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24 New Plant-Based Foods Coming to Market in 2024

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The global demand for plant-based foods is still on the rise, with the plant-based protein and non-dairy milk market set to increase by nearly 18 percent over the next three years. This is great news from an environmental standpoint. While research indicates more people around the world are going vegan, simply eating less meat — sometimes referred to as flexitarianism — is an evidence-based way to address climate change. If half of the global population ate a more plant-rich diet, we'd eliminate nearly a sixth of the emissions necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. 

Fortunately, new plant-based brands, partnerships and products are released almost every day, to the delight of vegans and curious omnivores alike, making it easier for everyone to mix up their plates more often. Here are some of the new plant-based foods coming to restaurants and grocery stores near you in 2024. 

Chefs, food bloggers and influencers share their top plant-based foods recipes for Veganuary

Market research shows the fresh vegetable market is on the upswing, and vegan food blog VegNews predicts processed foods are out and whole foods are back in (did they ever really leave?). While trying out plant-based swaps for comfort food classics can help to satisfy a craving or perhaps change someone's mindset about what meat-free eating can be, of course no one can live on vegan protein alone. 

If you're interested in eating more plant-based foods this year and want to try cooking more yourself at home, you'll find no shortage of inspiration at your fingertips. Millions of posts with the hashtag #Veganuary have hit social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest already this month, many featuring simple and inspiring recipes you can make in 30 minutes or less at home. 

Daves Hot Chicken cauliflower slider - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Dave's Hot Chicken) 

Dave’s Hot Chicken rolls out "Not Chicken" choices made from cauliflower

Fast-casual chain Dave's Hot Chicken must have heard about the veg-forward trend. The eatery's first new core menu item since it got its start as a pop-up in a parking lot seven years ago isn't made from chicken or even a plant-based chicken analog, but rather from cauliflower. Customers at Dave's locations across 30 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. will find new cauliflower sliders and bites on the menu that come with the same crunch and spice as the chain's original hot chicken, available for a limited time

Taco Bell Veggie Build-Your-Own-Cravings Box - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Taco Bell) 

Taco Bell introduces new value menu option for vegetarian choices

Fast-food chain Taco Bell is well known for offering plant-based foods and has been certified by the American Vegetarian Association since 2015. The latest is the new Veggie Build-Your-Own-Cravings-Box, which customers can customize with vegetarian items from the chain's value menu for $5.99. Choices include the black bean crunchwrap supreme, black bean chalupa and spicy potato soft taco. The chain says the new box offering will remain a permanent choice on the menu, meaning vegetarians and flexitarians can save some money on the road for all of 2024 and beyond. 

Kraft vegan mac and cheese - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of the Kraft Heinz Not Company)

After dropping vegan mac and cheese, the Kraft Heinz 'Not Company' promises new plant-based foods for 2024

Consumer goods giant Kraft Heinz linked up with food tech startup TheNotCompany back in 2022 to bring plant-based versions of beloved grocery brands to market. The resulting joint venture, the Kraft Heinz Not Company, built up a portfolio of plant-based milks, cheeses, mayo and meat alternatives before arguably its biggest launch to date in November of last year. 

Kraft's boxed macaroni and cheese is a childhood memory and guilty pleasure for many — the company says a million boxes fly off the shelves every day so the plant-based "NotMac&Cheese" drop understandably generated a ton of buzz. As the vegan mac rolls out to more U.S. stores, NotCo. says it plans to release new plant-based foods across "several more categories" in 2024. 

Natures Fynd vegan yogurt made from fungi protein - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Nature’s Fynd) 

The world's first yogurt made from fungi is coming to Whole Foods

Backed by Bill Gates, the upstart brand Nature’s Fynd is all about using a proprietary fungi blend to create plant-based alternatives to popular grocery items like cream cheese and breakfast patties. Its latest offering, a vegan yogurt made from fungi protein, may not sound all that appetizing at first, but the brand is looking to change hearts and minds with a flavor and texture it says come closer to dairy while carrying less environmental impact than other plant-based alternatives. The new dairy-free Fy Yogurt will roll out to Whole Foods stores across the U.S. in 2024. 

new vegan cereal from kelloggs - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of WK Kellogg Co.)

Kellogg's new cereal-only spinoff goes vegan

In October, the consumer goods giant Kellogg's spun off its cereal business into a new subsidiary called WK Kellogg Co., and one of the new company's first big launches just happens to be vegan. Set to hit store shelves this year, the new "Eat Your Mouth Off" line is entirely plant-based and features fruity and chocolate flavors to mirror childhood classics. Both flavors also contain 22 grams of protein and zero grams of sugar per serving, Food Dive reports

laughing cow spreadable vegan cheese alternative - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Bel Group) 

A vegan version of The Laughing Cow cheese is coming to U.S. stores

French cheese giant Bel Group released plant-based cheese alternatives under its cult labels Boursin and Babybel to much fanfare, and The Laughing Cow is the latest of the company's brands to go vegan. Made with almond milk, The Laughing Cow's spreadable vegan cheese is available in two flavors and will roll out to Whole Foods and Kroger grocers across the U.S. this year. 

oat milk lattes at the coffee bean and tea leaf - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf) 

New seasonal oat milk drinks are coming to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf 

Oat milk is having a serious moment, with the market growing over 10 percent last year alone to more than $3 billion. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf started serving oat milk back in 2019, and its seasonal lineup for winter includes two new drinks featuring the non-dairy favorite. The new vanilla spiced oat latte and vanilla spiced oat cold brew hit store shelves last week, along with the return of its popular white and dark chocolate infusions. 

Michelin star chef Amanda Cohen holding the salad she made with Just Salad for Veganuary - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Just Salad) 

Just Salad partners with Michelin-starred chef Amanda Cohen for Veganuary

Amanda Cohen's restaurant Dirt Candy is one of only two vegetarian restaurants in New York City to receive a coveted Michelin star. It also holds a Michelin Green star in recognition of outstanding sustainability initiatives. The restaurant's website reads, "We aren’t saying 'no' to meat, but saying 'yes' to vegetables," and the menu offers a colorful and creative take.

For Veganuary this year, Cohen teamed up with Just Salad to bring a new veg-forward offering to the fast-casual chain's winter menu. The fittingly named Dirt Candy Salad features cucumber, broccoli, spiced pumpkin seeds, pepperoncini, and Castelvetrano olives with tofu on a bed of romaine and arugula. "I'm excited to offer their customers a new vegan recipe that incorporates some of my favorite flavors and ingredients," Cohen said in a statement. The salad will be on the Just Salad menu until the end of January.

Almond Breeze oat milk almond milk blend - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Blue Diamond) 

Blue Diamond drops almond-oat milk blend 

Blue Diamond represents a cooperative of more than 3,000 almond growers in the Central California valley. Along with its tasty flavored almond snacks, the brand is perhaps best known as an early seller of almond milk under the Almond Breeze label.

While many enjoy the flavor and texture of almond milk — and choose it as a more sustainable alternative to real dairy — almonds actually require a lot of water, a major drawback from a sustainability standpoint. Almond Breeze's latest offering blends oat and almond milks together for the best of both worlds. Along with mitigating the water impacts, the brand says it delivers on the flavor of almond milk with the creamy texture of oat milk, while containing more calcium than dairy and less sugar than other oat milks on the market. 

Armored Fresh oat milk American cheese slices - new plant-based foods for 2024
Image courtesy of Armored Fresh

Plant-based cheese brand Armored Fresh plans nationwide tour to woo the food sector

With the global vegan cheese market set to reach $4.7 billion by 2026, brands are vying to stake their claim. South Korean startup Armored Fresh is one of the newest entrants to the U.S. market. After making its debut at more than 100 New York City corner grocers in 2022, the brand is eyeing national expansion.

To help it get there, Armored Fresh kicked off a coast-to-coast tour for foodservice professionals this month. The tour will show off the brand's new oat milk American cheese slices to chefs, restauranteurs and retail grocery buyers, along with "additional innovations yet to be released," the brand said in an announcement this month. Its existing lineup includes non-dairy cheddar, provolone, mozzarella and pepper jack cheeses made from oat milk, along with spreads and almond-based sweet and savory cheese cubes. The tour kicked off in New York City on January 2 and will stop in major cities across the U.S. before ending in California. 

Starbucks Iced Hazelnut Oatmilk Shaken Espresso - new plant-based foods for 2023
(Image courtesy of Starbucks) 

Starbucks adds an oat milk twist to shaken espresso

Not to be outdone by competitors, the world's most popular coffee chain dropped its own seasonal oat milk drink at the start of the month. The latest entrant to its popular "shaken espresso" line is made with oat milk and a touch of hazelnut for the season. After Starbucks moves on from the New Year's drink list, the new hazelnut oat milk shaken espresso will stay on the menu year-round, VegNews reports. Frankly we're not sure what a shaken espresso is, but if you were waiting for a dairy-free version, wait no longer. 

Trader Joes Breakfast Sausage Patties new recipe - new plant-based foods for 2024
Image courtesy of Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's drops a new version of its discontinued plant-based sausage patties, and this time they're vegan

Trader Joe's introduced its Meatless Breakfast Sausage Patties in the mid 2010s before ultimately discontinuing them. But they're back as of last month with a new fully vegan recipe thanks to the omission of egg whites compared to the prior version. Along with being vegan, version 2.0 touts a better texture and richer flavor from added spices.

The (non-vegan) writer behind Club Trader Joe's, a popular blog among the retailer's cult following, pulled up his 2014 review of the last recipe and confirmed the new one "tastes much better" than the old. "I would say they are 90 percent of the way there to what the pork ones taste like," he wrote. Find them on Trader Joe's shelves across the U.S. 

Impossible Foods plant-based beef hot dogs - new plant-based foods for 2024
Image courtesy of Impossible Foods

Impossible Foods teases a plant-based take on ballpark favorite franks

Impossible Foods is among those competing for the top spot on the plant-based meat scene. TriplePundit's editorial team first tasted its analog burgers at a side event during the COP21 climate talks back in 2016, and it broke onto the market a year later to much fanfare. The company has since worked with major restaurants, from David Chang’s Fuku and Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster to Burger King and Starbucks, and is now available at major retailers across the U.S. 

Adding to its lineup of plant-based burgers, ground beef, pork, sausage and chicken, the food technologists at Impossible are preparing to launch a beef-free ballpark hot dog in time for summer 2024. The company took over a popular New York City hot dog stand last month to give fans a sneak peek at the new offering, which is set to debut at restaurants and retailers this year. 

Miss Mushroom Vegan Pizza at Mellow Mushroom - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Mellow Mushroom) 

Mellow Mushroom revives an old favorite

With locations across 17 U.S. states, fast-casual pizza chain Mellow Mushroom is known for offering plant-based foods and first rolled out vegan cheese as an option for all pizzas back in 2010. To mark Veganuary this year, the chain is bringing back the fan favorite Miss Mushroom vegan pizza, which features vegan mozzarella and feta cheese from veteran plant-based brand Follow Your Heart, along with spinach, portobello mushrooms and caramelized onions atop a classic red sauce. 

Pukka No Steak pie - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Pukka Pies)

U.K. pie maker Pukka adds a new vegan offering

Our friends across the pond love a good pie — and we don't mean the kind made with apples or cherries, but rather savory varieties made with meats and spices inside a buttery pastry shell. Whether you're a native Brit or not, if you're a plant-based eater and a fan of pies, the latest launch from iconic label Pukka is right up your alley. The "No Steak Pie" features a plant-based steak alternative alongside vegan gravy and diced onion inside a puff pastry, adding to the brand's vegan offerings including a plant-based chicken pie launched last year. U.K. shoppers will find the new variety starting this month at retailers including Sainsbury’s, Asda and Tesco, Plant-Based News reports

Korean brand Unlimeat plant-based foods for the US market - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Unlimeat) 

South Korean brand Unlimeat launches online plant-based foods shop for the U.S. market while innovating at home

South Korean food tech startup Unlimeat hit the U.S. market back in 2019, and it's catching on in a big way. After selling out products on platforms like Amazon and launching in mainstream grocers, the company launched an e-commerce shop geared toward the U.S. market at the end of last year. Customers can expect "limited editions, collaborative products and items popular in Korea" to hit the shop in 2024

In a clever nod to the recent global boom in Korean beauty products under the shorthand K-Beauty, the company uses language like "K-vegan" to promote its take on plant-based foods made from agricultural ingredients that are often discarded due to shape or size. Offerings include vegan versions of pulled pork, tuna, jerky and Korean barbecue. The brand also rolled out a delivery service for a vegan version of the popular Kimbap snack in Korea, featuring the U.S. plant-based brand Just Egg. 

MeliBio team shows off vegan honey - new plant-based foods for 2024
The MeliBio team shows off its vegan "Ohney" at the 2023 Foodhack Summit in Lausanne, U.K. The product is set to hit store shelves toward the end of the year. (Image courtesy of Narayan Food)  

Vegan honey is coming to the U.K. thanks to a unique cross-border partnership

Slovenia-based Narayan Food has big plans. It's already among the largest organic food producers and top sellers of coconut oil in Europe. And, per the company's LinkedIn page, it aims to build "the largest future food tech hub, enabling startups and scale-ups to come to market faster by providing industrial and commercial scaling." 

The new plant-based label Better Foodie, developed in partnership with California-based startup MeliBio, is one of the first moves toward that end. The label's first product, a vegan honey alternative made from plant extracts with no added fruits or sugars, is set to be released in the U.K. later this year — rolling out to 200 independent stores from November, the U.K. publication Food and Drink Network reports

Redefine Beef Flank served with mushrooms at a restaurant - the cuts will roll out to more European restaurants this year - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Redefine Meat)

Dutch brand Redefine Meat rolls out to more restaurants across Europe

Redefine Meat launched in the Netherlands, U.K. and Germany in 2021, becoming the first company to commercialize plant-based whole cuts including tenderloins and flanks made from ingredients like soy, potatoes and barley.

It now sells a variety of plant-based foods for home cooks in stores and online across Europe, and it leans into foodservice partnerships to show off the whole cut offerings. That includes plans to expand to 650 more European restaurants in 2024, Business Green reports, adding to existing partnerships with eateries like Ristorante Mamma Orso in Paris and Rifugio Romano in Rome. 

Papa Johns UK new vegan barbecue chicken pizza - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Papa John's U.K.)

Papa John's and Pizza Hut launch dueling vegan pizzas in the U.K.

Fast-casual pizza chain Papa John's has slowly shifted to offering more plant-based foods at restaurants in the U.K. A new vegan barbecue chicken pie featuring plant-based cheese, mushrooms and onions is the latest offering to hit the menu, and the vegan chicken option is available for all Papa John's pizzas at U.K. stores this month. The company is also offering 60 percent off pies for the month of January to inspire more people to try its plant-based choices, VegNews reports

Not to be outdone, Pizza Hut partnered with Impossible Foods rival Beyond Meat for the new Beyond Pepperoni offering that hit the menu across the U.K. this month. This comes after fellow fast pizza chain Domino's rolled out vegan pizza at all U.K. restaurants in 2022, including another plant-based pepperoni made by Unilever brand The Vegetarian Butcher. 

Hard Rock cafe quinoa salad - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe Sacramento at Fire Mountain) 

Hard Rock Cafe introduces vegan and vegetarian menu globally for Veganuary

Theme restaurant chain Hard Rock Cafe rolled out vegan and vegetarian choices for Veganuary this year, with new items on offer at locations from Chicago and Sacramento, California, to Manchester, U.K., and the Maldives. New selections include cauliflower wings, a barbecue plant burger and a veg-heavy quinoa salad. 

Non-Dairy Ice Cream collection from Salt and Straw — new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Salt & Straw) 

Salt & Straw rolls out "Dairy-Free Decadence" series with five new flavors 

Artisanal ice cream label Salt & Straw has brick and mortar stores in five U.S. states and ships its small-batch ice creams nationwide via an e-commerce shop and monthly subscription. A new series of five dairy-free flavors — oat milk and cookies, red velvet cake, bananas foster, death by chocolate, and marionberry oatmeal cobbler — will be available in store and for delivery beginning in January.  "We're leaning into 2024 resolved to give your most tempting perennial treats a totally decadent, dairy-free spin," the company says on its website. 

Irish fast casual Mexican chain Boojum rolls out vegan carne asada tacos for Veganuary - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Boojum) 

In a tasty blend of cultures, Ireland's favorite fast-casual Mexican chain rolls out vegan carne asada 

Boojum, a successful Mexican restaurant chain with locations across Ireland, linked up with the plant-based foods purveyor Mock on a vegan carne asada offering for Veganuary. Made from mushroom, soy and spices, the Mock carne asada can be added to all of Boojum's popular menu items like burritos, tacos, quesadillas and bowls, and it's served with a guajillo chili sauce for a pop of flavor the chain promises is far from bland. 

Mummy Meagz vegan chocolate inspired by Cadbury mini eggs - new plant-based foods for 2024
(Image courtesy of Mummy Meagz via Instagram)

Upstart brand scales up tasty vegan chocolate inspired by Cadbury eggs

Fans of the iconic Cadbury creme egg were aflutter back in 2021 when a 79-year-old U.K. activist burst onto the scene with her vegan chocolate brand Mummy Meagz. The brand's vegan creme eggs were clearly inspired by the confectionary classic, and this year it rolled out a take on mini eggs that are perfect for sharing and snacking. The brand is available at brick and mortar stores in the U.K., and global shoppers can also find it on Amazon. 

Vegan polenta cake served in first clas on Emirates Airlines - new plant-based foods for 2024
The vegan polenta cake dish served in first class on Emirates. (Image courtesy of Emirates Airlines)

Emirates is among the airlines promising new plant-based foods for 2024

Based in the United Arab Emirates, the Emirates airline is no stranger to plant-based foods. In a January update, the company referenced a "vegan vault" of more than 300 recipes it has on rotation. Customers can expect "an array of new vegan dishes onboard and in lounges later this year," according to the company. It joins a host of other airlines adding new plant-based foods to the menu in response to customer demand — including U.S.-based United Airlines, European carrier Lufthansa and Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways. 

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With Harmonized Sustainability Reporting Requirements On the Horizon, Companies Must Prepare Now or Be Left Scrambling

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Global sustainability reporting is finally on the brink of unifying around a set of disclosure requirements for climate and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. This is great news for business leaders who are choking on the alphabet soup of sustainability reporting standards. Yet being prepared to meet the harmonized reporting standards around the corner remains a challenge. Companies are well served to start preparing now rather than later.

More than 600 ESG reporting frameworks and standards are used around the world today. Among the most widely known and adopted are those from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). 

The proliferation of standards has led to confusion as well as a significant amount of time, effort, and resources to gather the information and data that is shared in annual sustainability and financial reports. On top of that, individual investors often send out their own ESG data questionnaires to companies. 

Preparing for regulatory disclosures

To add to the pressure, ESG reporting that has been largely voluntary will now be mandatory in many jurisdictions. The U.S., Canada, the European Union, Australia, Brazil, India, and others have either passed or indicated they will soon enact ESG-specific disclosure requirements for companies. 

That includes the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which entered into force in January 2023 and requires all large companies and listed companies to disclose information on risks and opportunities arising from ESG issues. The final rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requiring companies to include certain climate-related disclosures in their reporting are now expected in spring of 2024. 

Confusion and reporting for reporting’s sake

“The biggest downside of this situation has been the confusion,” Ted Dhillon, co-founder of the ESG reporting platform FigBytes, told TriplePundit. “The second biggest downside is: How do you standardize your reporting when you have so many different reporting requirements?”

Critically, time spent collecting data for reporting is time not spent on making actual progress toward sustainability goals. The reporting burden has become so overwhelming that the usually small sustainability teams at organizations spend most of their time gathering data, Dhillon said. 

“I call sustainability officers ‘nag, bag and drag officers,’ because that's essentially what I've seen them do over the years: Pick up the phone and try to get the data, and that takes up most of the year,” he said. “It is becoming a reporting exercise for reporting's sake and not for making true improvements. In the larger scheme of things, this makes us lose focus on the bigger challenge: We have to get to net zero.”   


A welcome move toward harmonized sustainability reporting

Against this backdrop, many welcomed the finalized disclosure standards released by the International Sustainability Standards Board last year, a major step toward a standardized global framework for sustainability reporting. The ISSB Standards, effective from January 1, 2024, provide a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosures that can be mandated and combined with other legislative requirements. The ISSB is part of the IFRS Foundation, which is responsible for writing global financial accounting rules. 

Notably, the ISSB supports both regulatory and voluntary adoption, and it has ensured that there will be interoperability between SASB, GRI and the European CSRD. The ISSB Standards have also incorporated the recommendations of the TCFD, and the ISSB will take over monitoring the progress on companies’ climate-related disclosures from the TCFD from 2024.

This harmonization is welcome and needed, Dhillon said. “I think it's critical to have consistency and comparability. Otherwise, organizations will report on what suits them best and hide information that shows them in a negative light. While too many competing frameworks lead to confusion, I think standards and disclosure requirements are absolutely critical for setting a global baseline of sustainability performance.” 

From this vantage point, Dhillon applauded the ISSB’s effort to align the various standards and reduce complexity. “The ISSB was clearly the way to go in setting a uniform level playing field for reporting. But I think it will probably take another iteration or two before the ISSB Standards clearly get set as the overarching global standard.”

Preparation is the best prescription

Now, with reporting season upon them, many organizations are trying to understand the implications of the different sustainability reporting developments. They need to figure out if their current reporting strategy is sufficient or whether additional steps are needed to comply with regulatory standards and to meet the expectations of investors and other stakeholders.

Dhillon said the first step should be to consult guidance provided by the standard-setting organizations themselves. The ISSB website offers a wealth of information including answers to frequently asked questions. It is the same for the websites of the other frameworks that companies may be using.

“Companies who have been using other standards like GRI or SASB, or following the recommendations of the TCFD, won’t have such a heavy lift. They will have already started tracking their emissions across the different scopes of 1, 2 and 3 [categories of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions],” Dhillon said. “But in light of the new reporting developments, they will need to take a step back and say, ‘Do we do another materiality exercise or at least a scoping exercise to figure out what we missed?’” 

You have to start somewhere

For companies that have not yet made much progress on sustainability reporting, Dhillon advised that the global disclosure system CDP is a good place to start, as well as the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol which offers tools that help with systematic collection of data.

Over time, legislative and mandatory ESG requirements will likely take center stage and “voluntary reporting will just fade away,” Dhillon predicted. “I think the future will be companies reporting probably once, or maybe twice in Europe,” he said. “When organizations file a report to meet the CSRD requirements, for example, they won’t need to report again to any other framework. There will no longer be a need for multiple reports, and I think that’s the ideal situation for any company globally. Once you’ve filed to meet the CSRD or SEC requirements, you’re done and you can focus on your sustainability work.”

This should be welcomed by most companies, and Dhillon believes it will be — “aside from some organizations that don’t want to put their information out there, but they are outliers.” 

Taking the alphabet soup of competing frameworks off the menu means companies can focus on the main course: making improvements to their ESG performance overall, he added. And he advised companies not to show up late for that meal.

“The time is now to learn as much as you can, put the systems in place and get started. There's never going to be a perfect situation,” Dhillon said. “Even if it’s just a scoping exercise at the bare minimum, you’ll be in a far better position. At the end of the day, you want to create a mindset shift, because this is a change management issue for organizations. If organizations get started today understanding where their gaps are, they will be ready to meet whatever comes.”

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

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Mobile Home Owners Form Co-Ops for Housing Security and Climate Resilience

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This story was originally published by Grist and supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter here.

As mobile home owners fight rising housing costs, some of them have hit upon a solution that also helps in the fight against climate change: banding together and buying the land underneath their homes.

This model of collective ownership, also called resident-owned cooperatives or ROCs, is on the rise. The number of mobile homes attached to a resident-owned cooperative grew from just over 200 in 2000 to more than 15,000 in 2019, according to a 2022 study from researchers at Berkeley, Cornell, and MIT. 

When residents own the land, they can move more quickly to upgrade infrastructure. That’s where climate change comes in. Renewables — especially solar —  work uniquely well with these types of places, according to Kevin Jones, director at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. 

“There’s nothing more perfect than these resident-owned communities because they already have a cooperative structure and, generally, commonly own the piece of land,” said Jones. “[They] are just kind of natural communities to be able to bring the benefits of solar to more low- to moderate-income people.”

Mobile home parks — often a misnomer, because many homes are anchored to the ground — house more than 22 million Americans and provide a vital form of housing amidst a nationwide housing crisis. 

Often, private landlords will delay vital upgrades but continue to collect lot rents, which pay not for the actual property which the resident could rent or own but for the land underneath it. This can result in a system where many owners invest thousands of dollars into paying off their home, but are still beholden to the park owner for lot rents and other fees. 

The problem of displacement has been exacerbated in the past decades by private equity’s foray into mobile home park ownership, which often leads to higher increases for rent, utilities, and other fees while conditions either stay mostly the same or worsen. 

Nonprofit organizations like ROCUSA have been essential to providing communities with resources such as low or interest-free loans, grants, and the essential planning knowledge needed to create a co-op. 

The organization does more than help individual co-ops, it also helps connect people in a vast network of co-ops so they can share resources and knowledge. This process can help immensely when considering, for example, the prolonged process of acquiring a permit for a solar array or which contractors to use to install heat pumps in residences. 

Ronald Palmer knows all about the process of installing solar in a co-op. As board president for Lakeville Village in Geneseo, New York, he helped his community navigate the lengthy process. It was one of the first solar projects in the upstate town of Geneseo, with a population around 7,000 people.

That community, which comprises 50 homes for people 55 and older, has had a solar array for just over two years now. The benefits from it don’t just help Lakeville Village residents, but also local businesses and other sites.

A large majority of these co-ops are concentrated in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest. One of the reasons for the high number of them in states like New Hampshire is access to state-specific resources, according to Jones. 

“The Northeast, you know, clearly is an area where there’s a lot of interest in solar,” said Jones. “We don’t necessarily have the best solar resource in the country, but we have generally good public policies toward solar.”

This allows communities in those areas, including people who live in resident-owned mobile home co-ops, to access the resources needed to set up solar. 

In New Hampshire, ROC-NH helps connect co-ops with state resources and helps prioritize the needs of co-op members. These needs are usually related to financial stability, according to Sarah Marchant, Vice President of ROC-NH. 

“Our goal when talking about community solar, with residential communities, is not just to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Marchant. “But the way this works is it has to reduce their costs and has to reduce their bills as well.” 

This is vital for communities where members might be working two or three different jobs just to stay afloat, according to Marchant. 

While the process of forming a co-op and investing in climate-friendly projects is time-consuming, there are many benefits.

In South Texas, a resident-owned cooperative called Pasadena Trails, located just outside of Houston, found a solution to chronic flooding. The predominantly Latino community installed drainage systems, which helped significantly when Hurricane Harvey hit and drenched the Houston area in 60 inches of rain. In the wake of Harvey, Pasadena Trails fared better in comparison to neighboring areas. 

Back in New York state, the residents of Lakeville Village are pleased with their solar project, which reflects the values of the older residents, most of whom are grandparents. For them, this solar project was their way of taking care of their own and ensuring a small step in the right direction for future generations.

”We want to reduce our carbon footprint, and one of our concerns was for our grandchildren and their children,” said Palmer. “And we saw this as a way of contributing to that and being responsible grandparents.”

This post has been updated to clarify the number of mobile home units attached to resident-owned cooperatives. 

This article originally appeared in Grist. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org.

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As mobile home owners fight rising housing costs, some of them have hit upon a solution that also helps in the fight against climate change: banding together and buying the land underneath their homes.
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Kenya Reforestation Efforts Show AI Can Advance Climate Solutions

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Determining the efficacy of climate action is imperative to slowing the climate crisis and keeping stakeholders invested. Without data and evidence, it’s impossible to know if interventions that target climate change are working or not. A new artificial intelligence (AI) model provides that information for a reforestation project in Kenya and could be used elsewhere, showing potential to advance climate solutions by bolstering support and investments. 

AI models receive data and use it to detect patterns, draw conclusions, and make predictions. In Kenya, AI models from the global tech company IBM are learning from data collected by NASA satellites to track and visualize the impact of reforestation efforts.

In particular, the project looks at tree-planting and conservation around the country’s water towers — not the manmade kind, but rather mountainous, forested regions that collect and filter rainwater and snow, allowing it to seep slowly into rivers, lakes, springs and the groundwater supply. 

The evolution of a long-standing partnership

IBM’s partnership with the U.S. space agency NASA is nothing new. The tech giant has worked with the U.S. government agency for half a century, Juan Bernabe-Moreno, the director of IBM Research Europe in Ireland and the U.K., told TriplePundit. “We were part of the moon landing. We had 4,000 engineers working, helping, completing trajectories … We've been working with NASA for a long time.” 

The partnership evolves with the most pressing issues of the day. Today, that means solving for climate change. It’s an apt arrangement considering the sheer amount of information that NASA collects. Harnessing that data through AI models has the potential to measure, and thus bolster, effective solutions.

Juan Bernabe-Moreno.
Juan Bernabe-Moreno, the director of IBM Research Europe in Ireland and the U.K. (Image courtesy of IBM)

Using AI to measure biomass in Kenya

One of the ways IBM is utilizing NASA’s treasure trove of data is by measuring biomass — organic material like plants, wood and waste — in Kenya. The National Tree Growing and Restoration Campaign works to reforest the areas around the country's water towers — which are vital to Kenya's people, wildlife and ecosystems, but threatened by agricultural expansion, charcoal production and forest fires, among other issues.

“Basically, we look at two different pictures — the before and after — so two different time frames, and we can overlap and compare the data,” Bernabe-Moreno said. “We can [observe] the data in terms of where we see trees or forestry being added, or forestry being removed, over two different points of time. We can really quantify the kind of the sequestration potential of this above-ground biomass.”

Evaluating the effectiveness of reforestation efforts

The information the AI model provides is extremely useful to the Kenyan government, because it makes it possible to quantify the impact of reforestation efforts, Bernabe-Moreno said. These efforts include planting 15 billion trees by 2032 and achieving 30 percent tree cover by 2050, which is triple the previous tree cover goal.

Such pledges follow on the heels of one of the most devastating droughts the Horn of Africa has seen in recent history. The climate crisis is clearly to blame. By restoring the water towers and preventing further degradation, the hope is that some of the most catastrophic effects of increased temperatures and changes in weather patterns can be mitigated.

A river running through the Mau Forest in Kenya.
A river running through the Mau Forest, which is home to one of Kenya's vital water towers. (Image: The Center for International Forestry Research/Flickr)

IBM is using its technology to evaluate the effectiveness of various methods and campaigns that support Kenya's water tower reforestation effort. As a result, the government will be able to make data-informed decisions on where and how to most successfully proceed with its efforts. The project has already shown that something as simple as a fence can have restorative power when it comes to reforestation.

Oftentimes people doubt whether sustainability efforts have a positive effect because they can’t see the results, which can have consequences for sustained action, Bernabe-Moreno said. IBM found that Kenya’s data-backed reforestation project is having a positive psychological effect on people because organizers can prove it’s working and results in more tree cover over time. 

“It's very encouraging because it's like," he said of sharing the results with others. "Suddenly, people who were overwhelmed by the complexity of climate action, they see a bit of a light.”

An open source AI model for open access

On its own, the AI model is a tool and not a solution to any singular problem, Bernabe-Moreno said. As such, it can be used to measure the efficacy of any number of interventions to inform decision-makers on whether a particular effort should be continued or not. With this in mind, IBM isn’t interested in developing proprietary AI or limiting access to it — this open-source access is actually a pillar of its agreement with NASA. Any scientist who wants to should be able to download the model and specialize it to their needs, he said.

While IBM’s use of AI to measure the reforestation in Kenya is still in its infancy, the results are already promising. They point to the AI model’s potential to steer climate solutions and investments, Bernabe-Moreno said.

By making sustainability and climate action measurable, governments and businesses can see which solutions are worth putting time and money into. Likewise, people can see that their actions are paying off. Many individuals may be reluctant to take action if they have no way of knowing whether the extra effort is worth it, so the ability to see the results is a welcome encouragement. 

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It’s impossible to know if solutions are working without evidence. A new artificial intelligence (AI) model from IBM uses NASA data to track and visualize the impact of a reforestation project in Kenya, and the early results show real promise.
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Doesn't It Produce More Carbon Emissions? Busting Common Myths About Refillable Packaging

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This story is part of a new solutions journalism series focused on refillable packaging, how it's used around the world, and what's holding it back from scaling further. Follow along with the series here

In a November edition of TriplePundit's Brands Taking Stands newsletter, we asked a simple question with a complex answer: If refillable packaging systems — specifically return and refill schemes for beverages — can work so well in countries across Latin America, Asia and Europe, why don't brands use them in the U.S.?

About 14 percent of Coca-Cola and 10 percent of PepsiCo beverages were sold in refillable bottles globally in 2022. Major beer companies like Heineken and AB InBev sell upwards of 30 percent of all products in refillable containers globally, said Matt Littlejohn, who leads the refillables program as part of his role as SVP of strategic initiatives at the ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana.

While billions of beverages are sold in refillable bottles around the world, there's still a lot of confusion about how these systems work and if they really reduce environmental impact compared to selling drinks in single-use bottles.

Even leaders at beverage companies aren't always sure. "The companies, until recently, have not really viewed refill as a plastic-reducing approach," Littlejohn said. "But now they have begun to do that." To counter to the confusion once and for all, we're busting three common myths associated with refillable packaging and getting down to what the data really says. 

Myth: Refillable packaging asks too much from consumers, and people aren't willing to do all that

From Mexico, Chile and Argentina to Germany, Spain and the Philippines, millions of people around the world see bottle return and refill as commonplace.

These systems are designed to be simple for the consumer. Where available, brands owned by companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have separate containers that are marked as returnable, which are made from a more durable plastic than what's used for single-use. When people head to their local corner store, they see drinks in these refillable containers alongside those in single-use bottles. When they're done with the drink, they simply bring their empties back, leave them in a designated place in the store, and select a new beverage from the shelf for up to 25 percent less than what they'd pay if they didn't return the packaging. Glass bottles used for beer and other beverages can be reused through the same system, with no need for a different type of container. 

When the Coca-Cola or Modelo truck arrives at the store with a new delivery, the driver takes the empties back to the bottling plant to be washed, refilled and used again. 

Still, bottlers recognize these systems are by no means as convenient. "When you buy a one-way package you don't need to think and prepare before buying it. You just go to the supermarket and purchase it," said Miguel Angel Peirano Serrano, CEO of Embotelladora Andina, a major Coca-Cola bottler in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay, at a 2022 panel discussion hosted by Oceana and HSBC. "But when you buy refillables, you have to actually prepare for that purchase. You have to collect, count, carry and return your empty bottles to a store. So, it is more complicated." 

Andina is among the bottlers turning to technology to make things easier for consumers and drive up the use of refillable packaging. Through a "virtual wallet" system, for example, consumers can track how many refillable bottles they have at home. When they purchase a new refillable bottle at the store, they'll still get the discount for the virtual bottles in their wallet, even if they don't have a physical bottle with them. When they ultimately return the bottles, the balance in the virtual wallet updates. The bottler is also exploring direct-to-consumer models that deliver and pick up bottles directly at consumers' homes. 

Myth: Refillable packaging is no better than using recycled plastic in beverage bottles

Some of the world's top beverage companies are looking to reduce their plastic footprints by buying and using more recycled plastic. Big names like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Danone, and Keurig Dr. Pepper are looking to incorporate 25 percent to 50 percent recycled content across their bottles by 2025. All of them have already introduced some bottles made from 100 percent recycled plastic.

Unfortunately, plastic use at many of these companies is still moving in the wrong direction. Coca-Cola's use of plastic packaging increased by more than 6 percent from 2021 to 2022, and PepsiCo's increased by 4 percent, according to 2023 reports from Oceana and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Even if companies achieve their goals to increase recycled content, billions of single-use bottles will still be produced and sold around the world every year, where they can escape the waste stream and end up as litter in the environment. 

In particular, brand pledges to use more recycled content will only reduce the amount of plastic bottles entering the ocean by an estimated 7 percent, according to 2022 research commissioned by Oceana. More than 33 billion bottles would still enter the ocean each year.

Refillables, on the other hand, displace single-use containers in a truly circular system. Durable plastic bottles can be reused around 25 times, and glass bottles can be refilled 50 times or more, according to Oceana. At the end of its life, the bottle is likely to be in the hands of the beverage company — rather than in the waste stream where it can be contaminated by other materials  — meaning the plastic or glass can be more easily recycled into another food-grade container. For these reasons and more, every 10 percent increase in refillable bottle use across coastal countries could yield a 22 percent reduction in plastic bottle pollution in the ocean, the nonprofit estimates

"In our view, this is the way to really quickly address the plastic crisis," said Littlejohn of Oceana. "The reality of compound annual growth is these companies want to grow to make more money and to have their investors make more money. And if that happens, they have to sell more, and they're going to make more packaging. They're going to have to use more and more plastic, which is a real problem. And this is a way to reduce that curve dramatically."

Refillable packaging - worker prepares to move empty refillable glass coca-cola bottles in the philippines
A worker prepares to move empty refillable glass bottles at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Philippines. (Image: Wayne S. Grazio/Flickr)

Myth: Refillable packaging can actually come with a higher environmental footprint when you factor in the transportation and cleaning of bottles 

A common misconception about refillable packaging is that it can actually create more environmental impact. The containers are heavier and require more material than single-use alternatives, and those containers have to be transported back to a bottler and washed before they can be reused. All of this adds up to more waste, more water use and more carbon emissions, some skeptics argue. 

But when it comes to beverages in particular, research and beverage brands' own lifecycle assessments prove that's not the case. "There's a lot of misunderstanding and red herrings in this debate because people have this idea that the bottles are so heavy," Littlejohn said. "Coca-Cola, Heineken and AB InBev all say it’s better for the climate. They are not necessarily incentivized to say that, but they're saying that." 

Embotelladora Andina, for example, estimates that returnable plastic bottles have a 21 percent lower carbon footprint over their lifetimes than single-use bottles made from recycled plastic and almost 50 percent lower than single-use bottles made from virgin plastic. "There are a lot of studies showing that the carbon footprint of refillables are substantially lower than that of one-way bottles," Andres Wainer, chief financial officer of Embotelladora Andina, said at the Oceana and HSBC event. 

This is even the case in a large country like Chile, where bottles are often transported long distances. "We ship refillable bottles for hundreds of kilometers, and it's not an issue," Wainer said. "In fact, the cost of taking these empty bottles back to the plant is very low, because the truck has to return empty to the plant anyway. The only difference is that we're putting empty bottles that don't weigh much, so the carbon footprint of that is very, very low. It is nothing relevant because the truck had to return anyway back to the plant." 

For Andina, water use is about 0.1 or 0.2 liters more for refillable bottles compared to disposable, but Wainer also considers this distinction negligible and said the bottler is exploring new ways to recycle water and optimize bottle cleaning. Bottlers also say almost all refillable containers are ultimately returned for reuse

The bottom line 

Refillable packaging offers a promising avenue for brands to reduce their contributions to the global plastic waste crisis. As billions of single-use plastic bottles enter the environment and pour into the ocean every year, it's clear the linear take-make-waste system of packaging must be disrupted if we hope to stem the tide.

Bottlers like Andina are looking to sell upwards of 40 percent of all beverages in refillable packaging by 2030, but there's much more big brands can do to get their bottlers in markets around the world involved, Littlejohn said. 

"They should be telling people about this," Littlejohn said of brands like Coke and Pepsi. "They’re doing this at such a huge level, and no one really knows it." 

Keep an eye out for more TriplePundit coverage on the rise of refillables, and if you've seen a refillable system in your community you'd like to see us cover, drop us a line here

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How Leading U.S. Businesses Can Find Their Voice on Abortion Rights

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As one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the United States, abortion is a cornerstone of modern medicine and women’s reproductive health. However, abortion is also a hot-button political issue in the U.S. Business leaders who support the right to safe, legal abortion risk stepping into a minefield when they speak out. But the opportunity to speak up and unify around common ground exists, and the dating app Bumble is among those showing the way.

The big picture

In the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion rights are described in terms of the Constitutional right to privacy under the 14th Amendment. However, Roe left ample room for states to establish limitations on abortion services, and it was ultimately overturned by the 2022 Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health decision.

In the resulting patchwork of state abortion laws, women in abortion-restricting states have been able to travel out of state for an abortion, if they have the means to do so. 

The availability of out-of-state care has also influenced the corporate response to new abortion bans, as recently demonstrated in Texas by corporate behavior after Senate Bill 8, a strict abortion law, was enacted in 2021. Bumble, Salesforce and dozens of other leading corporations responded by publicly pledging financial assistance for Texas employees in need of out-of-state abortions. Some also offered to relocate employees to other states.

However, that response failed to take the big picture into account. Senate Bill 8 did not simply impact employees in Texas. Along with two other state laws restricting abortion access, Senate Bill 8 appears to have dampened the enthusiasm for out-of-state workers to take up residence in Texas, and that makes abortion a bottom-line issue for businesses. 

Texas women ask for clarity

One key shortcoming of the travel assistance pledge is its failure to address the issue of emergency abortion care. Scheduling an out-of-state abortion may be inconvenient and costly, but in many cases of unplanned pregnancy it can be planned well in advance. Accessing emergency care to avoid serious medical complications, permanent injury, or death is a different matter entirely.

Access to emergency care is also a matter that impacts all pregnancy-capable people. Despite the culture of cuteness surrounding pregnancy, miscarriage is a common experience, and studies show that abortion bans increase maternal mortality.  

The underlying fault with the offer of out-of-state travel assistance was underscored by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week when it ruled that hospitals in Texas are not required to provide abortion emergency care services. 

That widely reported decision has brought renewed attention to women in Texas who have suffered needlessly because they were denied timely care during their pregnancies.

The 5th Circuit decision also focused more attention on a lawsuit brought by 20 women and two obstetrician-gynecologists who claim they have been harmed by the Texas abortion laws. The lawsuit, Zurawski v. State of Texas, demands that state law clarifies what constitutes a “medical emergency.” 

The group is represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit in March of last year. “While the laws contain an exception for the life and health of the pregnant person, Texas’s hostile abortion landscape has made physicians afraid to rely on the exception,” the Center for Reproductive Rights explains. “These extreme bans criminalizing abortion have stoked fear and confusion among pregnant people and doctors throughout the state.”

Bumble finds its voice on abortion rights

The stoking of fear and confusion is also the focus of an amicus brief in support of the Zurawski plaintiffs. Latin for "friend of the court," amicus curiae briefs are filed by groups or individuals who are not part of a legal case but offer assistance to the court by way of insight or expertise.  Authored by the law firm Reed Smith, the brief was filed on November 20, 2023, with Bumble on board as the first company to sign on.

“Texas’s confusing medical exceptions increase business costs, drive away talent, and threaten workforce diversity and well-being,” Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder and CEO, said in a press statement. "We must unequivocally support equal rights for our employees and customers to make their own reproductive choices.”

Reed Smith partner Sarah Cummings Stewart, who is leading the brief, added: “Women and businesses are literally fleeing the state, and others are staying far away from these cruel and unjust laws.”

The brief presents evidence backing up these claims, including data showing that while the overall population of Texas is growing, an “increasing number of young, educated professionals are either not considering [moving to Texas] or are leaving the state in search of better opportunities and more inclusive environments.”

The brief also describes a survey in which “66 percent of respondents who did not live in Texas said S.B. 8 would discourage them from taking a job there, [and] 63 percent said they would not even apply for a job in a state that banned reproductive health care.”

As described in the brief, Texas law fails to provide businesses with reliable guidance for prospective employees regarding their access to medical intervention if needed. In effect, it is a risk management issue.

“At present, the ability of businesses to advise on that availability issue is hamstrung by the ambiguity in the various statutes and the uncertainty in their application,” the brief states. “Delivering clarity on that issue will let individuals and companies know one thing for certain about the availability of reproductive care.”

Next steps for businesses

By focusing on ambiguity in the law, the brief does not make a moral judgement about abortion, much less demand for the abortion laws to be nullified. It simply asks for the law to clarify the extent of risk that women and other pregnancy-capable people will face when choosing to live in Texas.

“Even a small step on this life-defining issue is important, because it will help all those affected — individuals and businesses alike — in making evaluations pivotal to their futures,” the brief concludes.

Bumble is not alone in seizing the opportunity to support clarity in the law. About 50 other businesses joined the brief. However, aside from Bumble none of them are household names.

The brief also names dozens of high-profile businesses that have publicly offered out-of-state abortion assistance for their Texas employees, including Microsoft, Levi-Strauss, Amazon, Bank of America and many more. Those offers are ringing hollow in the face of mounting evidence that employee retention and recruitment are suffering.  

The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Zurawski v. Texas on November 28, but the case is still open and it’s not too late for other leading corporations to join Bumble and raise their voices in support of abortion rights in Texas.

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Business leaders who support the right to safe, legal abortion risk stepping into a minefield when they speak out. But the opportunity to speak up and unify around common ground exists, and the dating app Bumble is among those showing the way.
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What CEOs Are Saying About AI Heading Into 2024

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The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) at breakneck speed has organizations grappling, not just to keep pace with this unprecedented technological sprint, but also to understand how best to harness its potential.

This new state of constant technological change has been coined a “permanent revolution," a phrase inspired by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. AI is considered revolutionary because it brings about sudden, massive changes on a large scale. And it's considered permanent because it will likely advance at a rate faster than the pace of organizational learning. 

Despite the anticipated lag between technological development and user adoption, there is a big appetite amongst organizations and their executives to get up to speed, said Damien Howard, chief enterprise solutions officer at Per Scholas, a U.S.-based training and employment consultancy nonprofit. 

“There is increased recognition of the importance of having a future workforce strategy in place,” he said. “However, organizations are still trying to figure out what AI and its implementation actually means, and what the impact would look like. They're a little hesitant on moving forward because of that, because it's still in this space of learning.”
 
But once staff is trained to use the tools, AI can help accelerate further efficiency, development and growth. “AI can increase efficiency by 30 percent, at minimum, in certain areas,” Howard said. “Companies have an immediate opportunity to become more efficient with less of a financial investment.”  

Upskilling is crucial  

Organizations will need to reskill 50 percent of all employees by as early as 2025 as the adoption of emerging technologies like AI increases, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. 

“Organizations are struggling to find and train employees with the necessary expertise and discover what makes AI and other emergent technology effective overall,” Howard said. “That skill gap is a big challenge.” 

To prepare for this transformation in the workforce, 57 percent of workers are already upskilling through their employer or by individual means, according to a Per Scholas survey of C-suite leaders.

“Providing targeted training and high-demand skill sets will be paramount for companies to move forward to future-proof their workforce,” Howard said. “I believe it's more upskilling than reskilling, because no one is truly familiar with AI. Even the AI subject matter experts are still learning what AI can actually do. It's new, and it's evolving quickly and consistently, so it’s all about upskilling.”

Almost all of the C-suite leaders surveyed by Per Scholas believe every job will be a tech job by 2033. That makes upskilling the biggest requirement for both companies and individuals to future-proof themselves.

The survey also found that 97 percent of Generation Z, 65 percent of Generation X, and 55 percent of millennials are upskilling mainly by learning technology skills that involve software and application development, AI, coding, and data science. 

Budgeting for AI

As technological advancements drive business landscapes to evolve, companies understand that they need to prepare for the future by better managing their staff and improving talent acquisition. This requires rethinking and retraining existing business models, Howard said. 

Needless to say, this comes at a cost. “As a C-suite leader or a leader with budget oversight, this should be a part of your budget allocation for the next three to five years,” Howard said. “That would be part of the organization’s research and development, training, and learning and development budget.” 

Forty-four percent of C-suite executives see a lack of tech skills as a big concern, and 75 percent of workers are aware that tech skills will be a must-have in the years ahead, according to the survey. Technical knowledge and skills topped the list of keywords C-suite executives look for when interviewing job applicants, followed by communication and project management.

“Previously, human resources managers and talent acquisition leaders had larger budgets to build out talent pipelines,” Howard said. “Now they have more truncated budgets, and their C-suite is putting pressure on them to be more surgical about how they build out their organizations’ talent pipelines.” 

AI’s role in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts

“The largest challenge that I see facing organizations right now, specifically attached to the development and implementation of AI, is the lack of regulatory infrastructure and compliance that needs to be wrapped around it in order for it to be an equitable implementation across the board,” Howard said. 

AI systems can exhibit biases toward certain underrepresented groups of people, primarily because they mirror human biases. Studies have identified bias in AI technology like autonomous cars and facial recognition software, for example.

“If you don't have diverse individuals at the steering wheel, there's going to be intrinsic gaps that will deepen larger gaps inside of underserved communities because they will just not be thought about as [organizations] continue to develop and implement AI,” Howard said. “That's a real danger because AI can produce things in six months which used to take five to 10 years. So you have to be very cautious about how you're developing that and who you have at the table as you're developing and implementing AI in your firm.”

As the rise of AI mandates a strategic revolution in workforce upskilling to harness its potential and ensure equitable implementation, organizations must invest in learning and diversity to future-proof their operations. The continued success of an organization hinges on embracing this change as both a challenge and an opportunity for growth.

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The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has organizations grappling to keep pace. The training and employment consultancy nonprofit Per Scholas surveyed C-suite leaders to get a sense of what's on their minds when it comes to AI and how they plan to upskill for 2024 and beyond.
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What Happened in Panama? How Transparency Measures Can Fight Corruption in Mining

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The increased demand for transition minerals has led to disputes with local communities around the world. Many mining projects have caused irreparable environmental damage and human rights abuses, an issue that undermines the progress of the net-zero movement. This article focuses on transparency initiatives and is the latest installment in our investigative solutions journalism series on responsible mining in the low-carbon energy transition.

For the entire month of November, thousands of Panamanians took the streets to protest a mining contract that was approved in late October. They blocked roads and ports around the Cobre Panama copper mine and filled the streets in Panama City, calling on the government to reverse the decision.

The contract awarded the rights of the Cobre Panama mine to a subsidiary of a Canadian mining giant, First Quantum Minerals, for 20 years with an option to extend the contract for an additional 20 years.

In the largest public movement in Panama since the protests against the Noriega dictatorship in the 1980s, angry citizens criticized the impending environmental damage the mine would cause, the lack of meaningful public consultation, and the perceived conflict of interests, and corruption between government officials and the mining company.

Many concerned Panamanians feared that the government was selling the country to foreign investors. Sure, the mine would spur economic activity, but at what environmental cost, and to whose benefit? The feeling among the protestors was that the economic benefits of the mine did not outweigh the negative environmental, social and governance impacts of the project.

Eventually, on November 30, Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that the mining contract violated the constitution, citing 25 provisions as unconstitutional, and declared that the mine would be shut down.

The Cobre Panama mine had been in operation since 2019, extracting 385,000 tons of copper in 2022 alone, amounting to $2.85 billion in mineral exports that year, according to the mining company’s data. The company was given a license to explore and develop the mine in 1997, though after legal challenges that license was finally declared unconstitutional in 2017, leading to the recent attempts at renegotiating the contract.

Is corruption a real problem in mining projects?

When you combine massive amounts of investment from wealthy nations with poorer, developing countries that lack good governance and robust accountability measures, you’re setting the stage for a corrupt show.

Not helping matters is the fact that the mining approval process is becoming drastically fast-tracked in a number of countries as the demand for minerals to supply the energy transition surges. Mines can now reach approval in less than two years in some regions, something that would usually take upwards of 10 years to achieve. 

Corruption is one of the main forces responsible for what is known as the resource curse, a term used to describe the phenomenon of developing countries with abundant natural resources ending up in an economically worse situation than before their resources were exploited. 

Looking at the Panama case, several conflicts of interest raise suspicion, not least of which is the fact that the sitting vice president, José Gabriel Carrizo, used to be a lawyer for the subsidiary that owns the Cobre Panama copper mine, according to news reports.

According to Luis Adolfo Corró Fernández, Panamanian lawyer and president of the Fundación Latinoamericana para la Libertad y el Desarrollo (FIDES), the vice president’s mother also worked for the same mining company. 

“In 1962, the Panama government published a book that showed in detail where cobalt, gold, iron, silver, oil and other resources were located,” says Corró Fernández. “Strong political families received that information and used their positions to secure the government licenses to explore those areas. Then, they sold those licenses to First Quantum Minerals and other mining companies. So, this situation has been developing for decades.”

Panama isn’t alone when it comes to corruption allegations in mining contracts. A report published by the Natural Resource Governance Institute outlines several incidents of corruption in mining for transition minerals.

Between 2010 and 2020, over $400 million disappeared from a state-owned mining company working on cobalt and copper projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Those funds are presumed misappropriated. In Chile, a former economics minister allegedly received illegal payments from a mining company awarded lithium contracts. In Russia, a government official was charged with bribery after receiving payments for approving a nickel mining contract.

In Namibia, a Global Witness report uncovered accusations that a lithium mining license was obtained by a Chinese firm through bribery, where court documents show an agreement to pay $300,000 to a government advisor upon approval of the deal.

Also in the DRC, First Quantum Minerals (the same company that owns the Cobre Panama mine) “offered a down payment to the state of $100 million, cash payments and shares held in trust for government officials," according to a U.N. Security Council report. "The share offer to those officials was premised on a sharp rise in its share price once it was announced that it had secured some of the most valuable mineral concessions in the DRC,” the report reads. 

How to improve transparency and combat corruption in mining

The leading transparency initiative in the mining sector is the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The EITI requires both companies and governments to disclose payments, environmental and social impact assessments, and contracts and licensing, among other relevant documents. Updates in 2023 include provisions for added scrutiny on fast-tracked approvals, greenhouse gas emissions reporting, disclosures on community consultation and consent, and gender disaggregated data on benefits to communities.

So far, 57 countries have signed on to the EITI’s voluntary reporting standards. The voluntary nature of the framework means it can’t be enforced, but signatory countries are required to develop a multi-stakeholder group comprised of government, companies, and civil society that hold government actors and private companies accountable to the EITI reporting system.

Panama, in case you were wondering, is not a signatory of the EITI.

“While adherence to the EITI is voluntary, once it joins, a country needs to comply with all required aspects of the EITI standard,” the EITI International Secretariat explains. “This is tested in the validation process, which identifies corrective actions where requirements are not met.”

Studies have shown that EITI implementation makes a country more attractive for foreign investment, and in Zambia, the implementation of the EITI led to a significant decrease in corruption.

“Although the EITI is not a silver bullet against all forms of corruption, it is a very useful initiative that puts important data on mining revenues into the public domain and leads to greater transparency in the mining sector,” says Colin Robertson, senior investigator at Global Witness.

The EITI needs to be used in conjunction with other measures to achieve the best results, Robertson adds. Those measures include higher due diligence standards from downstream actors in the supply chain, stronger enforcement of corruption cases against companies, and mandatory disclosure laws.

The EITI also points to some areas where the standard encounters challenges in its implementation. “One of the more challenging areas of disclosure is beneficial ownership transparency,” the EITI International Secretariat explains. “Another area to highlight is project-level reporting, where only a minority of countries have so far fully addressed project-level reporting of relevant government revenue streams. A third area where progress has been challenging in some cases is on civil society engagement.”

EITI in the low-carbon energy transition

Had the EITI standard been implemented in Panama, it’s hard to say what difference it might have made. Perhaps the mine would not have been allowed to operate anyway, but over a month of public outrage that included violence and four deaths may have been avoided. Maybe the government and mining company could have found an honest agreement that provided tangible benefits to Panamanians and adequate environmental protection. Maybe not, but any chance of that happening has certainly been squandered now.

When the Supreme Court of Panama deemed the project unconstitutional, it ruled that the contract was not inspired by social well-being and public interest, but rather by private interests that included the preferential and priority treatment of the First Quantum subsidiary.

When considering the economic benefits that Panama would have received, the Court ruled there was nothing in the contract that represented broad economic benefits for the state. 

Herein lies one of the major challenges of the energy transition. The rush to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources requires an abundance of minerals. Securing those minerals represents a big opportunity for mining companies and other companies involved in the mineral supply chain. Very lucrative mining contracts are up for grabs.

But this dash for minerals needs ground rules to ensure a just transition for all. It isn’t fair to disregard the well-being of others so that the developed world can continue its consumerism without interruption.

Transparency measures, like the EITI, can ensure that measures are taken to protect the well-being and interests of people in mineral-rich regions, and mitigate some of the nasty consequences of mining transition minerals.

Editor's Note: This story was updated on Jan. 9, 2024, to revise Luis Adolfo Corró Fernández's title. 

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In November, thousands of Panamanians took the streets to protest a copper mining contract. Their story is one of many unfolding around the world, in which corporate and government corruption make way for mining projects that harm the public good. Measures like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative can help.
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Sustainability on Tap: Exploring the Organic Beer Market

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Craft beer, one of the world’s oldest alcoholic drinks, has seen its fair share of changes. As it booms in the U.S., another trend bubbled to the surface — sustainability. Brewers have already adopted many environmentally-friendly practices, yet they’ve barely tapped into the rapidly growing organic beer market. Could this be a promising new direction for the industry?

Despite the limited current market, sales of organic beer in the U.S. increased 10 times since the early 2000s. Some craft breweries have been organic for decades, and big beer brands jumped on the bandwagon a few years ago with releases such as Michelob’s Ultra Pure Gold and line of hard seltzers

Beer remains one of the most popular drinks in the U.S., exceeded only by water, coffee and soft drinks. Catering to environmentally conscious consumers could unlock an untapped potential for the craft beer market, particularly in the organic sector.

Organic beer 101

Unless you’ve passed through life assiduously avoiding frat parties, dive bars and backyard barbecues, you know what beer is. But what exactly is organic beer?

“To use an organic ingredient means it's cultivated without the use of inorganic fertilizers or pesticides,” said John Gonzales, founder of Leashless Brewing, an organic craft brewery in Southern California. “There's no genetically modified organisms involved in the manufacturing of that raw material. There's no human sludge or no ionization.”

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic certification for a brewery or farm has to be renewed every year, and getting it in the first place can be a complex, multiple-step process. Further, USDA organic labels come in different varieties. A 100 percent organic label is the strictest designation, meaning all ingredients are organic. However, a beer simply labeled as “organic” means 95 percent of the ingredients are organic, whereas “made with organic ingredients” means at least 70 percent of the beer’s ingredients are organic. 

“That level of authenticity when you see that USDA organic logo, you know 100 percent it's legit,” Gonzales said. “There's no way to get around it. We go through audits annually that look at what we produce and what ingredients we're using … There's an audit trail so that they could trace a bag of our grains all the way to the middle man and the actual grower.”

The challenges of organic ales

Despite promising growth in the U.S. organic food market, organic beer is just a drop in the mammoth beer production bucket. Less than 1 percent of beer is currently certified as organic. The reasons why are as varied as IPA styles at a hipster bar. 

First of all, the availability of beer’s ingredients can be a roadblock. The most commonly used grain for beer is barley. However, as of 2016, less than 3 percent of U.S.-grown barley is organic. Limited markets and non-premium grain prices are the main reasons farmers don’t grow more of it, according to a survey from Oregon State University. 

Then there’s hops, an essential ingredient for beer’s flavor and stability. Hops are difficult to grow organically because they’re susceptible to disease, fungal infection and insects. Weeds also compete with them for water and nutrients, which they need in large quantities. Normally, this would be taken care of with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, so switching to organic production remains challenging.

However, long-standing relationships can be advantageous in obtaining organic ingredients. For instance, the Peak Organic Brewing Company has connected with multiple local farms since it opened in 2007. 

“One of our favorite things is developing those relationships with growers, seeing where what we are using is grown, how it's made, and who's making it,” said Jon Cadoux, the brewery’s founder. “But for sure that's time-consuming. That could be a barrier to entry for somebody new.”

In addition to supply constraints, the higher costs involved may deter some brewers. Organic ingredients are more expensive, and certification by the USDA costs anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. 

High prices could also deter consumers. “A while ago, there was such a big price premium on everything organic that people were scared away,” Cadoux said. “But I think that has reduced a lot lately.”

Beer’s environmental impact 

Cleaning up the process of changing barley to beer is difficult, but it’s worth it. The environmental impact of one of our most cherished beverages is sobering. 

To begin with, growing barley and hops generally requires herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. These pesticides contaminate the soil, water and vegetation, and they can be toxic to insects, fish and birds. Some of these pesticides even persist into beer, although normally in reduced quantities.

In addition, it takes copious amounts of energy and water to brew beer. The early stages of beer involve boiling, which is energy-intensive, while refrigeration and packaging also require fuel. Breweries could pay upward of $55,000 annually for energy, according to one estimate.

Then there’s water. Used at almost every stage of the process, brewing a pint of beer requires four to 10 pints of water. And that same pint generates three to 10 times the amount of wastewater. While nontoxic, this water has organic compounds and can pollute freshwater if untreated. 

Brewing also produces solid waste in the form of spent grain, yeast, hops and other products. However, the spent grain and yeast can be used for compost, livestock feed or products like sweeteners. 

Finally, brewing emits greenhouse gases. Estimates for a liter of beer (equal to almost three 12-ounce bottles) are modest — equivalent to driving two to five miles in a gasoline-fueled vehicle. However, given the average American over the age of 21 drinks around 107 liters of beer per year, this can quickly add up. The largest contributor to beer’s carbon footprint comes from the packaging, followed by the production of the raw materials, typically barley.

Brewing sustainably 

In spite of the challenges, many brewers are grabbing the beer by the horns and tackling sustainability head on. For instance, breweries are using biodegradable four- and six-pack rings and fiber-based, recyclable bottles. Others are capturing, cleaning and reusing wastewater, using solar power, and even planting trees and restoring seagrass meadows.

Going organic also has numerous advantages. “Organic [agriculture] uses 30 percent less water than conventional [agriculture],” said Gonzales of Leashless Brewing. “It uses around 40 percent less energy and sequesters about 40 percent more carbon into the soil just through its practices. When we make and sell a pint of organic beer, we know that we have done the best we can to make sure that we are keeping the world as clean and functional as possible.” 

Additionally, breweries' support of organic farmers reduces pesticide use and its adverse impacts on the environment. Organic farming also protects agricultural workers against the harmful effects of pesticide exposure, including respiratory illness, arthritis, cancer, birth defects, infertility, and skin, liver, kidney and neurological issues.

“I always thought ingredients that are locally sourced, sustainably, taste better,” added Cadoux of Peak Organic Brewing Company. “It's kind of always felt like a win, win. If something tastes better and is also better from a sustainability standpoint, why not do that?”

Finally, there’s the business angle of organic brewing. While the market share for organic beer is growing steadily, craft beer’s overall share is decreasing, Gonzales said.

“When we go to the buyers and say, 'Hey, we're local, we have an award-winning beer, and we're also organic,' we just added several value-added propositions to a relatively fairly-priced product,” Gonzales said. “So, there's a differentiation tactic to being organic.”

The future of the organic beer market

The organic brewing world may be small at the moment, but the outlook is optimistic.

“We are where the organic wine world was in the late '80s, early '90s,” Gonzales said. “So, yes, we're definitely growing … I think it's a longer road for some of us. But certainly, I think we have a better moat than most people and we have a better story to tell. And yes, people do increasingly look for things that are healthier for them.”

The organic food market in the U.S. is predicted to grow by nearly 9 percent annually until 2027, outpacing the growth of the overall food market. With U.S. beer sales totaling nearly $115 billion in 2022, there’s ample shelf space for organic beer.

“We make beer that we know is good for the environment,”  Gonzales said. “And we thought if we can, we should use a brewery to help change people's habits — one pint of beer at a time.”

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Craft beer is booming in the United States, and organic options and environmentally-friendly brewing practices are growing in popularity alongside it. While organic still makes up a minority of beer sales, the segment is poised to take off.
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This App Fights Ocean Plastic Pollution and Helps Lift Refuse Collectors Out of Poverty

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Businesses can help raise awareness about ocean plastic pollution by sponsoring a beach cleanup, but after the trucks and volunteers leave, the waste will continue to wash on shore. The Indian startup Recykal is cutting plastic pollution off at the source instead. It created an award-winning, app-based system that rewards local refuse collectors for picking up waste, while offering new opportunities for businesses to help raise awareness about solutions that work.

The growing plastic pollution crisis 

Ocean plastic pollution is the leading global symbol of waste mismanagement. The World Economic Forum helped raise the profile of the problem in a 2016 report, with a headline warning that the oceans will hold more plastic than fish by 2050 if something doesn’t change.

The problem of small plastic particles in the ocean environment is also a focus of attention. An estimated 170 trillion plastic particles are floating in the oceans, according to a 2023 study

Despite the raised awareness, the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans continues to increase, and researchers are calling for prevention strategies and countermeasures.

Recovering ocean-bound plastic at scale

Recykal called renewed attention to the ocean plastic problem in December when it announced the Samudramanthan program to stop plastic from entering the ocean through rivers and coastal communities.

In Sanskrit, Samudra Manthana refers to “a churning of the ocean” and is the name of a well-known story in Hindu mythology. Recykal describes the Samudramanthan initiative as the largest ocean-bound plastic reclamation project in the world, with a total of more than 70,000 metric tons of plastic collected from 207 districts spread across 19 different Indian states since 2017. All but one of the districts include rivers or ocean coasts.

That is just the beginning. Recykal plans to double the number of ocean coastal districts in the program from 33 to 66.

An app-based system that works

The scale of the Samudramanthan initiative is all the more impressive considering that it does not just cover shorelines. It covers all areas within a radius of 10 kilometers from rivers and coasts. TriplePundit spoke with Chetan Baregar, co-founder and associate director of marketing at Recykal, to learn how the company coordinated the initiative across such a vast, sprawling territory.

The task seems especially intimidating in a nation where recycling largely depends on the work of self-employed refuse collectors, who have historically labored in poverty.

These refuse collectors — also called waste pickers — are largely excluded from policymaking, yet their role as “invisible environmentalists” was recognized by the United Nations Development Program in a 2022 report. The organization Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives also called attention to their key role in waste management systems, putting the number of refuse collectors at 1.5 million in India alone.

These self-employed collectors lack the connections and resources to realize the full value of their goods, Baregar said. In addition to suppressing collector incomes, the piecemeal system also leads to inefficiencies along the recycling chain. 

The Recykal solution is a cloud-based app that enables refuse collectors to connect with broader recycling markets, Baregar said. Unlike the gig-work apps typified by Uber, though, the Recykal team envisioned a more holistic digital ecosystem that benefits all participants.

“The story of recycling usually happens at the transactional level,” Baregar said. “But we formed an ecosystem at the cloud level where all stakeholders come together.”

Members of the Recykal team separate recyclable materials at a recycling center that processes ocean-bound plastic pollution and other materials in Bengaluru, India.
Members of the Recykal team separate recyclable materials at a recycling center in Bengaluru, India.

Bringing recycling stakeholders together

Collector education is a key feature of the Recykal system. Refuse collectors traditionally focus on only one or two recyclable materials, and they typically sell to a limited number of local recyclers, Baregar said. In contrast, the Recykal app enables them to do business with a wide network of recyclers that handle six different categories of waste — including tires, paper, e-waste and plastic.

“With this network, we can create additional business for these entrepreneurs,” Baregar said. The recyclers in the Recykal network are pre-vetted and authorized, enabling collectors to avoid getting entangled with the consequences of illegal recycling.

Encouraging self-employed individuals to adopt new business practices can be difficult, but the assurances built into the app help smooth the way, Baregar said. That includes cutting down the traditional 30-to-60-day turnaround for billing to less than a week or even instantaneously. 

The ripple effect of app-based recycling

By creating new market efficiencies for collectors and recyclers, the app also supports improvements in the overall quality of the recycling stream. 

“As they start using the app, they understand that now they have new options,” Baregar said. “They are not depending on regional buyers. The demand is taken care of, so they can focus on sourcing and responsible recycling.” 

Digital technology can encourage behavior change among consumers, he said. For example, some tourists leave plastic beverage bottles along the trek to the Kedarnath religious site in the Himalayas. Waste-hauling trucks and other equipment are not an option in remote locations like that, but Recykal’s Digital Deposit Refund System motivated many tourists to start carrying out their recyclable materials to collect a deposit, with each item bearing a unique digital stamp.

Some tourists continue to discard litter, but the refund system also motivated local residents to scour the route for discarded bottles to return for extra cash, resulting in an overall high rate of return. “The locals use it as a source of income, so now there is a race to collect the plastic,” Baregar said. 

How businesses can help

Based on the success of the Kedarnath pilot, the Digital Deposit Refund System has already expanded. But it was difficult to convince local stakeholders at first. Shri Abhishek Ruhela, district magistrate of the Indian state of Uttarkashi where Kedarnath is located, noted that the initiative initially faced pushback from shopkeepers, distributors and hotels.

“However with consistent efforts of the administration and team Recykal, the project is gaining popularity and support from locals,” he said in a statement in November. “This collaboration with the Uttarakhand government, aimed at halting plastic pollution, was a very successful initiative that resulted in winning the Digital India Award 2022, and has been a key milestone in our journey.”

The focus on local education and participation provides businesses with opportunities to engage with public awareness campaigns that support innovative new recycling programs. 

Public education will become all the more important as sophisticated new waste management systems emerge. Advanced digital technology enables recycling centers to scan bags from individual households, making it possible to implement a system of recycling incentives, or penalties, as the case may be, Baregar said.

“We realize that plastic is so deep-rooted in modern life that reduction might happen over a period of time, so our focus is that what we are producing today must be managed,” he said.

The ability to tell who is sorting their recyclables properly and who is not may seem overly intrusive, but to the extent that consumers are responsible for ocean plastic pollution, it is probably a necessary one.

Images courtesy of Recykal. 

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The Indian startup Recykal is cutting plastic pollution off at the source with an app-based system that rewards local refuse collectors while offering new opportunities for businesses to help raise awareness about effective solutions.
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