With growing evidence that <a href="https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/nearly-all-companies-will-miss-net-zero-goals-without-at-least-doubling-rate-of-carbon-emissions-reductions-by-2030-accenture-report-finds.htm" target="_blank">nearly all companies will miss</a> their net-zero targets unless they double emissions-reduction rates, some companies are biting the bullet and revising their targets. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the new goals  are backed by action.

Comfort shoe manufacturer Crocs drew attention for <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crocs-delays-net-zero-commitment-154222775.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMk1-IuAlV4XZvmFKkpELeLzi9Ccb6FTYXD2_wJgW9m6m4C1u0u_z1weJjYF7tINC3D_-aWac1iGWa7nDnyi6UqSS9EgBOGPZULsofNP847bmkTDl2obixaMW5Jwm9K2SgR4hsROCW5MeKHMUF-h7nrpAzqooR3G5ZlwOPTmFB7d" target="_blank">pushing back its commitment</a> to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030, after its emissions <a href="https://www.edie.net/crocs-pushes-net-zero-target-back-from-2030-to-2040/" target="_blank">increased by more than 45 percent</a> last year compared to a year earlier. The company now aims to reach net-zero <a href="https://investors.crocs.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2023/Crocs-Inc.-Releases-2022-ESG-Report-Detailing-Commitment-to-Create-a-More-Comfortable-World/default.aspx" target="_blank">by 2040 instead</a>. Oil giant BP also recently lowered its 2030 emissions reduction goal, from a range of 35 percent to 40 percent in the initial target to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/07/bp-climate-emissions-oil-profits/" target="_blank">20 percent to 30 percent as of February</a>. 

These companies are not outliers. <a href="https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/capabilities/strategy-and-consulting/strategy/document/Accenture-Net-Zero-By-2050-Global-Report-2022.pdf" target="_blank">More than 60 percent</a> of the companies surveyed in a 2022 Accenture report have set targets far into the future or have no clear target date.

Coming clean on out-of-reach net-zero targets is a likely situation for many more companies as they get closer to 2030 or 2040 milestones on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in line with global agreements to limit climate change. There are many reasons why companies might revise their targets — for example, a mismatch of ambition with the reality on the ground and slower-than-expected progress, or more accurate carbon accounting.

Ultimately, net-zero targets are only as good as their implementation plans. 

<h2>Investors want transparency </h2>

The good news is that more companies are aiming for net-zero, even if they haven’t discovered the best path to get there. “Net-zero commitments now cover one-fifth of the world’s largest corporations and 68 percent of global GDP, compared to 16 percent in 2019,” according to the <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/ways-companies-credible-net-zero-targets" target="_blank">World Resources Institute</a>.  

Setting net-zero targets can be tricky, as Crocs and other companies have discovered. There is no standardized approach for setting a net-zero target, leading to a lack of transparency on the scope and boundary of the targets and how organizations will reach them. From that perspective, companies owning up to a target that can’t be met isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  

"Many companies, even some of the leaders, are seeing gaps between where they can go with current strategies and initiatives and where they need to get to,” Meryl Richards, director of food and forest at the sustainability nonprofit Ceres, told TriplePundit. 

Some companies have opted to set ambitious targets and figure out how to meet them as they go, while others prefer to know exactly how they will get there before making a commitment, Richards said. “I don't think one is necessarily more valid than the other. We need companies that are comfortable getting out in front and being leaders and setting the standard and encourage that ambition."  

Given the need for ambition in the short term, she doesn’t think it’s a terrible thing for companies to adjust course as they go — as long as they stay on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. "What investors are looking for is transparency around why a company had to adjust its net-zero strategy,” she said.

What would cause concern is if a company had to continually readjust its targets because it was experiencing growth. “That's where the forward-looking strategy is really needed to plan how you're going to integrate your emissions reduction strategy with that growth," she explained. 

<h2>Why companies need a climate transition action plan</h2>

All of this trial and error is why investors want to see climate transition action plans, Richards said. “What investors are looking for [are] ambitious, science-based targets for companies to reduce their own emissions and an action-oriented plan for how to get there."

<a href="https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/WMBC-Climate-Transition-Action-Plans.pdf" target="_blank">Climate transition action plans</a>, also known as transition plans, clearly define how companies will take action in the near-term to meet the long-term goals necessary to limit global warming. In 2022, Ceres, the We Mean Business Coalition, CDP, the Environmental Defense Fund and Ramboll Consulting created a framework to help companies create and implement these transition plans. 

Defining a clear path forward with transition planning can help to avoid a “scenario as we had with <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/companies-still-failing-meet-zero-deforestation-goals-watchdog-says/86571" target="_blank">2020 deforestation targets</a>, where a number of companies committed to zero deforestation by 2020 and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/climate/companies-net-zero-deforestation.html" target="_blank">none of them met that goal</a> because they didn't have implementation plans,” Richards said. “It was a target with no plan behind it.”

Yet a recent Ceres study indicates those lessons are not yet being applied to net-zero targets. In a <a href="https://www.ceres.org/news-center/press-releases/first-analysis-food-sector-climate-transition-plans-finds-much-progress" target="_blank">March assessment </a>of 50 large food companies, Ceres found only 27 had plans in place to reduce their Scope 3, or value chain, emissions. None of them hit all the marks for climate transition planning in their disclosures, according to the analysis. 

<h2>How to ensure real net-zero progress</h2>

Along with setting science-based targets, companies need to integrate their climate strategy across every aspect of their operations to ensure realistic progress toward those targets, Richards said. 

“For example, when we get on a call with a company to discuss a climate transition action plan, and they’ve got representation from procurement, [research and development] and sustainability, we know they’re serious about it,” she said. “The leading companies are getting granular about their sources of emissions," and they're transparent about gaps and how they will bridge them.

“Along the way, companies also discover opportunities like meeting consumer preferences for lower-emissions products,” she said. “Having the right plan in place is what will help companies avoid 2029 backpedaling.”    

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/sa9_-zGa4eI" target="_blank">Chris Boese</a>/Unsplash

Why It Makes Sense for Companies to Scale Back Unrealistic Net-Zero Targets

“Ancient wisdom meets futuristic technology” sounds like the concept for a new Hollywood blockbuster. But it’s the <a href="https://www.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-agricultural-production-systems/sustainable-agriculture" target="_blank">here-and-now direction</a> of sustainable agriculture, supporting not only the planet and its people, but also the profitability of every entity in the food production chain —from farmers to agribusinesses to brands in the consumer goods industry.

Thousands of years ago, civilizations leveraged <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/agriculture/The-Nile-valley" target="_blank">cyclical flooding for irrigation</a>, let the land “rest” (lay fallow) <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/" target="_blank">every seventh year</a>, and used <a href="https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2022/06/ancient-maya-used-sustainable-farming-forestry-for-millennia.html" target="_blank">terraced farming</a> to produce food sustainably for their people, as well as external trade and philanthropic support of the poor. In modern times, this wisdom of the ages took a back seat to mechanization and industrialization — with short-term positive output effects and long-term catastrophic ones, such as the <a href="https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/" target="_blank">Dust Bowl</a> of the 1930s.

 Over the last several decades, that same windswept stretch of country — Kansas, parts of Oklahoma and Colorado — has been among the regions reaping the benefits of sustainable agriculture, as are the companies reliant on farm products. Crop rotation, improved tillage and threshing techniques, as well as water-scarcity management advancements, make for better soil health and greater yield.

At the same time, climate change presents new challenges, such as water scarcity and increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events. The good news is: Every region and every stakeholder in the agrarian economic system has an opportunity to be part of the global solution.

<h2>Environmental and economic solutions come together</h2>

Starting in 2013 and now operating in 14 countries, <a href="https://www.indigoag.com/" target="_blank">Indigo Ag</a> set out to help the agriculture industry improve sustainability and profitability through the combination of science and technology — first with the use of microbes to improve soil and plant resiliency and soon adding project development and impact quantification of regenerative farming practices. 

Indigo Ag’s Market+ Source program in particular links up farmers, agribusinesses, and food and apparel companies to source sustainable crops and quantify impact throughout the entire supply chain.

For corporations, this program enables them to score a win in improving the accuracy of their carbon footprints and in making progress toward their climate targets; and it does so while aligning to standards such as the <a href="https://ghgprotocol.org/" target="_blank">Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP)</a> and <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org" target="_blank">Science Based Target initiative (SBTi)</a>. Market+ Source captures the measurements corporations need to support their Scope 3 claims for marketing, investment decision-making, and evolving industry standards, while supporting farmers to employ and scale the use of the practices that deliver these results. 

Meeting any of these standards is a lot like detangling a fishing line: A company has to trace and document its suppliers’ practices and quantify what emissions are reduced. In agriculture, data science and technology are must-haves to accomplish this feat.

<h2>Rigorous data science, resourceful diplomacy</h2>

Jyoti Shankar, a principal data scientist at Indigo Ag, spoke with TriplePundit about both sides of the sustainable agriculture “adventure.” One is the complex data process, and the other is the human side of bringing related but separate types of companies and people together to collaborate.

<a href="https://www.indigoag.com/blog/is-the-world-finally-ready-to-tackle-scope-3-emissions-in-agriculture" target="_blank">On the data side</a>, Indigo Ag avails itself of remote sensing data like satellite capture, as well as passive sensors and soil samples at farm sites, transaction and market data from various sources, and field experiments. Shankar analyzes and models the data to project the beneficial good of what is happening in the field, along the way looking for inconsistencies and missing data, so a love of sleuthing comes in handy. The data and analyses have to be scrupulously accurate to give multi-billion dollar global consumer brands the level of confidence required for use in Scope 3 emissions accounting, as Indigo Ag has been doing since 2019. 

“We can simulate scenarios of potential regenerative farming practices or combinations of practices for farmers in our programs,” Shankar said. “Our goal is to determine the realistic impact of encouraging farmers to adopt more practices each year and/or increase their acreage of these practices. By managing the portfolio of practices adopted by farmers within our program, we can shape it to effectively reduce emissions and water used per unit of crop produced.” 

The detective work is also needed when data comes from agribusinesses that still use manual or outdated technical systems, but it has to be coupled with a respect for the small companies that have vital information. Indigo strives for collaboration with such firms, becoming a technology provider to support their way of doing business, Shankar said.

“Scope 3 programs cannot succeed without the partnership of many supply chain partners. It’s a very fragmented industry, and the data is non-trivial,” she told us. “They are folks who have been in it for a long time, who have survived the longest with the least amount of margins.

<h2>How consumer brands benefit from sustainable agriculture</h2>

With <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/consumers-care-about-sustainability-and-back-it-up-with-their-wallets" target="_blank">consumers now highly tuned in</a> to climate change and other environmental issues, many have demonstrated that their purchasing dollars will go to the brands that prove their commitment to sustainability through best practices. Increasingly, <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/sustainability-investing-institutional-asset-owners" target="_blank">investors are seeking the same</a>. Meanwhile, extreme weather and natural resource scarcity threaten the long-term viability of agricultural supply chains — making a clear business case for companies to push climate solutions forward. Therefore, data science and technology have a central role in providing that proof.

<a href="https://www.postholdings.com/" target="_blank">Post Holdings</a>, known for its iconic cereal, snack and pet food brands, works with Indigo to quantify the climate impact of the sustainably grown wheat used in <a href="https://airlyfoods.com/" target="_blank">Airly crackers</a>, a brand devoted to removing greenhouse gases. Airly is able to post its carbon reduction numbers on its website, thanks to the data Indigo provides.

“What we've seen is a real hunger from our growers for, ‘What else can I do?’” said Jennifer McKnight, Airly’s chief marketing officer. “With Indigo Ag, we've been bringing together world-leading scientists directly with the farmers to help answer that question. Every single year, we're getting better. The growers are learning from the scientists, the scientists are learning from the growers, and it creates that virtuous loop.”

McKnight’s last comment captures a sentiment numerous members of Indigo Ag’s team voiced as well: The partnership with farmers and agribusinesses is crucial.

<h2>What “tinkering” can teach us about sustainability</h2>

Shankar gets animated when talking about what Indigo Ag's data scientists learned about sustainable approaches out in Kansas fields. While Indigo Ag has a set of practices that are part of its programs, the company runs trials and pilots in partnership with farmers and various corporate brands. The successful ones become candidates for the toolbox.

Jeff Murphy, whose family has been farming in southeastern Kansas since the late 1800s, started a transition to manage the farm after graduating from Kansas State in 2015. With his management comes an interest in farming more economically while building soil health and stewarding the land. Currently 90 percent of the farm’s acres of corn, beans, soybeans, wheat, and cattle are raised with practices such as reduced tillage and cover crops — two core regenerative approaches that deliver positive environmental impact. 

“I really want to reduce the input costs to increase profitability, as well as improve our soil and leave the land better than I found it for future generations,” Murphy said. Last year, he experimented with a field where he applied no herbicide. “If there is a way that we could get away from these chemicals, I think it would be good for everybody.”

All of Murphy’s land is dryland — meaning they do not irrigate — which can be challenging in a region that has suffered drought conditions in recent years.

To gain the benefits of natural weed suppression and increased water retention, Murphy began using cover crops three years ago on just 30 acres. He now has cover crops across 75 percent of his acres. 

“The main thing I can say is, we had crops to harvest. A lot of my neighbors had zero. They had no moisture left and couldn’t plant at all,” Murphy said. 

Less tillage, more cover crops, fewer chemicals or lesser quantities of them — all of these translate to fewer carbon emissions and greater water conservation. Further, such natural methodologies can encourage the return of native wildlife species to revive ecosystems.

“What we notice with farmers like Jeff is that they’re constantly experimenting,” Shankar said. “He's not playing with his livelihood. He's a businessman. But he's also tinkering. That tinkering is what we have to dial into.” 
  
The data capture and analysis Indigo Ag conducts, along with its multi-pronged approach to assisting the sustainable agriculture supply chain, means less risk and greater resilience for farmers, agribusinesses, corporate brands, hungry people and animals, and a planet in need of climate relief from all quarters.

Based on these possibilities, the next "Field of Dreams" may be an entirely different movie.

<a href="https://www.indigoag.com/farming-we-need-signup-source?utm_medium=paid-referral&amp;utm_source=triple-pundit&amp;utm_campaign=us-cont-marketplus_source-ad-acquisition-05.24.2023&amp;utm_content=article_1" target="_blank">Learn more from Indigo Ag</a> about the progress being made to make agriculture more sustainable for people and the planet.

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

Image credit: Adobe Stock

Sustainable Agriculture Comes Full Circle With Data Science

Pride Month is meant to be a joyful celebration of the LGBTQ community and a rallying cry for justice and inclusion. But this year's celebrations are dampened by a disturbing rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric across the United States. Considering <a href="https://www.gettysburg.edu/news/stories?id=79db7b34-630c-4f49-ad32-4ab9ea48e72b#:~:text=The%20average%20person%20will%20spend%2090%2C000%20hours%20at%20work%20over%20a%20lifetime." target="_blank">a third of our lives are spent at work</a>, employers have a significant role to play in creating safe and inclusive spaces for people in the community who feel increasingly under attack. 

<h2>The explosion of anti-LGBTQ legislation runs counter to public opinion </h2>

The <a href="https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights" target="_blank">American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)</a> is tracking 491 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation making their way through statehouses across the country. The scope of these bills include weakening anti-discrimination laws, censoring discussion of LGBTQ issues and history in schools, restricting gender-affirming care for transgender people, and banning LGBTQ gatherings like drag shows.

As state lawmakers look to push this type of discriminatory legislation through, many have adopted increasingly extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Groups of their fans and followers have done the same, in person and online, including a <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/05/30/lgbtq-backlash-bud-light-target-pride-month/" target="_blank">coordinated campaign</a> against brands promoting inclusion during Pride Month. 

The surge in discriminatory legislation and rhetoric could lead people to believe the public's attitudes have shifted when it comes to welcoming and including people in the community. But data indicates that's far from true.

Recent polling from <a href="https://glaad.org/publications/accelerating-acceptance-2023/" target="_blank">GLAAD</a> and the <a href="https://www.prri.org/press-release/more-acceptance-but-growing-polarization-on-lgbtq-rights-findings-from-the-2022-american-values-atlas/?src=newsroom" target="_blank">Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)</a> found that support for equal rights is increasing, not decreasing. In the GLAAD survey, 91 percent of non-LGBTQ Americans agreed that LGBTQ people "should have the freedom to live their life and not be discriminated against," and 84 percent support equal rights for the community. Similarly, 8 in 10 respondents to the PRRI survey are in favor of laws that shield people in the community from discrimination. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="Support for equal rights for the LGBTQ community is at an all-time high GLAAD survey shows" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0d52614a-520f-48b8-837c-82b6d82faefb" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Support%20for%20equal%20rights%20for%20the%20LGBTQ%20community%20is%20at%20an%20all-time%20high%20GLAAD%20survey%20shows.png" width="1252" height="520" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>(Source: GLAAD)</figcaption></figure><h2>The discriminatory climate is taking a toll on LGBTQ people at work </h2>

A <a href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/lgbtq-legislation-affect-work" target="_blank">study released last week by Indeed</a> sheds light on how discriminatory policies and rhetoric are affecting LGBTQ people in the workplace. The majority of LGBTQ respondents (60 percent) report experiencing discrimination at work, ranging from being passed over for promotions and raises to outright harassment and violence. More than a quarter of LGBTQ people, including over 30 percent of trans people, say they are not out at work. 

"This climate of fear and intimidation comes on the heels of hard-earned fights for employers to do better by LGTBQ+ communities," journalist S. Mitra Kalita, CEO of URL Media, <a href="https://www.charterworks.com/how-workplaces-can-support-lgbtq-employees/" target="_blank">wrote on Charter this week</a>. "That’s all at risk as literally hundreds of bills seek to obliterate the existence of our colleagues."

She spoke with three LGBTQ and workplace experts about what brands can do to better support their employees. The results are insightful and <a href="https://www.charterworks.com/how-workplaces-can-support-lgbtq-employees/" target="_blank">well worth a read in full</a>. “Work continues to be a major source of stress for LGBTQ+ professionals, especially with rising anti-LGBTQ+ legislation which has a direct impact on access to economic opportunity,” Andrew McCaskill, who works on LinkedIn’s communications team and authors <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-black-guy-in-marketing-7023713016630185985/" target="_blank">The Black Guy in Marketing newsletter</a>, told Kalita. 

So, what are other leaders saying about what brands can do to support employees better? 

<h2>How brands can step up to better support LGBTQ employees</h2>

Offer LGBTQ-specific benefits. Over half of LGBTQ employees want to see benefits that are specific to their community, but less than a quarter report having any in their current workplace, according to Indeed's survey. Benefits employees are seeking include health insurance that covers LGBTQ-friendly providers and gender-affirming care, benefits that extend to domestic partners rather than solely spouses, mental health benefits, and paid caregiver leave. 

In many cases, these are benefits employers already offer, but they haven't modified them to be inclusive of all their employees. In its guidance for LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace, the <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/lgbtq_inclusion.aspx" target="_blank">Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)</a> — which represents 325,000 HR professionals across 165 countries — recommends employers revisit their policies and practices to ensure they are equally available to all employees. 

Check your culture. Creating inclusive benefits packages and corporate policies is an important baseline, but "having a written policy isn't enough," SHRM's guide reminds employers. "Even if an employee is in a workplace with internal policies that protect LGBTQ+ workers, a company's culture may inhibit employees from bringing their whole selves to work." 

LGBTQ-specific diversity training — another benefit highlighted by employees in Indeed's survey — is a solid first step for educating your teams about how to avoid, spot, and stamp out microaggressions and discrimination against their colleagues. So is setting clear, values-based expectations for employees, such as respecting others. Even dress codes can set the tone for how people show up at work. "Make sure they are neutral without gender stereotypes," SHRM recommends. "General Motors gained national attention when CEO Mary Barra replaced a 10-page dress code with two words: Dress appropriately."

Lift up diverse leaders. “If employees are hearing from the same types of individuals, they’re seeing that a clear mark of success [to their employer] isn’t someone who looks or sounds like them," Sabrina Kent of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce <a href="https://thestoryexchange.org/4-ways-to-actually-support-lgbtq-workers/" target="_blank">told the Story Exchange</a>.

When recruiting, make it clear that your company is an equal opportunity employer, and ensure you interview and consider diverse candidates rather than quickly deciding on someone who looks and lives like you. Do the same when choosing who will head up projects, present during meetings and lead teams. The more you lift up leaders from all backgrounds, including LGBTQ people and those from other historically marginalized communities, the more your employees get the message that you want every one of them to succeed. 

Use your marketing to raise awareness. Your company's voice matters in the fight for inclusion. In its <a href="https://glaad.org/glaads-recommendations-corporate-allies/" target="_blank">recommendations for corporate allies</a>, GLAAD calls on companies to use their marketing materials and social media to speak out against discriminatory legislation and support "Pride 365," running inclusive campaigns throughout the year rather than solely during Pride Month. Even better, engage LGBTQ-owned media companies to help you get the message out. 

Flex your political muscles. "Extend support to the political fight," GLAAD challenges business leaders. "True corporate allies do not donate to candidates or elected officials who introduce, vote yes, or otherwise support  anti-LGBTQ legislation or block passage of pro-LGBTQ legislation like the Equality Act." 

Beyond revisiting your political donations, GLAAD <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/01/apple-lobbying-anti-lgbtq-laws-00022127" target="_blank">called out Apple as an example</a> of how companies can step into the role of political ally. "Amidst an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in 2022, Apple utilized multiple offices to take action. Apple lobbied against these harmful bills, filled court briefs in cases involving LGBTQ people, and encouraged other large companies to take public stands against this legislation," GLAAD observed. 

<h2>The bottom line</h2>

LGBTQ employees work day in and day out to make their companies successful, and with discrimination on the rise, employers have a responsibility to them.

Failing to live up to that responsibility tells employees — whether they're part of the community or not — that your company ignores or tacitly approves of an increasingly hostile climate that threatens people's well-being. Decision-makers at any company that claims to lead with values and purpose certainly wouldn't want to send that message. And with leaders creating clear blueprints for inclusion, there's really no excuse for companies not to do better. 

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/ItOyjiBFWhY" target="_blank">Jose Pablo Garcia</a>/Unsplash

How Brands Can Step Up to Better Support LGBTQ Employees

A growing number of U.S. state legislatures are responding to labor shortages by relaxing the laws around child labor. That can be a relief for employers in job markets where <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/immigration-reform-labor-shortage/767881" target="_blank">immigration crackdowns</a> and other factors have squeezed the pool of adult labor. Before hiring a child, though, businesses should take a close look at both the ethical and legal landscapes.

<h2>Education and child labor</h2>

Earning money with an after-school or summer job is a critical rite of passage for many children in the U.S. After-school and summer jobs can foster responsibility, teamwork, creativity, communication, independence, financial management and other life skills, and they often serve as a stepping stone to opportunities after high school.

However, students need to finish their K-12 education in order to advance in life, whether that means going on to a job, a trade school or an advanced degree. Work doesn’t necessarily impinge on that priority, but it easily can, especially for children who are already vulnerable due to their socioeconomic position or immigration status. 

Exploitive child labor is a matter of <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2016/child-labor-clothing-industry/56666" target="_blank">national policy</a> that can ripple throughout <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2019/how-eliminate-child-labor-farm-farm-global-scale/83861" target="_blank">supply chains</a> here in the U.S. as well as overseas. It concerns all businesses, whether or not they employ school-age workers. 

Exploitive child labor also feeds into structural injustice. It closes the door on accumulating generational wealth and robs the national economy of potential talent, watering down the next generation of entrepreneurs, managers, professionals, researchers, academics and other education-dependent positions. Skilled trades can also lose potential workers who suffer injury or health impacts while still in school.

<h2>Child labor and federal law</h2>

Federal child labor laws come under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/child-labor" target="_blank">U.S. Department of Labor</a> explains, the FLSA is not intended to prevent work altogether. It is intended to prevent injury and loss of educational opportunity.

The FLSA generally prohibits employing children under the age of 14, but there are many exceptions. Also with exceptions, the law limits the hours minors under age 16 can work, and it sets specific standards for teenagers within certain jobs. Jobs classified as hazardous, such as operating power equipment, are generally off limits altogether for those under age 18.

Employers can find <a href="https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/youthlabor/agerequirements" target="_blank">general guidance</a> on federal child labor laws from the U.S. Department of Labor, which also provides <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets?topic=child%20labor" target="_blank">overviews and updates</a> on specific jobs. <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state" target="_blank">A link to state laws</a> is included on the agency’s <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules" target="_blank">YouthRules! website</a> for students, parents and employers.

<h2>The bad old days of child labor are still here</h2>

Children and laborers of all ages worked under horrific conditions in the U.S. before the FSLA was enacted, as recounted by the small business resource website WorkforceHub, a project of the human resources firm <a href="https://www3.swipeclock.com/aboutus/" target="_blank">Swipeclock</a>.

“In the cotton mills, children were often employed overnight for shifts of 12 hours a day. Cold water was thrown in their faces to keep them awake at night and accidents were common on the job,” <a href="https://www.workforcehub.com/blog/fair-labor-standards-act-flsa/" target="_blank">the company notes</a>.

Hazards can still occur today <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osha/osha20230213" target="_blank">when children are employed illegally</a>. Recent reports of children ages 13 to 17 working overnight shifts at a meatpacking plant have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-company-fined-hiring-kids-clean-meatpacking-plants-2023-02-17/" target="_blank">raised new concerns over enforcement</a> of both state and federal child labor laws. Similar concerns have been raised over indications that unaccompanied immigrant minors are <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/advocates-hhs-questions-unaccompanied-migrants-child-labor-rcna87326" target="_blank">vulnerable to exploitation</a>.

In February, the Labor Department issued a report that <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2023/04/12/usda-takes-steps-prevent-illegal-child-labor" target="_blank">advocated for stiffer penalties</a>. The agency cited a 69 percent increase in illegal child employment over the past five years.

“The maximum civil monetary penalty under current law for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. That’s not high enough to be a deterrent for major profitable companies,” the Labor Department concluded.

In another study published in March, Jennifer Sherer and Nina Mast of the <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/child-labor-laws-under-attack/" target="_blank">Economic Policy Institute</a> also made the case for stronger laws. They took note of a decline in youth workforce participation over the past 20 years, indicating that more young people are continuing their education “in order to increase their long-term employability and earnings.”

“Putting off work in order to obtain more skills and education is a positive trend — for both individuals and the economy — not one that should be slowed or reversed,” Sherer and Mast argued.

<h2>States are responding to illegal child labor, but not in a good way</h2>

Despite evidence that illegal child labor is on the rise, almost a dozen states have passed legislation or introduced bills that loosen the laws, making enforcement all the more difficult.

Some of the new laws appear to be consistent with the FSLA health and safety standards. For example, New Jersey recently extended the permissible hours for teens to work during vacations and other non-school days, as reported by Ariana Figueroa of the nonprofit news organization <a href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2023/04/07/kids-at-work-states-try-to-ease-child-labor-laws-at-behest-of-industry/" target="_blank">New Jersey Monitor</a>. The New Jersey law also lowered the age for parental consent to obtain a teen work permit. However, both teens and their employers must still register with the state’s Department of Labor. A new <a href="https://www.nj.gov/labor/youngworkers/find-a-job/working-papers/getstarted.shtml" target="_blank">online “working papers” portal</a> could help support enforcement and prevent exploitation, though that remains to be seen.

In other states, the situation is more concerning. Figueroa takes note of a new bill in Ohio that would enable employers to keep teens under age 18 on the job until 9 p.m. on school nights, up from 7 p.m. A similar bill in Missouri would raise the school-night work limit from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for 16- and 17-year-olds.

In Iowa, the legislature is considering a bill to regarding the employment of children as young as 14 in roofing, mining and other dangerous occupations. Industry advocates promote such work as training programs, but critics point out that training programs can be just as dangerous.

"A kid can still lose an arm in a work-based learning program," Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/restricted/?return=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/2023/02/06/iowa-child-labor-bill-teens-work-hazardous-jobs-training-employment/69860466007/" target="_blank">told the Des Moines Register</a>.

<h2>What businesses can do</h2>

In one indication that illegal child labor is nearing a crisis, on March 24 the U.S. departments of Labor and Health and Human Services announced a new Memorandum of Understanding that formalizes their <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/03/24/us-departments-labor-health-human-services-announce-additional-steps-tackle-child-labor-violations-strengthening-coordination.html" target="_blank">joint efforts to enforce FSLA standards</a>.

The new MOU “represents unprecedented steps to maximize collaboration between the two agencies to prevent and address illegal child labor,” according to the Health and Human Services Department.

That is a step in the right direction. However, business leaders cannot drop the problem of illegal child labor in the hands of federal agencies at time when states are relaxing their laws. 

Business leaders who are considering teen job applicants need to refresh their knowledge of state child labor laws. They also need to be aware of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/18/child-labor-laws-targeted-lawmakers-11-states-seek-weaken/11682548002/" target="_blank">new state legislation</a> that runs counter to the protective aims of FSLA standards.

Above all, business leaders need to help reform exploitive age-based wage systems. “At the state level, lawmakers should eliminate subminimum wages for youth and raise the minimum wage, eliminate the two-tiered system that fails to protect children from hazardous or excessive work in agriculture, strengthen labor standards enforcement, and empower young people to build and strengthen unions,” Sherer and Mast recommended in their report for EPI.

That may be a bitter pill for employers to swallow in terms of direct labor costs, but it is one that business leaders who profess to care about education and child welfare will have to take. That is, if they truly care about these things.

Child Labor in the USA: What Employers Need to Know

Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are core to the energy transition as the U.S. looks to source 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and move to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. The problem is, when compared with other available energy sources — including fossil fuels — wind and solar installations take up the most space.

A <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/power-of-place/?vu=powerofplace" target="_blank">new report</a> from the Nature Conservancy looks to address the problem with strategies and recommendations for energy planners that maximize the advantages of clean, renewable energy while minimizing land use. 

<h2>"Place-based" planning for renewable energy</h2>

Nels Johnson, senior practice advisor for renewable energy deployment at the conservancy, contrasts America's energy planning process with the elaborate planning system it uses for transportation projects. For example, many organizations, government agencies, and citizen groups collaborate on plans for roads, streets, and even bike paths that must meet certain criteria in order to get funding from the Federal Highway Administration.

“We don’t have anything like that in the United States for energy,” Johnson told TriplePundit. “We’re not suggesting it should be exactly like that, but it just shows how much planning goes into transportation compared to energy right now.”

Place-based planning in which all stakeholders play a role is necessary for decarbonization, limiting environmental and social impacts, and minimizing cost, according to the conservancy’s “Power of Place" report. Yet regional differences in resources, demographics, and land use and values make a one-size-fits-all approach impossible. 

The reasons for taking a regional approach are obvious, Johnson said. For example, offshore wind farms like the ones built in the Northeast won’t work on the plains of Nebraska or Kansas — although wind is a significant source of clean energy in those areas. Likewise, the options for shifting to solar energy in the Great Plains are more limited than they are in southern U.S. states.

<h2>Clean power's land problem </h2>

Reaching a net-zero carbon economy by 2050 will require the nation to bring between 3,100 and 3,500 gigawatts of wind and solar generation capacity online, according to the report. Developing that much wind and solar infrastructure the way it’s typically done now would require more land than the state of Texas. 

“When we have that much area needed to accommodate the project sizes for wind projects, for solar projects, for new transmission lines, we’re bound to have potential impacts to things that we care about,” Johnson told 3p. “Another challenge is that where we can put stuff isn’t totally a free choice. We're constrained by where transmission is [and] where utility substations are. And those determine where we can put that wind [and] that solar unless we build new transmission lines, which has been very difficult to do.”

On top of that, under current practices there is little or no <a href="https://raumplanung.tu-dortmund.de/en/prospective-students/what-is-spatial-planning/" target="_blank">spatial planning</a> to balance new clean energy infrastructure with other local needs like housing, agriculture, industry and ecosystem health, Johnson said. The Nature Conservancy has an online tool called Site Renewables Right to help developers or energy buyers know what’s in every single acre in the U.S. in terms of the potential environmental impact, which can help with balancing the push for more renewables with local land needs. 

<h2>Agrivoltaics: A major tool for using less land while installing more solar </h2>

One option for reducing the impact of clean energy development is the expanded use of <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/five-signs-agrivoltaics-revolution/763716" target="_blank">agrivoltaics</a>, a practice that integrates solar energy generation and agriculture on the same plot of land. 

“Agrivoltaics has become quite a buzzword recently, and that’s a good thing,” said Nathan Cummins, Great Plains Division renewable energy programs director at the Nature Conservancy. “I think everyone’s starting to realize how much space we are going to need for this transition and the opportunity that can happen when we think about creative ways to deploy renewable energy that’s not just focused on getting clean energy, but focused on getting the best outcomes for communities, for conservation and for the environment.”

Agrivoltaics has been in use for some time now and is most commonly seen across the central U.S., Cummins said. “There’s always been a strong partnership between the agricultural sector and the renewable energy sector,” he told us. 

Though data indicates the practice is compatible with most fruit and vegetable production, there are still knowledge gaps, Johnson said. 

“What’s not known is how compatible agrovoltaics could be with large-scale grazing, for example, or with wheat or other crops that, at least theoretically and in research context, looks like it could really work,” he explained. “Once we unlock some of that information and get some practical experience, that could really show greater potential than our study showed in ‘Power of Place.’”

Even so, evidence shows significant opportunities for agrivoltaics in land sharing, making solar panels more efficient, and reducing the amount of water some crops use, Cummins said.

<h2>The bottom line</h2>

In its report, the conservancy does not shy away from saying there will be some increased costs for creating clean energy infrastructure, Johnson said. But greater use of agrivoltaics and other creative systems could spark innovation and provide incentives that help offset additional costs.

Large-scale corporate buyers of clean energy are helping to spur the development of the energy market, Cummins said. And they have an opportunity to be at the forefront of thinking about renewables differently.

“The <a href="https://cebuyers.org" target="_blank">Clean Energy Buyers Association</a> estimates that about 42 percent of all large-scale renewable energy projects in the United States have been developed due to corporate demand [since 2014],” Cummins said. “These corporate buyers are your Googles, your Amazons, even new upstart companies like Rivian, et cetera, that are working to buy clean energy at a big scale. It's a way for a company to meet their broad ESG [environmental, social and governance] goals, beyond just the E.”

Image credit: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-flock-of-sheep-in-a-solar-farm-9684128/" target="_blank">Vincent Delsuc</a>/Pexels

More Clean Energy on Less Land? This Report Reveals It's More Than Possible

Americans <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/consumer-behaviors-sustainability/775591" target="_blank">increasingly report a desire to change</a> in order to <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/lifestyle-choices-climate-change/764686" target="_blank">do better by the planet</a> and the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-needs-to-be-addressed-poll-2023-04-21/" target="_blank">climate</a>. But that should mean more than swapping traditional products for environmentally-friendly alternatives. It’s also a matter of changing our core relationship with stuff. In doing so, we can drastically reduce our carbon footprint and our contribution to landfills.

Unfortunately, many of us are under the mistaken impression that we’re doing enough to reduce waste as long as we recycle and donate our unwanted items. But placing our trash in recycling bins — or “<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/why-recycling-plastic-doesnt-always-get-recycled" target="_blank">wish-cycling</a>” — and donating our used stuff to a thrift store doesn’t necessarily mean it is being saved from the landfill. Just as a sizeable percentage of what gets put in the recycling bin can’t or won’t be recycled, donated items may also end up in the trash, depending on what is donated and where.

While it may feel good to drop a load off at the local thrift store, this can amount to nothing more than absolving ourselves of responsibility for the waste we have generated, effectively making it someone else’s problem. Fortunately, there is plenty we can do to limit what will be trashed or shipped overseas.

<h2>Local thrift store owners struggle to cope with an overabundance of stuff</h2>

The vast majority of clothing that is donated to a charity thrift store never makes it into someone else’s closet, with estimates putting the rate of resale for clothing donations in North America at <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/08/what-to-do-with-old-clothing-donation-waste/671043/" target="_blank">around 20 percent</a>. Items that can’t be resold in the U.S. and Canada are often repurposed or shipped overseas — meaning they're likely to become rags or compete with traditional textile-makers in other countries. Shipping and repurposing these items is no doubt carbon intensive. And that’s on top of the emissions and resources that were used to produce them in the first place.

But clothing isn’t the only thing that is donated en masse to charity thrift shops, and statistics on what becomes of all of the other stuff when it can’t be sold are harder to pin down. My brother, Paul, salvages items from an independent charity thrift store dumpster in Oregon and finds a variety of things that still have plenty of use left in them. “I do see a lot of kitchen supplies — you know, plates, cups. I see a lot of artwork, like paintings that go on the wall. A lot of toys, like kids’ toys. So many kids’ toys!” he told me in an interview for TriplePundit.

He went on to list a slew of goods he has encountered: Christmas decorations, collectibles, food processors, Soda Streams, water purifiers and other kitchen gadgets, as well as electronics like tablets and printers. 

“I find TVs in there. Not super often, but those have — usually by the time I get to them — the screens are broken on them. So I don't know if they were no good and they just weren't able to sell them or if they were already broken,” he mentioned, adding that the cords on some items such as food processors appear to have been purposefully cut so that they cannot be salvaged. 

Clothing, on the other hand, makes up a tiny percentage of what he reports finding. “The clothing they do throw away, I think it’s because people are bringing it in dirty.”
<figure role="group"><img alt="Still usable items found in thrift store dumpster" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4e414346-5705-4af4-85da-ba844657a4ec" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Still%20usable%20items%20found%20in%20thrift%20store%20dumpster.jpg" width="1502" height="1000" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>From strollers to water purifiers and more, the author's brother finds all kinds of usable items in the dumpster outside his local thrift store, as small shops are inundated with more and more stuff.  </figcaption></figure><h2>From thrift store to side hustle</h2>

While Paul can’t say for sure what percentage of excess stuff in the thrift store dumpster is actually still usable, he estimates it's about 30 to 40 percent. And it’s way more than he can salvage on his own.

“I go in for two things. No. 1, if it's money valuable to try and sell it. No. 2, if it's something I can use for the house, or I think one of my friends can use it," he said. "Often I've gone to the dumpster and gotten everything I want out of it and then a friend, you know, told me later they went and they got a bunch of stuff from it. ... It's all relative. It's like, you know, I didn't want that stuff, but it's still good stuff ... so other people end up taking it.”

<h2>How to be part of the solution </h2>

The old adage "one person’s trash is another’s treasure" certainly rings true here. But it also begs the question: How can we take more responsibility for our stuff and ensure it doesn’t go from the donation bin to a dumpster?

Buy less. The first logical step is to stop and think before we buy. There's no hard data on how many tossed donations are the result of consumers upgrading to a newer version or changing out the aesthetic of their kitchen and home decor, but it is one possible explanation. And it’s well past time that we switch our mentality from buying whatever we want to focusing on what we actually need instead.

Kitchen gadgets are a prime example of this. Asking oneself a few key questions before making a purchase could help keep those small appliances from flooding thrift shops faster than they can be sold. Will we use it regularly, or is it just a novelty? How likely are we to keep it until it wears out? Do we already have something that serves the same purpose? These same questions can be applied to most of the stuff we buy.

Choose purpose over aesthetic. Likewise, before switching out dish sets or glassware, it’s a good idea to question our motivation. What’s wrong with what we already have? If it still serves its purpose, why replace it? Do we really need a new color scheme or design? Instead of replacing a set when a couple of items get broken or lost, consider buying replacements from a thrift store. After all, there is no shame in mismatched plates, utensils or anything else. 

This same idea can be applied to any number of household items — from towels to bedding and so much more. Consider that the desire to have the latest aesthetically pleasing and perfectly matched sets is the result of advertising. It doesn’t actually enhance our quality of life. Additionally, when it comes to household items, decor and stuff in general, the best bet is to embrace minimalism.

Reconsider that gift. Oftentimes people will give gifts just to give them — leaving the recipient to wonder what they will do with it in the long run. Before giving a gift, ask: Is this something that will add value to their lives? It is thoughtful and useful? Or do they already own something similar? If a gift is likely to just add clutter or be disposed of, consider giving an experience instead.

Rehome unwanted items. The Washington Post’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/01/04/how-to-donate-clothes-waste-environment/" target="_blank">Allyson Chiu</a> suggests downgrading appropriate clothing to sleepwear or swapping unwanted clothes with friends instead of donating them. But the same concept can be applied to any number of items.

Paul agreed that a lot of the stuff that he sees thrown out could have been given directly to people in need. Consider contacting local churches and domestic violence shelters about donating to families that are getting back on their feet. Or list the item somewhere for cheap or free, such as Facebook Marketplace, <a href="https://help.nextdoor.com/s/article/Best-practices-For-Sale-Free?language=en_US" target="_blank">Nextdoor</a> or <a href="https://www.freecycle.org/" target="_blank">Freecycle</a>.

Check the shelves. Before donating, it’s a good idea to check the store’s shelves for an overabundance of similar items. Employees may also be able to say whether the donation is in demand or likely to sell. Don’t pass it on if it’s broken or missing pieces. And if it’s dirty, be sure to clean it first.

<h2>The bottom line: Changing how we see stuff</h2>

Finding a new home for unwanted items may take more effort than dropping them in a donation bin, but it’s one way to lessen the chances of more stuff ending up in a landfill. Even better, minimize shopping and focus on needs instead of wants. And while none of us are perfect, we can do our best to eliminate waste from unnecessary purchases. 

Image credits: Sikander/<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Used_clothing_donation_boxes_in_Toronto.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a> and the author

How to Keep Thrift Store Donations from Becoming Trash

Negotiators worked around the clock this week to <a href="https://www.iucn.org/events/external-event/second-session-intergovernmental-negotiating-committee-plastic-pollution-inc" target="_blank">reach procedural agreements and content alignment</a> for a new Global Plastics Treaty. While world leaders hammered out the details at the second session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2) to end plastic pollution, key observers, advocacy groups, businesses, and other stakeholders also gathered to push their governments to address the plastics waste crisis. 

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), for example, was a key player at INC-2 — hosting conversations between government ministers, senior business executives, scientific associations and youth organizations on the future of the plastics treaty. Erin Simon, WWF’s VP for plastic waste and business, is on the ground in Paris working to advise and coordinate various stakeholder groups involved in INC-2.

“Humanity started out thinking that plastic could solve for so many problems, so we went ahead and proliferated its uses without addressing what would happen when we were done with it. We are now depending on plastic excessively, and we are unable to manage it," Simon said. “The world has come to see that the plastic crisis is an issue we cannot address on our own and we have to come together to tackle it. That’s where the global treaty comes in. It is a mechanism that represents global alignment and our shared path forward. No global crises have been tackled at scale without a global agreement.”  

The Global Plastics Treaty is operating in uncharted territory. While global treaties like this typically take 10 years or more to come into force, U.N. member states have agreed to implement the Global Plastics Treaty in just three years. The Paris negotiations that wrap today are the second of five meetings, all scheduled to be held before the end of 2024.

The goal of INC-2 was to finalize procedural matters and find areas of high-level alignment in setting global rules and measures to address what advocates like WWF refer to as "<a href="https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_breaking_down_high_risk_plastic_products.pdf" target="_blank">high-risk plastics</a>." These are defined as plastics that are highly likely to end up as pollution and have greater impacts when they enter the environment. Examples range from plastic cutlery to plastic-based wet wipes and microplastics in personal care products. 

As talks wrap in Paris and continue on, Simon called for negotiators to step back and look at the full lifecycle of plastics, especially the ways it interconnects with other global crises like climate change and biodiversity loss. 

“If we focus only on plastic waste instead of the entire lifecycle of plastics, we miss out on the opportunity to further our progress in the climate and nature space," she said. "They feel like separate spaces, but they are not. It is all interconnected." 

For example, more than 99 percent of plastics are made from fossil fuels, she said, referencing research from the <a href="https://www.ciel.org/reports/fuelingplastics/" target="_blank">Center for International Environmental Law</a>. "From the moment of extraction, they are emitting greenhouse gases and threatening the health of communities around the world," Simon said. "We need to think more broadly about how these crises intersect."

If demand for plastic continues as it has, emissions associated with plastic production could account for 15 percent of global emissions by 2050, according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0459-z" target="_blank">2019 research</a> published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change. "That could mean plastic production threatens our ability to stay within 1.5 degrees of warming," Simon said.

Stakeholders at every stage of the plastics lifecycle — from national governments to small towns, from businesses to consumers and advocates — are a key piece of the system, she argued. And all stakeholders must be heard and involved with treaty drafting and implementation. 

Some businesses have expressed opposition to the Global Plastics Treaty. However, over 100 large companies — including Henkel, Mars, 3M, Target, Unilever and Walmart — have <a href="https://www.businessforplasticstreaty.org/" target="_blank">joined a coalition in support</a>.

“These are companies being held responsible for this crisis, but they are unable to get the policy they need to succeed," Simon said. "They answer to many different regulatory frameworks that are completely disaggregated, so it is imperative to them that we have a good treaty."

Against this backdrop, these leading companies' "ambitions match high-ambition governments," she argued — referencing the <a href="https://hactoendplasticpollution.org/high-ambition-coalition-joint-ministerial-statement-inc-2/" target="_blank">High Ambition Coalition</a> of over 50 governments pushing for <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/the-long-game/2023/05/30/the-search-for-a-global-plastics-pact-00099235" target="_blank">more stringent bans and regulations</a> on plastics, led by Norway and Rwanda and including the European Union. 

"In order to successfully move toward a circular economy, the companies have asked for standards and policies, and they want to invest in solutions," Simon said. "Some companies have asked to pay into <a href="https://www.oecd.org/environment/extended-producer-responsibility.htm" target="_blank">extended producer responsibility</a>. They have changed the game for negotiations. They are showcasing to the member states that they are willing partners at the highest level of ambitions.” 

The third round of negotiations, INC-3, is scheduled for November 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Image credit: Naja Bertolt Jensen/Unsplash

Global Plastics Treaty Talks Wrap: What Happened and What's Ahead

From planetary warming to plastic waste, it's easy to get bogged down in all the bad news out there. But let's not forget that innovators around the world are on the case, doing largely unsung work on a daily basis to scale solutions with the potential to address these challenges head on. To bring a little cheer to your week, today we're rounding up some of the most eye-catching sustainability solutions to cross our desks this spring. 

<h2>A system that turns blue-green algae into a carbon sink</h2>

Blue-green algae blooms are bad news, but they're becoming more frequent with climate change. "Blue-green algae is the common name for cyanobacteria, a type of water-dwelling bacteria that has plant-like photosynthetic abilities," TriplePundit's Tina Casey reported last month. "An over-abundance or 'bloom' of cyanobacteria <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2012/water-pollution-iowa-time-business-step/59946" target="_blank">can wreck ecosystems</a>  and harm other living things." 

But as we remember from grade school: If they use photosynthesis, that means they consume carbon dioxide, so it's no surprise that companies the world over are looking into the bacteria as a sustainability solution. One of those companies is Tel Aviv-based <a href="https://orangeeclipse.studio/" target="_blank">BlueGreen Water Technologies</a> — which sells nontoxic algaecides that target cyanobacteria internationally. 

"Its patented, EPA-approved formula triggers a natural 'suicide' response in cyanobacteria, clearing the way for beneficial algae and other aquatic species to take over," Casey reported. "The treatment effectively converts a body of water into a carbon sink, with the dead cyanobacteria locked into sediment for potentially millions of years, according to BlueGreen. This carbon-sequestering feature could help offset the cost of remediating blue-green algae blooms, if stakeholders could claim carbon credits for the operation." <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/blue-green-algae-carbon-capture/774421" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O7IP-p2in5o" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

<h2>AI and crowdsourced science combine to preserve coral reefs</h2>

"Through a novel citizen-science project, time mindlessly wasted online can be put to use helping scientists understand, and even restore, the world's coral reefs," Ruscena Wiederholt of TriplePundit reported in April. 

The <a href="https://goo.gle/callingcorals" target="_blank">Calling in our Corals</a> project combines the computing might of artificial intelligence with the ears of millions across the internet. Launched by Google with the help of marine biologists <a href="https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=Stephen_Simpson" target="_blank">Steve Simpson</a> and <a href="https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/mary-oluremi-shodipo" target="_blank">Mary Shodipo</a>, the project invites any internet user to listen to 30-second audio clips of coral reefs from around the world. Healthy reefs are rife with vibrant sounds (who knew?), while those under threat are muted, so soundscape data can tell scientists quite a bit about the state of the world's reefs. Users identify "the sounds made by fish, shrimp and other underwater animals," and the data is used to train an AI model tasked with making predictions about reef sustainability, Wiederholt reported.

"Impressively, this tool may also help to restore reefs," she wrote. "Some animals, like fish larvae, corals and other invertebrates, spend their larval stage in the open ocean. The sounds of a healthy reef act like a beacon, encouraging juvenile animals to settle there. Consequently, playing the music of healthy reefs on underwater speakers may accelerate their regrowth and restoration." <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/google-coral-reefs-ai/772546" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>.

<h2>A blockchain-powered system that tracks sustainability from field to fork</h2>

<a href="https://mergeimpact.com" target="_blank">Merge Impact</a> is looking toward blockchain — the digital ledger technology that enables cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin — to track agricultural ingredients through the supply chain. The Illinois-based startup bills its sustainability technology as the first of its kind to connect farmers, food manufacturers, and brands with data about the environmental impact of their decisions at every step from field to fork. 

"Major food manufacturing companies have made public commitments to regenerative sourcing worth trillions of dollars. But many of these commitments have been based upon dubious data, resulting in shaky and unsubstantiated sustainability action plans," L. Blaine Fulmer of TriplePundit reported last month. "Merge Impact’s use of third-party data collection and blockchain technology allows food companies to understand the impact of their supply chains and make reliable claims about their products. In turn, customers can rely upon these claims to make better choices about the products they support." <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/blockchain-sustainable-agriculture/774651" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="fabric treated with PFAS alternative coating — sustainability solutions" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="03b98227-9e3a-4001-9081-82dcc9d151d3" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/OLEO-TEX%20%2B%20FR_0.jpg" width="875" height="875" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Demonstrating the flame retardant potential of Impermea Materials' PFAS alternative coating. (Image: Impermea Materials)</figcaption></figure><h2>A water-based alternative to PFAS</h2>

The group of chemicals known as PFAS are ubiquitous in modern life. These perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are used in everything from food packaging and personal care products to non-stick cookware, touchscreens and textiles. Often called "forever chemicals" because they do not naturally degrade, PFAS have been found in soil and water nearly everywhere in the world, not to mention in human blood. 

Young entrepreneur David Zamarin started working to develop PFAS alternatives at only 15 years old. His team at the Massachusetts-based sustainability startup <a href="https://impermeamaterials.com/pages/about-impermea-materials" target="_blank">Impermea Materials</a> thinks they've found a novel replacement for the class of chemicals that can naturally degrade and is not toxic to human or environmental health. 

"Instead of just switching out one type of PFAS for another, Impermea Materials has developed its own molecule — dubbed siloalkoxyurylsilane," Riya Anne Polcastro of TriplePundit reported last month. "Its water-based solutions can be used in place of PFAS in a variety of products — including packaging, apparel, upholstery, and technical textiles such as those worn by firefighters and military." <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/impermea-materials-pfas-replacement/774751" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="carbonwave upcycled sargassum seaweed from beaches into new products - sustainability innovations" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7af1659b-b75d-4c62-a568-7f9f4dbc5175" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/carbonwave%20upcycled%20sargassum%20seaweed%20from%20beaches%20into%20new%20products_0.jpg" width="1000" height="750" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Carbonwave has repurposed Sargassum seaweed from Mexico’s Caribbean coast into biomaterials like an organic fertilizer and a cosmetic emulsifier. (Image: Carbonwave)</figcaption></figure><h2>A biomaterial process that converts seaweed from beaches into usable products</h2>

Sargassum seaweed blooms have been bumming out beach-goers around the world over recent years. The masses of dead seaweed wash up on shorelines and <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/upcycled-sargassum-seaweed-products/774271" target="_blank">threaten marine ecosystems</a>, and they're only getting worse as ocean temperatures warm. 

Boston-based bio-material processor <a href="https://carbonwave.com/" target="_blank">Carbonwave</a> is looking to collect 40,000 tons of sargassum seaweed from beach spots like Quintana Roo, Mexico, this year. "But it's not just about getting the rotting vegetation off of beaches. Once collected, the company is converting the brown algae into bio-stimulants and cosmetic emulsifiers while working to develop more fossil-fuel alternative products," 3p's Riya Anne Polcastro reported. <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/upcycled-sargassum-seaweed-products/774271" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>.
<figure role="group"><img alt="Team Wearing Sunglasses made from recycled chip bags - sustainability solutions" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3f97fdca-25d4-4c92-94b4-41a14f62d786" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Team%20Wearing%20Sunglasses.png" width="1264" height="842" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Founder Anish Malpani (back row, far left) and the Ashaya team model the startup's first product, a pair of sunglasses made from recycled chip packets.</figcaption></figure><h2>A social enterprise finding new uses for the world's most waste plastic</h2>

Indian social entrepreneur Anish Malpani is doing some pretty sweet stuff with recycled plastic — and he just so happens to be the little brother of one our writers, Abha Malpani Naismith. <a href="https://ashaya.in/" target="_blank">Ashaya</a>, the social enterprise Anish runs in Pune, has developed a system to convert hard-to-recycle flexible plastic into durable material for new products. Virtually none of the flexible plastic used in snack bags, food wraps and electronics packaging is recycled worldwide. Ashaya pays a premium to self-employed refuse collectors for this junk plastic and uses 10 percent of its profits to send the collectors' children to school. 

Ashaya's team "chemo-mechanically extracts materials from this waste using a patent-pending technology and use those materials to create sunglasses, the company's first proof-of-concept product," Malpani Naismith reported. "Each pair of sunglasses is made of five chip packets." <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/social-enterprise-recycle-plastic/771101" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>.

<h2>An app that makes flood predictions visual to drive the point home</h2>

FloodVue is the Pokémon Go of flood data. The app leverages augmented reality, which blends a user's own viewpoint with a digital image. In the case of FloodVue, developed by the global consultancy <a href="https://www.wsp.com/en-us/" target="_blank">WSP</a>, users can see a four-dimensional rendering of predicted flood conditions at their location. But the data on FloodVue doesn't just look cool — it can strike a chord with policymakers and city planners as they consider how much to invest in resilient infrastructure. 

“To dictate back to the community where it's going to flood, how much rainfall is needed to flood, how to protect their assets — that's where we want the software to go and how it can help communities, public agencies, and governments overall,” Tyer Jones, water national business executive for WSP’s U.S. branch, told Michelle Erdenesanaa of TriplePundit. <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/app-flood-data-augmented-reality/775396" target="_blank">Read the full story to learn more</a>. 

Image credit: <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/bicycle-meadow-flowers-grass-bike-788733/" target="_blank">Jill Wellington</a>/Pixabay

7 Standout Sustainability Innovations We Covered This Spring

We hear it time and time again: People aren't ready, willing or interested in changing their lifestyles for the sake of sustainability. They're too busy, too broke or too ambivalent to think about how their choices impact the world around them. And until they change their tune, there's nothing brands can do about it — except sell them more stuff. 

This prevailing narrative has been around for decades, but data continues to show that it isn't representative of how people really feel. The public is increasingly aware of the environmental and social challenges we face — from climate change to wealth inequality — and they want to be part of the solution. 

Over half of Americans say they’ve already made lifestyle changes like shopping secondhand, purchasing products in reusable or refillable packaging, and buying less overall in order to reduce their impact on people and the planet, <a href="https://www.3blmedia.com/news/interest-corporate-esg-progress-growing-can-businesses-meet-increasing-consumer-expectations" target="_blank">according to a December survey</a> conducted by TriplePundit and our parent company, 3BL Media, in partnership with the research technology firm Glow. 

Let's break down what U.S. consumers are really saying about sustainability, how it factors into their own lives, and how brands can respond differently than they have in the past. 
<figure role="group"><img alt="what people view as the most pressing challenges facing society - survey findings" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f56edcc1-f4ee-4ea4-bdf2-6342911994a0" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/what%20people%20view%20as%20the%20most%20pressing%20challenges%20facing%20society%20-%20survey%20findings.png" width="1625" height="685" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>Americans rank climate change and economic inequality among the top three challenges facing society today, only behind their anxiety about keeping food on the table. <a href="https://www.3blmedia.com/news/interest-corporate-esg-progress-growing-can-businesses-meet-increasing-consumer-expectations">Download the report to learn more</a>.</figcaption></figure><h2>People are willing to change their behavior for the sake of sustainability </h2>

Shopping secondhand. Purchasing products made from, or packaged in, recycled materials. Choosing items in reusable or refillable containers. Shopping in the grocery bulk aisle to avoid packaging altogether. Some would have us believe these lifestyle shifts are too expensive or too cumbersome for Americans. But more than 60 percent of respondents to our survey said they're already making these changes or intend to do so within the next six months. 

Of course <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en/true-understanding/say-do-gap" target="_blank">the say/do gap</a> — which refers to the difference between what people say in surveys and what they actually do in their daly lives — is always a factor. Even so, the interest in these lifestyle changes is significant and runs counter to preconceived notions that consumers don't really want — or aren't really ready — to change their lifestyles for sustainability reasons. 

People even expressed interest in behaviors that are commonplace in other countries but often dismissed as something that could "never work" in the U.S. For example, over half of respondents said they would be willing to take packaging like bottles back to a store for wash and refill.
<figure role="group"><img alt="people are willing to change their behaviors for sustainability - survey findings" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f6298b32-cffe-4ab9-9aae-39e15c43b961" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/people%20are%20willing%20to%20change%20their%20behaviors%20for%20sustainability%20-%20survey%20findings.png" width="1264" height="1455" loading="lazy" /><figcaption>More than 60 percent of U.S. consumers are willing to adopt lifestyle changes like shopping secondhand, opting for the bulk aisle, or choosing items in reusable or refillable packaging. <a href="https://www.3blmedia.com/news/interest-corporate-esg-progress-growing-can-businesses-meet-increasing-consumer-expectations">Download the report to learn more</a>. </figcaption></figure>Our findings support existing research on general readiness for behavior change: In <a href="https://www.veolianorthamerica.com/barometer-ecological-transformation" target="_blank">another 2022 survey</a>, for example, half of responding U.S. adults said they’re willing to accept 95 percent of the changes needed to avert the climate crisis and restore ecosystems. The survey also revealed the extent of climate anxiety among the public, with 1 out of 4 respondents worried they may have to give up long-term goals like starting a family. 

When it comes to packaging in particular, our findings indicate that 75 percent of U.S. consumers are willing to choose reusable alternatives — echoing <a href="https://www.triviumpackaging.com/media/kwkpgrfb/2022buyinggreenreport.pdf" target="_blank">2022 polling from Trivium Packaging</a> which found the same. The trade publication Packaging World recently declared reusable and refillable packaging to be a "global opportunity," with sales forecast to <a href="https://www.smithers.com/services/market-reports/packaging/future-of-refillable-reusable-packaging-to-2027" target="_blank">grow by 4.9 percent annually</a> to $53.4 billion by 2027.
<figure role="group"><img alt="75 percent of people have purchased a product in refillable packaging or would be willing to do so - sustainability survey findings" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ce0d998c-8657-406e-8ebe-3e660614e5fd" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/75%20percent%20of%20people%20have%20purchased%20a%20product%20in%20refillable%20packaging%20or%20would%20be%20willing%20to%20do%20so%20-%20sustainability%20survey%20findings.png" width="1044" height="716" loading="lazy" /><figcaption><a href="https://www.3blmedia.com/news/interest-corporate-esg-progress-growing-can-businesses-meet-increasing-consumer-expectations">Download the report to learn more</a>. </figcaption></figure><h2>How brands can respond to shifting consumer preferences</h2>

Many advocates point to the calls for consumer behavior change as merely a delay tactic from large companies: If the narrative keeps people focused on their own behaviors — analyzing everything from cup preferences to clothing choice — they won't have energy left to push for a shift in corporate practices or government regulations.

In the past, this may have been true, with consumers and brands pitted against each other in a cyclical blame-game while the poor get poorer and global temperatures rise. But findings like these indicate we've reached a critical moment when ideologies can align, and brands can show up as partners for consumers looking to play a role in the future they want to see. 

Leveraging our nearly two decades of experience in communicating about sustainability, TriplePundit and 3BL Media's Consumer Insights and Sustainability Benchmark report includes key action items for businesses looking to respond to consumer sentiment in a positive way. 

"Understanding people’s uncertainties and anxieties about the future, and what they want to see from business, gives companies the opportunity to communicate and present themselves as part of the solution that consumers are looking for," the report reads. "The next piece of the puzzle is to figure out how businesses can tailor their communications to appeal to consumer interests and bring them on board their journey to a more sustainable world." 

In particular, we highlight how brands can adopt a more meaningful role of partner and educator — rather than simply another purveyor of goods and services. "Since consumers want to be part of the solution, help them do that by sharing actionable information," the report reads. "It may be as simple as telling them how to make your product last longer or how to lower their personal carbon footprint with a checklist on your website. You can celebrate your company’s successes by applauding theirs."

For more insight on how brands can — and should — respond to shifting consumer attitudes about sustainability, <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/consumer-sentiment-business-sustainability/775111" target="_blank">check out prior reporting on TriplePundit</a> or <a href="https://www.3blmedia.com/news/interest-corporate-esg-progress-growing-can-businesses-meet-increasing-consumer-expectations" target="_blank">download the report here</a>. 

Image credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/4Kd3svPFuEI" target="_blank">Bluewater Sweden</a>/Unsplash

Americans Are Ready to Change Their Behavior for the Sake of Sustainability: Are Brands Willing to Help?

The motivation behind the corporate ESG (environmental, social and governance) movement is simple. This is the 21st century. Businesses are responding to climate change and other contemporary risks. They also respond to the buying power and employable talent of a diverse population. When government officials diverge from these foundational bottom-line considerations, business leaders need to step up and help restore compatibility between public sentiment and public policy. 

<h2>Repressive state policies are creating new risks…</h2>

Attracting and retaining top talent has become more challenging as some U.S. states enact new laws that restrict civil liberties such as LGBTQ rights and abortion access. Those repressive laws <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/transgender-repression-insurrection/766746" target="_blank">place individuals in harm’s way</a>, even to the extent of <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2022/dobbs-pregnant-people/750141" target="_blank">putting their lives in jeopardy</a>.

Brands with operations in repressive states are at risk of losing top talent, as workers increasingly take state-level policies into consideration when deciding where to make a home. For example, 73 percent of U.S. workers agree that “state-level social policies are an important factor when they consider relocating to another state," <a href="https://www.bsr.org/en/news/poll-state-policies-on-gun-violence-abortion-access-climate-change-are-key-considerations-for-u.s-workers-companies" target="_blank">according to recent polling</a> by the organization BSR (formerly Businesses for Social Responsibility). 

“This dynamic is creating opportunities and risks for companies seeking to retain and recruit workers as they navigate a range of issues on which they’re increasingly expected to respond,” BSR noted.

A brain drain is also taking shape: <a href="https://www.artsci.com/studentpoll-volume-16-issue-1" target="_blank">Another recent poll</a> from the education consulting firm Art and Science Group shows that repressive state policies are looming large in college choice. A “substantial fraction” of high-school seniors bound for four-year colleges said they rejected schools they initially considered due to repressive state policies. 

Levels remained relatively the same among those identifying as liberal and conservative, at 31 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Twenty-two percent of moderates also said that state policies influenced their college choice.

<h2>…but businesses can create new alliances with youth voters to address them</h2>

The business-as-usual practice of providing equal financial support to both Republican and Democratic candidates has clearly backfired in states where Republican office holders are turning the clock backward on social issues, exposing their populations to physical harm as well as verbal threats and harassment.

Business leaders seeking to protect their brand reputation can begin to repair the damage by withdrawing support from candidates who support repressive policies, as some did after the <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/corporate-america-insurrection/717836" target="_blank">failed insurrection</a> of Jan. 6, 2021. Instead, businesses can focus their attention on candidates with policies that reflect public sentiment, regardless of their party affiliation. Such an approach is poised to resonate especially among the up-and-coming cohort of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/" target="_blank">Gen Z voters</a>, defined as those born after 1997.

The opportunity to focus on an inclusive, party-neutral approach to reach young voters is illustrated by the Art and Science poll, as well as a new survey on decarbonization from the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/" target="_blank">Pew Research Center</a>.

“Nearly 7 in 10 Americans (69 percent) favor the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050," Pew noted. As may be expected, opinions diverged sharply along party lines, with 90 percent of Democrats and only 44 percent of Republicans supporting decarbonization. But that disparity masks a key finding: The majority of younger Republicans supported decarbonization by a wide margin.

“There are important differences by age within the GOP: Two-thirds of Republicans under age 30 (67 percent) favor the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral,” Pew noted.

<h2>Young people are voting in high numbers</h2>

Further evidence for the political strength of progressive Gen Z voters emerged in the 2022 midterm elections. A <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/young-voters-decided-georgia-senate-race-shaped-other-close-elections" target="_blank">post-election study from Tufts University</a>, for example, found that young people “gave Democratic candidates a winning advantage in close races,” including elections in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Abortion access was the leading factor driving the youth vote in these swing states, the report found.

Similarly, the Human Rights Campaign credits young people with tipping the balance toward Democratic candidates who support LGBTQ rights. “Equality Voters are a group of voters modeled to support LGBTQ+ equality, numbering 62 million nationwide. They represented 39 percent of the 2022 electorate — a number that reflects the growing political strength of this voting bloc — and tend to be younger and more racially diverse than the electorate as a whole,” HRC wrote in a <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/new-post-election-poll-equality-voters-stopped-the-red-wave-rejecting-extremism-and-anti-lgbtq-attacks" target="_blank">post-election announcement</a> last November. “Equality Voters delivered huge margins to pro-equality Democrats up and down the ballot, pushing back against extremism and defying pre-election predictions of a massive ‘red wave.'"

<h2>Taking the high road is complicated</h2>

Against the backdrop of progressive Gen Z voting power, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s decision to wage a legal and legislative war against one of Florida's top employers, Disney, looms large in the media spotlight.

Fortune magazine senior editor Ellen McGirt <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/05/16/ron-desantis-florida-dei-schools-disney-bob-iger/" target="_blank">described the confrontation</a> as a pitched battle between DeSantis and longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger. At stake is the right of Disney to express support for DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) principles, which form a cornerstone of ESG guidelines.

“DeSantis has now turned Disney into a 'woke' leadership talking point and punching bag,” McGirt wrote on May 16. She also cited Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who told the Washington Post: “Iger never loses. He won’t miss his moment when it comes up.”

The high-stakes fight between the two men came to a head when Iger <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176931662/disney-cancels-plans-for-1-billion-florida-campus" target="_blank">canceled plans</a> for a new $1 billion campus in Orlando. Though other bottom-line considerations were in play, the move served to dramatize the risk of expanding a corporate footprint in states where officials have run far to the right on public policy.

Like workers and college-bound students, business leaders can and should take state-level policies into consideration when deciding where to throw down stakes. However, fleeing from state to state will do nothing to tamp down the threat that extremism poses to the normal course of business decision-making. Only forceful public policies that protect human and civil rights can do that.

With the all-important 2024 presidential election cycle already swinging into action, businesses have an opportunity to amplify the voices of young voters and turn down the dial on extremism — and they should do so now, before it’s too late.

Repressive State Policies Present New Risks: How Business Can Address Them

What began as a typical August storm made landfall on Texas’ middle coast and grew into the largest tropical cyclone rainfall event the U.S. had ever seen. Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 60 inches of rain over southeastern Texas in 2017, inundating areas with up to 10 feet of flooding, according to the <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092017_Harvey.pdf" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a>. 

Harvey is just one of the increasingly frequent storm surges to hit communities around the world as storm patterns intensify due to climate change. Coastal communities within hurricane zones are far from the only ones affected, as rising global temperatures also increase the risk of floods caused by elevated river levels, dam or levee failures, and rapid snow melt. 

To put the economic cost into perspective, river-related flood damage to the world's urban areas is projected to triple to $535 billion annually by 2030, according to the <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/number-people-affected-floods-will-double-between-2010-and-2030" target="_blank">World Resources Institute</a>. Meanwhile, damages caused by storm surges and sea-level rise are projected to increase tenfold to $177 billion annually by the end of the decade. 

<h2>Visualizing flood data with augmented reality </h2>

Flood risk data is often difficult to interpret. Typical mapping technology can convey the objective risk and geography of flooding events, but stakeholders and politicians may not feel the realistic community impact without a more comprehensive view. 

That’s why the global consultancy <a href="https://www.wsp.com/en-us/" target="_blank">WSP</a> is looking to communicate flood risk with an interactive, immersive approach. Its suite of technologies includes <a href="https://www.wsp.com/en-au/insights/2023-floodvue-digital-flood-management-tool" target="_blank">FloodVue</a>, an app that recreates historical, current, and future flood conditions and demonstrates the impact of mitigation solutions. 

The FloodVue app uses augmented reality to place the viewer’s perspective directly in a four-dimensional, digital representation of the predicted flood conditions in their location. Augmented reality is the step between real life and virtual reality that combines an image of the real world with a digital image — think: the wildly popular smartphone game Pokémon Go.  

This is a much different experience than the two-dimensional images most flood mapping tools use to represent predicted flood waters, which might not resonate as strongly, according to WSP.  

“To dictate back to the community where it's going to flood, how much rainfall is needed to flood, how to protect their assets — that's where we want the software to go and how it can help communities, public agencies, and governments overall,” Tyer Jones, water national business executive for WSP’s U.S. branch, told TriplePundit. 

FloodVue’s map is built on a a layered foundation of data: a water surface elevation grid, a ground surface grid, and building footprints. The app’s aerial view uses color-coded sections to highlight flooding intensity over time for a larger area. But most arresting is FloodVue’s 360-degree, ground-level view: a realistic rendering of historical, current, and future flood levels superimposed onto detailed street views. 

<h2>Why data visualization matters for infrastructure planning</h2>

Simon Dale-Lace, WSP’s U.K. technical director of water management and innovation, demonstrated the FloodVue app in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG5ZMQSlEq0" target="_blank">March webinar</a>.  When navigating the floodplain from ground level, the app also notes the depth of water at any given location, with and without mitigation projects in place. Toggling between mitigated and unmitigated flood levels confronts viewers with the undeniable importance of flood-resistant infrastructure. 

Inland states are just as likely to experience flooding as coastal states since surface water flooding from storm surges is just as common as coastal or river flooding. As such, Dale-Lace's presentation covered FloodVue case studies at the consultancy’s flood mitigation projects including the Garden Plain area in Wichita, Kansas.

“As people continue to populate the Earth, as we continue to need more housing and more development, we change the impervious cover in a particular area,” Jones told 3p. “As you expand roads and bridges, that forms impervious cover that changes the way water flows in that geography. You're never going to get ahead of Mother Nature.”

Countries like Denmark have developed relatively advanced flood-resistant infrastructure to adapt to changing climates, Jones said. Meanwhile countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, where flooding has decimated the coastline, often suffer the brunt of climate change-induced flooding. 

“The knowledge of where [flooding] is having big impacts is out there,” Jones said. “But the sharing of ideas, the recommendation of projects, and the funding of those projects — I think that happens amongst a select group of individuals in geographies that have the money to support the projects.”

This App Makes Flood Data Visual With Augmented Reality

Governments, advocacy groups, businesses, and nonprofits will gather in Paris today for a second round of negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty. This legally-binding international treaty would potentially phase out virgin plastic production and prevent plastic pollution through technical waste management solutions.

While treaty negotiations involve parties from different sectors and countries, one group of stakeholders is noticeably absent from the talks: the entrepreneurs and innovators working to solve the plastic waste crisis.

Dozens of entrepreneurs and startups have been working on plastic pollution mitigation and cleanup for years. Their absence from current negotiations puts the implementation of a Global Plastics Treaty at risk, says Peter Hjemdahl, co-founder and chief innovation officer of the Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty. Championed by rePurpose Global and the Ocean Cleanup, the <a href="https://www.iagpt.org/" target="_blank">Innovation Alliance</a> is pushing to bring innovators and entrepreneurs to the negotiating table.

“At the first negotiations for the plastics treaty in Uruguay in December, we realized that rePurpose was the only representative of the innovation ecosystem that could even make it there," Hjemdahl said. "There were advocacy organizations, trade associations and lobbyists, but it was so glaringly lacking that the solutionists and innovators were not present in negotiations.”

The process to receive the accreditation needed to participate in U.N. negotiations is restrictive, and Hjemdahl claims it favors NGOs over for-profit companies. While big businesses can gain access through the trade groups and lobbyists that represent their interests, entrepreneurs and startups can become locked out. “That’s why we decided to come together to form an alliance," Hjemdahl said. "We wanted to elevate the perspectives of those closest to tackling plastic waste, and we want to ensure that the global treaty lives up to its promised potential.”  

<h2>What is the Global Plastics Treaty? </h2>

The Global Plastics Treaty has the potential to alter the trajectory of the plastic waste crisis. <a href="https://grist.org/international/experts-sound-the-alarm-on-toxic-chemicals-ahead-of-plastic-treaty-negotiations/" target="_blank">Only 9 percent of plastics</a> are recycled globally today. And recycling is <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/06/29/news/plastic-recycling-toxic-chemicals-more-dangerous-than-you-think" target="_blank">not without risks</a> to human health and the environment.

Of the more than 13,000 chemicals added to plastic, only 128 are internationally regulated. Studies about human health and environmental impacts are still underway, and more research is needed. “Plastic action is a rapidly evolving landscape," Hjemdahl said. "There is so much yet to learn about plastics. We just last year learned that plastic is in our bloodstreams. It’s an evolving space, so data is critical, even to understand the magnitude of the problem, and we need to understand the size of the problem before we can understand how much money is needed to help solve it.” 

Some scientists recommend that the Global Plastics Treaty cover the creation of a comprehensive list of plastic chemicals, with information about toxicity and other impacts. With this information, signatory countries could begin phasing out the plastic chemicals most toxic to humans and the environment, many of which are used commonly in daily life. Improving plastic labeling to clarify plastic chemicals present in products is already a central point to treaty negotiations.

<h2>As debate over the treaty pushes on, advocates say innovators are a crucial voice </h2>

While many countries advocate for a legally-binding structure for the Global Plastics Treaty, the United States is petitioning for a softer, more voluntary approach. However, the U.S. produces more plastic waste than any other country in the world, and the lack of global regulation in the plastics sector has already contributed to the ongoing plastic waste crisis.

“Until recently, in the regulatory ecosystem, there has been a complete policy vacuum of plastic pollution remediation," Hjemdahl said. "The startups in this space have not looked to regulation as a source of help, inspiration or even alignment. It wasn’t there.”

For Hjemdahl, the treaty negotiation process will not be comprehensive or complete without the input of innovators. With over 60 organizations that employ tens of thousands of people around the world, Hjemdahl feels the Innovation Alliance has access to the data, community, and technologies essential for the success of the Global Plastics Treaty.

“The Innovation Alliance wants the treaty to be pragmatic and inclusive and include the innovations already on the ground," he said. "Our partners collect data about the plastic intensity of companies and even legacy pollution. We have data that tracks river emissions of plastics into oceans, and the movement of plastics in ocean gyres."

The alliance represents members from around the world and at all stages of the plastic solutions ecosystem. "Our alliance is not just for Silicon Valley or technologists," Hjemdahl said. "We are also zero-waste stores in India and waste-worker welfare organizations in Bangalore. We are more than software and tech. Our alliance also values Indigenous knowledge, and as solutionists, we are calling for support and recognition from the treaty process.” 

<h2>Bridging the gap between innovation and policy</h2>

“We all interact with plastic pollution on a daily basis, and we can all see the impacts on the environment," Hjemdahl said. "Consumer awareness and pressure made plastic pollution a hot topic globally. We had our collective David Attenborough moment. We saw the picture of the straw stuck in the turtle’s nose. It may feel distant now, but if we think back to that, we can recognize the importance of that consumer movement."

Still, there is a gap between the innovators working on the ground with plastic remediation and the policymakers who negotiate the future of the international treaty. If leaders don't close it, that gap could threaten the chance to reach a meaningful treaty at a moment of momentum.

“We have to understand the downside of what happens if we don’t sustain this movement," Hjemdahl continued. "It would be catastrophic for the world, human health, ecosystems and the climate, and it puts companies at a long-term risk. How do customers perceive businesses that don’t take action on plastic? What is the regulatory risk for those industries that do nothing?"

It’s regulatory risk that likely has the greatest power to propel these issues forward, he argued. "Everyone stands to be impacted by the outcomes of these discussions," he said. "This is why we need the Innovation Alliance. Someone has to build the bridge between business and policy. The regulatory instruments that policymakers create need to not just sound good on paper, but they need to be future-proof.”

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