It almost sounds too good to be true — clean, renewable energy that stimulates economic activity in underserved communities across the United States. Add to that, <a href="https://www.cherplgp.org/" target="_blank">the solar panels being constructed by</a> CHERP Solar Works are some of the most technologically advanced on the market, and — wait for it — they will provide free solar energy to the lowest income households across U.S. communities.

So wait, what’s the catch?

No catch. This nonprofit organization wants to change the traditional relationship between energy providers and energy users. They want to put ownership back in the community’s hands. To do this, they’ve also enlisted the help of Seneca Solar, which has recently worked with Indigenous communities in the U.S. so that <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/energy-sovereignty-indigenous-communities/745306" target="_blank">they can become owners</a> of their own energy assets. 

“We see wealth continuing to be extracted from our lowest household income families to the top 1 percent. We see our environment continuing to degrade at unprecedented rates,” says CHERP President and CEO, Devon Hartman.

CHERP's dream is becoming a reality. It recently opened the world’s first nonprofit solar module assembly factory in the world in Pomona, California.

<h2>What is CHERP, and what is the nonprofit doing?</h2>

CHERP (Community Home Energy Revolution Project) began with the goal to form collaborative partnerships with cities, counties, community organizations and contractors to promote sustainable building practices and reduce fossil fuel use in buildings throughout California and beyond. Now, CHERP Solar Works is building solar panel factories around the U.S.

“We build micro solar factories for nonprofit organizations in underserved communities across the country,” Hartman explains.

In the age of globalized energy production, CHERP wants to bring it back to basics and work locally. By engaging with communities, hiring local workers, producing energy in the community, and providing energy to local households, CHERP wants its activities to benefit local communities to the greatest extent possible.

The plan is to “keep the entire value chain inside the local community so that profits can be recirculated as many times as possible inside the local economic unit,” Hartman says.

One of CHERP’s plans is to provide free energy to the 6,000 lowest income households near its new assembly factory in Pomona, California. Its research suggests that the low-income households in the area spend $90 per month on energy. Removing this monthly expense will create $6.5 million of additional yearly disposable income in the community.

<h2>Advanced solar technology</h2>

CHERP is also claiming to make “the safest panels on the market.”

Its patented technology is going to remove the problem of hotspots that plagues almost every solar panel made today. Solar panels attract sunlight, but sometimes that sunlight becomes concentrated in one or two spots on the panel. Those “hotspots” heat up much quicker than the rest of the panel, reducing energy efficiency and also creating a safety hazard and fire risk.

“Hotspots can not only get hot, but they can create plasma arcs that will melt through any material on earth, and we can actually burn buildings to the ground,” Hartman explains.

“Our panels will never create a reverse bias or hotspot condition, but also, they will be the safest panels on the market. They will automatically shut down in a millisecond if they do not sense an inverter so they will not create energy, and they will not kill firefighters who have to go on a building,” Hartman continues.

The entire operation at CHERP is a bit of an energy revolution. The organization also wants to see solar panel production return to the U.S.

<h2>American-made solar panels</h2>

Solar panel technology was invented in the U.S. back in 1954 by three scientists at Bell Laboratories. Ever since then, production of solar panels has slowly shifted away from the U.S.

“Ninety-four percent of all solar panels distributed in this country right now come from overseas,” Hartman says. The overwhelming market leader in solar panel production is China, which accounts for <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/solar-pv-global-supply-chains/executive-summary" target="_blank">more than 80 percent</a> of the world’s share in solar panel manufacturing.

China is also well ahead in installed solar capacity: It's <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-solar-power-capacity-set-record-increase-2022-industry-body-2022-02-23/" target="_blank">expected to add up to 90 gigawatts</a> (GW) of installed solar power in 2022, bringing the country’s total installed capacity to nearly 400 GW. By comparison, the U.S. added 3.9 GW of solar capacity <a href="https://www.seia.org/us-solar-market-insight" target="_blank">in the first quarter of 2022</a>, bringing its total capacity to 126 GW.

CHERP wants to increase U.S. production of solar technology, increase participation in the economy from underserved communities, and advance solar technology. If its ideas catch on, the nonprofit hopes to build factories throughout the U.S. to benefit local communities.

Image credit via CHERP

CHERP: The Nonprofit Providing Free Solar Power to Low-Income Households

So, we’re not exactly talking about a rapid, rocket-fueled, zero-to-60 shift to renewables that will soar anywhere near the pace of the epic <a href="https://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle-make/porsche-0-60-mph-times/" target="_blank">lineup of turbo-powered cars</a> that Porsche has rolled out over the years. But you can count in the luxury automaker as the latest within its industry to join the race along the clean energy autobahn.

Earlier this week, Porsche, or technically PCNA (Porsche Cars North America), <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/08/15/2498327/0/en/Solar-array-fuels-growing-Porsche-U-S-headquarters-and-Experience-Center.html" target="_blank">announced</a> it would invest in a solar power installation — in the form of a sizable microgrid that will generate power for its expanding campus and will be connected to the wider power grid — at the company's North American headquarters in Georgia.

The company that Porsche has tasked with building the installation, Cherry Street Energy, says the solar array at the automaker’s campus will generate 2,050 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean electricity a year, or the equivalent of keeping the lights on at almost 200 homes annually. Crunching the numbers differently, Porsche and Cherry Street Energy claim the amount of renewable electricity generated will result in an estimated carbon emissions reduction of 3.2 million pounds annually, or nixing more than 3.5 million miles of driving by typical passenger cars.

Construction of the installation is expected to begin next month and conclude at some point in 2023. Porsche has inked a 25-year agreement with Cherry Street Energy, and the latter has committed to installing solar panels on current and new buildings that the automaker will add to its headquarters’ campus.

Beyond the construction of the new solar panel installation, the regional Porsche headquarters will showcase additional sustainable design features, including specially formulated concrete that the company says will decrease the amount of embodied carbon; an expansion of water reuse and recycling across the campus, paired with non-irrigated landscaping; and green walls and walking trails that together could boost biodiversity across the campus. New electric vehicle charging infrastructure will also be available for employees and visitors. Porsche expects the campus’ expansion to score gold-level LEED certification. 

This isn’t the first time the company has been to the solar power rodeo: For example, an 82-foot <a href="https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/company/porsche-centre-berlin-photovoltaic-pylon-12198.html" target="_blank">photovoltaic pylon</a> at a campus in Berlin included more than 7,700 solar panels, which at its launch several years ago generated 30,000 kilowatt hours (KWh) of clean power.

As far as the electrification of Porsche vehicles goes, the first Porsche-designed electric car <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/01/27/first-porsche-1889/4941635/" target="_blank">dates back to 1898</a>, when Ferdinand Porsche designed the <a href="https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/products/taycan/history-18563.html" target="_blank">Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton</a> a half-century before he founded his namesake company. The automaker started to invest aggressively in electrification technology <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2015/porsche-gives-green-light-first-100-electric-model/116401" target="_blank">a decade ago</a>, and recently has started to <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/5-green-hydrogen-developments/743821" target="_blank">dabble in electrofuels</a>, a blend of green hydrogen and carbon that could eventually work <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2022/05/03/electrofuels-emerge-from-stealth-mode-with-an-assist-from-porsche/" target="_blank">as a replacemen</a>t for gasoline and similar liquid fuels.

Image credits: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/dS2hi__ZZMk" target="_blank">Porschefectionist</a> via Unsplash

Vroom! Porsche Accelerates Investments in Solar and Sustainable Design

A new education center at a riverfront park in Stamford, Connecticut, is connecting the community to nature and teaching applied science to promote sustainability and inspire the next generation of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals. As climate change and biodiversity loss accelerate, motivating people to care about how their actions and career choices affect the environment is more important than ever. The nonprofit <a href="https://millriverpark.org/" target="_blank">Mill River Park Collaborative</a> is a shining example of how local projects can benefit from corporate partnerships and strive for big impacts with long-term results by connecting the community’s youth to relevant hands-on science and environmental instruction. 

<h2>From a “trash dump” to a revitalized ecosystem and community center</h2>

Mill River Park was <a href="https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/spaces/2018/millriver/" target="_blank">a long time in the making</a>, almost a century if the town’s forgotten plans count. Before the park opened in 2013, the area was far from the lush blue and green space that planners imagined. Instead of being a locus for families and recreation, “It was basically treated like a trash dump,” Kristia Janowski, the park’s director of education and sustainability, told TriplePundit candidly.

Transforming the waterfront was a group effort spanning decades and involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps removed two dams and concrete channel walls, restoring the river banks to a natural state. By doing this, they made it possible for the river banks to absorb excess floodwater, effectively removing the 100-year floodplain from downtown Stamford, Janowski explained. 

Mill River Park Collaborative grew out of a partnership between the city of Stamford and <a href="https://www.tpl.org/media-room/stamford-park-plans-presented-ct" target="_blank">The Trust for Public Land</a>. They are tasked with maintaining and continuing the restoration after the Corps left, Janowski said. No less important are the countless volunteers, companies and organizations that continue to help the Collaborative maintain the river, native meadows and green space today, making it truly a community endeavor.   

<img alt="STEM education at whittingham discovery center" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="520e143b-cfb1-4ddb-b17d-11c0252dc08c" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/STEM%20education%20at%20whittingham%20discovery%20center.JPG" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" />

<h2>New science center looks to connect locals with nature </h2>

As exciting as the riverfront’s metamorphosis has been, the recently opened <a href="https://www.ctinsider.com/news/stamfordadvocate/article/Take-a-sneak-peek-at-Stamford-s-new-science-17235885.php?t=43febbd435%23taboola-2" target="_blank">Whittingham Discovery Center</a> makes Mill River Park extra special. In describing the educational space that has been a part of the plan for the park all along, Janowski said, “It’s about connecting people with nature.”

The building itself is symbolic of this goal. It was constructed to emulate the natural environment and use solar panels, with the expectation that it will supply roughly 85 percent of its own energy. The center is curated with museum exhibits relevant to the local area, including fish tanks that house local species. Classrooms throughout the complex — including one made possible by a partnership with Henkel North America — focus on how STEM fields relate to nature.

The park rang in its first field trips and test classes this past spring. Full programming will start in the fall with grades three to five and will eventually expand to include students from kindergarten through high school. “Classes will explore a concept through experiments in the lab, and go outside to discover how that same concept shows up in the natural world,” Janowski said. Lessons will cover topics like sustainability, conservation of energy, waste reduction, biomimicry, reduced packaging, solar panels and more. 

“Ultimately this is going to be a place to broaden awareness of sustainability and environmental issues,” Janowski said, adding that the park will “provide a place for people to connect to nature in a city environment.” As for the goals of the park and the science center, she hopes to help people make that connection with nature first and then teach them the science behind the natural environment. “When we realize we’re connected, we care more,” she said. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="Henkel Researchers World Classroom - STEM education" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ad8a1e8c-aa5b-468d-9453-1eb479c313e9" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Henkel%20Researchers%20World%20Classroom%20-%20STEM%20education.jpg" width="1500" height="1021" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>One of the classrooms in the new Whittingham Discovery Center is sponsored by Henkel North America as part of its youth STEM outreach program, Researchers' World, which has already reached 81,000 children in 19 countries. (Image courtesy of Henkel)</figcaption></figure><h2>A corporate partnership helps bring local STEM education to life </h2>

The educational programming provided in the science center’s classrooms will be a big part of achieving those goals. One of the classrooms is sponsored by Henkel North America as part of its youth STEM outreach program, <a href="https://www.henkel-researchers-world.com/" target="_blank">Researchers' World</a>, which has already reached 81,000 children in 19 countries. “The classroom features science lab equipment and workstations customized for up to 20 elementary-school-aged children,” said Jennifer Schiavone, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Americas and the program’s executive sponsor at Henkel in North America. A mobile Henkel Researchers' World Discovery Cart serves as a weekend extension of the classroom, reaching students throughout the park with interactive lessons.

Janowski described the classroom as very kid-focused, with fun cartoon canvasses and a colorful Researchers’ World rug designed to create an inspiring atmosphere for learning. Educators will partner with Henkel to inspire students in the local community using Henkel lessons that have been developed in partnership with a leading university in Germany and adapted for the park. One such lesson is on adhesives, which involves lessons in the lab and a trip into the park to observe naturally sticky substances — reinforcing what students learned in the classroom.

The partnership between Mill River Park and Henkel is one of shared purpose and vision. “We’re passionate about growing Henkel Researchers' World in North America to help reach the next generation of scientists and spark their curiosity around STEM learning,” Schiavone told us. “Setting up our dedicated classroom helps us meet the need to reach more children with STEM education in a growing and diverse local community.”

In fact, Mill River Park is in a prime location to bring STEM education to a diverse and historically underserved community. While the river used to act as a boundary between the downtown core and the West Side, Stamford’s poorest area, the greenway now brings the two neighborhoods together. The park is also the ideal place for Henkel North America to get involved — both because its headquarters are located a few blocks away and because of the organizations’ shared values. “The program engages youth with hands-on interactive experiments created to inspire curiosity in science,” Schiavone said. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="Inside STEM education at whittingham discovery center" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6e120628-05c9-439a-ad49-1e2c9f8b2282" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Inside%20STEM%20education%20at%20whittingham%20discovery%20center.JPG" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Displays inside the Whittingham Discovery Center educate visitors about local ecosystems. </figcaption></figure><h2>A legacy of environmental education </h2>

“I hope to influence the next generation toward changing how they do their jobs,” Janowski said of the future benefits she anticipates for children who visit the center. As an example, she mentioned an architect and how being introduced to sustainability as a child might affect how they design buildings as an adult. “Get them thinking,” she said. “Long-term, environmental thinking, sustainability-minded, with career fields in STEM.”

For brands looking to merge purpose and profit, Researchers’ World provides an example worth emulating. As a manufacturer of consumer goods like detergents and adhesives, STEM is Henkel’s thing. It’s a natural fit for the company to share scientific knowledge and look to get kids of all backgrounds involved in STEM, as the effort both reflects its purpose and helps it to grow a diverse pipeline of scientists for the future. 

Schiavone expanded on why partnering with the Mill River Park Collaborative made sense for the company: “Sustainability drives everything we do at Henkel. Our sustainability strategy is inspired by our purpose: Pioneers at heart for the good of generations. With our pioneering spirit, our knowledge, our products and technologies, we want to enrich and improve the lives of billions of people every day — and shape a viable future for the next generations.”

This article series is sponsored by Henkel North America and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Images courtesy of the Mill River Park Collaborative

A Bright Idea for Promoting STEM Education: Bring It Into Community Spaces

In case you missed it, the monitoring of workers — whether it’s through tallying up idle time or keyboard strokes — is happening just about everywhere. As employers seek to have staffers return to the office, companies are spending big money on software applications that monitor employees’ activities remotely via their computers. And the spying madness is affecting everyone: financial professionals, social workers and, absurdly enough, even hospice chaplains. 

Employers as well as the software companies vested in this space say it’s not about spying, but instead such systems can ensure and boost productivity. Additional commentators have said that remote work needs to end, if not “vanish,” as they insist working away from the office gets in the way of “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/15/perspectives/remote-work-economy-recession/index.html" target="_blank">synergy, collaboration and innovation</a>,” though based on how often those words are tossed about, the bar for what passes as definitions for those three words is very low.

The insanity over how companies have deployed these monitoring systems has reached the point at which employees find themselves defending their decisions to go to the bathroom — as the New York Times recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/14/business/worker-productivity-tracking.html" target="_blank">profiled</a> — or getting a cup of coffee (news flash: those two actions together often form their own synergy). It’s no wonder why more workers are pushing back against this stealth spying in their own way — now known as “quiet quitting.”

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So, what is quiet quitting? It’s both a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/Quiet-quitting" target="_blank">TikTok phenomenon</a> and a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/burned-employees-quiet-quitting-jobs-trend/story?id=88399001" target="_blank">form of workplace behavior</a> that has been around for ages. Quiet quitting is also known by other names: doing the bare minimum, going through the motions, not working one minute past one’s shift, or setting boundaries between employees and their managers.

As for the links between quiet quitting and monitoring software, the latter offers few results other than imparting a lack of trust between a company’s management and employees. But based on the economic numbers, even with the threats of inflation and recession, it’s clear that at a macro level, employees are doing the job and then some. The effects of the pandemic are still <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/successful-dei-implementation-bias/752016" target="_blank">lingering</a>, as many employees — especially women, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/return-office-dei-companies/743816" target="_blank">people of color</a> and <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/netflix-heartstopper-binge-watching/745051" target="_blank">LGBTQ people</a> — find value in remote work and don’t miss the slights, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/dei-remote-work/750136" target="_blank">microaggressions</a>, and <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/diversity-people-work-free/120741" target="_blank">pleas to do extra unpaid work</a> at the office that isn’t usually asked as frequently of their straight white (often male) cis peers. 

Nevertheless, these employees’ concerns are often left unheeded. Take JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who during a recent call with the firm’s wealthy clients claimed that remote work results in a corporate culture that <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/08/15/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-remote-work-from-home-hollywood-squares-diversity-return-to-office/" target="_blank">lacks trust</a> and can lead to procrastination. “A lot of people at home are texting each other, sometimes saying what a jerk that person is,” Dimon reportedly said.

News flash: Texting each other in the office is a fairly common occurrence, too.

There are plenty of doubters when it comes to the wisdom of any deployment of a technology-based snitch culture, especially when it's wired up at a company's physical office. “A mutual lack of trust quickly snowballs into an avalanche of issues, leading to lower productivity, lower engagement, lower satisfaction and higher burnout,” Artis Rozentals wrote for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/05/what-managers-get-wrong-about-employee-monitoring/?sh=2d4631317f0d" target="_blank">Forbes</a> earlier this month. “We won't even touch on the ethics of such unconstrained intrusion on personal space.”

It’s clear that lack of constraint is already snowballing. We’ve been talking about the “great resignation,” or the “great reset,” and now we should be discussing the “great retreat” — as that is what managers should expect from employees if they refuse, or are unable, to build a culture of trust within their organizations. Employees may not bolt right away, but they will still find ways to perform their job duties at a baseline level and simply leave it at that.

Finally, if an employee’s numbers are flagging, it turns out that a remote employee was getting away with working a second job, or calls and emails aren’t getting logged into the CRM — sure, there’s a challenge with that employee. But there’s an even bigger problem with that person’s supervising manager. Shouldn’t that manager be able to monitor their direct reports’ contributions without someone in HR investing in see, spy and snitch software? An enterprise-wide spying solution won’t solve the problem: Instead, it will creep out your employees as well as demolish their enthusiasm and motivation.

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/SrAnT6OtADY" target="_blank">Ashley Anthony</a> via Unsplash

Stop Spying on Your Employees: It’s Creepy, and They’re Probably ‘Quiet Quitting’ Anyway

Just ten years ago, Indiana was poised to lead the nation in clean tech jobs. Now it is facing a human rights crisis that threatens to become a full-blown economic disaster, thanks to a restrictive abortion ban enacted earlier this month. It will be difficult to reverse the ban. However, in a strange twist, the climate change provisions in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/16/biden-inflation-reduction-act-signing/" target="_blank">newly signed</a> Inflation Reduction Act could help Indiana employers lobby for a return to sanity.

<h2>Indiana abortion ban adds fuel to the brain drain fire</h2>

The full impact of Indiana’s new abortion law is yet to be seen. However, all abortion bans create a separate class of citizens whose <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/abortion-ban-brain-drain/752011" target="_blank">human and civil rights are secondary</a>. In that regard, the new law already puts Indiana employers at a disadvantage for recruiting and retaining top talent. It pulls the rug right out from under their <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/dei-bystander-effect-court-stacking/744056" target="_blank">diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives</a>.

Employers in Indiana are particularly vulnerable because the state ranks low in higher education, and the new abortion ban is all but certain to make matters worse.

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Professor Michael J. Hicks, who is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University, summed up the situation in an op-ed last week. “Recall that Indiana’s workforce <a href="https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2022/08/14/michael-hicks-abortion-ban-will-be-deeply-damaging-to-indianas-economy/65393198007/" target="_blank">ranks near the bottom</a> in educational attainment,” he wrote. “Worse, we’ve seen the college going rate drop a whopping 12 percentage points in just six years.”

Hicks added: “This puts us in the realm of the most economically fragile states in the Union — Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia — and just below Puerto Rico. This matters because nine out of 10 college-age people nationwide prefer more expansive abortion access than Indiana now has.”

Indiana is not the only state at risk from the economic fallout of abortion bans, but Hicks emphasized that it is especially vulnerable.

“Businesses locate where they can access abundant workers of the types they need…They come for the right workers, of which we have far too few,” Hicks warned.

“Over the past three decades, more than 80 percent of job growth nationally has gone to college-educated workers. As that trend continues, which it will, Indiana is now at a fraught disadvantage,” he explained.

<h2>Connecting the public opinion dots</h2>

Overall, Hicks made the case for using public opinion surveys as a guidepost for assessing the economic impacts of any statewide abortion ban.

If that argument holds up, employers in Indiana and other abortion-banning states are in serious trouble.

CNBC reporter Morgan Smith took a deep dive into the details last Friday, citing a survey conducted by the nonprofit women’s empowerment organization <a href="https://leanin.org/" target="_blank">LeanIn.org</a>.

“Seventy-six percent of women are concerned that the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/34percent-of-younger-workers-considering-switching-jobs-after-roe-ruling.html" target="_blank">overturn of Roe</a> is going to hurt their careers, according to new research from LeanIn.Org, which surveyed 3,196 U.S. workers last month. This sentiment is even stronger among women under 40 (84 percent) and women of color (82 percent),” she observed.

LeanIn.org used the SurveyMonkey Audience platform to conduct the survey. If that skewed the responses to some degree, it is still consistent with other findings.

“More than half of U.S. workers (56 percent) wouldn’t even consider taking a job at a company that didn’t share their values according to a Qualtrics survey, which polled 1,178 employees in April,” Smith noted.

“LeanIn.Org’s new report and other recent research highlight a growing desire among employees to work for a company that aligns with their values, both personal and political,” she added.

<h2>Indiana employers and the Inflation Reduction Act</h2>

These surveys don’t necessarily reflect the actual ability of workers to pick up and move on account of an abortion ban. However, if even a fraction of workers and college students follow through on their sentiments, Indiana is especially at risk.

“The problem is that Indiana has few economic advantages that are relevant to the 21st century,” Professor Hicks noted in his op-ed. “None that we have are sufficient to overcome policies that alienate the vast majority of the mobile, highly-educated young people we so desperately need.”

Hicks also warned that the Republican supermajority in the Indiana legislature has taken an anti-business tack that will push some businesses out of the state.

For those unable to leave, Hicks gently suggests that political activism is the only answer.

“Some businesses cannot leave and will surely look to support more business-friendly voices across the state,” he wrote.

That is easier said than done. Considering the hot mess of <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/corporate-america-josh-hawley/750836" target="_blank">religion, misogyny and white supremacy</a> boiling through the anti-abortion movement, fact-based conversations about basic human and civil rights are simply impossible.

Nevertheless, there is a way for employers to talk about the rights of pregnant people in Indiana, without being drawn into a bottomless pit of misplaced morality.

Now that the <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/activism-climate-bill-back/751336" target="_blank">Inflation Reduction Act</a> has been signed into law, employers can leverage it to lobby for a new clean tech renaissance in Indiana.

The legislation is a massive package of new funding for renewable energy, energy efficiency and other initiatives that help reduce carbon emissions. If Indiana lawmakers are going to ensure that Indiana gets its fair share, they will need to demonstrate that they are serious about administering one of the biggest economic development initiatives in U.S. history.

So far, of course, they have failed dismally

State lawmakers rushed the new abortion ban through in a hastily convened special session, despite behind-the-scenes lobbying by Eli Lilly, Cummins and other businesses leaders that warned of the economic impacts.

Meanwhile, Indiana’s Republican representatives in Congress failed to support the Inflation Reduction Act. They voted in a block against a massive influx of federal dollars into their own state.

That partisan breakdown provides a rational, fact-based, emotion-free platform for business leaders to advocate for electing more Democrats into state and federal offices.

As Election Day 2022 draws near, the Republicans who voted against the Inflation Reduction Act have all but forced Indiana business leaders to choose a side. They can advocate for Democratic leadership on the basis of economic progress in the broadest possible terms, including equal rights for all.

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/yilpftAIsSA" target="_blank">Ryan De Hamer</a> via Unsplash

The New Abortion Ban Is Not Indiana’s Only Problem

A social enterprise founded by the Clinton Foundation is working to change the trajectory of struggling smallholder farms in the Caribbean and Latin America by empowering them to maximize their earnings. With a business model based on keeping both profits and produce local, Acceso is <a href="https://acceso.org/" target="_blank">aiming to reduce rural poverty</a> by providing opportunities and stabilizing local food systems. Additionally, by enabling farmers to stay on their land, such enterprises not only bolster the domestic economy, but can also help to slow the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/21/rich-countries-are-buying-up-farmland-from-poorer-ones-around-the-world/" target="_blank">accumulation</a> and <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-whole-world-wants-south-americas-farmland/" target="_blank">exploitation of farmland by global capital</a>.

According to Acceso, there are 22 million smallholder farmers in the region <a href="https://acceso.org/wp-content/uploads/delightful-downloads/2022/07/Acceso_Overview_Sept_2021_BW.pdf" target="_blank">living on less than $5 per day</a>. Many of these farms produce less than their capacity due to a lack of quality seeds, fertilizer and equipment. On top of that, they are largely excluded from the formal markets that are needed for reliable income and instead rely on high-risk informal markets where there is no guarantee that their crops will sell, let alone fetch a fair price. With such a precarious place in agriculture, it’s no wonder many of these farms get sold off as farmers and workers migrate off the land.

Acceso wants to change that dynamic by providing opportunities in rural communities that go beyond a subsistence level of income. Citing an average increase in earnings of 250 percent, CEO James Jenkin told TriplePundit: “It’s not just getting them out of poverty. It’s giving them opportunity.” With <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/overview" target="_blank">65 percent</a> of the world’s working poor employed in agriculture as of 2016, increasing earnings in the industry are expected to have a much more profound impact than they would in other industries. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="A farm partnering with Acceso in rural Colombia.jpg" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f5b4fa30-814c-4708-809b-957cac86ee71" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/A%20farm%20parterning%20with%20Acceso%20in%20rural%20Colombia.jpg" width="2000" height="1332" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>A farm parterning with Acceso in rural Haiti.jpg</figcaption></figure>So how does the enterprise work? Acceso — which Jenkin refers to as a benevolent social business — works with farmers “from seed to market” beginning with training to improve their yield and, when necessary, access to agricultural technology. Farmers are encouraged to focus on multiple crops as a part of risk mitigation. Jenkin explained, “The old thinking was if a farmer grew coffee, connect them with the coffee market. Now we add in more crops, so that de-risks because we can have multiple buyers.”

In fact, risk mitigation is a lot of what Acceso does. “We provide seedlings and fertilizer and we make sure that what they plant has a buyer already.” That’s a huge deal considering that only 10 percent of smallholder farmers are estimated to have <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2019/02/smallholder-farmers-lack-access-quality-seeds-study-shows/" target="_blank">access to quality seeds</a>. 

Still, when it comes to increasing capacity, Jenkin said, “That only gets them so far. They’re disconnected from formal markets that pay more and are more consistent. They’re capable of producing for formal markets but they’re excluded.”

Jenkin further described this problem as an access issue, and the reason Acceso focuses on multiple buyers and diversity in crops. “What we really do is very much focus on market architecture to connect them to formal markets. . . looking at what the market needs and developing their capacity accordingly.”

It’s a transformative change for farmers, as Jenkin put it. Being able to get quality inputs on credit, which they only pay back at harvest, is a gamechanger. Furthermore, Acceso connects them to formal markets by buying that harvest from them. As a result, not only are farmers guaranteed a livable income, but they no longer have to worry about transporting what they produce to informal markets or how much of it will go to waste.

“We pay farmers first,” Jenkin said in regard to how he hopes to ensure fair, livable wages for farm workers. “We’re not there as a watchdog, but as a relationship. We work with them on how to manage agricultural labor.”

Many of the communities in which Acceso is involved also stand to gain from agricultural jobs that are being brought in by the business. “We’re building processing plants in the communities. So, money and people stay,” he said. Expounding further on the reality that most migrants don’t want to leave their homes and families but have zero opportunities where they are, he described their departures as a difficult choice but an absolute necessity.

In addition to keeping communities intact, Acceso also values keeping the food in the communities where it is grown as a part of systematic change. “We believe in building local food systems,” Jenkins said. “We believe that food should never need to be imported.”

Smallholder farms produce 80 percent of the world’s food and as such play a critical role in the future of the planet and its people. Likewise, the World Bank claims that agricultural improvements could be a boon for the 80 percent of people living in poverty globally. With a third of the food harvested worldwide going to waste, Acceso’s system could help mitigate what is lost when farmers are relegated to informal markets while protecting them from being forced to migrate off their land and thus also reducing the amount of arable land be scooped up by global capital.

Image credits: Fernanda Pineda and Hanz Rippe

Acceso Connects Farmers to Formal Markets for Increased Earnings and Food Security

Investors aren’t as simple-minded as they once were. Nowadays, they want to know that their investments are going to companies that not only turn profits, but also conduct their business activities responsibly. They want to invest in companies that are committed to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues. 

Some surveys suggest <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/389780/investors-stand-esg-investing.aspx" target="_blank">48 percent of investors</a> are interested in sustainable investing. Others suggest that <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/press-releases/morgan-stanley-survey-finds-investor-enthusiasm-for-sustainable-" target="_blank">85 percent</a> are ESG-conscious with their money. What is certain, though, is that such investing is growing. When in doubt, follow the money.

Global ESG funds saw a record <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/how-2021-became-year-esg-investing-2021-12-23/" target="_blank">$649 billion in investments</a> through Nov. 30, 2021. That’s up from $542 billion in 2020 and $285 billion in 2019. 

There is a high demand for ESG investing and information regarding companies’ environmental, financial and social performance. 

“This has been a massive trend for us,” says Joanna Appleton, VP head of content strategy at Dow Jones, adding, “people and companies have been looking extensively at new products to assess the value of their portfolios and look at the sustainability of their investments.”

Dow Jones is the American firm that publishes such financial journals as the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and Financial News. The firm also <a href="https://www.dowjones.com/press-room/dow-jones-launches-sustainability-data-to-optimize-global-environmental-social-and-governance-esg-investing/" target="_blank">launched its own sustainability data</a> earlier this year to help the global financial community understand the performance and impact of a company’s ESG practices.

<a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/criticism-esg-reporting/750296" target="_blank">The influx</a> of ESG financial products is putting more pressure on companies and portfolio managers to provide investment products that can meet investors' evolving demands.

<h2>Difficulties in ESG investing</h2>

With companies eager to showcase their products or funds as sustainable, there is a massive flock of ESG information being released. That’s great, but there are no reporting standards or industry alignment. It’s difficult to compare investment options without ESG reporting standards.

How can investors make sense of or trust the information that they’re given? 

This has been one of the biggest challenges for investors and asset managers. Companies are given ESG ratings by third-party reviewers, but there is no congruence with the different ranking providers.

“When the asset managers are looking through those scores, they’re having to spend a lot of time to work out how it was calculated," Appleton explains. "They almost have to reverse engineer it to really understand it so there’s not a huge amount of trust in some of the opaque methodologies."

Transparency is needed across all markets to facilitate sustainable investing, prevent greenwashing and incentivize companies to enact more sustainable business practices.

<h2>What are the current ESG reporting standards?</h2>

Reporting standards vary across jurisdictions. In the United States, there are no mandatory ESG reporting laws. However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) currently requires publicly listed companies to provide investors with any information that may be material to them, and that includes ESG risks.

The SEC has also proposed to make <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/gs-sustain-esg-regulations-us-sec-proposes-major-new-climate-disclosure.html" target="_blank">environmental reporting mandatory</a>, as well as to provide legal structure on <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-92" target="_blank">how wealth management professionals market</a> their ESG investment products. The wheels are in motion to bring ESG standardization to some aspects of the U.S. corporate world, but nothing is legally binding yet.

In Europe, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/company-reporting-and-auditing/company-reporting/corporate-sustainability-reporting_en" target="_blank">NFRD</a>) obliges large public-interest companies (as in those with more than 500 employees) to publish information related to environmental and social matters.

The directive is soon to be expanded as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (<a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/emerging-eu-esg-requirements-transatlantic-implications-multinational-companies" target="_blank">CSRD</a>) has been approved and is awaiting implementation. This new directive will require more detailed reporting on ESG matters from an expanded pool of companies.

Europe also enforces the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (<a href="https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/ie/pdf/2021/03/ie-sustainable-finance-disclosure-reg-sfdr.pdf" target="_blank">SFDR</a>) which requires investment firms and portfolio managers to disclose ESG information to their clients.

<h2>A proposed global framework for transparency in reporting</h2>

At last year’s climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was established to develop a global framework for ESG reporting.

The ISSB <a href="https://www.ifrs.org/news-and-events/news/2022/03/issb-delivers-proposals-that-create-comprehensive-global-baseline-of-sustainability-disclosures/" target="_blank">put forth its proposals</a> earlier this year and invited feedback and recommendations on the initial framework. 

A <a href="https://www.accountingforsustainability.org/en/activities/reporting/response-ifrs-sustainability-disclosure-standards.html" target="_blank">statement issued and signed</a> by more than 80 chief financial officers (CFOs) showed support for the initial framework but also encouraged revisions. Much of the feedback focused on ensuring clear definitions and guidelines that are in close alignment with already existing frameworks like the <a href="https://www.sasb.org/" target="_blank">SASB standards</a>.

The new ISSB standards are expected to be released later this year. There won’t be anything legally binding about the framework yet, but it will at least create a global standard to make ESG reporting much more transparent and easier to understand for consumers and investors.

Standardized reporting is a crucial step to take as more and more money flows into the sustainable investing market.

Image credit: <a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/financing-business-dollar-hand-2379786/" target="_blank">Gerd Altmann</a> via Pixabay

Investors Need Transparent Reporting as ESG Funds See Record Investment

When you enter a building, you probably don’t think much about what it took to build it. But the reality is that buildings comprise around <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/building-sector-emissions-hit-record-high-low-carbon-pandemic" target="_blank">40 percent </a>of global carbon emissions, much of it <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/embodied-carbon-decarbonization/728001" target="_blank">embodied in the building materials themselves</a>. But a new hyper-local partnership is looking to move one step closer to increasing the circularity of the buildings and construction industry.

<h2>Two corporate neighbors come together to reduce environmental impact</h2>

Earlier this year, the ceiling and wall solutions company Armstrong World Industries and Irving Consumer Products, a household paper products manufacturer, entered into a partnership at their respective Macon, Georgia, facilities to enable both companies to address their local environmental impacts. The partnership represents a synergy between the two companies and came about organically through a former Armstrong employee who later worked at Irving and first floated the idea of using Irving’s waste in Armstrong’s ceiling tiles. 

The partnership centers on one of Armstrong’s signature products, ceiling tiles. For decades, the company used wood fibers as a bonding element in the tiles, but in the 1980s it switched to using baled recycled paper, like phone books and newsprint. Irving pulps wood at its mills in Canada and ships the dried wood pulp to its Macon plant to make tissues and paper towels. A byproduct of the milling process is fiber that cannot be used in its consumer products.  
  
The Irving employee returned to his former employer at Armstrong and floated the idea of using Irving’s waste in Armstrong’s ceiling tiles. 

“Historically, we never used a waste stream like that,” Braden Turner, value stream improvement champion at Armstrong, told TriplePundit. “We did some initial exploration with Irving and quickly realized that the paper was pretty clean.” After touring Irving’s treatment plant, he added, “We were pretty excited, and we thought it would be a viable fiber replacement for our current process.”

The companies estimate they will divert more than 3,500 tons of fiber waste annually from landfills through the partnership, while lowering costs and making their production processes more efficient.

One reason this particular partnership works is proximity. Irving’s fiber has a high moisture content, a necessary feature in the type of filler Armstrong requires in its tiles. Shipping across long distances is not a viable option, as the fiber would quickly dry out, but the two plants being less than three miles apart allows for fast shipping while the fiber is still usable. “Procurement’s never gone after a fiber stream like this because it’s never been in the scope of Armstrong raw materials,” Turner explained. “It’s the right amount of material to justify it on our end. It’s the right location to make it viable.” 

<img alt="armstrong macon georgia plant partnership reduces waste" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="db4affe3-eac8-46ec-8699-633f7a1b25dc" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/armstrong%20macon%20georgia%20plant%20partnership%20reduces%20waste.jpg" width="1000" height="562" loading="lazy" />

<h2>Why the partnership is important</h2>

It took about a year of testing to incorporate the new material, both in Armstrong’s corporate headquarters and locally in Macon. But despite the upfront investment required to test and verify the materials, Armstrong sees the partnership as a win-win.

“Bottom line is that paper sources are drying up and the world is going digital,” Turner told TriplePundit. "Armstrong has to find alternate supplies. So to locally find 15 percent of our paper needs in a sustainable lifetime partnership type of deal, it’s definitely worth it financially and for the long term.” The partnership also helps Irving reach its own sustainability and circularity goals in reducing waste-to-landfill and giving its raw materials another life. 

The partnership has also highlighted the benefit of looking locally for solutions, thus reducing transportation costs and associated emissions. Armstrong has already started reaching out to other potential local collaborators. 

“Things that we said won’t work in the past, we’re now spending more time proving or disproving whether they might be viable,” Turner told us. “I think it’s going to make us more diverse to be able to use different raw materials and still get the same results. Several people are with me on that journey to try to look outside the norm. It’s really changed the way we look at things.” Armstrong is also looking at other cities where it is co-located with Irving to explore similar partnerships.

The local factor has been a bonus for employees as well, starting with the former Armstrong employee who got the whole ball rolling. Helen Sahi, Armstrong’s VP of sustainability, noted the local impact: “As a result of this partnership, employees, who are part of the community in Macon, are able to see Armstrong’s sustainability commitments come to life. The waste diversion is a tangible example of the company walking its sustainability talk,” she told TriplePundit. 

Greg Kinsman, finance manager for Irving Consumer Products in Macon, concurred. “The partnership demonstrates our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint,” <a href="https://www.armstrongworldindustries.com/en-us/press-releases/armstrong-world-industries.html" target="_blank">he said in a statement</a>. “Continuous improvement and innovation are important parts of our company’s values. We are always looking for new ways to become more efficient, and this partnership will help us move toward even more sustainable practices.”

A key lesson can be taken from this partnership that increases circularity in the building materials and household goods sectors: Sometimes the answer is in your own backyard. Global problems can have local solutions, and those in the community may be the best place to spot them. 

This article series is sponsored by Armstrong World Industries and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Image courtesy of Armstrong World Industries

This Locally-Formed Partnership Helps Two Companies Reduce Waste and Cut Emissions

With continuing economic uncertainty and the Securities &amp; Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) recent <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/sec-proposed-climate-related-disclosures/751891" target="_blank">proposed rules</a> on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting, organizations should be taking a closer look at their environmental reserves to help free up capital and drive firm-wide sustainability-focused investments. 

An often-forgotten asset within planning initiatives, environmental reserves refer to the amount of capital a company has set aside and can access to address potential liabilities related to environmental contamination or regulatory requirements. Traditionally, most large corporations have focused their internal environmental reserve evaluations on their largest remediation (e.g., Superfund) sites or long-term maintenance type environmental issues without making accurate adjustments as those projects progress through their lifecycle. As a result, reserves can be over-estimated at sites where there was substantial, recent cleanup progress or where a strategy change can reduce future costs, unnecessarily tying up capital. By prioritizing and implementing a consistent evaluation of environmental reserves, organizations can potentially reduce balance sheet stress and ensure capital is being strategically deployed for their most important future activities. 

Having access to capital that can be freely used is critical for any organization to grow and meet its objectives. This is now more important than ever in the environment, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability arenas with companies recognizing that <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/" target="_blank">2030 GHG reduction targets</a> are fast approaching and won’t be achieved without a significant investment of time and money. This urgency has been compounded by the “great resignation” and the challenges many organizations currently face to staff their most critical environmental programs. Over-reserving for other environmental issues where it may not be needed increases the cost to access capital on more critical programs and may delay implementation of EHS and Sustainability initiatives causing irreparable harm to an organization’s brand and reputation.

In today’s dynamic business climate, a framework to put in place real-time reserves management can greatly improve an organization’s EHS, ESG (environmental, social and governance) and sustainability programs. Historically, reviews of environmental reserves are completed annually but little detailed examination is done – many organizations simply note what was held the year prior and carry that amount over. In many cases, this is a manual “paper” exercise that does not take advantage of the digital tools that can improve the efficiency and accuracy of the exercise through analytical or even predictive modeling. By reviewing reserves quarterly using more advanced processes, organizations can gain a better understanding of their risks to identify areas where they may be most vulnerable or where they can free up cash for other initiatives. 

When looking at current and future environmental liabilities, organizations need to prioritize them by risk with the following questions: 

<blockquote>
What are the current – and probable future - environmental projects that should be considered in reserves?

What is the significance and risk involved for each one?

What reserves estimates were made and how do they compare to how much is currently held and how much is really needed?

Has anything changed significantly (e.g., new regulations, planned facility expansions or closures, merger and acquisition activity, etc.)?

How much has already been spent therefore reducing the overall risk and amount required to remediate future issues?

What new alternative processes (digital tools, modeling, technical innovations, etc.) are available to track and reduce the risks (and costs) identified?
</blockquote>

Organizations should give each project a baseline risk valuation and then begin tackling them individually — if a review results in a reserves reduction or addition, there will be an audit trail to showcase the numbers and legitimize the findings. Following prioritization, the higher-risk projects should be given a more detailed risk valuation to identify opportunities for improvements and to make sure the strategic path identified for each site aligns with corporate goals and risk tolerance philosophy. This is a critical step in the overall process as many companies find that a strategy originally established years ago no longer is optimized for present-day technological advances, the current economic climate, or change in business strategy/direction following an ownership or leadership change.

Ultimately, by implementing a more formal environmental reserves management process, organizations can gain a much greater understanding of what’s working and what’s not in their overall environmental program strategy. The firms that invest the time and resources today for a full re-evaluation will be better positioned to build a consistent framework that will help meet long-term EHS and sustainability goals with less organizational risk in the future.

Interested in having your voice heard on 3p? Contact us at <a href="mailto:editorial@3BLMedia.com?subject=3p%20guest%20article%20inquiry">editorial@3BLMedia.com</a> and pitch your idea for a guest article to us.

Image credit: <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/sec-proposed-climate-related-disclosures/751891" target="_blank">Fuu J</a> via Unsplash

Reevaluating Environmental Reserves to Free Up Capital and Drive Sustainability 

Coastal wetlands, like mangroves and tidal marshes, were once seen as wastelands needing to be emptied, but in the long run that has been akin to pouring money down the drain. A 2014 study concluded these regions provide <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul-Sutton/publication/262489570_Changes_in_the_global_value_of_ecosystem_services/links/5c4dbc7ea6fdccd6b5cdbbfa/Changes-in-the-global-value-of-ecosystem-services.pdf" target="_blank">more than $190,000</a> in economic value ($227,000 in 2022 dollars) per hectare, making them one of the planet's most valuable ecosystems. They’re the silver lining of our shores, but the future presents some dark clouds on the horizon. 

Coastal wetlands are extremely vulnerable to climate change and rising seas. As sea levels increase and inch over our shores, the ecological balance in these regions begin to shift, including whole ecosystems. Scientists have long debated if the migration of coastal wetlands toward inland areas can compensate for the lands that could soon be flooded by saltwater. To that end, a new study of 166 estuaries in the U.S. sheds light on the topic, finding that sea-level rise will transform our coasts, and at a cost. Assuming a 1.5-meter increase in sea levels, coastal wetlands are predicted to shift toward land, but still shrink in size. 

Throughout the U.S., coastal wetlands come in different forms, ranging from salty to freshwater habitats. Due to increased sea-level rise, more coastal saline wetlands are predicted to displace coastal freshwater wetlands, leading to a net loss in wetlands overall. States lining the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, including Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina, face the greatest decrease in coastal wetlands. 

This slow migration will also damage other valuable habitats in the process. Most of this change will occur at the cost of coastal freshwater wetlands, but croplands, grasslands, pastures and forests are also at risk. For instance, the encroachment of wetlands jeopardizes pastures managed for livestock and low-lying rice fields that are also used for crawfish cultivation. Sea-level rise already <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2022/02/21/what-rising-sea-levels-means-for-agriculture-in-south-florida-column/" target="_blank">threatens agriculture</a> in low-lying areas through flooding and saltwater intrusion into groundwater, and a change within these ecosystems adds even more threats.

The loss of wetlands also harms communities <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2016/sea-level-rise-could-cause-1-trillion-us-real-estate-losses/23806" target="_blank">and local economies</a>, especially in an ever-hotter world. For starters, even when their area has been greatly reduced, coastal wetlands help mitigate the damage from storm surges and concurrent waves, thereby protecting the value of properties from flooding to the tune of millions of dollars. In Florida, the disappearance of coastal wetlands resulted in an estimated additional <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1915169117#:~:text=Wetlands%20confer%20relatively%20more%20protection,Hurricane%20Irma%20by%20%24430%20million." target="_blank">$430 million in property damage</a> during Hurricane Irma — and more losses <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2017/will-sea-level-rise-kill-coastal-floridas-housing-market/17851" target="_blank">could occur</a> in the coming years.

Wetlands also provide habitat for valuable fisheries like salmon, crabs and shrimp, contributing a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/documents/economic_benefits_of_wetlands.pdf" target="_blank">wide range of jobs</a> as well as hundreds of millions of dollars each year <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/tme/2019/00000014/f0020001/art00006" target="_blank">to local economies</a>. In addition, these ecosystems slow erosion, clean water, and provide recreational opportunities like kayaking, canoeing, recreational fishing and hunting. Finally, wetlands can help fight climate change by sequestering and storing large amounts of carbon. 

Unfortunately, coastal wetlands are already being <a href="https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Documents/Status-and-Trends-of-Wetlands-in-the-Conterminous-United-States-2004-to-2009.pdf" target="_blank">lost at a rapid clip</a>: the equivalent of nearly seven football fields that are destroyed every hour in the continental U.S. alone. And <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921818115301879#:~:text=With%2050%20cm%20of%20sea%2Dlevel%20rise%20by%202100%2C%20the,accompanied%20by%20maximum%20dike%20construction." target="_blank">on a global scale</a>, the numbers become even worse, as only 0.5 meters of sea-level rise could destroy anywhere from 46 percent to 60 percent of coastal wetlands by the end of this century.

These threats do not mean all hope is lost. Society can still make efforts to restore and protect the wetlands that still exist. Ensuring that freshwater still flows to coastal wetlands keeps them healthy and may <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/florida-everglades-freshwater-saltwater-sea-level-rise" target="_blank">slow the effects of sea-level rise</a>. These actions will help maintain our coastal defenses against storms, slow global warming and preserve the planet’s food supplies.

<a href="https://www.census.gov/topics/preparedness/about/coastal-areas.html#:~:text=Eighty%2Dseven%20million%20people%2C%20or,32%20million%20in%20Pacific%20counties." target="_blank">Nearly 30 percent</a> of the U.S. population lives in coastal counties, while the population in coastal counties lining the Gulf of Mexico has soared by 150 percent in recent decades. The appeal of living with constant ocean breezes is part of this population shift. But the risks of sea-level rise, these regions’ vulnerability to tropical storms and flooding should be put into perspective by everyone. Given the massive economic and societal benefits that coastal wetlands provide, everyone benefits, and even profits, from preserving more coastal wetlands.

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/c17nUw6HIFc" target="_blank">Tyler Butler</a> via Unsplash

Rising Seas Threaten Coastal Wetlands — and Local Economies

Last year, HP <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/hp-corporate-transition-equity/723896" target="_blank">announced an audacious goal</a> to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people by 2030. Even before embarking on this commitment, the team knew that success would take collaboration and an openness to continuous testing and learning. 

The reality is that communities across the globe face a digital equity crisis — where lack of access to devices, connectivity, digital literacy skills, and relevant, high-quality content keep millions behind. We see this in education, healthcare and economic opportunity, particularly for historically marginalized groups, women and girls, educators, healthcare practitioners, and people with disabilities.

To address this challenge, HP <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/nonprofit-accelerator-digital-equity/736261" target="_blank">collaborated with the Aspen Institute to launch</a> the Digital Equity Accelerator, an initiative that enables selected nonprofits to advance digital equity in their communities. Using HP’s expertise in technology and Aspen Digital’s deep-rooted connection to disadvantaged communities, the Digital Equity Accelerator provides funding, devices, and capacity building for an inaugural cohort of seven nonprofit organizations in the United States, Morocco and India. 

In the first several weeks since the Digital Equity Accelerator launched, we’ve begun to see how unique partnerships can help accelerate digital equity at scale. Here are four lessons we’ve learned that can help individuals, startups, nonprofits and government agencies promote and improve digital equity for people in local communities. 

<h2>1. Diverse voices make teams stronger</h2>

Digital equity is complex — it looks different across communities, and no one solution will solve all inequities — so it’s important to select partners that bring different perspectives to the table. In designing the Digital Equity Accelerator, we realized that promoting diversity within the cohort would bring varied perspectives on addressing digital equity and, in turn, provide the greatest opportunity for success. In the accelerator model, organizations both learn from and contribute to the cohort experience, activating the diverse knowledge and skills that the organizations bring with them.

Diversity most often occurs by design. For our program, multiple organizations were selected per country, each paired with a mentor to provide in-depth guidance. Organizations are provided access to technical advisors across sectors and connected to HP teams and in-country networks to support their growth locally and nationally. Beyond the dedicated support, we also see that cross-country learning is crucial. During the Digital Equity Accelerator’s weekly learning sessions, the nonprofits share advice with one another — from their strategies and tools for monitoring and evaluating impact to tips on pitching their work to funders. The diversity of solutions, experiences, and teams is an asset to the program and helps promote collaboration versus direct competition. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="Digital Empowerment Foundation promotes digital equity in India" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="bf7fd3cc-e975-4f6c-8a80-01ade82300b3" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Digital%20Empowerment%20Foundation%20promotes%20digital%20equity%20in%20India.jpeg" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Based in New Delhi, India, the <a href="https://www.defindia.org">Digital Empowerment Foundation</a> provides women from rural communities with critical digital literacy skills, tools to fight back against disinformation and online harassment, and the support needed to help more families do the same. (Image credit: Digital Empowerment Foundation)</figcaption></figure><h2>2. Listen to organizations’ needs</h2>

A key part of HP’s offering in the Digital Equity Accelerator is hardware as a component of closing the digital divide. To ensure that the organizations would receive the devices that could best amplify their work, we took a hands-on approach. HP met early on with the teams to understand what’s working, what’s not, and what aspirations the hardware could help make a reality. What we learned was that the strategy for scale, the opportunity to explore accessibility features, and the creativity to think of how hardware could support connectivity, content, and digital literacy aspects of their missions. Through those listening sessions we made suggestions and worked collaboratively to create the ideal product mix. Asking the right questions — and listening — helps any initiative move forward smarter.

That doesn’t stop at cash and hardware disbursements. Aspen Digital launched an initial survey to all cohort members to learn about their needs, particularly the topics that would best support their growth. Since the program started in June, we have been adjusting the format of learning sessions and advisor offerings to better serve the cohort — from adding new topics to making sessions shorter. Adding collaborative sessions and technical advising on skills the nonprofits find crucial puts emphasis on the expertise within and matches it with resources to help the organizations grow. 

<h2>3. Embrace pivots</h2>

Importantly, we are learning to be agile and flexible alongside the nonprofit cohort. The Digital Equity Accelerator is in its pilot phase. We have intentionally built-in checkpoints, so that we are actively taking stock of what’s working and where we can adjust. We are staying open to feedback and iterating along the way.

There are certain aspects of the program that can be unpredictable — like supply chain delays and external due diligence timelines. These dynamic issues and other external factors have challenged some of our initial assumptions.

Key for us is focusing on what we can control: the experience that we can provide the cohort members, the resources (such as the tools, advisors, mentors) to take their ventures to the next level and how we communicate. When something unanticipated occurs, we are open about the setbacks and work to resolve it. Staying flexible to pivot when necessary helps us navigate in a rapidly changing landscape.
<figure role="group"><img alt="e4-Youth - children using virtual reality headsets" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cc3e0c17-9abf-45a1-9b8a-067a93f5a80a" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/e4-Youth%20-%20children%20using%20virtual%20reality%20headsets.png" width="960" height="960" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Based in Austin, Texas, <a href="https://e4youth.org">e4 Youth</a> engages young people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, empowers them with digital tools to tell their community’s stories on their own terms, and levels the playing field when it comes to economic opportunities in the digital world. (Image credit: e4 Youth)</figcaption></figure><h2>4. Stay open to new ideas for addressing digital equity</h2>

We identified four pillars of digital equity and use a multifaceted approach to address it. We also recognize there are many creative ideas that may emerge beyond what we’ve imagined — and that’s a good thing! The important thing for us is to keep the core intact — supporting the people and organizations that work in the communities they serve. We are constantly learning from the organizations and plan to use best practices to accelerate digital equity globally. The organizations will launch or scale new initiatives and need room and space to try new things. We will support them in monitoring impact and are excited about the insights that will emerge. Imagine the real-world results their work will have in communities from central Texas to Rabat, Bangalore, and beyond.

Accelerating digital equity means taking some big bets: on unique partnerships, centering diversity, listening to lived experience and local expertise, embracing pivots, and being open to new solutions. While those bets may be in pilot stage, we know that partnering to leverage strengths is how we create digital equity together.  

This article series is sponsored by HP and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Collaborating, Listening, Iterating: Early Lessons from the Digital Equity Accelerator 

“It’s no secret that our enemy, the fossil fuel industry, rules the world. We will turn the tide, change history, and smash the fossil economy.”

The <a href="https://endfossil.com/" target="_blank">End Fossil: Occupy</a> movement is upset and <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/youth-activists-climate-strike/729041" target="_blank">are again</a> planning student protests at schools and universities around the world <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/26/school-strikes-climate-protests-activists" target="_blank">between September and December 2022</a>. Their goals are centered around ending the production and finance of fossil fuel projects. They’re united, and they’re pissed off.

Is the anger justified? Well, that’s subjective. Is it fair that oil and gas companies are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/08/oil-companies-profits-inflation/" target="_blank">posting record profits</a>? Is it fair that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/glencore-return-45-billion-shareholders-2022-08-04/" target="_blank">coal companies are doing better than ever</a> despite promises to phase them out? Is it fair that all of this is happening while citizens around the world are falling further behind as the treadmill of inflation increases its pace? 

I say the anger is justified, though it’s important to remember that not everyone involved in the fossil fuel industry is the enemy. 

<h2>Fossil fuels will run out</h2>

The degradation of our natural environment is bad, and the greed that fuels the industry is loathsome. What we can’t forget, though, is that there are people who earn a living in the fossil fuel industry because it feeds their families and puts a roof over their children’s heads. 

We’re facing tough times, and securing a job is the No. 1 priority regardless of the industry. Basic needs have to be met before anyone can start being choosy over the source of their income. 

There is, however, a problem with the industry. There’s no hiding from the science. We cannot sustain the levels of carbon emissions that we are currently playing with, and the fossil fuel industry is the biggest culprit.

Even if you question or deny the science, there is no denying that fossil fuel resources are finite. They will run out eventually. When that happens, the fossil fuel industry will crumble, and the people who feed their families on the backs of the industry will lose their jobs en masse.

We should be transitioning workers out of the fossil fuel industry and into sustainable energy development to prevent massive layoffs down the road and, of course, to preserve the health of our planet.

<h2>Subsidies keep the fossil fuel industry competitive</h2>

There’s a hesitance to embrace the renewable energy transition, though. Why?

Clean energy is still too expensive, right? Fifteen years ago, this was the case — but it’s not true anymore, and the costs of renewable energy continue to fall. Actually, using the Levelized Cost of Electricity (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2020/01/21/renewable-energy-prices-hit-record-lows-how-can-utilities-benefit-from-unstoppable-solar-and-wind/?sh=49ee8ecf2c84" target="_blank">LCOE</a>) to compare the costs of different energy sources reveals that <a href="https://www.irena.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2021/Jun/Majority-of-New-Renewables-Undercut-Cheapest-Fossil-Fuel-on-Cost" target="_blank">solar and wind power are much cheaper</a> to produce than oil and gas, and even coal in many instances.

So, what’s the holdup? Why aren’t we using renewable energy if it’s so cheap? Unfortunately, our governments have an unhealthy love affair with the fossil fuel industry. It’s as toxic a relationship as they come, but they can’t seem to say no to each other.

While our governments attend climate conferences, preach the need for urgent action, and plead for all of us to use cleaner energy, they are handing over more money than we can wrap our heads around to the fossil fuel industry.

Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2021/09/23/Still-Not-Getting-Energy-Prices-Right-A-Global-and-Country-Update-of-Fossil-Fuel-Subsidies-466004" target="_blank">$5.9 trillion were spent on fossil fuel subsidies</a> by governments around the world in 2020. That’s about seven percent of global GDP. Our governments are literally paying for us to keep using fossil fuels.

Do you remember when the director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, said that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/01/elon-musk-tells-un-food-chief-hell-spend-6-billion-to-fight-hunger.html" target="_blank">if Elon Musk donated $6 billion</a> we could end world hunger? If we cut fossil fuel subsidies for just nine hours, problem solved.

How much longer will we go on acknowledging the climate crisis while still being complacent? Our youth are saying enough is enough.

More <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2019/usual-suspects-are-ready-global-climate-strike/84941" target="_blank">student strikes and occupations</a> are being planned around the world for later this year. While our education centers come to a standstill as students demand the end of the fossil fuel era, hopefully our governments will learn that actions speak louder than words.

“We are here. We are radical. We are ready to occupy.” 

Image credit: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/climate-sign-outside-blur-2990617/" target="_blank">Markus Spiske</a> via Pexels

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