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Like carbon dioxide, methane can either collect in the planet’s atmosphere as a greenhouse gas or it can be captured and utilized. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is an easily usable fuel. Unfortunately, it also has to be captured at its source — and the sources are many. As such, methane emissions present a unique challenge that energy tech manufacturer Qnergy seeks to solve through its small-scale generators and compressed air pneumatics that are both designed to harness the gas in its raw form at the point of origin. This presents a unique opportunity to decrease the levels of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and access a renewable source of fuel simultaneously. 

Methane constitutes approximately 20 percent of man-made greenhouse gasses, making it the second most common of those gasses after carbon dioxide (CO2). However, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than CO2, and it also has a shorter lifespan — thereby remaining in the atmosphere for a mere 12 years versus the centuries it takes for CO2 to break down. This means that even if the planet’s population managed to drastically cut CO2 emissions now, the effects will not be felt for a very long time.  Whereas with methane, “Achieving significant reductions would have a rapid and significant effect on atmospheric warming potential,” according to the EPA.

Every biological process that produces waste also produces methane. Humans contribute excess amounts of the gas through our food production systems, landfills, as well as wastewater and energy systems — even our home kitchens add up when it comes to total methane emissions. Collecting and refining methane produced from such widely distributed sources presents a significant challenge to harnessing these emissions as fuel, one that Qnergy aims to address through its generators. Designed as external combustion engines, these generators do not require refined methane and can operate on the raw gas as it is vented — producing electrical energy that can be used at the source. This technology prevents any methane that would otherwise be wasted through flaming or released into the atmosphere from adding to climate change and instead, closes the loop with local energy production. 

Qnergy presents two examples of this closed-loop energy production in a recent white paper. The first is its work with TotalEnergies, the massive France-based oil and gas company that reduced its methane emissions by 98 percent after implementing Qnergy’s proprietary systems. The second example is in partnership with Sistema.bio, a manufacturer of anaerobic biodigesters. Together, the two companies helped a pig farm in Mexico transition from heavy fines for pollution to significantly reduced emissions which eliminated government penalties. In addition, the farm went on to generate 120 kWh of renewable power per day while transforming manure into fertilizer, reducing operating costs all around. 

Qnergy stresses that the method of capture and conversion must fit the source. The company’s examples of larger-scale producers offer a realistic start toward harnessing distributed methane. As the planet’s population grows, reclaiming the fuel from smaller, cumulative sources will likely be necessary. What this will look like remains to be seen but it may help to think about methane capture and small-scale generators in a similar vein as solar panels. Could buildings and homes be built with micro-sized generators that would capture methane produced in our kitchens and toilets and allow it to be used on the same premises? At what rate of return will consumers be convinced to add such systems to their homes? Can governments offer similar tax incentives to homeowners and businesses that install such micro-generators as to those who installed solar panels on their roofs?

Methane’s immense ability to trap heat makes its abatement and capture imperative to climate change mitigation. By moving away from any centralized thinking that ignores many sources of methane as fuel due to the nature of its wide distribution, it is possible to harness that energy and put it to use. In order to do so, cooperation will be needed between the private sector, government and consumers. 

Image credit: Pixabay

Growing up, when my brothers and I wanted to float a risky proposition to our parents, we would bring it to them by committee. “We all think we should skip washing the dishes tonight,” the three of us would venture. We found safety in numbers — but not often success.

It is exciting to see a clear increase in the number of businesses looking to “do good.” 

That said, powerful, value-add corporate social impact can only be accomplished when the work is tailored to that business — its core competencies and product lines; its local community; and the issues that are key to its employees and stakeholders. To get there, it’s critical to find a social impact north star that informs all of the work. This takes time, perspective, expertise and leadership.  

An alarming trend’s emerging: Leaders are being seduced by the notion that corporate purpose can be identified by majority vote.

Instead of carefully charting a course and planting a flag where their company’s resources are best suited to make an impact, decision-makers are outsourcing this decision-making, seeking safety in numbers. 

The message is everywhere. Want to lock in your corporate giving budget? Take a straw poll of your employees. Need to dial in this year’s social impact and volunteerism themes? Have a committee work on it, on top of their day job. Unsure whether to weigh in on a key issue of the day? Use an app to have the whole company vote on an engagement strategy.  

Imagine a company facing a major supply chain issue commissioning an employee-wide survey to determine the solve, or the Chief Marketing Officer - tasked with creating a Super Bowl ad - wandering from cubicle to cubicle in the finance department seeking suggestions for the storyboard. 

Laughable, right? 

Here’s the very disappointing bottom line. The very act of soliciting ideas from across the company is an admission that executives have no real plan. Unfortunately, this also means there are no associated key performance indicators or benchmarks related to the work. Without a focus on outcomes, it is nearly impossible to drive meaningful impact.  

So why would leaders resort to the straw poll model in the first place? The first reason is that leadership simply has no idea what to do. In this evolving landscape — many of today’s C-suite leaders do not have experience with strategic, successful impact work. That’s fine — simply admit it. And then bring in the right experience and expertise to help set up a powerful social impact effort for the long-term. 

The second reason is that leadership is trying to engage their employees, in a “two birds, one stone” approach. While this may seem appealing on its face, this approach actually blends two different goals, both of which deserve their own lane. Quality employee engagement is key to organizational success. Happy, dedicated employees are good for business. In the short-term, your team may appreciate selecting beneficiaries for corporate donations, but social impact is much bigger than cutting a check. When a company is a genuine pillar for good in a community, it creates value for the world and for the brand, and ultimately results in genuine employee engagement. Alternatively, when the impact is scattered and without focus, it will not likely result in long-term employee engagement or societal value. Simply put, blending the two is a quick way to fail at both.

The third most common reason is the most concerning — leadership is covering its own hide, insulating themselves from potential criticism should the work backfire later. Ironically, this model also carries high risk for the company with a tremendous potential to harm internal morale and tarnish brand reputation. Further, flimsy partnerships that don’t have the actual backing of leadership can create real harm to the communities and individuals being served. 

At a time when business and individual reputations can be damaged or destroyed in an instant, it’s understandable that companies want to play it safe. But caution should never supersede common sense. 

Here’s the good news: There’s an alternative path.

Senior leaders with a deep understanding of a company’s current and near-term assets and long-term social impact goals must direct the work. They can start by asking four key questions. First, in examining a business’s core mission, resources and talents, what social impact work is that organization best situated to support? Second, focusing on that issue, what are the organization’s “social impact superpowers”? Of course, there are dollars, but what else can the organization offer in big and small ways to plus-up the social impact efforts? Third, is this work additive, and does it elicit a sense of passion and pride? And finally, in 10 years’ time, what will the company’s key stakeholders — it’s employees, leadership, investors, customers and neighbors — be most proud of from a social impact perspective?

To be sure, leading from the top doesn’t mean disregarding the views of employees — quite the opposite. Once your social impact north star is identified, the social impact team should work closely with passionate employees and relevant employee resource groups (ERGs) regarding strategy and implementation. These team members’ insights and firsthand knowledge are invaluable. 

We all agree that our world is in dire need of fixing. If corporations are to be part of the solution — which I strongly believe they can and must be — the work must be strategic, effective, measured and well-managed. Anything less is, sadly, not going to accomplish much. 

Don’t believe me? Conduct a straw poll.

Interested in having your voice heard on 3p? Contact us at editorial@3BLMedia.com and pitch your idea for a guest article to us.

Image credit: Julia M Cameron via Pexels

When the conservative 6-3 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned 50 years of precedent on abortion rights last month, they handed a potential gold mine to data mining firms in search of new business. After all, states that pass new abortion laws need data to enforce those laws. They need to identify, monitor and track anyone capable of carrying a pregnancy. That applies to anyone of child bearing age, regardless of whether or not they are even pregnant, let alone seeking an abortion.

Many other tech companies, though, are facing a firestorm of consequences. To cite just one example, Snapchat removed several dozens of locations from its Snap Map feature last week, after Bloomberg reported that anti-abortion “clinics” are collecting data and luring teenagers based on their use of social media.

“Google, for instance, now requires providers to note whether businesses are accredited to perform abortions or not,” added Bloomberg reporter Margi Murphy, “But the deceptive centers still remain en masse in states where women may no longer be able to find legitimate treatment.”

Murphy also cited Tara Murtha of the Women’s Law Project, who said that such deceptive centers effectively serve as data mills. They can flag people who leave a record of their visit but fail to follow through with a baby. That information can easily pass along to “overzealous prosecutors.” Murphy reported that examples of such information pass-alongs “have almost tripled in the last 12 years,” even before the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case upended abortion rights.

Last week, the Washington Post also reported that there is already a pre-Dobbs history of pregnancy prosecution based on online activity, including text messages as well as online searches.

The law of unintended consequences

One major area of new concern for privacy and abortion rights is the personal data collected by a growing number of apps designed to track menstrual cycles.

Self magazine was among several publications to release a list of period tracking apps last year, under the title “The 10 Best Period Tracking Apps to Try in 2021.” Their list included Flo, Eve by Glow, Clue, Spot On (developed by Planned Parenthood), Ovia, Natural Cycles, Life and Period Tracker.

Self also suggested that smart phone users could simply use a note-taking app. However, that will not protect people whose phones are confiscated as evidence in a criminal proceeding.

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Health professionals emphasize that period apps are valuable wellness tools that can save lives by flagging early signs of an underlying health issue. In other words, they can help people protect their ability to carry a pregnancy.

Nevertheless, privacy advocates have been urging users to delete all period tracking apps on their devices.

They appear to have a case. Last month, Input magazine asked 12 popular period apps about their plans for securing user data after Dobbs. Six responded and affirmed that they were taking steps to secure their data. However, Input cited Laura Shipp, an expert in period tracking apps at Royal Holloway University of London, who advised users to “stay away from some of the biggest app providers, especially apps like Flo, who currently have a class-action lawsuit against them for sharing user data without users’ knowledge.”

“The researcher advises people use apps like Read Your Body, drip, or Pow!, all of which are what she calls ’privacy-first trackers,” Input added.

They are already coming for your contraception

Pregnancy rights advocates have already raised concerns that the ultimate aim of the anti-abortion movement is to prohibit contraception as well as abortion. In the high-tech world of data collection, that sort of prohibition would not simply track anyone who attempts to obtain a contraceptive drug or device. It would also cover anyone who uses period tracking apps in order to avoid pregnancy.

Input magazine reporter Chris Stokel-Walker touched on the issue when they included a statement from Natural Cycles CEO Raoul Scherwitzl in their article. After assuring users on privacy, Scherwitzl observed that “women have enough to be concerned about, and it’s on us to make sure they feel comfortable sharing their sensitive data with us as their trusted method of birth control.”

“Trusted method of birth control” refers to natural family planning, a pregnancy avoidance strategy based on refraining from sex during the most fertile days of the menstrual cycle. NFP existed long before apps were ever invented, but not in a form that could easily be tracked by government authorities or, for that matter, self-appointed community vigilantes.

Some religions that prohibit contraceptive drugs and devices permit NFP as a matter of doctrine. Nevertheless, permission from one’s religion will not protect people who use their period tracking app as an NFP aid. After all, if the aim is to deliberately avoid getting pregnant, there is no difference between one form of contraception and another, including abstinence.

Tech firms on the spot for speech enforcement

The Dobbs decision has unleashed a monster of epic proportions upon the tech world, and the fallout has only just begun.

Data collection is only one issue for tech firms. Selective enforcement of online speech is another. Last week, for example, Salon took note of a report that Meta had “secretly” designated the abortion rights group Jane's Revenge as a terrorist organization, “on par with drug cartels and mass murderers.” Jane’s Revenge has apparently been linked to one act of vandalism against an anti-abortion group. However, as Salon notes, Meta places fewer restrictions on at least two groups accused of playing a role in the failed insurrection of January 6, the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.

Bias aside, that policy is consistent with Meta’s apparent accommodation of ant-abortion speech, which has a history of linkage with the white supremacist movement.

“Historically, the vast majority of abortion-related violence has been carried out by anti-abortion groups against pro-choice doctors and clinics,” noted Salon reporter Jon Skolnik. “Despite this, only two names associated with anti-abortion violence reportedly appear on Meta's list of Dangerous Individuals and Organizations, which was obtained by the Intercept last October.”

The bottom line for tech companies and abortion rights

Tech companies are only fooling themselves if they think the anti-abortion movement stops at abortion. The full, invasive repression of any person with a uterus is already on the table.

A torrent of new restrictions on the movement and activities of both pregnant and potentially pregnant people is already in motion. Piecemeal, corporate-lead efforts that offer lip service to abortion rights will not be enough to stem the tide.

Tech companies and other firms that profess to stand for human rights need to take a stand and choose a side, not just in public statements but in financial aid for candidates and officeholders who support a person’s right to manage their own pregnancy as they see fit.

Tech firms and other corporate leaders need to stop pretending that the Republican party is on their side, and start acting like human rights really do matter.

Image credit: Leon Kaye

Heartstopper's Sebastian Croft is an absolute badass when it comes to allyship with his LGBTQ peers.

We need more people like Croft, who is loud and proud when it comes to LGBTQ rights. Sure, this year’s Pride Month is now in the rearview mirror, but as a reminder on this side of the pond, the number of anti-LGBTQ bills that have been simmering across the U.S. has resulted in less of a laundry list and more of a disturbing nationwide purge determined to strip queer citizens of their rights. At last count, about three dozen anti-transgender bills alone have made their way to state legislatures across America.

Judging by what’s been transpiring so far in 2022, the festooning of rainbows on corporate logos and proclamations of “standing with” or “supporting” LGBTQ employees and the community really haven’t been moving the needle. Such action is about as effective and inspirational as a Nancy Pelosi poem reading at yet another U.S. Capitol open mic. 

Claiming to be an “ally” is easy. The hard part is the follow through.

How to be an ally, by Sebastian Croft

Enter 20-year-old Sebastian Croft, a U.K. actor with whom you might be familiar if you’re a fan of HBO's Game of Thrones or the British historical comedy flick, Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans, for which Croft scored a BAFTA nomination. His most recent work can be watched on the first season of Netflix's Heartstopper, in which he plays a closeted, angry and toxic teen who does what he can to bully and gaslight the series’ lead character, Charlie Spring, whose experience as a year 10 student thanks to Croft's character is often miserable.

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To be clear, IRL Croft is nothing like Ben Hope; in fact, on his social media accounts he makes it clear that he’s part of the “Ben Hope Hate Club” and is no where even close to Ben at all. 

If anything, Croft has been stepping up, and doing far more to express his support for the LGBTQ community than frequently posting warm photos on social with his fellow Heartstopper cast members — mind you, they are a bouquet of positive, happy vibes.

A gentle reminder: Queer was always here

To start, Croft collabbed with an LGBTQ designer on this “Queer was always here” T-shirt campaign, currently available for pre-order on Everpress. As he explained:

“I remember when my brother told me that there were animals that some were gay. Quite a lot in fact. Completely naturally, without any concept of what it would mean to love the same sex and why that might be different to any other kind of love. I found that incredibly empowering. Often being queer is sold as a choice or watered down to a trend. But it’s not, and exists across nature. We’re also robbed of a lot of gay history, and can easily forget how long we have been here for.”

Some of the proceeds from the sale of these T-shirts will go to the nonprofits Choose Love and Rainbow Railroad, which are working together to support LGBTQ refugees seeking an escape from threats of violence and persecution. 

Incidentally, there’s another side to this campaign: sustainability. Everpress is only taking pre-orders for these T-shirts — which are Fair Wear certified — in an effort to reduce any unnecessary textile waste. If you want to hop onto our queer bandwagon and join TriplePundit in supporting this campaign, as of press time you have less than three days to score one of these shirts. They’ll start shipping on July 18.

Forget the press releases, dance to Whitney Houston

Finally, if you really want to see how Croft makes his alliance with the LGBTQ community known, watch a few videos from last weekend’s Pride parade in London. While Joe Locke and other Heartstopper cast members don’t exactly shy away from giving a murder of cawing homophobic protestors the middle-appendage salute (deservedly), Croft clapped back, literally, with relentless joy, dancing to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

That reaction was about far more than any cliche about having "the guts." Croft responded with unconditional love and an unrestrained side of emotional intelligence. If there’s a video of a Big 4 accounting firm or CPG company employees reacting the same way at a Pride event in their rainbow logo T-shirts, please do send it onto us.

As Croft reminds us with his final pitch for the Everpress campaign:

“I wanted to remind people with this T-Shirt, that queer has not just always been here throughout human history, but almost definitely predates us. Homophobia is the newcomer…”

Image credits of Sebastian Croft: @voidlucy on Twitter via Wiki Commons; Edward Maestom via Wiki Commons

The world is beginning to endure an economic downturn as costs of living skyrocket along with energy and commodity prices. As a result, loan losses are expected to rise and lending growth is expected to drop. That’s not quite the same sentiment at the nonprofit micro-financing company Kiva, though. 

With a newly appointed CEO and swift adoption of SaaS (software as a service) tools like Slack to scale global efficiencies, Kiva's ongoing focus on increasing the amount of money it can lend across the globe stays strong.

How Kiva opens doors to financial inclusion

“In 2021, lenders on Kiva funded $223 million worth of loans to over 550,000 borrowers. Relative to 2020, this represents a 76 percent increase in loan volume and a 56 percent increase in the number of people we helped,” says Chris Tsakalakis, appointed as Kiva CEO in 2021.

According to the World Bank, more than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need.

Therein lies solutions like those that Kiva offers to loaners and borrowers. Launched in 2005 in San Francisco, the founders of this social enterprise have rewritten the playbook on how to boost access to finance in order to help underserved communities thrive.

Kiva operates on a unique micro-financing model where anyone can pick an individual to help through its platform with as little as $25. The average loan repayment rate stands at 96.4 percent, encouraging repeat lending. “In the face of uncertain economic times, this model of recycling and redeploying funds provides an accessible opportunity to be involved and do good, again and again,” Tsakalakis continues.

Since 2005, Kiva lenders have funded $1.4 billion in loans for more than 4.5 million borrowers across 85 countries.

Kiva has a global team across seven offices from San Francisco to Sierra Leone, along with a partner network of 300 organizations. The ability to streamline communications has helped Kiva and its partners thrive. For example, the organization’s adoption of the popular online communications tool Slack for its communications has helped scale up Kiva’s operations by containing conversations into a centralized hub. “By using tools that enhance asynchronous communication and connect dispersed workforces, we save money and time,” Tsakalakis tells TriplePundit. “The time it takes to fund each loan is based on many factors, including how many lenders we have. That said, we are incredibly proud of our ability to post a loan to the site and see it funded in a week, day, or even an hour.”

SaaS applications are known to boost productivity in organizations because of the flexibility and agility they provide in a continuously disruptive environment. As a result, at least one report has predicted that SaaS application revenue will surpass $300 billion by 2025, representing 52 percent of the total cloud software market.

Smart investments in online tools can help scale up impact

One way in which to further scale and increase the nonprofit’s impact is the launch of Kiva Capital in 2020 and the expansion of its strategic partner program. “With Kiva Capital, we aim for large amounts of money from a few institutions and high net-worth individuals," Tsakalakis says. "Individuals and foundations that can make larger investments may contribute to one of our innovative funds, such as our Refugee Investment Fund, or their loans may finance an entire business or community initiative."

Some of the company’s new partners redefine the very notion of a corporate partnership.

“Our list of strategic partners continues to grow each year, and we’ve seen some innovative approaches,” Tsakalakis explains. “One example is our partnership with USWNTPA [U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association] that commenced this March. These women are not only talented athletes on the front lines of the fight for pay equity in sport, but they are also financially supporting women and communities of color across the U.S. through their Kiva partnership.”

From Tsakalakis’ perspective, such strategic partnerships are integral to adapting Kiva’s model to fit the needs of each organization. “If your institution is looking to get involved with Kiva as part of its CSR [corporate social responsibility] efforts, reach out to us without hesitation,” he says. “Whether corporations want to increase employee engagement, help specific groups of people, or support their employee resource groups and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, we’re ready to explore options together.”

Rethinking how to measure impact

Moving forward, Tsakalakis would like to see an evolution in the metrics used to measure Kiva’s impact, as in one that focuses more on the financial health of Kiva borrowers rather than that the number or value of loans given out. “What happens on an individual level when someone receives a Kiva loan? Beyond financial assistance, how do Kiva loans help our borrowers and their communities before, during and after their loans? The shift towards measuring overall financial health of our borrowers will take time to implement throughout the organization, but we’re patient and excited about the potential this will have on increasing the amount of impact we can drive,"  he concludes.

Image credit: Kiva

On June 21, the global sustainability community came together for Ukraine, by exploring the future of sustainability and the need for more inclusive efforts to advance sustainable development. The Sustainability For Ukraine event was a 24-hour webcast, with topics featuring more than 90 speakers from around the world, who together explored the current state of sustainability and began to outline a revived roadmap to help us navigate towards a better future. More 1,300 people attended this “web-a-thon” and tens of thousands visited the event website. 

This event and ongoing fundraising campaign seek to provide vital financial support for local NGOs in Ukraine that have been devastated by the war. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, offices of local NGOs have been damaged, employees have gone without pay and, many organizations are struggling to keep operating without outside funding.

So far, through the generous support from corporate sponsors and individual donations made online, this campaign has been able to raise over $170,000 to help rebuild civil society in the war-torn country. This coalition looks to raise an additional $80,000 to bring the total of contributions to $250,000.

Sustainability For Ukraine is still seeking donations form organizations and individuals so its backers can achieve its target and help our brothers and sisters working in sustainability in Ukraine. You can donate online here.

This event’s organizers wish to thank the two dozen organizations who led dedicated sessions of the web-a-thon, providing a robust program of dialogue on the sustainability agenda. Partners included: 3BL Media, Akatu Institute (Brazil), AuctusESG (India), B Lab, Business Council for the United Nations, BBMG, BSR, Business Fights Poverty, Business Leaders Forum, CBSR (Canada), CSR Europe, CSR Ukraine, ELEVATE, Forum for the Future, GlobeScan, GreenBiz, GRI, Maala (Israel), Net Positive, ReThink (Hong Kong), SB Japan, SB Thailand, Sustainability Connect (Singapore) and WWF.

For more information please contact Stacy Rowland at Globescan. 

Image credit: Leon Kaye

Food is at the heart of every stable and thriving society. Yet change is urgently needed to make our food system work for this and subsequent generations. By focusing our minds, technology and cooperative efforts on challenges such as climate change, malnutrition and poverty, we can re-create our food system to support healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy livelihoods.    

Feeding healthy people

Eggs, fish, meat and dairy play an essential role in the human diet — even in a circular economy. More than 90 percent of farm animals’ feed is non-digestible to humans. Livestock provide a valuable service of transforming various agricultural byproducts and pastures in areas not suitable for crops or vegetables into nutritious food containing all nine essential amino acids and key micronutrients, such as iron and zinc, along with vitamins such as B12. At DSM, our Animal Nutrition and Health business group provides farmers with the most complete toolbox of solutions to raise healthy animals to produce healthy food.  

In addition, at DSM we work with cross-sector partners such as the World Food Program, UNICEF, World Vision and Scaling Up Nutrition to provide fortified staple foods and health supplements in order to help provide 800 million people with key micronutrients by 2030. 

Reducing waste

Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 is a sizable challenge, and it will take an all-of-the-above approach to get there. Part of the solution is for farming to become more sustainable. That means addressing the roughly 1 billion tons of food wasted each year. At DSM we offer innovative, efficiency-boosting solutions all along the value chain — from production, storage and processing to final purchase and enjoyment by consumers. These solutions include getting the most nutritional value from each grain of feed, ensuring eggshells are sufficiently strong for transport, enhancing the consistency of cheese production and extending the shelf-life of meat, for example, using vitamins and biotechnology. 

Safeguarding a healthy planet  

Food loss and waste is not just a missed opportunity to provide someone with a nourishing meal. Unused food also contributes to higher overall greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, farm animals account for one-seventh of all human-derived greenhouse gas emissions. That figure must shrink while farming must feed a few billion more people in the coming decades; not an easy task but a crucial one. It is important to point out that food and agriculture are not mere contributors but also among the biggest victims when it comes to climate change and biodiversity loss. 

There is increasing recognition that we must keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement. Many agri-food companies and retailers, whose bulk of Scope 3 emissions occur on farms, are making public commitments to reach net zero by 2050. 

A key milestone along the path to net zero is a 30 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, and at DSM we have committed to enable double-digit, on-farm reduction of livestock emissions within that same timeframe. Fortunately, as an industry we already have the scientifically proven tools and knowledge needed to achieve a 30 percent reduction in GHG from eggs, meat, fish and milk by 2030. It will take courage and cooperation across the value chain to make this a reality. And because it requires changes to the business of food and farming, we must unlock valuable market opportunities that improve sustainability. 

Healthy incomes

Farms are businesses, and making changes to a business (e.g., making investments, adapting processes, additional training, etc.) all incur costs. The question is how to fund a food sustainability revolution, considering the modest income that farmers earn across the world. In developed countries such as in Western Europe, where farmers are heavily subsidized and the average livestock farm generated an income of 50,000 euros (about US$52,000) in 2020, there is an opportunity to connect subsidies to improvements in sustainability.

A more farmer-centric system would reward more sustainable food production while ensuring affordability for consumers with the lowest incomes. This means unleashing consumer choice — a powerful lever in competitive markets — by providing clear and reliable information about the sustainability of food. It also means tapping into new sources of income — for example green bonds or incentives and payments for environmental services — so that farmers have science-based tools and the capital they need to invest in improving farm sustainability that supports people, profit and planet. 

An egg a day

It is important to keep in mind that farm output and nutrition are inextricably linked. At DSM we work closely with partners across the world to help vulnerable people meet their daily nutritional requirements. This can start with something as simple as offering them an egg a day — the principle at the core of DSM’s Eggonomics initiative, launched in 2016 in Malawi, where 20 local farms now produce more than 25,000 eggs per day. 

We recently expanded Eggonomics to Brazil and Peru, where the aim is to eradicate malnutrition in more than 50,000 children and to support an additional 2 million malnourished people this decade. These projects rely on local farms, helping to boost the health of the local economy while providing essential nutrition to local populations. 

Bright future

While the challenges of recreating our agri-food system may seem considerable, it’s important to have hope for the future. Drastic change, while sometimes difficult to imagine, is achievable. In 1902, DSM was established to mine coal reserves in the Netherlands. Over the years we’ve completely transformed. Our evolution has continued unabated since we closed the last coal mine in the early 1970s. Today, we are a global leader in health, nutrition and bioscience that is committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. That focus may be why we see so many interconnectivities between healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy incomes. 

At DSM we’ve set ambitious targets in the form of our food system commitments. Re-creating our food system is not something that we’ll do alone. Together with our customers, partners, governments and other stakeholders, we make it possible. 

This article series is sponsored by DSM Animal Nutrition and Health.

Image credit: Evi T./Unsplash

According to a recent report from The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP), corporations are failing to deliver on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) promises, even as they say they have committed to more transparency — and thereby improved performance — surrounding their environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. TriplePundit has written extensively about such failures: lack of diversity within the corporation and even in the programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); failure to produce measurable results or examples of achieved objectives; and failure to participate in or report DEI efforts.

On the other hand, some companies are hard at it and have adopted social responsibility not only as a priority but as a core value. One such company is Ben & Jerry’s. 

“Our corporate values are based on the values of two real people—our co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield,” said Laura Peterson, Ben & Jerry’s Public Elations Manager. “We have long believed in social, economic and environmental justice, and especially where those areas intersect.”

And, there are numerous examples of the company’s bold involvement in social responsibility and even more importantly, social justice.

The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, founded in 1985, funds organizations in Vermont and around the country that are working for progressive social change.

Inspired by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020, the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity is another example. Qualified immunity refers to a law that grants government officials immunity from civil suits in most cases that might be questioned as excessive force or inappropriate behavior. 

As Cohen told CNN’s Victor Blackwell: “Right now cops have a get-out-of-jail-free card when they violate somebody’s…rights,” You’ve got to hold people accountable. That’s what ending qualified immunity is about.” 

Just as the murder of George Floyd inspired Ben & Jerry’s to act, so have the most recent shootings at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were assassinated by a teenager with an AR-styled rifle. The first significant gun safety legislation in recent memory—the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — was signed into law on June 23.

But is it enough? Not according to a recent Ben & Jerry’s blog:

“Corporate America must acknowledge its role in this country’s continuing gun violence. Money is the lifeblood of our political system and corporations and their trade associations bankroll the very politicians who offer thoughts and prayers for victims while ignoring the calls of victims' families to take weapons of war off our streets. It’s time for companies and their trade associations to stop political contributions to elected officials who do the gun lobby's bidding, blocking common sense gun laws that nearly all Americans support.”

Other social responsibility priorities of Ben & Jerry’s include voting rights, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, climate justice and campaign finance reform. 

The brand’s most recent partnership is with Unlock Potential (UP). UP, an initiative run by the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), is an employment program that assists employers to use hiring and other resources to give at-risk young people the life chances they deserve.

Peterson also told 3p, “Ben & Jerry’s has an excellent reputation for not only ‘supporting’ programs that positively contribute to racial equity, but it is a model for other large corporations in demonstrating corporate social responsibility.”

In light of the dismal ACCP report, the importance of CSR, and the ESG indices that rank companies for viability, 3p asked Ben & Jerry’s to comment on what is necessary for implementing meaningful CSR programs and what prevents other corporations from doing so.

Peterson said, “I think the main reason other companies are not as transparent as we are about our values is fear. For years, companies were told not to get into politics because they would automatically alienate some of their potential consumers. These days, more and more consumers are demanding transparency on what a company stands for because they are voting with their dollars and, increasingly, they want to do business with companies that are aligned with their values.” 

As the company’s co-founder, Ben Cohen, has said many times over the years, the strongest bond a brand can build with a consumer is over commonly shared values.

Image credit: Antonio Manaligod via Unsplash
 

The far-right conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court handed a major victory to domestic fossil energy interests this week, when it ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is severely limited from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

Coal, oil and gas fans may want to keep that bubbly on ice, though. Utilities are already under enormous pressure to decarbonize from elsewhere across the U.S. business community, and leading global stakeholders in the renewable energy field are already pouncing on the opportunity to crack the U.S. market wide open.

Elections have consequences: all six conservative justices were appointed by GOP presidents

To be clear, the 6-3 conservative majority decision in West Virginia v. EPA is potentially devastating. The ripple effect could spin out to other federal agencies and limit their ability to make rules on leading issues without specific direction from Congress.

In effect, Congress would have to take upon itself the expertise and professional networking that goes into agency rule-making on major issues. The result would not simply be more gridlock, but a permanent deep freeze on meaningful action by federal agencies. 

“That’s one reason why this case might have very far reaching consequences,” legal scholar Shaun A. Goho told Harvard Law Today back in February.

“The Court has not been clear about how to draw the line between major questions and non-major questions — about when policy questions are just too big to be decided by agencies, and must instead be answered by Congress,” added Goho, who is a lecturer on law and deputy director and senior staff attorney of Harvard Law School’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.

Responding to the West Virginia decision on Twitter on Thursday, Harvard Law professor Jody Freeman agreed, noting that the “Court's embrace of Major Questions Doctrine ominous for administrative state more broadly.”

Conservative U.S. Supremes clap back at the EPA and a Clean Power Plan that doesn’t exist

Freeman did note that the EPA can still regulate greenhouse gas emissions and make other rules under the Clean Air Act. However, the SCOTUS decision prevents the EPA from requiring power plants to reduce their emissions by shifting into cleaner fuels. This “generation shifting” element was the heart of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan.

As for why the Supreme Court chose to revisit an Obama-era policy this late in the day, that’s a good question. After the EPA proposed the Clean Power Plan in 2015, power companies, other fossil energy stakeholders and their Republican allies in state governments, including West Virginia, immediately took the EPA to court. For all the noise, the Clean Power plan was never implemented.

During the Trump administration, the EPA dropped the Clean Power Plan and proposed a much less ambitious approach called the Affordable Clean Energy rule. That, too, was dead on arrival in the courts. This time the opponents were mainly on the Democratic and renewable energy side, including a number of utilities. 

When President Joe Biden took office last year, his administration apparently thought the issue was moot because the Clean Power Plan did not exist anymore. 

That’s not what the Justices thought. Last fall the court agreed to hear West Virginia v. EPA along with three related cases, North American Coal Corp. v. EPA, Westmoreland Mining Holdings v. EPA and North Dakota v. EPA.

It's déjà vu all over again for the Clean Power Plan

The Biden administration has apparently been holding back on plans to propose its own rule, in order to craft a new plan that would be consistent with the West Virginia decision.

In the meantime, rule or no rule, it’s likely that history will repeat itself. Even though the Clean Power Plan never left the drawing board, after 2015 many power companies and other stakeholders saw the writing on the wall and began to plan ahead for generation shifting as the leading pathway to decarbonization.

In addition, hundreds of cities and a number of states adopted climate plans aimed at shifting into clean power. Business leaders also began to stir the renewable energy pot, recognizing that their ability to compete both domestically and globally was at stake.

As a result, the U.S. renewable energy industry has grown exponentially in just the past seven years. On June 30, PV Magazine noted that a full 3.1 million jobs in the U.S. energy sector are now “dedicated to net-zero technologies,” out of a total of 7.8 million energy jobs.

On June 30, RMI (formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute) also noted that several states have been exercising an outsized influence on climate action in the U.S., regardless of the vacuum in EPA policy making.

The organization’s first-ever list of “front runner” states on climate action describes Colorado, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Washington State as “the largest front-runner states due to their large populations and emissions footprints.”

“These states are a big deal when it comes to climate action,” RMI explained. “Together, they represent about one-fifth of the United States’ 2021 emissions. If these six states can get on track to cut emissions in half by 2030, they would reduce 2030 emissions by close to 200 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent on their own.”

Business leaders help set the stage for the next Clean Power Plan

If and when the EPA formulates a new decarbonization plan for power plants under the Biden administration, it will already have a running start thanks in part to the efforts of business leaders in support of renewable energy.

Influential business-led efforts have been up and running all through the Trump administration. Despite the former President’s now-notorious plan to stay in power after the 2020 election, the business community received renewed support for climate action after Biden took office.

In March, the revival of public-private collaboration on decarbonization took the form of the U.S. Department of Energy’s new “Better Climate Challenge,” which coordinates decarbonization among 90 leading businesses, academic institutions, local governments and other civic entities, in order to achieve maximum effect.

Among the private sector participants at launch were 3M, Cummins, Honeywell, Ikea, Kohl’s, Nestlé, Stanley Black & Decker, Whirlpool, Xerox and many others, along with Ford, General Motors, Harley, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo.

The initiative sets next-level climate goals. It asks the participants — including a number of top global firms — to lead by example and cut their carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030, without the use of carbon offsets. 

If that sounds like some measure of generation shifting will be involved, it most certainly will, and leading global firms will be front and center in that effort.

There is already a considerable international footprint in the U.S. offshore wind industry, and the U.S. solar industry has also attracted attention.

To cite just one example, Shell recently acquired a major stake in the solar developer Silicon Ranch. Shell is also seeking opportunities in the emerging green hydrogen field, as is Mitsubishi.

Make no mistake: the six Republican-appointed Justices on the Supreme Court will cause more chaos and do more damage to American democracy — and the economy — before they are stopped, as demonstrated by their misbegotten decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Nevertheless, the decarbonization movement is one area in which their attempt to flex power without principle is doomed to fail. 

Image credit: Jen Theodore via Unsplash

The Republican party has long positioned itself as a business-friendly organization, and corporate managers and executives have been eager to open up their purses in support of GOP candidates. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has upended that calculation through its ruling on the Dobbs abortion case. The bottom-line hurt has only just begun, and some of the nation’s top retailers are already on the hot seat.

The real impact of the Dobbs ruling

Much of the attention surrounding the Dobbs decision has focused on people who are already pregnant, and rightfully so. Doctors, clinics and other healthcare providers across the country suddenly shuttered their abortion services last Friday in response to state-based restrictions triggered by the Dobbs ruling. Pregnant people who were scheduled for clinical abortions had their world shattered under their feet, along with thousands yet to come.

However, in terms of the general impact on human and civil rights, and the specific impact on U.S. businesses, clinics and providers are only represent one corner of the anti-abortion dragnet.

Now that the freedom to manage one’s own pregnancy has been ripped away in some states but not in others, thousands of pregnant people will travel out-of-state for abortions. That issue alone will ensnare other businesses in the anti-abortion dragnet: That list includes car rental agencies, gas stations, taxis, ride-hailing services, convenience stores, airlines, bus companies and any other commercial transportation operation that can assist travel for a person seeking an abortion.

That’s not even the heart of the problem, though. The real issue is enforcement. Anti-abortion states are already discussing how to stop pregnant people from seeking abortions out-of-state, and they can’t do that without knowing who is traveling while pregnant, and who is not.

They will have to screen, monitor, question and even test every person capable of carrying a pregnancy who is travels from one state to another. Even pregnant travelers who have no intention of terminating their pregnancy are vulnerable to state-sanctioned policing.

Corporate leaders who still think that out-of-state travel benefits will solve the problem should stop and read the fine print: Any woman or girl traveling out of state is subject to enforcement whether or not they are pregnant, as are people who present themselves as female or gender fluid.

Retail drugstores in the crosshairs

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the impact on the nation’s leading retail drugstore chains.

Drugstores are already on the anti-abortion radar because they are legally entitled to carry Plan B and other popular over-the-counter emergency contraceptives. The Dobbs ruling will only increase their visibility as other healthcare providers stop dispensing emergency contraceptives.
 
Emergency contraceptives are not the same thing as the prescription-only “abortion pill.” They are designed to prevent a pregnancy, not to abort one. Nevertheless, over-the-counter access to emergency contraceptives could be threatened by the Dobbs ruling. As anti-abortion advocates start to gear up for a national abortion ban and a clampdown on birth control, some degree of panic buying set in last week.

Among the large chain pharmacies, Rite Aid reported that it has limited purchases of the popular Plan B pill to three per customer. Walmart also reportedly imposed a limit, as did CVS, though CVS has since lifted the restriction.

Walgreens reported that it has not set a limit on Plan B. In any case, if the pills are not available in-store there are online options. Walgreens, for one, is not ready to cede emergency contraceptive sales to Internet-based companies like Amazon, Instacart and the startup GoPuff, or to the growing number of telehealth firms such as Wisp, Nurx and Stix.

As of this writing, the Walgreens online store advertises that Plan B One-Step can be ordered for about $50 and delivered within one to two hours, depending on the shipping option.

“Plan B One-Step is available for any woman who needs it with no age restriction,” the listing reads, adding enthusiastically that Plan B is easy to find and has been purchased by millions of women.

CVS goes even farther. In addition to the selling points noted by Walgreens, its bulleted list of items includes this observation: “About seven out of every eight women who would have gotten pregnant will not become pregnant after taking Plan B One-Step.”

That sort of language is all but certain to incite anti-abortion activists who believe that all birth control is just another form of baby-killing. That could explain why Rite Aid is much more cautious in its online marketing. The company mainly emphasizes that Plan B should not be used as birth control. To reinforce the point, a short, peppy video on the site portrays Plan B as a backup solution for people whose regular birth control failed.

Rethink that pharmacy-based community clinic, STAT

Whether emergency contraceptives remain widely available or not, pharmacies face a bigger threat from the Dobbs decision. In terms of enforcement, anyone who so much as breathes in the family planning aisle is a potential target for monitoring, whether they’re perusing condoms, lubricants or home pregnancy tests. 

It also mean that in-store clinics such as CVS’s “Minute Clinics” are liable to be monitored.

Back in 2019, CVS followed its $69 billion acquisition of Aetna to announce that it would reduce retail space and expand its HealthHub service at 1,500 of its retail stores. The goal was to cement its position more firmly in the vanguard of pharmacy companies working to improve overall health and wellbeing, not simply treat illnesses after they arise.

Even without state- or community-sanctioned pregnancy police looking over their shoulders, healthcare providers of all sorts already have their hands full dealing with the medical misinformation and outright lies about abortion and contraceptives peddled by bogus “crisis pregnancy centers.” The Dobbs ruling is all but certain to layer on the misdirection with the blessing of state based anti-abortion legislation, while also placing pharmacy-based clinicians under the watchful eye of the pregnancy police.

In another concerning development, the Dobbs ruling has provided considerable state-sanctioned oxygen to organized white supremacist groups, which have a long history of linkage with the anti-abortion movement.

Since the violent insurrection of January 6, 2021, white supremacist organizations have begun instigating violence at Pride events, and some observers recognize their footprint in the rising tide of violence among anti-abortion activists.

If CVS has exposed its own community clinic model to the risk of violence, it has been feeding the beast all along. Last week the independent journalist Judd Legum of the newsletter Popular Information cited CVS among the top 13 corporate donors to anti-abortion political action committees.

U.S. business leaders who thought they could buy security for their bottom-line interests at the cost of human rights for everyone with a uterus certainly did sow this wind. Now that the whirlwind has come down upon the entire nation, neither they nor anybody else should be surprised.  

Image credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash