulted in annual waste reduction of 32 tons and annual savings of more than $520,000.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS

Denison, Iowa

Improved water utilization by capturing water for reuse in three separate operations, resulting in an annual savings of $36,000.

Starachowice, Poland

Reduced water consumption by 20 percent and discharge by 10 percent by utilizing ultrasonic equipment to identify underground water leaks.

Animex Opole, Poland

Improved energy efficiency by 20 percent, decreased hot water production by 185,000 gallons, and decreased natural gas consumption by 6,300 cubic meters per month by expanding and modernizing its steam condensate return system.

Kinston, North Carolina

Improved fuel efficiency by 49 percent and reduced GHG emissions by recognizing and resolving inefficiencies in refrigeration units on trailers. This facility was also recognized for developing an award-winning system to capture product, previously sent to rendering, which reduces waste.

Orange City, Iowa

Reduced annual waste 250 tons by identifying a local biofuel producer to utilize the material as an alternate landfill disposal.

Warsaw, North Carolina

Developed a semi-annual standard operating procedure for cleaning equipment, reducing cost, reducing equipment downtime, and saving 3,000 bushels of corn used for animal feed annually.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Included the local fire department in its mock ammonia release, which included real-world emergency scenarios and facility evacuation.

Junction City, Kansas

Implemented an engaging employee training activity to identify intentionally created errors in refrigeration system flow charts.

Sioux City, Iowa

Volunteered and created a weekly schedule to perform maintenance on a local park for persons with special needs.

East Central Region, North Carolina

Provided a two-day presentation to 800 elementary students in Duplin County, North Carolina, including hog farm demonstrations and activities to support the students’ curriculum. 

Omaha, Nebraska

Eliminated unnecessary packaging from product and reduced waste material by 15,000 pounds annually.

About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield®, Eckrich®, Nathan’s Famous®, Farmland®, Armour®, Farmer John®, Kretschmar®, John Morrell®, Cook’s®, Gwaltney®, Carando®, Margherita®, Curly’s®, Healthy Ones®, Morliny®, Krakus®, and Berlinki®. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on FacebookTwitter, and LinkedIn.

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Contact:

Diana Souder

Smithfield Foods, Inc.

(757) 357-1675

dsouder@smithfield.com

Tweet me:.@SmithfieldFoods honors employees and facilities with environmental and #sustainability awards http://bit.ly/2OY6cqQ

KEYWORDS: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Smithfield Foods, sustainability, environmental and sustainability awards

When It Comes to Packaging, Plastic Is the Environmental Material of Choice

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Why an Optimized Plastics Economy is sustainable

SOURCE:PYXERA Global

DESCRIPTION:

Why an Optimized Plastics Economy is Sustainable

This title may scream fake news to many of you. Yet it is true, and particularly relevant given the latest efforts to ban the plastic straw. A 2016 study found that replacing plastics in packaging and consumer products could raise environmental costs nearly fourfold. This is because strong, lightweight plastics help us do more with less material, providing environmental benefits throughout the lifecycle of plastic products and packaging. The study also concludes that the environmental costs of alternative materials can be lower per ton of production but are greater in aggregate due to the much larger quantities of material needed to fulfill the same purposes as plastics.

Another study demonstrates that substituting plastic packaging with alternative materials would increase the amount of packaging generated in the United States by 55 million tons annually and increase energy use and carbon emissions by 82 percent and 130 percent, respectively. These conclusions do not even take into consideration the benefits derived from plastics well beyond the simple single-use straw.

Plastic is an important and ubiquitous material in our economy and daily lives. It has multiple functions that help tackle numerous social challenges. Light and innovative materials in cars or planes save fuel and cut CO2 emissions. High-performance insulation materials help us save on energy bills. In packaging, plastics help ensure food safety and reduce food waste. Combined with 3D printing, bio-compatible plastic materials can save human lives by enabling medical innovation.

Tweet me:Is a circular economy for plastic a solution to the ecological crisis of marine debris? Michael Taylor believes it is. Read: https://bit.ly/2LEije8 #GEFlive #marinedebris

KEYWORDS: Plastic, circular economy, Marine Debris, PYXERA Global

John Holm of PYXERA Global Moderates Panel at NAEM Sustainability Conference

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SOURCE:PYXERA Global

DESCRIPTION:

Washington, D.C., August 10, 2018 /3BL Media/ – John Holm, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, represented PYXERA Global at the National Association for Environmental Management (NAEM) Sustainability Management Conference in Providence, RI, from July 30–August 1. The NAEM Sustainability Management Conference brought together leaders from the private sector, public sector, and academia to discuss the latest trends in sustainability as well as progress on the ways companies operationalize the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mr. Holm moderated a panel titled “SDGs in Action: Collaboration,” which provided an overview of multi-sector partnerships that have addressed the 17 SDGs, in addition to collaboration tools to be applied to future partnerships. Panelists discussed topics related to the ways corporations can integrate the SDGs into business operations and the methods to engage internal stakeholders. The panel featured:

  • John Holm, VP of Strategic Initiatives, PYXERA Global
  • Libby Bernick, Global Head of Corporate Business, Trucost
  • Edan Dionne, Director of Corporate Environmental Affairs, IBM
  • Holly Emerson, Sr. Sustainability Analyst, Ingersoll Rand

“I am pleased to have had the opportunity to moderate a panel of such impressive leaders at NAEM’s Sustainability Management Conference,” said Mr. Holm. “The Sustainable Development Goals are a critical component of PYXERA Global’s initiatives and partnerships, and it was inspiring and insightful to hear more about my colleagues’ experiences. Our panelists offer a practical roadmap for future partnerships to create a tangible impact on the Sustainable Development Goal agenda.”

About PYXERA Global

For nearly 30 years, PYXERA Global has facilitated mutually beneficial partnerships between the public, private, and social sectors worldwide to create social impact projects that enrich lives and livelihoods, inclusively and sustainably.

Join PYXERA Global and other leaders from business, government, and nonprofit organizations in collaborating to address some of the world’s most pressing problems at The Global Engagement Forum: Live this October 10–11 in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

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For media inquiries contact:

Roger T. Bain
PYXERA Global
rbain@pyxeraglobal.org
202.810.0140

Read more on PYXERAGlobal.org

KEYWORDS: IBM, Trucost, Ingersoll Rand, national association for environmental management, Partnership, PYXERA Global

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