Energy companies have long turned to gas flaring to dispose of excess natural gas, largely because it was thought to eliminate methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 to 80 times <a href="https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/why-do-we-compare-methane-carbon-dioxide-over-100-year-timeframe-are-we-underrating" target="_blank">more potent</a> than carbon dioxide, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/methane-leaks-climate-action/707231" target="_blank">depending on the source</a> cited. The practice of flaring has continued with the rationale that it’s impossible to capture all natural gas at any extraction site, even though <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/capturing-methane-power/749116" target="_blank">the technology exists</a> to capture methane at its source. 

The surging demand for energy, therefore, means that companies within this sector will do what is most expedient: flaring when necessary to dispose of excessive natural gas that cannot be trapped. It all seems logical enough, considering that the sector has claimed that the process destroys methane at a rate of 98 percent — an impressive number at any level.

But there’s a problem: A team of researchers at the University of Michigan recently <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq0385" target="_blank">concluded</a> that flaring eliminates methane at a lesser ratio, specifically a tad over 91 percent. That may not seem like a huge discrepancy, but when considering the potency of methane, this team of researchers says the gap results in a five-fold increase of methane emissions above current assumptions. “Therefore, flaring is often not as efficient as presumed — or methane plumes simply are not combusted at all,” the researchers wrote in their report.

To put it another way: Flaring isn’t a tool to mitigate climate change. Actually, it could be fueling it far more than previously believed.

The University of Michigan team reached their conclusions by sampling flaring data across three basins in the U.S. that host the lion’s share of gas flaring. Two of those basins are in Texas while another is located in North Dakota. Combined, they account for about 80 percent of all gas flaring within the U.S. energy sector.

So, while energy companies may have been stating the case for flaring logically and with confidence, there’s been one problem, says this research team: such data was outdated, and in fact, some of it dated as far back as the 1980s.

“Most flare studies have been conducted in laboratory or testing facility settings such that sensitivities to various parameters (e.g. flare tip design, fuel composition, etc.) can be assessed under controlled conditions,” Genevieve Plant, the lead author of the study, <a href="https://gizmodo.com/methane-flaring-estimates-fossil-fuel-production-1849602223" target="_blank">told Gizmodo’s Molly Taft in an email</a>. “There have been limited studies of ‘real-world’ flares such that it was not known if these controlled experiments captured flare performance under field operating conditions and over the lifetime of a flare.”

In other words, what may be tested and verified in a laboratory isn’t necessarily going to work in the field — and is often not even reported in the first place — with rather dubious results for meaningful climate action.

This research doesn’t only result in a black eye for energy companies and the government regulators tasked with ensuring they stay compliant. It’s a setback for public health as well. In a study published the same day as the University of Michigan team’s findings, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade2315" target="_blank">another set of researchers</a> from Brown University and the University of Arizona pointed out that around 500,000 people live within three miles of these three basins, and they are exposed to a “cocktail of co-pollutants that present risks of acute and/or chronic health impacts.”

Image credit: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/low-angle-view-of-illuminated-tower-against-sky-at-night-327041/" target="_blank">Pexels</a>

Gas Flaring Is Fueling a Far Larger Methane Problem That We Thought

It has become clear that more people want to do what they can to shop, drive, eat and live more sustainably. One roadblock, however, is finding information about certain sustainability data points like carbon emissions to make the best possible day-to-day decisions.

While we are more dependent than ever on our smartphones, the size of the screen doesn’t always make gleaning this information the most seamless process, and toggling between tabs on a device can still be a hassle. Plus, there are lingering questions over the reliability and veracity of the various sources of sustainability data that are readily available at our fingertips. Google, however, says users will have access to more of this data, quickly and easily.

During the company’s annual Search On event last week, the company revealed that certain Google searches will soon pair results with relevant sustainability data. For now, such information will fall <a href="https://blog.google/products/search/new-ways-to-make-more-sustainable-choices/" target="_blank">within three pillars</a>: clothing, food and transportation.

Focusing on secondhand clothing certainly makes sense, though the proliferation of “pre-owned” clothing on thrifting apps that originate from fast fashion brands are complicating the appeal of buying used apparel <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/gen-z-millennials-secondhand/749476" target="_blank">for younger consumers</a>. Nevertheless, Google has promised that consumers on the hunt for new additions to their wardrobe will be able to see what used clothing options are available within Google Search later this year — a solid effort when considering estimates suggest the global garment industry generates about <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/fashion-industry-carbon-unsustainable-environment-pollution/" target="_blank">10 percent</a> of the planet’s total emissions.

When it comes to making food choices, Google’s plans for sustainability data appear to be more robust. Soon (a timeframe that so far Google has not defined exactly), when searching for recipes like “chicken curry,” or “lentil tacos,” the company has promised that consumers will be able to quickly compare the emissions per pound of food with data from the United Nations.

Finally, the comparison of vehicles is where the upcoming sustainability features within Google’s search function could shine. Consumers researching leading automakers’ cars and trucks, including electric vehicles (EVs), will be able to quickly sort out information such as fuel and electricity costs per year. In the case of EVs, buyers will be able to compare range and charging speeds. Meanwhile, Google says it has <a href="https://blog.google/products/search/new-ways-to-make-more-sustainable-choices/" target="_blank">improved its maps and navigation features</a> so that drivers can find the most fuel-efficient routes for getting from points A to B.

“Search interest in terms like electric vehicles, solar energy and thrift stores reached new highs globally over the past year — suggesting that people are looking for ways to practice sustainability in their daily lives,” Hema Budaraju, the director of Google Search, wrote on the company's blog, <a href="https://blog.google/products/search/new-ways-to-make-more-sustainable-choices/" target="_blank">explaining</a> what is driving these upcoming changes.

Other changes Google has made to reflect its users’ increased interest in sustainability include <a href="https://www.blog.google/products/travel/find-more-sustainable-travel-options-with-new-search-tools/" target="_blank">filters for flights and hotels</a> so users can book more responsible options for their travel plans.

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/UWVJaDvXW_c" target="_blank">Solen Feyissa</a> via Unsplash

Soon, ‘Googling It’ Will Make Sustainability Data Fast and Easy

When Sheryl Lee Ralph won an Emmy this year for her role as Barbara Howard in Abbott Elementary, she lifted her voice in triumph, singing a verse from Dianne Reeves’ “Endangered Species.” She sang, “I am an endangered species/ But I sing no victim's song/ I am a woman; I am an artist/ And I know where my voice belongs.” During her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Z0DRd7E4s" target="_blank">post-win interview</a>, she encouraged young artists, “Find your voice, and put it where it belongs.”

Anyone who watched Ralph’s win can attest that it was one of the truly inspiring moments of the show, and not only because Ralph is only the <a href="https://people.com/tv/jackee-harry-celebrates-sheryl-lee-ralph-emmys-win-full-circle/" target="_blank">second Black woman</a> to win an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series. (Jackée Harry won two Emmys for that category in the ‘80s for her performance in NBC's 227.) Ralph was truly shocked to win — so shocked that she didn’t get out of her seat until she was helped up by those at her table.

Quinta Brunson, creator and star of Abbott Elementary, for which she also writes and directs, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGDCqNK9uUE" target="_blank">told Seth Meyers</a> that Ralph had been satisfied with her nomination and didn’t expect to win. Brunson speculates that as Ralph remained in her seat, she may have even thought the win was a dream. Yet, standing on that stage, she expressed one of the most inspiring and polished speeches of the night. “I could cry right now, because it was beautiful seeing her be the most herself in that moment too,” Brunson said.

<h2>Being seen by Hollywood, 45 years later</h2>

Ralph’s ability to wow an audience at the drop of a hat is a testament to her prowess as an actress. She has played Rita in Oliver &amp; Company, Dee Mitchell in Moesha and Deena Jones in Broadway’s Dreamgirls, for which she received a Tony nomination. In an <a href="https://people.com/music/2022-emmy-awards-all-about-endangered-species-song-sheryl-lee-ralph-sang/" target="_blank">interview with People</a> before the Emmys, Ralph recounted how, while working alongside Robert De Niro, he recognized her talent. And he advised her that Hollywood is not looking for the Black girls, so she had better wave that red flag and let them know she’s here, because she deserves to be seen. Ralph said, 30 years later, with an Emmy nomination, she felt seen.

Even through the industry’s gatekeeping, this year's Emmy night included some <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a41182277/black-women-won-big-2022-emmys/" target="_blank">notable triumphs</a> for Black women. Lizzo won her first Emmy for best competition series. Zendaya won a second Emmy for lead actress in a drama series. And Brunson won the Emmy for best writing for a comedy series. She is <a href="https://collider.com/quinta-brunson-second-black-woman-writing-comedy-series-emmy-win/" target="_blank">only the second</a> Black woman to win an Emmy in this category, and the first to win it without a writing partner.  

Firsts and seconds like these carry with them a shadow of disappointment, as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) expert <a href="https://www.kimcrowderconsulting.com/" target="_blank">Kim Crowder</a> told TriplePundit in an email. The fact that other Black women have not been recognized is a failure of the system. “Sheryl Lee Ralph had her acting debut 45 years ago, and only now has been recognized by the Emmys and is only the second Black woman to win in this category,” Crowder told us. “Her moment was beautiful, and she stood in her power during her acceptance speech. Sadly, this lack of recognition from Hollywood's most prestigious award entities is not uncommon.”

<h2>The state of DEI in film and TV</h2>

A <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/black-representation-in-film-and-tv-the-challenges-and-impact-of-increasing-diversity" target="_blank">report from McKinsey &amp; Co.</a> dives into the entertainment industry’s troubles representing Black women, and Black creators in general. “A complex, interdependent value chain filled with dozens of hidden barriers and other pain points reinforces the racial status quo in the industry," the report reads. It identifies about 40 pain points that Black professionals face as they navigate their careers in film and television. 

Black off-screen talent has, for the most part, been responsible for creating opportunities for other Black off-screen talent. In film, those projects tend to have smaller budgets, even though they secure higher earnings per dollar of budget. McKinsey calculates a $10 billion lost revenue opportunity if film and TV don’t correct their racial inequities — a 7 percent increase to the assessed baseline. 

The Academy of Television Arts &amp; Sciences, the group that puts on the annual Emmy Awards, has at least taken one notable step toward inclusion. In 2021, the Academy <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-09-08/2022-emmys-awards-nominations-television-academy-diversity" target="_blank">engaged a third party</a> to conduct a DEI-related survey of the organization. The results are staggering. While 92 percent of white male respondents said they felt positive about the academy’s diversity, only 46 percent of Black women and women of color did. The scores for “belonging and inclusion” were similar among Black women and women of color in the industry. 

The analysts were blunt in their assessment. “There appears to be a deep-seated resistance in the Academy’s culture to moving forward, changing the way things have always been done, and creating a new future for television," they wrote.  

<h2>Building checks and balances into the entertainment industry’s DEI efforts</h2>

Crowder emphasized the significance of simple actions and behaviors. Jimmy Kimmel’s joke, for example, where he was lying on stage during Brunson’s acceptance speech, crossed a line. “It demonstrated how those with privilege through race, gender and socioeconomic status miss why it is important not to center attention on themselves,” she told us.

McKinsey offers some steps of accountability for the entertainment industry. Within these recommendations are checks and balances, such as public transparency about goals, ties to executive bonuses and establishing an independent organization to promote diversity. Beyond the massive revenue boost, McKinsey notes that investing in change will help advance racial equity in broader society. If $10 billion isn’t a motivator, the potential of those externalities certainly should get the engines revving. 

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/8LlJNFLTEm0" target="_blank">Jake Blucker</a>/Unsplash

Will Black Women Remain ‘Endangered Species’ in the Entertainment Industry?

Physicians prescribe medication and design treatment and therapy plans for their patients based on the most recent clinical trial research available, much of which is utilized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to evaluate safety and efficacy. But how can a provider create equitable, evidence-driven patient plans when large subsets of the population — namely women and people of color — are not equitably represented in clinical research trials?

<a href="https://www.fda.gov/consumers/minority-health-and-health-equity/clinical-trial-diversity" target="_blank">Across the healthcare landscape</a> in the United States, the quality of care for diverse populations is severely hindered when those same diverse populations are excluded from clinical trials. This absence of representation can create major gaps in treatment. Clinical trials that disproportionately test their products on white males, for example, run the risk of creating a product that may not serve the rest of the patient population as effectively. 

Medical technology company <a href="https://www.bostonscientific.com/en-US/Home.html" target="_blank">Boston Scientific</a> is among the organizations working to reverse the under-representation of women and people of color, specifically Black patients, in clinical trials. Its aptly named <a href="https://www.knowyourhealth.com/en-US/About-Close-the-Gap.html" target="_blank">Close the Gap</a> program aims to level the medical playing field. The holistic program touches many pain points to address health inequities, but Boston Scientific Medical Director Dr. Paul Underwood said proper representation in clinical trials is not to be overlooked.

“By promoting clinical research in diverse communities, you’re promoting a higher quality of care in those communities as well,” Dr. Underwood told TriplePundit. “Clinical research allows us to look at practice patterns and understand who’s being treated and who’s not being treated.”

The Phoenix-based clinical physician-turned-medical director said understanding the demographics and epidemiology of patients in a particular ZIP code, for example, can prove to be an extremely useful tool to monitor if the patients enrolling in clinical trials are representative of the populations in that location. 

The approach Boston Scientific has taken through Close the Gap has evolved as the team builds on nearly 20 years of progress. Close the Gap’s team of medical professionals and health equity experts now work directly with clinical teams with the aim of creating a roadmap for achieving diversity in clinical trials, Dr. Underwood said. They’ve built dashboards and datasets with fields for demographic information. As patients are enrolled into trials, Boston Scientific researchers can see this data in real time to understand how sites are progressing with enrolling diverse populations. 

The company is not starting from scratch. Back in 2017, the Boston Scientific-sponsored <a href="https://news.bostonscientific.com/2017-05-12-New-Data-from-PLATINUM-Diversity-Study-Presented-at-SCAI-2017-Provide-Important-Insights-Beyond-Traditional-Clinically-Reported-Endpoints" target="_blank">Platinum Diversity Trial</a> sought to better understand how social, clinical, behavioral, and economic determinants affect quality of care and health outcomes for patients with coronary artery disease. Whereas clinical trials in cardiology have a track record of featuring disproportionately low numbers of women and people of color, the first-of-its-kind Platinum Diversity exclusively studied women and people of color. The study monitored 1,501 patients across 52 sites representing understudied populations, with initial findings released in 2017. "The most vulnerable populations who are at the greatest risk of heart disease are the ones who are being studied in clinical trials the least,” Dr. Underwood, who was part of the study team, said at the time — and despite recent progress, the overall sentiment remains true today. 

More recently, the company launched the ELEGANCE study, an international patient registry and post-market clinical study aiming to enroll no less than 40 percent women and 40 percent underrepresented minorities — specifically Black and Hispanic patients — diagnosed with peripheral artery disease.

<h2>Barriers to equity in clinical trials</h2>

Medical companies working toward FDA approval of therapies may point to longer trials due to lengthy recruitment periods to assure diversity in the research. But the Platinum Diversity trial myth-busts the notion that recruiting diverse patients prolongs the research process, Dr. Underwood said. On the contrary, he mentioned the thoughtful investigators participating in the trial led to faster recruitment of patients. 

Plainly, diverse populations are often omitted from clinical trials because they are not asked to participate. Whether it’s explicit or implicit bias, women and people of color are too often kept on the sidelines. For example, studies show that when both white and Black patients are asked to participate in a trial, each group’s acceptance rate stands at roughly 50 percent. The difference, of course, is that Black patients are less likely to be asked to join in the first place, Dr. Carmen Guerra, vice chair of diversity and inclusion in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medicine, <a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/analysis/clinical-trial-diversity-its-time-to-quit-talking-and-start-doing/" target="_blank">recently told</a> Clinical Trials Arena.

In the medical field, bias can also be a two-way street — in other words, participation from Black people and other people of color may be lower because of distrust in the medical system stemming from <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMpv2035827" target="_blank">historic and modern-day</a> racism and inequities seen in the industry. Close the Gap seeks to ameliorate that distrust through everyday awareness raising. Further, the program’s team of medical professionals and health equity experts seek to diversify not only their patient populations, but also the physicians they partner with, the investigators they recruit, and ancillary services like steering committees and core labs. Diversity at every step can help promote a comfortable space for people of color to participate in trials. 

<h2>A changing tide: “More eyes looking”</h2>

Despite wreaking worldwide devastation, the COVID-19 pandemic was most sharply felt in the United States by communities of color. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html" target="_blank">Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)</a> highlight that Black or African American, Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native people experienced higher rates of COVID-19-related hospitalization and death compared with white populations. This revelation is yet another reminder that health inequities remain prominent today — and thankfully it is attracting more attention.

For his part, Dr. Underwood said he’s seen a “tremendous amount of progress” made in closing the health disparity gap — and he hopes the disparities revealed through the pandemic can help spur more urgent change.

“Now that we have more eyes looking at it and more heads thinking about it, we have a much greater chance of having a meaningful impact than perhaps in the past,” he said.

If companies remain unconvinced of the medical benefits clinical trial diversity can reap for all populations, the financial incentives should grab their attention. Beyond providing more equitable care and treatment options it’s just good business, Dr. Underwood said. “Everybody sees that having diversity is an advantage,” he told us. “Companies that are successful at figuring this out will have a greater impact on the marketplace than those that don’t.”

After all, the FDA through the 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (<a href="https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/selected-amendments-fdc-act/food-and-drug-administration-safety-and-innovation-act-fdasia" target="_blank">FDASIA</a>) has signaled its prioritization of clinical trial diversity (though the law recommends diversity as opposed to requiring it). If a company can devise a strategy to promote and enhance diverse enrollment, the FDA may be less likely to delay product approval due to inadequate data representation. 

Though Dr. Underwood said he misses caring for patients one-on-one, he calls his transition from practicing cardiologist to medical director “fantastic.” He feels that he, and his company, have a responsibility for people “anywhere in the world,” not just those in his waiting room. “We must challenge ourselves to always be mindful of what can we do as a company to improve diversity, so we can reach all of the people who may have the illness,” he said.  

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

Image courtesy of Boston Scientific

Why Clinical Trial Diversity is So Important — and What the Healthcare Sector Can Do

This week the <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/" target="_blank">Science-Based Targets initiative</a> (SBTi) launched what it's calling the world's first emissions targets standard for farming, forestry and other kinds of land use. Companies in the forest, land and agriculture sectors must pledge to end deforestation by 2025 to have their targets certified as science-based under <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/sectors/forest-land-and-agriculture" target="_blank">the new guidance</a>. They must also commit to reducing their overall emissions and using land-based solutions to sequester carbon. These sectors are responsible for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X21000699" target="_blank">22 percent</a> of global greenhouse gas emissions, the largest sector emitter after energy.  
  
Until now, few companies accounted for land-based emissions in their science-based targets or climate disclosures, largely due to the lack of available guidance. The new SBTi guidance provides land-intensive businesses with the carbon accounting tools necessary to help prevent some of the catastrophic impacts of climate change. 

TriplePundit spoke with Martha Stevenson, senior director of strategy and research at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and senior advisor for the SBTi, about what makes up the new standard and what business leaders can expect.

“We break down the emissions into two categories: land use change and land management," she explained. "Land use change includes clearing forests and grasslands for new pasture or plantations, and that accounts for 11 percent of emissions globally. Land management, on the other hand, includes the management of livestock, feed, methane, manure, fertilizer application and runoff. It also includes tractors and other farm and forestry equipment.”

Stopping deforestation and land-use change is critical to reducing emissions and slowing climate change, Stevenson said. “Soils could be storing carbons based on a number of things, like how regenerative the land management practices are or releasing carbon if you have significant fire or disease, and those numbers can shift year over year," she told us. 

Christa Anderson, director at WWF and co-lead of the SBTi land-use project, agreed. “The next few years are critical in our efforts to address the climate crisis, and this guidance addresses 22 percent of global emissions that have largely been ignored to date," she told us. "The food, land and agriculture sector has the potential to both cut emissions and enhance carbon sinks at the pace to keep the goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.”

Certain land-intensive companies that have already committed to science-based targets will be required by SBTi to comply with the new land-use guidelines. Companies that have set emissions reduction targets with SBTi that are also within land-intensive sectors (e.g., food and forestry) or those with land-related emissions that contribute 20 percent or more of their overall emissions will now be required to set targets in accordance with the new standard. 

When asked about the tangible practices that can be immediately implemented to slow emissions, Stevenson said: “The most important thing is to stop land use change. This is what we need most immediately to achieve a 1.5-degree increase in global temperatures. We have to do this rapidly.”

There's also a compelling business case for players in land-intensive sectors to account for their impacts and begin to reduce them. “This is the first time that the companies will be required to set targets from forestry and ag, but a lot of the practices are good for soil health anyway. A lot of the practices are win-wins," Stevenson said. 

The new guidelines provide users with a number of mitigation pathways, most of which are related to deforestation. Additionally, companies are required to both reduce and remove carbon. The removals do not function as offsets, because the companies must also significantly reduce carbon emissions and improve their land-based carbon sinks. The guidance is not prescriptive of how a company removes and reduces carbon, but it does provide strict guidelines regarding how carbon removals can be counted. Stevenson noted that it is critical that carbon accounting is transparent and fair for farmers, foresters and other land-based business operators, and that their rights and opportunities are respected. 

 Through the new guidance, SBTi is providing land-intensive companies tools with which to implement climate-smart practices and offering these companies science-based pathways for cutting emissions to ensure that global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

SBTi Launches New Standard for Food and Forestry

The nine-to-five in-office experience as some once knew it likely isn’t coming back — at least not for five days a week. Employees’ expectations about work have changed, enabled by technology, sparked by the pandemic and accelerated by a renewed value of time for personal passions that once went to long commutes and in-person obligations. As the workforce transforms, so too should our ways of fostering mentorship.

Traditionally, in-person connectivity allowed people to meet with peers and leaders in the workplace. In my experience, fruitful mentorship has come from meaningful and transparent communication, and experiences that made me feel a true sense of belonging in the workplace. While I’d like to believe that my drive and intelligence alone helped me succeed, I know that my mentors and sponsors were instrumental in getting my foot in the door and that they played a huge role in my success throughout my career.

In today’s virtual environments, connectivity can feel more challenging than ever as it can be harder to foster emotional transparency and trust. To account for that, the way we cultivate coaching, mentorship and sponsorship will need to change.

<h2>How companies can foster mentoring</h2>

The first step is to acknowledge that coaching, mentorship and sponsorship are meant to be different. A coach helps a person succeed in their day-to-day role to help them achieve their career goals, while a mentor shares their own experience and learnings to help someone develop — the key is to cultivate the right mentorship at the right time in a person's career. And different still is sponsorship, where someone in a position of power deliberately opens doors and advocates for opportunities and career progression for those they sponsor.

In my own experience, coaching and mentorship at PwC have been integral for not only my own development but also for building on the firm's culture of belonging. I’ve seen the firm create strategies for intentional support, and that doesn’t happen overnight. It requires accountability and leadership-driven initiatives across all levels of career progress. Acknowledging that societal, systemic inequities have created an uneven playing field for achievement is also important. Further, it requires understanding that mentees from different backgrounds need different things from their mentors to succeed.

Deliberate planning and programming can help mitigate that. PwC’s <a href="https://fisher.osu.edu/news/thrive-introducing-underrepresented-students-careers-accounting" target="_blank">Thrive initiative</a> guides entry-level and experienced Black and Latinx associates through an innovative, two-year experience of workshops, networking and leadership engagement. At the experienced level, Enrich is designed to help women and racially/ethnically diverse employees identify additional skills and cultivate mentor relationships that can help them toward the journey of becoming a partner, the owners and leaders who drive and oversee the firm’s strategy. In addition to the benefits to mentees, both programs help reinforce to mentors the importance of taking the extra step to become sponsors. 

PwC has also created pathways beyond the firm by collaborating with more than 2,200 leaders across various industries and organizations. For example, <a href="https://www.ceoaction.com" target="_blank">CEO Action for Diversity &amp; Inclusion</a> launched a <a href="https://www.ceoaction.com/media/press-releases/2022/ceo-action-for-diversity-inclusion-introduces-mentoring-initiative-for-diverse-executives/" target="_blank">first-of-its-kind</a> mentorship initiative in March 2022 that brings C-suite mentors and senior, diverse leaders from signatory organizations together to help navigate the many factors that play into professional advancement.

PwC’s strategy enables employees to receive mentorship and coaching throughout their career journeys that set them up for success.  

<h2>Challenges and opportunities in the new workplace</h2>

People thrive when their daily experience matches their personal values — a balanced workload, flexibility, a sense of purpose and belonging and meaningful relationships. But remote work has made it harder for people to develop those connections. What can companies do to cultivate relationship building while navigating the siloed nature of remote work? 

Here are some ideas:

<ul><li>Deliberate teaming: Fostering more opportunities for employees and teams to bond is vital to keeping the doors for mentorship open, especially given the nature of remote work.</li>
	<li>Intentional referrals: Sponsors can use their influence to provide opportunities for mentees by referring them to programs they could not otherwise access.</li>
	<li>Inclusion networks: Creating spaces for people of shared backgrounds or interests to organically connect can help create strong relationships.  </li>
	<li>Cross-company mentorship: Working with external companies to pair mentees with leaders from different organizations, such as the initiative launched by CEO Action for Diversity &amp; Inclusion, can expand networking circles.</li>
	<li>Expanded networks: Creating opportunities for informal gatherings can be a great way to get various levels of staff together and helps them get visibility with other teams or leaders they wouldn’t necessarily work with in their day-to-day. </li>
</ul><h2>The future of mentorship</h2>

A good mentor experience can be a boost for employees to get them from where they are on their career journeys, to the ultimate destination they aspire to reach. Leadership development is powerful, but when it is combined with intentional coaching, mentorship and sponsorship, we can change outcomes at dramatically higher rates. 

Image credits: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@surface" target="_blank">Surface</a>/Unsplash

Mentorship in a Virtual World: Why You Need It and How Companies Can Provide It

"There is no future for us in fossil fuels." There’s nothing trite about these words uttered by Samoan climate activist <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/global-citizen-prize-winner-brianna-fruean/" target="_blank">Brianna Fruean</a>. Whole countries are at risk of being <a href="https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/36859/20220329/countries-disappear-due-rising-sea-level-will-homeland-survive-disaster.htm" target="_blank">swallowed by rising seas</a> if swift and drastic action isn’t taken to slow the climate crisis. One of these nations — the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu — has stepped forward to hold the rest of the world accountable by petitioning for a non-proliferation treaty on fossil fuels.

Some may consider it a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/24/vanuatu-makes-bold-call-for-global-treaty-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels" target="_blank">bold request</a> on the part of a country with a population <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/vanuatu-population/" target="_blank">just over 320,000</a> and <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/vanuatu-gdp/" target="_blank">less than a billion</a> (USD) in annual gross domestic product. But by continuing business-as-usual, the world’s carbon super-producers are sentencing <a href="https://www.activesustainability.com/climate-change/countries-risk-disappearing-climate-change/" target="_blank">small island developing states</a> like Vanuatu to annihilation.

The islands of the South Pacific are particularly vulnerable to rising seas due to their low-lying positions. Kiribati, an atoll which lies less than two meters above sea level, is already <a href="https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/kiribati-climate-change" target="_blank">"sinking" into the ocean</a> and is projected to be the first country to disappear completely. Likewise, their neighbors in Samoa, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands and more are facing imminent destruction. None of these countries contribute greenhouse gases proportionate to the <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/climate-change-greenhouse-gases/750301" target="_blank">Big Five</a> (the United States, China, Russia, India and Brazil), yet they stand to pay the ultimate price for climate change.

Together, the islands of the South Pacific contribute <a href="https://beta.nsf.gov/science-matters/pacific-islands-front-line-battle-against-climate-change" target="_blank">a mere 0.03 percent</a> of global greenhouse gas emissions. On its own, Vanuatu is already considered <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/tiny-island-nation-lays-out-big-plans-for-climate-change/" target="_blank">carbon negative</a> as its forests and and oceans sink far more carbon than it produces. But the tiny nation isn’t stopping there — its goals include converting to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vanuatu-climate-action-pollution-reduction.html" target="_blank">100 percent renewable electricity by 2030</a> with the ultimate goal of <a href="https://www.vanuatuicj.com/NDC" target="_blank">phasing out</a> almost all fossil fuels on the islands.

“We call for the development of a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty to phase down coal, oil and gas production in line with 1.5C and enable a global just transition for every worker, community and nation with fossil fuel dependence,” Nikenike Vurobaravu, the president of Vanuatu, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/24/vanuatu-makes-bold-call-for-global-treaty-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels" target="_blank">told the U.N. General Assembly</a> on Saturday, referring to the global push to cap temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="Vanuatu outdoor market" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a4726d30-494c-4b7e-9706-eaf8e4bea7e2" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Vanuatu%20outdoor%20market.jpg" width="1500" height="904" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>An outdoor market in Port Vila, Vanuatu.</figcaption></figure>Vurobaravu also asked that the International Court of Justice give an opinion on whether there is a legal obligation to safeguard current and future generations from the climate crisis. While this request won’t likely generate restitution for the damage that has already been done, the hope is that it will amplify calls for help from countries stricken by climate disaster as well as bolster lawsuits on behalf of those seeking climate justice.

Michael Poland, the campaign director for the non-proliferation treaty, spoke with <a href="https://climatechangenews.com/2022/09/23/vanuatu-calls-fossil-fuel-non-proliferation-treaty-un-general-assembly/" target="_blank">Climate Home News</a>, saying: “Vanuatu has now built a growing coalition of more than 80 nations who are backing their call for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. This initiative, and their call for a fossil fuel treaty, is part of their efforts in pushing for governments to pursue all legal avenues possible towards climate justice.” More than 65 cities and other governments are backing the treaty so far, as is the World Health Organization and, surprisingly, the Vatican.

Average sea levels rose 19 centimeters between 1901 and 2010, much of it due to melting sea ice in the Arctic. At the current rate of emissions, oceans are expected to rise <a href="https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/climate-change" target="_blank">another 24 to 30 centimeters by 2065</a> and up to 63 centimeters by the end of the century. Many parts of Kiribati will be <a href="https://cop23.com.fj/kiribati/#:~:text=For%20Kiribati%E2%80%94a%20Pacific%20archipelago,could%20be%20underwater%20by%202050." target="_blank">gone by 2050</a>. There is little time to act if Vanuatu and the islands of the South Pacific are going to be preserved.

Activist Brianna Fruean <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/24/vanuatu-makes-bold-call-for-global-treaty-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels" target="_blank">spoke to The Guardian</a> in response to the proposed treaty. “They’ve heard the call from our youth that there’s no future for us in fossil fuels and listened. It’s time for other world leaders to do the same.” <a href="https://350.org/pacific/" target="_blank">Kalo Afeaki</a>, an activist based out of New Zealand, echoed her sentiment, also via The Guardian: “We need countries to be bold because we have run out of time. The future scares me … we need countries to endorse the fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty and we need them to do so now.”

Image credits: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/YkMC1mqegTw" target="_blank">Monika MG</a> and <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/m1Pk_ZqcG-Y" target="_blank">Adli Wahid</a> via Unsplash

Island Nation of Vanuatu Pushes for a Non-Proliferation Treaty on Fossil Fuels

September 29 is the U.N.’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss &amp; Waste. It’s an important day of visibility for an issue at the heart of the climate crisis: food waste is responsible for 8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, and as a country would be the third largest emitter behind the U.S. and China. It’s a day of hope: this year has seen a boom of food tech investment, along with noble waste reduction commitments from a host of government organizations, retailers, and food producers.

There are multiple angles from which to attack the food waste problem, with the most attention going to reuse and rescue (diverting or upcycling food that is about to go to waste). The most important focus area for food waste, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/recycle/preventing-wasted-food-home" target="_blank">according to the EPA</a>, is prevention – and in that department, industry has its work cut out. 

<h2>Want to prevent food waste? Start with better data.</h2>

Preventing food waste might sound like a no-brainer. Not only does it meet sustainability goals, but it also helps the bottom line: a <a href="https://champions123.org/publication/business-case-reducing-food-loss-and-waste" target="_blank">study found that</a> for every dollar retailers invested in food waste reduction, they received a 5-fold return. Both retailers and brands can prevent waste with better forecasting, streamlined operations, and increased sell-through of food products. But these initiatives require new ways of doing business: namely, transparency and collaboration among retailers, suppliers, and partners. And, that means solving the data problem.

Actionable data is required to figure out new tactics at all levels of the food waste challenge, including establishing baselines for improvement, identifying hotspots that need action, monitoring progress, and sharing success stories. Using data, retailers can explore shrink by department and stores – finding, for instance, that waste is particularly prevalent in low sales volume departments like <a href="https://pacificcoastcollaborative.org/food-waste/" target="_blank">prepared foods and bakery</a>. Solutions might include improved ordering, store layouts that increase product turnover, or discounts on food that is close to its expiration date. But most companies in food retail don’t yet have easy access to this information.

"The biggest obstacle we've seen to system wide collaboration to reduce food waste is the lack of a structured, formalized process for data reporting and sharing, one that is simple and scalable for food businesses. But now voluntary agreements like the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment in the U.S. and other similar collaborations around the world – where data are shared in a transparent, pre-competitive format – are helping to overcome this, allowing businesses to work together to share best practices and insights that benefit their entire industry," - Jackie Suggitt, Director of Capital, Innovation &amp; Engagement at ReFED.

<h2>Why food waste has a data problem</h2>

The reality is, being data-driven isn’t easy without the right tools in place. Data obstacles plaguing the retail industry include:

Implementation challenges: There is no easy way for retailers to implement waste reporting across all their stores, warehouses, and distribution centers. Data is spread out, there’s no clear playbook for collecting it, and reporting is onerous. These challenges are even harder on smaller retailers with fewer resources.

Organizational challenges: Most retail organizations lack clear ownership over food waste reporting. And even if information is collected, there’s no incentive to share it externally, with lingering skepticism that this might result in a negative public image or give away competitive secrets.

Standardization challenges: It may sound like a small detail, but standardization is arguably the biggest data challenge of all. Every retailer reports food waste with their own units (from dollars to pounds to cases) and at their own pace (often annually, which isn’t frequent enough). Thich makes aggregating data to serve the broader industry nearly impossible.

<h2>Tech companies and nonprofits can work together to close the data gap</h2>

Here’s the good news: new technologies and innovative solutions have arrived to solve the enormous problem of data capture, standardization, and sharing. 

There must be public private partnership between retailers, nonprofits, and solutions providers to collaborate and share knowledge around reducing waste. Additional working groups can be formed to encourage pre-competitive data sharing amongst groups of retailers and CPGs, facilitating transparency and safely overcoming competitive concerns.

Finally, the industry must create international standards around food waste measurement and reporting. The <a href="https://flwprotocol.org/" target="_blank">Food Loss and Waste Protocol</a> is a standard used to calculate waste that is gaining traction as a singular playbook across the industry. The Food Waste Policy Action Plan, <a href="https://foodwasteactionplan.org/" target="_blank">a partnership between organizations</a> like the NRDC, Harvard Food and Law Policy Clinic, WWF, and others, have advocated for international standards for date labeling, another thorny issue where inconsistencies can lead to wasted food.

The causes (and solutions) of food waste are not simple. Technology that enables greater visibility and transparency, aligned with programs to encourage collaboration industry-wide, can help solve one of the biggest unsolved threats to the climate today.

Interested in having your voice heard on 3p? Contact us at <a href="mailto:editorial@3BLMedia.com?subject=3p%20guest%20article%20pitch">editorial@3BLMedia.com</a> and pitch your idea for a guest article to us. 
  Image credit: <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/supermarket-stalls-coolers-market-949913/" target="_blank">ElasticComputeFarm</a> via Pixabay

Data Transparency: The Missing Link in Tackling Global Food Waste

The U.S. still struggles to shake off its stubborn racial wealth gap, one that is most apparent when contrasting the total amount of assets owned by Black and white families. On average, Black families across the U.S. have only <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/the-economic-state-of-Black-america-what-is-and-what-could-be" target="_blank">one-eighth the wealth</a> when compared to white families, and that gap has actually <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/wealth-inequality-black-families-90-percent-less-wealth-than-white-families-united-states.html" target="_blank">widened</a> in recent years. Meanwhile, it has been an ongoing challenge for leaders who support and fund programs that could boost Black families’ ability to build intergenerational wealth. The problem? Much of the data available that could help address this wealth disparity is incomplete or long outdated. 

The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/07/black-white-wealth-gap-inheritance/565640/" target="_blank">impacts</a> of the racial wealth gap in the U.S. are <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/black-families-intergenerational-wealth-gap/707026" target="_blank">devastating</a>. To start, family wealth provides economic cushions at times of need. Having that access to cash (or even a home equity line) can help a family through a rough economic patch. Wealth allows for investments in real estate and passive income streams such as equities, and the availability of such funds can pay for a child’s education or unexpected medical bills without turning to burdensome loans.

To that end, the nonprofit <a href="https://prosperitynow.org/" target="_blank">Prosperity Now</a> has launched a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ <a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/founders-projects/the-greenwood-initiative/" target="_blank">Greenwood Initiative</a>, a program focused on building wealth for Black families while taking on the lack of investment in Black communities throughout the U.S.

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Key to this partnership is the <a href="https://blackwealthdata.org/" target="_blank">Black Wealth Data Center</a> (BWDC), an initiative that seeks to narrow the racial wealth gap by providing relevant, nonpartisan, evidence-based information to policymakers and other leaders who are determined to design programs that could improve racial equity.

Plans for the BWDC includes the <a href="https://blackwealthdata.org/explore/intro" target="_blank">hosting of data sets</a> with information on assets, debt, education, employment, home ownership and business ownership. With strong, relevant and reliable data, the BWDC can function as a resource for advocates and leaders to build better and evidence-based policymaking and investment choices — thereby chipping away at the wealth gap lingering across U.S. states and local communities.

“At Prosperity Now, we know firsthand that reversing centuries of economic inequities takes intentional, coordinated efforts aimed at dismantling structures that exclude people and rebuilding our economy from the ground up," Gary Cunningham, CEO and president of Prosperity Now, told TriplePundit in an email. "The BWDC underscores the importance of democratizing data, because the most effective solutions come from those most closely impacted by injustice. The Black Wealth Data Center is a significant advance for the field as it will help us unearth new ways to build wealth in Black families and ensure that we are using the most robust information and tools to create programs and policies that drive toward racial wealth equity,”

Image credit: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/family-having-dinner-and-celebrating-4262173/" target="_blank">August de Richelieu</a> via Pexels

New Data Center Offers Policymakers the Tools to Bridge the U.S. Wealth Gap

Just a few months ago, the 2022 midterm elections were shaping up as a classic battle between the usual conventions of Republican and Democratic politics. However, the “capitalism-versus-socialism” formula long favored by the right has shifted in recent weeks. The battleground has now moved on to the nature of corporate citizenship itself. House Republicans' new “Commitment to America” agenda, which <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a41341631/kevin-mccarthy-agenda-leak/" target="_blank">leaked</a> ahead of its planned release last week, aims to attract Republican voters partly by stripping the ESG and corporate social responsibility models down to their bones.

<h2>ESG and DEI programs are the targets</h2>

One leading element of the corporate social responsibility model is ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, in which financial institutions <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/esg-reporting-disney/745516" target="_blank">gravitate toward businesses</a> that demonstrate an ability to manage risks and opportunities in the era of climate change and social progress in the U.S. and globally.

Another important feature consists of corporate DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs. Through DEI programs, business leaders recognize that bottom-line benefits follow a workforce that reflects the diverse experiences of U.S. workers, executives, customers and clients, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/dei-challenge-office/730366" target="_blank">along with communities</a> beyond the office walls.

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The corporate social responsibility model does many things, but there is one thing it clearly does not do. It does not support a political party that has elevated the politics of race and gender supremacy to the highest level of elected office in the U.S. Partisan, ad hominem attacks on ESG and DEI programs were all but certain to increase after former President Donald Trump was elected to office in 2016, and they did.

<h2>A clear line from former President Trump to the 2022 midterms</h2>

Former President Trump won election in 2016 <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/ashes-trump-presidency/707891" target="_blank">by appealing to white supremacists</a>. He continued to govern from that platform after taking office, especially through immigration policies that <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2017/97-top-tech-companies-line-against-trump/19896" target="_blank">challenged business leaders</a> to stand up for Muslims and other minorities. Trump also began to bolster white domestic terrorist organizations with the support of the presidency, setting the stage for dozens of murders <a href="https://www.adl.org/blog/two-years-ago-they-marched-in-charlottesville-where-are-they-now" target="_blank">attributed to racial hatred</a> over the next two years and, ultimately, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/corporations-bloodless-coup/724596" target="_blank">the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021</a>.

As the 2020 campaign season approached the crucial months of September and October, Trump also took aim more specifically at the corporate social responsibility movement, leading his party in a charge <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/diversity-training-red-scare/706151" target="_blank">against diversity training</a>.

That strategy failed, but Trump continues to hold a firm grip on the Republican Party.

His <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/red-alert-pride-month-attacks/747801" target="_blank">influence on white supremacist organizations</a> also continues to ripple out in state and local politics, taking a variety of forms that undermine ESG and DEI principles. Some examples are the <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/corporations-federal-lgbtq-rights/722111" target="_blank">legally sanctioned harassment of LGBTQ children and their families</a>, book bans that focus on minority, LGBTQ and women authors, the fostering of a false scare over the <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/critical-race-theory-alec/725786" target="_blank">teaching of critical race theory</a>, and the amplification of <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/texas-blackrock-fossil-energy/754656" target="_blank">the “woke capitalism” canard</a> against a prominent Jewish financier. 

Considering the connection between <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/dei-bystander-effect-court-stacking/744056" target="_blank">misogyny and white supremacist politics</a>, it is also no surprise that Republican-led states jumped on the opportunity to impose new restrictions on abortion following the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dobbs case. Millions of U.S. women now find <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/dobbs-pregnant-people/750141" target="_blank">their health and safety in jeopardy</a>, and may face legal consequences along with their employers and health workers, after the Dobbs decision upended 50 years of protections for pregnant and pregnancy-capable people.

<h2>Corporate leaders need to look in the mirror</h2>

These existential threats to the corporate social responsibility model are at least <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/abortion-business-leaders/749556" target="_blank">partly the fault of business leaders</a> who have provided financial support to extremist candidates over the years.

Corporate support for right wing “bill mills” like the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council has withered over the years. However, <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/promises-kept-the-companies-not-funding-sedition/" target="_blank">even after the failed insurrection</a> of Jan. 6, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/pride-month-political-donations/724241" target="_blank">some U.S. corporations </a>have continued to <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/obbying-full-pride-month/746486" target="_blank">provide funds to</a> Republican candidates and office holders who appeal to misogynists and white supremacists.

Last week, for example, independent journalist Judd Legum reported that AT&amp;T, Google and Cigna were among the corporations providing funds to members of Congress <a href="https://popular.info/p/these-corporations-are-backing-the" target="_blank">who support a national abortion ban</a>, alongside Home Depot, Koch Industries and more than three dozen others.

<h2>‘Commitment to America:’ The call is coming from inside the house</h2>

Corporate support for Republican office holders has come back to bite them long after Trump lost the 2020 election, and they are badly mistaken if they think this chapter in U.S. political history is closed.

Leading Republicans in Congress made that clear earlier this month, when U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) laid the groundwork for a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/09/13/lindsey-graham-introduces-national-abortion-ban-heres-what-it-would-do/?sh=5f1fbba26796" target="_blank">national abortion ban</a>. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) followed up last week with the introduction of his party’s new “Commitment to America” platform.

It is easy to make fun of McCarthy’s media rollout, which <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a41357812/kevin-mccarthy-commitment-to-america/" target="_blank">featured a fake quote</a> attributed to Abraham Lincoln along with stock images from a Russian website. However, there is nothing funny about the document. It is a summary of the key legal and rhetorical daggers thrown against corporate social responsibility over the past two years, couched in the conventional language of Republican politics.

<h2>The 'Commitment to America' and the QAnon conspiracy</h2>

In fact, the Commitment to America agenda includes lines that echo the wild ramblings of the off-the-rails but influential QAnon conspiracy theory. That is probably no accident. QAnon began to merge with support for the former president during his time in office. The connection was evident in the Jan. 6 insurrection. In recent weeks, Trump himself has drawn QAnon followers <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/politics/qanon-fans-donald-trump/index.html" target="_blank">more aggressively</a> into his circle of influence, and by extension, the Republican Party.

QAnon’s depiction of an elite group that exercises behind-the-scene control over world affairs dovetails neatly with the Commitment to America. Through that lens, the Commitment to America is nothing more than a dressed-up version of QAnon conspiracies, hiding behind a generous helping of the usual economic conservatism and law-and-order <a href="https://twitter.com/metzgov/status/1572649572744429568?s=20&amp;t=25fFyh_HUkwM7alO3Stl9w" target="_blank">conventions of Republican policies</a>.

The official <a href="https://twitter.com/metzgov/status/1572649572744429568?s=20&amp;t=25fFyh_HUkwM7alO3Stl9w" target="_blank">one-page version of the document</a> (available on Twitter and elsewhere) is front-loaded with a long list of items that reflect at least nominally conventional Republican policies. However, those who continue reading past the first two sections will find echoes of the QAnon appeal under the third heading, “A Future That’s Built on Freedom.”

By freedom, they mean freedom from the tenets of ESG investing, corporate DEI programs, and laws that protect minorities, women and the LGBTQ community from repression. The “Freedom” section includes a validation of extremists who have been disrupting school board meetings, advocating for book bans and seeking to censor lessons that fail to meet the white supremacist platform, with these words: “Advance the Parents’ <a href="https://www.republicanleader.gov/parents-bill-of-rights/" target="_blank">Bill of Rights</a>…and expand parental choice so over a million more students can receive the education their parents know is best.”

Another item validates the anti-transgender movement with these words: “Defend fairness by ensuring that only women can compete in women’s sports.” Another item covers the entire gamut of racism and misogyny as expressed in abortion bans, hate speech and white supremacy, with these words: “Uphold free speech, protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers, guarantee religious freedom, and safeguard the Second Amendment.” Still another item validates election deniers, including those seeking to disrupt local elections offices, with these words: “…increase accountability in the election process through voter ID, accurate voter rolls, and observer access.”

The Commitment to America also promises to “stop companies from putting politics ahead of people,” which apparently covers the entirety of the corporate social responsibility movement.

The fierce blowback against the new abortion bans could ultimately help swing the needle against extremism on Election Day.

However, business leaders would be wise not to sit by while advocates for the principles of corporate citizenship and ESG do all the heavy lifting. Their votes might not be enough.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Os2kIaebMW8" target="_blank">Alejandro Barba</a> via Unsplash

The ESG Movement Has the Numbers, But ‘Commitment to America’ Might Have the Voters

As a new school season kicks off, educators, students, parents and schools are still battling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Teachers are being stretched thread-thin as they push to cope with a large number of students who are behind academically and struggling with challenges such as mental health issues and food insecurity. The rising cost of goods is putting further strain on families, with 40 percent of respondents in a recent survey saying they’re <a href="https://www.adweek.com/commerce/inflation-back-to-school-shopping-budgets/" target="_blank">stressed about the money they will spend</a> on back-to-school shopping — up from 28 percent in 2021. 

To take stock of the present need, <a href="https://www.adoptaclassroom.org/" target="_blank">AdoptAClassroom.org</a> <a href="https://www.adoptaclassroom.org/2022/04/12/state-of-teaching-statistics-2022/" target="_blank">surveyed</a> 4,665 teachers who instruct students from pre-Kindergarten through high school at public, private and charter schools. Not surprisingly, teachers reported shouldering more responsibilities and relying more on their own resources to meet students’ needs.

Eighty-one percent of teachers reported a heavier workload during the last school year, while 80 percent said they were spending more time addressing students’ mental health needs. Another 71 percent reported spending more of their own money on supplies for their classrooms, and 69 percent said they were devoting more time to helping students catch up academically. 

<h2>Teachers increasingly shoulder emotional and financial burdens in the classroom, but businesses can help</h2>

Studies have shown that about 96 percent of teachers purchase supplies for their students, spending an average of $750 annually. Because of academic deficits tied to the pandemic, 78 percent of teachers reported needing more classroom supplies.

The pandemic also continues to take its toll on families, and 92 percent of classrooms have students whose parents cannot afford to purchase school supplies, according to AdoptAClassroom.org’s study.

The Minnesota nonprofit has been providing funding for school supplies to classrooms and families in need since 1998. <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/return-school-pandemic/727466" target="_blank">Educators</a> can register on AdoptAClassroom.org’s website and receive funding in several ways: through individual donations, crowdfunding, corporate sponsor donations or by applying for AdoptaClassroom.org’s Spotlight funds. 

As teachers face continued challenges, more companies are responding to those needs by strengthening their relationships with AdoptAClassroom.org. 

In particular, Subaru of America, Inc. and its retailers across the U.S. “adopted” classrooms at schools in their communities and provided supplies, as well as flexible funding in the form of credits to be spent on the AdoptAClassroom.org marketplace, supporting learning resources. Subaru is the largest corporate supporter of AdoptAClassroom.org. The automaker and its retailers have provided supplies to more than 300,000 students nationwide since 2021 as part of the <a href="https://www.subaru.com/learning" target="_blank">Subaru Loves Learning initiative</a>, and they continue to expand their participation. <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/return-school-pandemic/727466" target="_blank">More than 600 Subaru retailers</a> partnered with high-need schools in their local communities this year. 

In just one of many examples, <a href="https://www.baldwinsubaru.com/" target="_blank">Baldwin Subaru</a> of Covington, Louisiana, has taken <a href="https://pineviewmiddle.stpsb.org" target="_blank">Pine View Middle School</a> under its wing and last year began providing flexible funding in the form of credits to the AdoptAClassroom.org marketplace, resources and volunteer hours to the school, including $10,000 which was used to buy seating for students with disabilities.
<figure role="group"><img alt="AAC Subaru Lovs Learning students at Hopkins HS-10" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ca14688f-c836-4c60-a71c-a3970e97f96c" src="https://back.3blmedia.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/AAC%20Subaru%20Lovs%20Learning%20students%20at%20Hopkins%20HS-10.png" /><figcaption>Subaru is the largest corporate supporter of AdoptAClassroom.org. </figcaption></figure><h2>In Covington, Louisiana, a local business helps a public middle school weather tough times</h2>

The only public middle school in the area, Pine View serves all of the surrounding elementary schools, which means it has a highly diverse population. Like most of the schools in the AdoptAClassroom.org program, Pine View is a high-needs school, based on the number of students who receive free and reduced-priced lunches. 

While the school says it does have resources to support students' emotional and academic needs, its staff can always use more help. There is a full-time mental health provider and guidance counselor on staff, as well as 20 before- and after-school extracurricular activities in which students can participate, as noted by Dr. Seu Hee Ledet, principal of Pine View Middle School.

“They can feel a sense of belonging that helps with their socialization, connectedness and mental health,” Dr. Ledet said. “We address academic deficits with targeted daily interventions using student data and student work.”

Recently, Baldwin Subaru employees and members of the community held a “beautification day” at Pine View, painting the school’s exterior doors, basketball court, and the exterior of the building that surrounds the playground area. They also planted flowers around the area and donated basketballs. 

“The basketball court was in rough shape, so we removed the grass from the court and replaced the backboards with new netting,” said Lindsey Rose, marketing director of Baldwin Subaru. The dealership plans to continue to work with the school for future facility updates and donate needed playground equipment. 

“We loved working with this school so much and saw that they really needed the funds, so we increased the donation and activities for this year,” Rose continued. “In May, we also visited the school with our mobile service van and provided free multi-point inspections, fluid top-offs, oil changes, and inflated tires for all of the teachers and staff.”

Baldwin also plans to donate an additional 25 classroom supply kits to the school. “These kits were curated by AdoptAClassroom.org and Subaru by reviewing national purchasing data of the most in-demand and commonly used supplies,” Rose said. The kits will include items such as pencils, pens, disinfecting wipes, sticky notes, highlighters, dry erase markers and erasers.

Pine View Middle staff members say they’re grateful for the partnership. “Dr. Ledet specifically has been extremely accommodating and open to all the ideas that we have presented to her,” Rose said. “However, we have received the most feedback from the community. Since we started working with Pine View, we have had multiple customers tell us that they choose to purchase a car or service their vehicle with us because of the support that we have provided to the school.” 

“Our staff loves positive feedback and the publicity about the hard work they are doing and any partnership,” Dr. Ledet added.  “They are thrilled for another year’s sponsorship.”  

The Subaru philosophy is that partnerships such as these should not be viewed as going above and beyond, but as the norm. Retailers must start by providing support within their own cities and towns, Rose said. “Any business, local or national, that opens its doors in our community should take responsibility for helping the community that we live and work in grow and flourish,” she said. “This is part of the Subaru Love Promise and how Subaru gives back, simply because it is the right thing to do, and makes Subaru More Than a Car Company.”

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

Images courtesy of Subaru of America, Inc.

Schools Still Face Impacts From the Pandemic, But Businesses Can Help

With widespread labor shortages across the U.S., more businesses are feeling the pressure to improve their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policies. With Generation Z emerging as the new generation of workers, and a <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/2021-deloitte-global-millennial-survey-report.pdf" target="_blank">recent report</a> conducted by Deloitte revealed that 60 percent of Gen Z employees are concerned that current leaders in business are not focused enough on protecting the environment. These young workers are looking for employers who can demonstrate their commitment to combating the issues impacting our world.

Gen Z is becoming the <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/understanding-generation-z-in-the-workplace.html" target="_blank">most populous and most diverse generation</a> on the planet, which makes it important for companies to consider how they can become an employer of choice. This new generation <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/business/gen-z-jobs.html?referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank">prioritizes</a> mental health, flexibility and meaningful action on climate change. 

According to <a href="https://www.diligent.com/" target="_blank">Diligent</a>, which provides software to simplify corporate governance, getting the right people on board means starting with your ESG commitments. “Employers can prioritize engagement by driving transparency and confidence, and ensuring employees have the information and resources required for them to succeed in their roles,” Diligent’s chief people officer, Avigail Dadone, told TriplePundit. She suggests that this type of engagement allows employees to connect to a company’s mission and commit to shared goals. Some examples that Diligent implements include a goal management platform, an onboarding program to engage new starters for three months, and several employee-led programs and resource groups to focus on peer support and inclusivity in the workplace. 

Beyond creating a symbiotic work environment, “Employees and prospective talent are drawn toward ethical companies and want to know how an organization is giving back to the planet and their communities” Dadone noted. Because ESG is still new, there is a lack of clarity around defining and measuring it, which can lead to greenwashing. Companies are challenged to positively present their ESG initiatives in the recruitment process, but without evidence and accuracy, it’s difficult to back up, she added. 

It's also necessary to conduct proper risk management for any ESG-related initiatives. Dadone discussed how companies benefit by adopting precise systems that establish a standard of success, then tracking how well they measure up to their goals to keep them accountable. Stakeholders and prospective employees are concerned with sustainable and ethical business practices; therefore, staying on top of ESG reporting keeps companies competitive. Diligent <a href="https://www.diligent.com/carbon-accounting/" target="_blank">offers ESG management tools</a>, which the organization said are able to help businesses navigate their ESG journeys in a way that is meaningful to them and their stakeholders. 

In today’s business and regulatory landscape, ESG strategy is more of a need-to-have than a nice-to-have, Dadone said. Earlier this year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-46" target="_blank">proposed rules</a> that <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/sec-proposed-climate-related-disclosures/751891" target="_blank">require public companies to disclose</a> how climate change risks affect their business and provide more information on their impact on the environment. The implications of these rule changes indicate that failure to meet ESG requirements can result in not only reputational risk, but regulatory, operational and financial risk as well. 

Recent years have highlighted the pressing issue of climate change. With wildfires and extreme temperature conditions, Gen Z is awake to this crisis. Their choices are influenced by climate change risks, and where to seek employment is among those choices. Companies with quality ESG initiatives stand out to this diverse generation. Nearly half of Gen Zs surveyed by Deloitte reported their personal ethics have played a role in their career choices. Starting with ESG commitments is one way to ensure getting the right people on board in an organization. 

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/iO2d-KYp5JU" target="_blank">Eliott Reyna</a> via Unsplash

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We report the business case for sustainability.

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