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Call it the “Disney Effect” — after the fallout over the entertainment company’s tussle with Florida’s governor and legislature over the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, many companies and their executives are now far too spooked to speak up over such challenges as the continuing assaults on reproductive rights and those of the queer community. But at a time when corporate silence over governments’ trampling on the rights of some citizens is deafening, Unilever’s ongoing actions stand tall.

The CPG giant has just announced a plan that it says could boost the quality of life for LGBTQ communities across the U.S., particularly those within rural areas and for queer people of color as well.

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By offering support to various local partners, Unilever will help launch programs that focus on problems such as the fight against conversion therapy, HIV decriminalization, youth homelessness, anti-bullying campaigns, mental health and even nutrition programs centered around the LGBTQ community. In addition, Unilever says it will lend a hand to tackle anti-transgender legislation that is sweeping across the U.S. So far, the company has signed on to various campaigns that are urging state legislatures to stop enacting anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans laws.

This year, through its ongoing United We Stand campaign, Unilever will assist in the launching of such efforts and work with LGBTQ communities located in Monroe, Louisiana; Moore, Oklahoma; Clemson, South Carolina; Florence, Alabama; and throughout Southern Missouri. The five areas are among the U.S. municipalities that score low on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, meaning they lack support services and non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. 

Nonprofits and community groups that will carry out these programs include local chapters of Louisiana’s Forum for Equality, South Carolina Black Pride and PFLAG.

This work is certainly more than what many companies offer, which is a rainbow slapped on the corporate logo and shown during Pride Month, a token gesture that's reached a point at which many in the queer community dismiss it as "rainbow washing."

“We are continuing to work closely with local grassroots organizations in areas where LGBTQI+ support is needed the most,” said Fabian Garcia, Unilever North America’s president, in an emailed statement to TriplePundit. “We saw these organizations do meaningful work over the last year and want to continue supporting their impactful programs through our United We Stand campaign year-round.” 

Image credit: Anete Lusina via Pexels

The leaked Supreme Court draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade sparked a powerful swell of street protests across the U.S. last week. For all the noise, though, voices of protest were quickly silenced as the news cycle turned to other matters. Nevertheless, the abortion battle has just begun. Employers who profess to uphold abortion rights need to prepare a plan for supporting their employees as they carry the fight to the next stage this summer and into Election Day 2022.

Words matter: anti-abortion = anti-pregnancy

With a powerful assist from the media, the anti-abortion movement has succeeded in casting itself as exactly that: anti-abortion. The movement has also successfully inserted itself into the public conversation as a “pro-life” or “right-to-life” movement.

However, in reality those words stand only for preserving a pregnancy above all else. In the context of a pregnant person’s life and wellbeing, they have no meaning.

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The public interest in protecting a viable fetus from intentional harm is a matter that few would disagree with. However, designating zygotes, embryos or pre-viable fetuses as untouchable living entities goes far beyond a reasonable level of community concern. It establishes a dehumanizing hierarchy that treats pregnancy as a strictly biological function subject to state and community surveillance at every stage.

Through that lens, the anti-abortion movement is anything but pro-life. It is, in fact, an anti-pregnancy movement that denies all pregnant people their human rights, whether or not they intend to carry their pregnancy to term.

Lessons from ACT UP

Employers who profess to support a person's “right to choose” need to re-frame their thinking. Abortion is not an either-or, binary decision of whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. It goes to the heart of a pregnant person’s rights in a free society.

In the context of human and civil rights in a modern democracy, the leaked Roe v. Wade decision allows policy makers and community members to treat pregnant people as others. They have no civic status. They exist outside of society. They are invisible. Their lives are of no consequence, except to the extent that they are biologically capable of supporting a pregnancy.

Given the stakes, employers should not be shocked, then, to see their employees push back against the leaked draft in ways that are deemed socially unacceptable, such as protesting at the private home of a Supreme Court Justice.

The point of such actions is to become visible again, and the impact can be profound.

The ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) movement of the 1980’s and 1990’s provides a powerful demonstration of the effectiveness grassroots activism that goes beyond the polite choreography of public marches.

ACT UP was a response to the early years of the AIDS outbreak in the U.S., when those suffering from the disease were rendered invisible by policy makers, up to and including the administration of then-President Ronald Reagan.

Members of ACT UP did not stop at marching, writing letters or taking out full page ads in The New York Times. They were determined to become visible in the media. They were determined to have their voices heard. They deliberately — and always without violence — threw themselves into uncomfortable public situations in order to command the news cycle, and they succeeded.

Pregnancy rights and the new fight for visibility

Forming an awareness of the methods of ACT UP is a good start for corporate leaders who seek to support their activist employees. As uncomfortable as public activism can be, it is an appropriate response to a life-or-death situation.

Employers can also help by becoming more familiar with the media depiction of the ACT UP movement. Well-off gay white men were prominent among the original ACT UP founders. The media adopted them as the heroes of the movement despite significant involvement by gay men of color, women and others who did not fit the profile.

As a result, critics of ACT UP worked to portray it as an elitist movement, separate from the concerns of ordinary people.

The new fight for pregnancy rights is already facing the same kind of manipulation. Abortion has long been framed as an issue that pits privileged white women against women of color, and that sort of framing will only intensify in the weeks ahead. 

In addition, there has already been some divisive pushback against language that includes all pregnant people. Employers need to insist that pregnant people who do not fit the conventional description of “woman” are just as visible in the pro-pregnancy movement.

In that regard, employers can leverage their experience with DEI programs to help ensure that pregnancy rights are viewed through the lens of human rights for all.

Employers can also support their activist employees by finally, publicly and unequivocally withdrawing financial support from anti-pregnancy policy makers.

Publicly deploying corporate financial muscle may force business leaders into some uncomfortable positions as Election Day 2022 approaches, but they have no choice.

Now that the draft decision striking down Roe v. Wade has leaked, the battle lines on abortion are fixed, and there is no middle ground.

Image credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash
 

Since 1999, the U.S. Congress has designated each May as Military Appreciation Month. The month includes several important days the military commemorates, including VE Day (May 8, to mark the Allies’ victory in Europe toward the end of World War II), Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May 12) and, of course, Memorial Day, a time to mourn the loss of military personnel who died during armed conflict.

Despite the words of respect and admiration frequently directed to active military personnel and veterans here in the U.S., the private sector’s record on hiring and retaining employees who served in the military is mixed at best.

“Though the overall rate of veterans’ employment has improved along with the general employment rate, veterans still face many barriers to advancement up the corporate ladder,” TriplePundit’s Tina Casey wrote back in November 2019.

To that end, we're highlighting four companies that are backing up their supportive words during Military Appreciation Month with action.

American Airlines and the Honor Flight Network

One of the finest honors a veteran can receive is the opportunity to participate in an “Honor Flight” to Washington, D.C. to meet other war veterans and experience the U.S. capital’s spectacular monuments, with all of their expenses paid. (Full disclosure: My uncles, one a World War II veteran and the other who was in armed combat during the Korean War, participated in a 2017 Honor Flight.) 

As with its competitors in the commercial aviation sector, American Airlines has its own military recruiting policy. Earlier this month, American Airlines was among the companies marking the 250,000th veteran who was able to join this once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunity. The airline announced it would donate 15 million air miles to support and continue the Honor Flight Network’s ongoing programs.

CBRE

The commercial real estate services and investment giant has long stood out for various communities, including LGBTQ people as well as people of color. Count in the military community within CBRE’s diversity and inclusion efforts. The company says 2,000 of its employees are current and retired military, and it's actively recruiting within this community for several fields, from building maintenance to finance to information technology.

Home Depot

Whether working at the retailer is a transitional steppingstone upon the return to civilian life, or if former military personnel seek to harness their skills honed during their service at the company’s Atlanta headquarters, Home Depot is one example of a company that is aggressively hiring veterans. The company says it has had more than 35,000 veterans who have launched or continued their careers with the retailer, and it has open positions in fields including management, logistics and information technology.

“It was wonderful knowing I had this company behind me,” said Darren Hammerstad, a U.S. Navy reservist based in Jacksonville, Florida, who has been with Home Depot for 14 years and at one point had to leave due to a one-year deployment to Bahrain. “One of the best feelings is knowing that I can step back into my job when I get back. This place means the world to me.”

T-Mobile

The wireless carrier says it is committed to hiring 10,000 veterans and military spouses by 2023. Further, T-Mobile has been partnering with military-focused nonprofits including Hiring Our Heroes, an initiative that seeks to connect U.S. businesses with active military personnel, retired military, veterans and their spouses.

In a public statement commemorating Military Appreciation Month, T-Mobile’s Deeanne King, the company’s chief human resources officer, offered up a high-level summary of the brand’s commitment to military families. “In the event a military employee is called to duty, they’re eligible for their full base pay plus commission during deployment — even if it’s their first day on the job — and they’re eligible for supplemental pay for an additional 50 weeks,” King wrote.

Image credit: Jeremy Straub via Unsplash

REI has long enjoyed a reputation of selling quality, high-end gear for serious outdoor adventurers. The brand’s stores are a nature-lover’s paradise, with an abundance of equipment for camping, hiking, climbing, cycling, running, swimming and more. Now, within the retail sector, REI is well on its way to becoming a major player in the circular economy.

As the largest consumer co-op in the U.S., some of REI’s profits go back to its customers through membership rewards. As for its retail employees, benefits include healthcare, a retirement plan, sick leave and vacation time. Today, the brand credits itself as one of the first major retailers to sell used gear and rentals. In 2021 alone, REI grew its used gear revenue by 86 percent from the previous year.

And on the social sustainability side, REI recently launched a fund that it says will help to promote racial equity in the outdoors.

Ken Voeller, circular commerce and new business development director of REI, said the company noticed a large uptick in sales at the beginning of the pandemic, with COVID-19 pushing people to spend time outdoors and search for reliable equipment — hence that aforementioned surge in used gear sales.

Voeller says the company’s goal is to maximize the lifespan of its products while minimizing any impacts on the environment. As he shared with 3p, any effort that REI would have used to create a brand new product is instead put back into selling an item of used gear. Those results add up: On average, the shipping, cleaning, and re-merchandizing of apparel and outdoor gear emits 50 percent less carbon than producing a new item.

“We’re starting to see the convergence of customers really wanting to shop with their values,” Voeller explained.

Through the work and research its sustainability team has taken on, REI has estimated that some resold and reused products, like bikes, can even emit 90 percent less carbon than manufacturing a new one. 

REI's used gear program is simple: First, customers bring their products into one of REI’s retail stores for an associate to evaluate. Those who bring in such gear are able to receive their credit immediately and are often offered 50 percent of the original retail price. If they decide to follow through with the trade-in, they receive credit in the form of an REI gift card.

“We’re maximizing the useful life of a product,” Voeller explained.

REI then puts the used gear through a rigorous cleaning and inspection process to ensure it’s in good working condition for its second life. The products are then sold on the REI website and in almost all 174 retail locations for roughly half of the original price.

The majority of customers purchasing used gear are a younger, more diverse audience who tend to shop with both money and sustainability in mind, Voeller said. By promoting a combination of new and used gear, REI has positioned itself as a company for everybody and every budget. “At the end of the day, what we’re working toward is to see less and less of a distinction between our new and old products,” Voeller told 3p.

In 2021, REI sold used gear to more than half a million customers — and the company has aspirations to grow even more. “We really need this to be a billion-dollar business,” he said of used gear sales, stressing that the environment depends on businesses adopting sustainable retail practices.

As of May, REI has rolled out its trade-in program to almost all retail locations. Meanwhile, the co-op says it is committed to reducing its annual carbon emissions by 55 percent by 2030 as part of its efforts to tackle climate change.

Image credits: Leon Kaye

Running shoes have certainly come a long way since Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile mark 68 years ago this month. Bannister’s shoes were reportedly much lighter and more flexible than others on the market in the 1950s, but still! The clunkers resembled a pair of Oxford loafers with spikes nailed through the sole. Ouch! Fast forward to the 2020s, and footwear brands such as Allbirds have redefined footwear to be lighter, sleeker and, sure, more sustainable.

While we’re on the topic of Allbirds, the brand has just rolled out a new running shoe, the Tree Flyer. This latest shoe is helping to solve the problems that come along with improved, high-performance athletic gear: Lighter, faster and stronger shoes also often lead to more components, added toxic materials such as glues, less of a chance at any recyclability and a complicated supply chain. 

Allbirds has tackled some of these challenges with the Tree Flyer. Its woven, lightweight upper is made from eucalyptus that is certified as deforestation-free by the Forest Stewardship Council. The lightweight, bouncy sole, which Allbirds brands as SwiftFoam, is made out of materials including a castor bean oil-based resin. The soles’ manufacturing process, says the company, requires less raw materials as well as less energy.

Of course, a sustainable shoe won’t do much good if the runner feels as if he or she went through the wringer instead of their favorite running path. The thick SwiftFoam sole boasts a flared extended heel, which helps provide additional support. Elastic woven within the upper also helps the shoe feel snug during a run, but not uncomfortable. The removable insoles, lined with a thin layer of wool, offer just enough give but aren’t spongy — and again, Allbirds makes them from materials including castor oil.

Allbirds said more than 130 runners together tested the Tree Flyer shoes for almost 4,000 miles over the duration of more than a year. Of course, should you gravitate toward running shoes more for fashion and less for function, the Tree Flyer holds its own — it does just fine when one is chilling by the pool with the dog, as seen in the photo above.

Allbirds’ latest shoes tie in with the brand's other recent work, including a partnership with Adidas to manufacture low-carbon shoes out of recyclable materials. The company has also long tinkered with other renewable materials such as sugar-based resins, tree fibers and sustainably-sourced merino wool.

Image credit: Leon Kaye

Two reports out this spring from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) carry stark warnings not just for the future of business on Earth, but for life itself. According to Global Land Outlook 2, released in April, $44 trillion (half the global GDP) is at risk from the effects of land degradation, and half of all people on Earth are already being negatively affected in one manner or another. While as much as 40 percent of land is already degraded, another cumulative chunk near the size of South America is predicted to join it by 2050 unless major changes are made. To make matters worse, drought has increased by 29 percent over the previous decades and will continue to worsen, according to the second U.N. report released this month. As a result, humanity is facing a crisis of increasing demand for food and fresh water even as our planet’s land is rapidly desertifying and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense.

It isn’t all doom and gloom, however. The GLO2 report does offer viable solutions that can help curb desertification. And, as the nonprofit Project Drawdown has demonstrated, climate action does not have to come at the cost of development or equity in the Global South. While the time to act is now, the potential return on investment is certainly worth it — with between $7 and $30 amassed in environmental benefits for every dollar that is spent on land restoration.

GLO2 presents three scenarios along with the future consequences of each: baseline, restoration and, in the most optimistic scenario, restoration and protection. In the first scenario, no changes are made to land use patterns. By 2050, not only will 6.2 million square miles (16 million square kilometers) be further degraded, but land productivity will decrease an additional 12 to 14 percent even as the population increases. At the current rate of degradation, carbon storage loss will likely result in an excess of 69 gigatonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere over the same time period.

In the restoration scenario, 5 billion hectares (or 35 percent of the planet’s total land) would need to be restored. This would require strategies such as transitioning from monoculture to agroforestry and silvopasture, assisted natural regeneration, and regenerative grazing management. Instead of the decreased crop yields expected in the baseline scenario, restoration would increase yields by 5 to 10 percent and the water retention of rain-fed cropland would increase by 4 percent. Biodiversity loss would be less extreme — with approximately 11 percent of species that would otherwise be lost remaining. 

By adding protections to the restoration model, the UNCCD expects to avoid substantial land degradation and desertification from clearing, draining and conversion, while also increasing natural areas by 4 million square kilometers as of 2050. This would help avoid one-third of predicted biodiversity loss and continue to store 83 gigatons of carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

If land degradation and desertification are not enough to motivate leaders to follow the third option, perhaps the UNCCD’s warning regarding global drought will push them over the edge toward sustained and targeted climate action. According to the convention, we are “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought. “The facts and figures of this publication all point in the same direction: an upward trajectory in the duration of droughts and the severity of impacts, not only affecting human societies but also the ecological systems upon which the survival of all life depends, including that of our own species," Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UNCCD, said in a statement. 

Land restoration is vital to protecting human life and biodiversity from drought. At the same time, biodiversity is crucial to soil’s capacity to filter and store water as well as cycle nutrients. Continued land degradation will only make drought worse, creating a cyclical downturn for a food system that will be increasingly strained by the need to feed a growing population. “Modern agriculture has altered the face of the planet more than any other human activity,” Thiaw explained regarding GLO2. “We need to urgently rethink our global food systems, which are responsible for 80 percent of deforestation, 70 percent of freshwater use, and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss.”

Land restoration and protection should be made an immediate priority in order to mitigate further desertification and protect against extreme drought. Failure to do so will worsen climate change and its effects on humans and biodiversity loss. Left unchecked, humanity faces a crisis of food production at the same time that our population is rapidly expanding. Global leaders must act now to reverse course. Doing so protects business and the GDP from threats to the market while ensuring a sustainable planet that can continue to supply us with food, water, and the means for profit. 

Image credit: Leon Kaye

Earth has a 50-50 chance of warming 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the next five years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization. Climate change has reached a dangerous place. The climate is on track to warm 2.7 to 3 degrees Celsius (4.9 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times, with devastating consequences for human safety and well-being. Around the world, communities will suffer more frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, flooding and other calamities. The changes are already being felt, with the frequency of such (not-so-natural) disasters quadrupling since 2000. As always, the world’s poor will suffer most.

More alarming still is the growing risk that warming will trigger abrupt, catastrophic shifts in Earth’s natural systems. Such potential tipping points include an accelerated melting of permafrost and a rapid collapse of the Amazon rainforest.

It’s easy to be frightened about the future we are facing with global warming. Fortunately, there may be a lifeline, albeit an unorthodox one. It is called sunlight reflection, or solar climate intervention (SCI), and it involves slightly increasing the reflection of sunlight from clouds and particles in the atmosphere to reduce climate warming. Society needs to explore this option because climate change poses a catastrophic threat now. That is the central message of a report from the Council on Foreign Relations, for which we served as author and advisor, respectively.

The world currently has three main strategies to manage climate risk: emissions reductions, carbon removal, and adaptation. Unfortunately, the changing climate is now outpacing these efforts. Emissions must decline 50 percent by 2030 to meet the 1.5°C target, but are on pace to rise 16.3 percent instead. New technologies to capture and permanently store atmospheric carbon could take decades to scale. Efforts to build resilience against warming and its impacts are expensive, underfunded, and inherently limited. Most local measures will be overrun by warming effects in the interconnected climate system.     

How much worse it will become depends on how warm it gets. Given this predicament, the world cannot afford to ignore a potentially rapid climate response that could keep people safe and natural systems stable while humanity transforms the global economy and reduces the amount of carbon we release into the atmosphere. 

Increasing sunlight reflection to cool the climate could be accomplished in various ways. The most promising options are based on naturally occurring events. One approach would involve dispersing aerosols in the upper atmosphere (or stratosphere), likely from aircraft. This would be a safer version of the cooling effect of particles emitted during volcanic eruptions, such as that of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, which reduced global temperatures by about 0.5°C (1.1°F) over the ensuing fifteen months. Another approach involves spraying a mist of sea salt from ships (or ocean platforms) to brighten low-lying marine clouds. This approach would be a cleaner version of the global cooling effect of current particulate pollution, estimated at 0.5-1.2°C. 
     
Despite these precedents, the idea of sunlight reflection has been controversial, though that is starting to change as the risks of warming intensify. Critics worry that climate interventions could carry large, uncertain risks and will give governments, corporations, and citizens a perceived pass to continue polluting. These warrant careful consideration. They need to be weighed not in isolation, but against the rising safety risks of an already warming the planet. The key question is: Can increasing the reflection of sunlight from the atmosphere reduce the dangers posed by global warming? 

Unfortunately, we don’t know the answer because our understanding of the relevant atmospheric processes and their impacts on natural systems is too low. This leaves policymakers flying blind, unsure of the feasibility of—and unable to make informed decisions about—reflecting sunlight to cool the climate. Complicating matters, the world lacks monitoring systems and specific agreements to govern the implementation of such approaches. This increases the threat, as the National Intelligence Council has warned, that a single country could launch a unilateral program sometime soon, with global effects and geopolitical ramifications.      

To ensure the world has the information it needs to evaluate these approaches, the Biden administration and Congress must launch an ambitious, well-funded national research program on reflecting sunlight to reduce climate risk. Such an initiative would build on recommendations issued last year by the U.S. National Academies, as well as direction already given to U.S. science agencies by Congress in the FY22 funding bill to develop a 5-year plan for research to support an assessment of near-term climate risks and solar climate intervention.         

This U.S.-led effort must be grounded in international cooperation. The United States should promote mechanisms for scientific collaboration, multilateral monitoring and assessment, and joint decision-making on any deployment of these techniques. The Montreal Protocol for Protection of the Ozone Layer, which is already reviewing the implications of sunlight in the stratosphere as part of its next Ozone Assessment, is a promising place to start. That convention’s universal membership and commitment to science-based decision-making have helped make it history’s most successful environmental treaty.                 

Although current global tensions will complicate diplomacy, we believe that a mutual vulnerability to climate change could create opportunities for collaboration that cut across traditional geopolitical and ideological lines, including between the United States and China and between advanced economies and developing ones. 

The ultimate solution to climate change is ending carbon emissions and removing carbon from the atmosphere. The dilemma for humanity is how to survive, much less thrive, during this transition. Sunlight reflection could be a bridge that offers safe passage to a sustainable future. To protect people and natural systems, we need to do the work to find out.

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: Huper by Joshua Earle via Unsplash

The following is based on an excerpt from the 2021 Cisco Purpose Report, published on December 13, 2021.

Sustainability means protecting the Earth’s resources and ensuring a livable planet, not just today, but for generations to come. An inclusive future that provides promise and opportunity for all must include a deep focus on sustainability and address environmental impacts.

A key priority for Cisco is continuing to improve the performance of our products while maintaining, or decreasing, their energy use. This allows us to tackle our most significant source of emissions, make our products more competitive, help customers save on energy costs, reduce global energy demand, and meet regulatory requirements.

To decrease the GHG emissions associated with the use of our products, we must achieve “energy scalability” — products that deliver energy-efficient service for variable traffic types, traffic demands, customer usage, and installs. We are doing this by making investments in five areas that will have the biggest impact on improving our products’ energy consumption:

Power: We are improving the efficiency of our products from plug to port, guided by our product power efficiency goal set in fiscal 2018. To meet this challenge, we continue to explore ways to reduce the overall resistance in our components through the use of more conductive materials, and we continue to investigate and adapt high-efficiency conversion technologies to improve the overall system-level efficiency.

Cooling: Cisco is innovating to improve the ways we cool our products. Commonly used forced air-cooling systems have limitations in cooling higher-powered next-generation products. As such, we are exploring alternative methods of cooling (air flow, liquid, and refrigerant cooling) and continuing to optimize algorithms to reduce power.

High-speed interconnects and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs): Through advancements in optics, we can deliver increased bandwidth using the same or less power. These enhancements allow us to deliver significantly higher performance while maintaining, or reducing, energy use. Silicon One, our next-generation silicon design, provides more than twice the network bandwidth in a single ASIC than any other routing silicon, increasing our capacity from gigabytes per second to terabytes per second.

Customer facilities: We are working with customers to reduce the amount of energy required to operate their IT facilities. New power solutions increase the efficiency of overhead power, avoid step-down transformers, and provide integrated cooling strategies. These end-to-end solutions reduce hardware requirements and energy consumption while providing a more integrated method for managing IT infrastructures.

Power supply: Power supplies play a critical role in managing product energy efficiencies. We are working to offer more energy-efficient options for power supplies. For example, we have given customers the option of platinum or titanium 80 Plus rated power supplies whenever possible.

This moment represents an opportunity for every organization and every nation to reinvent themselves with a sustainable future in mind. With our technology, our people, and our global scale, Cisco can drive change and help deliver on the promise of a future that is both sustainable and inclusive.

To learn more about the progress we’re making to power a more inclusive future through CSR, visit our Cisco ESG Reporting Hub, where you can read our 2021 Cisco Purpose Report.

Previously published on the Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility and in the 3BL Media newsroom

Image credit: Myriams-Fotos via Pixabay

The very notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) was unthinkable a century ago when the relationship between companies and their workers was overwhelmingly tilted in favor of employers.

Then sweeping changes within U.S. labor law occurred over the years. Starting in the early 1900s, a slew of much needed employee-centric laws was passed. In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was introduced, along with collective bargaining. Before passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 (FLSA), as many as 1.75 million workers in the U.S. were between 10 and 15 years old and not attending school. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act became law in 1964. In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act established safe standards in the workplace. And Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibited discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities.

Still, gradually, and then suddenly, the pandemic highlighted an imbalance in the relationship between employees and employers. The mass work exodus and ensuing “Great Resignation” as a result of quarantine resulted in businesses failing and employees gaining an element of power and negotiation not seen before. 

Workers have now leveraged their newfound worth to include better work/life balance, flex time, mental health days and time for volunteering — things unheard of in the Industrial Age. And, inspired by societal events that include mass shootings and racist attacks, the symbiotic relationship between employee and employer expanded to include what’s good for the community and society as well.

Now it matters more than ever that what the stakeholder holds as sacred is also of value to the business. When that is not the case, well …

Bob Chapek, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, is certainly the poster child for blunder in stakeholder relationships. He underestimated the implications of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act—otherwise known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” — and it took a near employee revolt for him to get the message.

But Ron DeSantis — Governor of Florida, not technically a CEO, but close enough — deserves to have a book written on “How To Alienate Dang Near Everyone In Your Sphere:” workers, business leaders, constituents, and probably small children who love Mickey Mouse. 

Tunneling through with his own narrow, ultra-conservative political agenda, and on the heels of having introduced legislation criminalizing abortion after 15 weeks and having launched a ban on math books deemed to have questionable social content, DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education act went too far. Or maybe he didn’t bother to test the waters ahead of introducing the bill. 

And so, DeSantis shares some blame for the upheaval taking place at Disney. He multiplied this mistake exponentially when he revoked Disney’s special district tax status, failing, again, to consider that Floridians might object to the largest employer in the state being manhandled. Now he is being sued by his constituents for the actions he’s taken against Disney. 

So far, DeSantis has the look of a leader who doesn’t know the value of his stakeholders in the form of business relationships, employees, community organizers or constituents.

On the other hand, there’s a question as to whether or not businesses have yet to fully embrace the CSR concept at all or are still looking for shortcuts. 

For example, in response to Texas Senate Bill 8, Governor Gregg Abbott’s ban on abortion after the detection of fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy, mega-corporations such as Tesla, Apple and Citigroup joined the growing list of others who will pay travel expenses for employees seeking an abortion who cannot access these services nearby due to legislation.

Last fall, Salesforce offered to relocate employees and their entire families away from Texas altogether.

But before we grant any “Golden CSR” award to any of these, imagine establishing a relationship that means you seek an abortion through your employer. What must you disclose as you complete that paperwork? And it should be noted that this option is of no benefit for women who are not employees of these companies. This is watered-down CSR at best. 

And do corporations really care about the sensitivities of their employees if a big enough payday looms? Twitter employees would say that accepting an offer from Elon Musk to buy the company for $43 billion means “no.” 

“Turmoil” would describe the atmosphere around Twitter, with a real concern for attrition and difficulty in hiring. Recent news from Elon Musk that he would reverse the platform’s ban on Donald Trump only compounded the concern that employees have for maintaining discretion over content.

Ultimately, CSR will likely look different for different companies. Some corporations will continue their focus on earnings and employees and let society figure itself out. This may be all that some workers require or expect. 

No matter the nuances, the hope is that the common thread includes authenticity and integrity. 

Image credit: Ernie Journeys via Unsplash

The water technology company Xylem recently announced an initial commitment to invest $5 million in financial institutions that focus on underserved communities of color and rural communities in several states in the South, Midwest and in Hawaiʻi. The investment specifically targets regions and banks that are aligned to Xylem’s organization and customers, such as areas where the company has a large commercial presence, or a large employee base, says the company.

“Historically, communities of color and rural communities in the U.S. have had less access to capital and investment than other communities,” Xylem’s Chief Financial Officer Sandra Rowland told TriplePundit. “These groups often use small, regional financial institutions to access loans, day-to-day banking and other financial activities.” 

Xylem typically has a sum of cash on hand that is held in large financial institutions, Rowland explained. By partnering with CNote, the women-led social enterprise platform, she said Xylem can invest a portion of that cash in small, regional banks and credit unions operating in underserved communities. 

“CNote streamlines the investment and maximizes impact,” Rowland told 3p. “And each investment allows the institutions to provide loans and other services to support their community.”

The investments are flowing through CNote’s Impact Cash platform, which provides an easy-to-use and measurable tool for streamlining Xylem’s investment with one interface
while maximizing the impact created for underserved communities of across the U.S. 

Austin Alexander, Xylem’s vice president of sustainability and social impact, explained to 3p that the company became interested in working with CNote because of the platform’s ability to effectively evaluate each institution in which it is investing.

“It was important to us that every dollar invested was being used in a meaningful way, and CNote’s Impact Cash platform allowed us to do exactly that with confidence and ease,” Alexander said.

Xylem’s initial investments include Bank of Cherokee County (Hulbert, OK), Carver State Bank (Savannah, GA, pictured above), City Federal Credit Union (Amarillo, TX), Hope Federal Credit Union (Jackson, MS), Education Credit Union (Amarillo, TX), Legacy Bank and Trust (Springfield, MO), Self Help Credit Union (FL, NC, SC, VA), Kaua’i Federal Credit Union (Kauaʻi, HI), Optus Bank (Columbia, SC) and Virginia Community Capital Bank (Richmond, VA).

“We are proud to partner with a corporation that has a longstanding, industry-leading position in sustainability and community development,” said Catherine Berman, CEO of CNote, in a public statement. “Now Xylem is extending its leadership by joining the vanguard of companies unleashing their balance sheets to promote racial equity and help communities across the U.S. thrive.” 

Rowland said that Xylem discovered CNote, which has deployed more than $100 million to underserved communities across the country, after several months of researching options for using the company’s cash-on-hand investments to support underserved communities. 

“Their mission resonated with us, and we were enthusiastic about working with a women-led impact investment platform,” added Rowland. “We were also impressed by their use of technology to increase economic mobility and financial inclusion in underserved communities.”

The investment further advances Xylem’s innovative “green” finance strategy as the company continues to place economic, social and environmental impact at the center of its business operations and functions. In 2019, Xylem announced an $800 million revolving credit facility with a sustainability-linked pricing mechanism, followed by a $1 billion green bond offering in 2020. Most recently in 2021, Xylem added a sustainability-linked cash account tied to its 2025 sustainability goals.

“Our social impact is just as important as environmental impact within our sustainability strategy,” Alexander said. “This investment complements the environmental impact outcomes we have established with other green finance solutions.”

Image credit: Tyler Edic via Unsplash