Search

A healthy planet depends on healthy oceans, but our seas are under threat. They are overfished and polluted by plastic, mercury and industrial and human waste. The carbon they absorb from man-made greenhouse gas emissions has rendered them more acidic, making life impossible for creatures such as coral and shellfish. Last year, because global temperatures are rising, our oceans were the warmest ever. This is threatening their ecosystems – and ours, too.

Oceans support life. Up to 80 percent of all living creatures are found there. Fish is one of the main sources of protein for 3.2 billion people. And let’s not forget that oceans produce more than half our oxygen; they absorb heat and help to regulate temperatures on land. They are, in addition, a significant source of both clean energy and, increasingly, vital biotech resources for medicines, including the enzymes used in COVID-19 tests.

If we carry on like this, we risk everything – including our economic welfare. Countless businesses depend on healthy oceans. Marine industries account for $3 trillion in annual revenues, about 5 percent of global GDP. More than 200 million jobs are linked to marine fisheries.

Yet all is not lost. If we act now, we could restore oceans to full health within a single generation. This means combating climate change, addressing unsustainable fishing and protecting oceans from toxic pollution. This challenge is enormous and urgent, but it is also achievable.

To be successful, maintaining healthy oceans must become a priority for the private sector. Many companies are directly dependent on oceans for their business models, such as fishing, food producers, tourism, maritime transport and offshore wind. Many more still need a healthy planet to thrive.

Thankfully, business is starting to wake up to its responsibilities – not just in recognizing the problems it creates, but also in being part of the solution. To help with this, the UN Global Compact developed a set of Sustainable Ocean Principles. They cover nine important areas of action, ranging from focusing on our oceans’ health and respecting the regulatory environment and human rights to encouraging data-sharing and transparent reporting.

Companies that endorse these principles are helping to nurture healthier oceans. They commit to assessing the short and long-term impact of their activities on the ocean and to mitigate it. Taken together, the principles amount to a framework for responsible practice that will help ensure the future of our oceans and our planet.

More than 80 companies have signed up and made public commitments since the principles were launched three years ago. Some have even gone beyond the principles and are using their size and influence to affect wider change. Shipping giant Mærsk, for instance, has launched the Mærsk McKinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping to help decarbonize the shipping industry’s carbon emissions. Meanwhile, Ørsted, the world’s leading offshore wind company, has created artificial reefs to support fish stocks around its wind farms. Ørsted wants to move beyond damage limitation and aims to make a net-positive contribution to biodiversity at all its new renewable energy projects by 2030.

In finance, Norges Bank Investment Management, one of the world’s largest investment funds, managing the assets of Norway’s government pension fund, has added the UN Global Compact Sustainable Ocean Principles to their ocean sustainability expectations for companies, which outline how companies in the investment fund's portfolio should address ocean-related challenges.

Whether big or small, all commitments are important. But we need many, many more companies to sign up. Any company in any sector can become a signatory – not just those whose activities are ocean-focused. But they must commit to long-term action to protect and promote healthy seas.

Those that do sign up receive guidance from the UN Global Compact to help maximize the impact of their efforts. It might be the obvious, such as reducing the use of plastics and fossil fuels and working with others locally or regionally. But it might be more subtle – and yet still be of huge value – such as auditing supply chains for sustainable practices and creating case studies of successful projects.

Alongside the guidance are lists of potential partners available to share their knowledge and experience. For example, the Seafood Stewardship Index can help with data and transparency challenges, while the Global Salmon Initiative can advise about governance.

There are many things we can do to protect our oceans. Reducing our carbon emissions will help stabilize ocean temperatures and slow down the melting of ice caps that is diluting the salinity of our oceans and causing sea levels to rise. We must also work to stop overfishing and prevent waste and pollution from entering our oceans so they can continue to play a significant role in supporting our life on earth.

By committing to the nine principles, especially in the run-up to the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in June, companies can do their bit to secure the long-term health of our oceans and our future on this planet.

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: OCG Saving The Ocean via Unsplash

The odds are against them: More than 4 million young people in the United States, ages 16 to 24, are not enrolled in school and at the same time are unemployed. These disconnected youth are two times more likely to live in poverty, three times more likely to have a disability, four times more likely to become younger parents than their peers, and nine times more likely not to finish high school. High school dropouts are also 11 times more likely to have an encounter with the criminal justice system. The pattern has persisted for many years.

But the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), an international nonprofit organization which champions fairness, equality, and effectiveness across systems of punishment and incarceration, has a plan to counter the odds. Unlock Potential, the RBIJ’s newest initiative, is designed to intervene in young lives before the wrong path is chosen by connecting young adults with pre-employment programs and employment opportunities provided by cooperating businesses.

Unlock Potential has identified four groups of youth and young adults as at-risk, and those they would recruit for their program: adults who have already encountered the juvenile criminal justice system; young people with an incarcerated parent; those who were exposed to or were victims of sex or human trafficking; and those who have lived in foster care.

Foster care, though not always an inherently bad experience, is, however, a place foreign from home. In general, foster families often lack support from child placement agencies and have difficulty navigating the social systems associated with fostering — the school system and special educational needs, emotional and mental challenges of displaced youth, and physical disabilities, for example.

Ben Cumming, RBIJ’s communications director, explained the mechanics of the program this way:

“Businesses will continue to register to participate in the program until April 1. Then, over a six-month period, participating corporations and potential hires will create a project design that will serve as the evidence-based program. A pilot of the program will launch in October 2022. Over the course of 18 months, data will be collected and the program will become fully developed.”

With regard to the benefits of the program, Cumming repeated more than a few times, “It will give them the life chance they deserve.”

With support from the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity and in cooperation with The Aspen Opportunity Youth Forum and Persevere, a nonprofit founded by Sean Hosman, Unlock Potential will leverage relationships among community leaders, corporations and NGOs to provide an employment advantage to this vulnerable population. The program will also provide wrap-around services such as employee training.

On a wider scale, RBIJ has taken on the failing American penal system with reform as the goal. How badly does the U.S. practice detention and punishment? The U.S. comprises 4 percent of the world’s total population, but 21 percent of all the world's incarcerated. The U.S., in fact, incarcerates twice as many children as any other nation — and most states spend more on prisoners per annum than their public-school students.

In addition to the Unlock Potential program, RBIJ actively campaigns against the death penalty and has been urging businesses to join its determination and push ahead on criminal justice reform. The group also seeks reforms in juvenile sentencing, in particular Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWP), cash bail and the criminalization of poverty — fines and fees which don’t take income or employment into consideration and, when left unpaid, can result in recidivism and repeated incarceration.

The impact of prison reform is ultimately community reform: When having paid a debt that was fairly charged, a citizen is restored to full privilege in the community, and his or her records are sealed.

RBIJ is asking companies to register their interest in participating in Unlock Potential by April 1, 2022.

Image credit: Brad Neathery via Unsplash

The largest Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-REC) purchase will enable the solar electrification of a South Sudan hospital that serves a vulnerable population brimming with internally displaced persons (IDPs) following the country’s seven-year civil war that started in 2013.

A crucial first for South Sudan

This P-REC agreement, the first ever in South Sudan, was brought to life through a complex yet meaningful partnership web among four organizations. 3Degrees, a certified B-Corp specializing in environmental and sustainability consulting, brokered the deal with support from Energy Peace Partners, the creators and arbiters of the P-REC. These two are helping to transfer P-RECs generated through a solar plant operated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to the financial service provider, Block, which will in turn power the Malakal Teaching Hospital. This acquisition of P-RECs from Block represents the largest to date and will allow IOM to fund the solar electrification of the hospital in South Sudan’s fourth largest city, Malakal. 

Malakal is home to one of the largest IDP camps in South Sudan, hosting around 30,000 internally displaced South Sudanese in the politically unstable northern region of the country. Despite the deep scars the war left behind, the partners behind the project expect the solar electrification of the hospital to increase community health outcomes while harnessing a renewable energy source.

How do P-RECs work?

P-RECs work much like International Renewable Energy Credits (I-RECs) and are accredited through the same standard.

Here’s a grossly oversimplified look into how RECs work: If you switch your light on at home, there’s no way of telling what energy source is fueling that electricity. That’s because you’re on the electric grid, and the grid is powered by an amalgamation of energy sources, including coal, wind, solar and nuclear, among others. This combination creates a powerful network of energy for on-demand use, but it also muddies exactly what source you are pulling from and when.

RECs were created to assure energy consumers that the source they are pulling from is renewable and clean. It also gives an opportunity for clean energy investors, like solar farm owners, to monetize their renewable energy by selling RECs to consumers or businesses.

One token of REC is created for every megawatt-hour (MWh) of power a renewable energy source generates.

Though RECs were first introduced in the early 2000s, P-RECs cropped up in 2017 as a way to incentivize renewable energy investments in countries ripe with energy insecurities, widespread poverty and political instability, among other vulnerabilities.

Editor’s Note: Still confused? Don’t worry, TriplePundit has written extensively on RECs.

The first P-REC project was implemented in 2019 in Democratic Republic of Congo when Microsoft purchased the credits from Goma-based solar energy company Nuru. The project funded the electrification of 35 streetlights connected to the small yet sustainable power grid. 3Degrees and Energy Peace Partners also facilitated that partnership, which improved safety and allowed businesses to stay open longer thanks to increased nighttime visibility.

In 2020, the IOM developed a solar farm in Malakal to handle the energy consumption needs required from its Humanitarian Hub, which housed 300 humanitarian workers across 34 organizations. Harnessing the sun for sustainable energy will go even further with Block’s acquisition of P-RECs, as IOM will leverage the P-RECs to power the Malakal Teaching Hospital.

The bottom line: P-RECs promote livelihoods while going green

This is a major win for a population that’s overwhelmingly off any existing electric grid. According to data from the World Bank, South Sudan is the least electrified country in the world. As of 2019, only 6.7 percent of all South Sudanese had access to electricity. While this rate is similar to South Sudan's low-access neighbors across the region (Chad at 8.4 percent, Burundi and Malawi each at 11 percent), its electricity rates among urban dwellers is nearly three times below that of the second least electrified country. Just 13.2 percent of South Sudanese living in urban spaces like Malakal have access to the electric grid.

Reliably electrifying essential human services like hospitals opens the door to healthier, safer and more resilient communities. P-RECs offer an excellent incentive for energy developers to continue investing in renewable energy sources as they earn money from not only energy consumption but also through the purchase of P-RECs from big backers like Microsoft and Block.

Image credit: Charl Folscher via Unpslash

While shoppers want access to sustainable clothing, the brands that boast a combination of both ethics and style often have smaller advertising budgets. Due to the hurdles to visibility that this can cause, these companies are sometimes hard to track down. Amongst the sea of other mainstream clothing designers, shoppers could easily miss out on ethically sourced apparel brands that align with their values.

Ethical Clothing, a Spain-based clothing search engine, is working to further tackle that issue with its recent addition of hundreds of North American clothing brands.

Consumers do want ethically sourced apparel, but finding legit brands is a challenge

When looking at the research, it's clear the company is on to something with its technology. According to one study, nearly two-thirds of Americans are willing to pay more for sustainable products. The same survey found that 74 percent of shoppers don't know where to find those products. Additionally, the data uncovered that 78 percent of people are more likely to purchase a product clearly labeled as sustainable.  With this information in mind, it's clear to see how the Ethical Clothing search engine could bridge the gap between company and consumer to benefit both.   

The technology boasts the basic filters consumers expect from clothing websites, such as the price, product and material type. However, Ethical Clothing says it has additional filters in the works, such as a sustainability rating system.

“Our dream is for us to be able to ingest all the data the brands offer around their materials, processes and supply chains and provide our visitors with a scoring system that gives them the control as to how strict they want to be in their criteria for sustainable clothing,” said Ben Heinkel, Cofounder of Ethical Clothing, in a public statement.

An expanding market for sustainable apparel

Eco-friendly clothing brands continuously emerge throughout the United States and Canada. Through expansion, the team behind Ethical Clothing hopes to make a difference by helping some of these smaller ethically sourced apparel companies to gain further recognition. The company also aims to make product discovery a more seamless experience for shoppers.

Across the pond, Ethical Clothing says it has already enabled thousands of monthly customers in Europe to source stylish, budget-aligned clothing through the combination of its database of ethical brands and easy-to-navigate search options.

Prioritizing the desire to de-stigmatize the notion that sustainably sourced clothing is inherently expensive, Ethical Clothing also offers some additional tools, such as its price drop alert service. This feature enables those who sign up to stay in the loop about all offers offered by its entire catalog of brands.

Keeping ethics in check 

While quick, sweeping changes in the fashion industry at large would be ideal - practicality has to be taken into account to avoid falling into the trap of "greenwashing."  Slow, steady changes are likely the best way for mainstream clothing companies to build the foundations necessary for launching improved sustainable business practices.

Ethical Clothing joins other tech companies that seek to give consumers more background information about fashion brands. Good On You, for example, recently partnered with Klarna to roll out an app focused on sustainable clothing. Meanwhile, coalitions such as Rewiring Fashion are determined to shift consumer thinking away from the ideas that clothing is plentiful and disposable and reduce the waves of textiles flooding the market.

Initiatives such as this search engine could play an important role in emphasizing to larger companies that there is genuine consumer demand for ethically sourced apparel, and that it’s worth taking the time required to enter the ethically produced fashion space correctly. 

It is an important matter to pursue not only to save face but also to stay relevant.

Image credit: Kayle Kaupanger via Unsplash

For those who live in geographically vulnerable areas and experience disaster, climate change grief is growing dramatically. For even the most optimistic and passionate environmental activists and climate change leaders, burnout and hopelessness run rampant. For businesses, the eco-anxiety experienced by younger generations entering the workforce can directly have an impact on engagement and productivity.

The many faces of eco-anxiety

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines eco-anxiety as “a chronic fear of environmental doom.” A reported 68 percent of U.S. adults are constantly worried about the damaging effects of climate change.

Even so, this existential concern has yet to be addressed at scale. A recent report from the Grantham Institute revealed that of the 54,000 medical research papers mentioning climate change from 2010-2020, less than 1 percent also addressed mental health.

This gap is prevalent for organizations in particular. The link between stress and productivity is widely accepted, and younger generations like Millennials and Gen Zers, who are quickly becoming the dominant cohorts in the workforce, are widely affected by eco-anxiety. A global survey revealed that a staggering 84 percent of young people from ages 16 to 25 are either moderately worried, very worried, or extremely worried about climate change.

Eco-anxiety can cause a variety of mental health issues, invoking feelings of guilt, grief, anger, and even manifest as depression or PTSD. Eco-anxiety affects everyone differently, with indigenous communities, younger generations, underprivileged populations, and chronically ill individuals being more susceptible to severe cases.

Pooja Tilvawala, Youth Engagement Manager at The Climate Initiative, spearheads “climate courage workshops” where she educates communities and young climate leaders around the globe on how to articulate and manage their angst. She’s learned that some communities don’t even realize that what they’re experiencing is eco-anxiety, or that their feelings are tied to the demise of their land.

“It’s not that people don’t know that climate change is happening,” she said. “They just don’t necessarily have the vocabulary to describe it as climate change.”

The professional capacity to help the growing number of troubled individuals with eco-anxiety is greatly limited. Currently, there are only around 900 psychologists and psychiatrists in North America who specialize in climate-related mental health therapy. But as Tilvawala suggests, a promising first step is to simply lend a voice and listen.

Anxiety as a stimulant for action

Jennifer King and Timothy Fredel have a focused and integrated approach to eco-anxiety. They are the founders of the Rugged Elegance Foundation, which aims to have a positive impact on BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women industry leaders in the climate space and beyond.

By promoting physical and mental health through guided meditations along outdoor trails, recharge rooms, and journaling sessions, King and Fredel have seen how nature itself can help business leaders reframe eco-anxiety as a motivational tool for themselves and bring a refreshed perspective to the organizations they lead.

“We hosted a workshop and the person leading it said, ‘What if we flipped the script and instead of saying climate change is happening to us, we said climate change is happening for us?’” Fredel recalled.

King noted that although this perspective shift brings encouragement, eco-anxiety can be amplified by the desire to rush into solutions. Therefore, striking a balance between action and reflection is vital in maintaining hope.

“With eco-anxiety, it’s easy to focus on this feeling that the only way we’re going to make progress is to keep pressing forward, but we must recognize the importance of stopping and listening, listening and hearing,” King said. “In that, we can address the anxiety, we can diminish the anxiety, and then actually impact the world.”

For all the disheartening eco-anxiety I’ve witnessed throughout my career, I’ve seen many cases where individuals use their eco-anxiety to spur themselves to action and focus on making an impact.

Take, for example, the three climate activists that now sit on the board of directors for ExxonMobil — a first in the history of any oil company, or that Harvard University announced that it will cut all investment ties to fossil fuel companies. Consider the revoked permit preventing the long-disputed Keystone Pipeline project from running oil through native soil. This is evidence that action is causing incremental positive change within economic, educational, and political contexts.

For businesses currently dealing with an eco-anxious workforce, it’s worth taking that pause to listen to workers and address their concerns. Easing eco-anxiety in the workplace is twofold.

First, it requires a robust system for helping your team with mental health, providing them with benefits, resources, and a forum for voicing their struggles.

Two, it requires companies to become fundamentally sustainable in their operations. With younger generations seeking organizations that align with their values, demonstrating your dedication to climate action can greatly ease employee concerns.

What this ultimately comes down to is leading with empathy, which as King, Fredel and Tilvawala all emphasize, means listening to those struggling with eco-anxiety in order to properly address it and encourage action.

And of course, a long-term solution would be to instill the positive mindsets that turn anxiety into action at a young age by implementing action-based climate education in schools. Younger generations can continue this chain of change by bringing eco-friendly ideas into student clubs, eventually laddering up to local councils, elected positions, and business boards to cause a cascade of change.

Harnessing eco-anxiety to fuel the desire to make a change and focusing on “actionism” as a way forward can be an eye-opening perspective shift for many. As Tilvawala advises, “Have a place to channel that energy. Turn that despair into action.”

Working together on taking on climate change and working towards a brighter future

Eco-anxiety can be paralyzing, hard to comprehend, and challenging to overcome. Seeing climate action play out and make an impact gives us the fortitude to keep going. It’s a process that needs to happen individually and must also be collectively encouraged.

Tilvawala summed up her thoughts by referencing a line from Amanda Gorman’s poem, “New Day’s Lyric.”

“‘For even solace can be sourced from sorrow,’” she read. “That’s kind of the sentiment here. That those who care and have the shared sorrow for the detriment to our planet, and people, and life can find community in each other.”

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 via Shutterstock

Single-use plastics have a bad rap when it comes to sustainability, and for good reason. Plastics meant for the landfill are a strain on the planet’s non-renewable resources and have a tendency to end up in the natural environment rather than a recycling plant or municipal landfill. Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste finds its way into the oceans from the coast, and when that waste breaks down, microplastics come with their own array of challenges. 

Despite the negative environmental consequences and stakeholder pressure to turn away from plastics, companies do have some reasons for using them. Plastics are strong and durable, and their light weight — in comparison to metal and glass, for example — means they claim a lower carbon footprint during shipping. On the other hand, plastic is notoriously difficult to recycle. Additives and dyes help to form many different varieties of plastic, and not all of them can be reprocessed and recycled with existing technology. Even when plastic is recycled, a lower-quality material typically results every time it runs through the process. 

In short: The bottom-line case for pursuing a plastics revolution remains, and stakeholders show no sign of releasing their pressure any time soon. 

This hidden packaging component could move plastics closer to circularity

Making plastics reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2040 could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, reduce the flow of plastics into the ocean by 80 percent, and create 700,000 jobs, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Clearly, achieving this vision in less than two decades will involve every player within the packaging value chain. Often forgotten during the process are the inks and coatings used to give packaging the look and durability it needs, but the careful use of these elements can make the difference in bringing plastics into a circular economy. Siegwerk, one of the world's leading manufacturers of inks and coatings, has found these materials can play a pivotal role at each step of the sustainable design process — from reducing plastic use, to reusing materials, to making recycling more universal and effective. 

"We are a company that very proactively took on the journey to drive and reinforce the sustainable packaging system,” Alina Marm, head of global sustainability and circular economy at Siegwerk, said at the Ocean Plastic Virtual Summit in January. “Something as basic as inks and coatings can really be a pathway to new circular business models.”

Inks and coatings in action

In a recent report, Siegwerk describes the ways in which the smart use of inks and coatings can help to reduce material use, enable the reuse of packaging and facilitate recycling. 

“Moving from a linear to a circular packaging industry can preserve the natural environment and mitigate the effect on ecology, while allowing consumers to still benefit from the advantages of packaging,” Marm wrote in the foreword to the report. “Here, inks and coatings play an important enabling role for the realization of circular packaging solutions. Their technical functionalities support the (re-)design of packaging following the three levers of a circular economy — ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ — helping to keep materials in the loop to maximize their use.”

For example, inks and coatings can enable mono-material packaging — which is made from a single material — to function just as well as alternatives made with multiple components. That means packaging that is still highly effective in protecting, preserving and presenting a product, while being far easier for waste management companies to collect, sort and recycle. 

Consider the flexible plastic films used for food and product packaging. While they may appear to be made from one material, many of these films rely on a coating made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) — the same resin used in plastic beverage bottles — to impart heat resistance, act as a barrier and give the wrap a glossy finish. But using PET in combination with another type of plastic effectively renders the wrap non-recyclable, as the cost and technical barriers for separating these materials remain high. Enter inks and coatings, which can mimic visual attributes such as glossiness as well as performance features like precise sealing and barrier function, allowing for mono-material films made from single resins like polypropylene (PP) that are both commercially desirable and easier to recycle.

A more deliberate and strategic use of inks and coatings can also make an effective recycling process more feasible. Scratch-resistant surface printing, for example, adds to the look of a mono-plastic package and can be printed directly on the pack in a single layer, eliminating the need for adhesives. Importantly, though, those inks should be fully removable during the recycling process in order to maintain the purity and value of the end product. In this area, Siegwerk says there is great potential to adapt the hot washing phase that is commonly used in PET recycling to de-ink flexible packaging and ensure inks and laminates are fully removed so they do not contaminate bales of plastic slated for recycling.

And then there’s moving away from plastic altogether. Special coatings — like a barrier that protects contents and extends shelf life, or a layer that precludes the need for plastic wrapping — can make paper a more viable replacement for plastic in more applications. For example, we all know paper bags tend to become soggy and tear when they get wet, an area where plastic alternatives have a clear advantage. But the simple addition of a water barrier coating can make that same paper bag feasible for many more uses without ending up in a sodden mess. Similar water barrier coatings can be used to replace plastic or wax linings in paper cups and bottles, while grease barriers allow for innovations like all-paper fast food packaging that does not rely on plastic seals. 

Achieving the full potential of inks and coatings requires coordination

“Creating circular packaging solutions is not only about innovations,” Siegwerk concluded in its report. “It is a collaborative task considering the complete life cycle of packaging — from design through use to recycling — in order to fuel the creation of circularity.”

In other words, moving plastics closer to circularity requires a systems approach that engages all stakeholders — from the manufacturers that develop new packaging designs, to the brands that use them, to the consumers and recyclers looking to give them a second life. Flexible plastic packaging, for example, is almost universally seen as disposable. If new technologies and methods become ubiquitous, policies and public behavior will have to change, too.

“Collaboration, no matter if it's on a technical level or on a broader society level … is fun if you have a learning mindset,” Marm said at the Ocean Plastic summit. “We really need to innovate collectively.”

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

Images courtesy of Siegwerk Druckfarben

Organizations often talk about the importance of company culture, but what does a healthy company culture actually look like? More significantly, how can leaders ensure their company culture is truly making an impact on their people while also benefiting their industries and society at large? 
 
Over the last few years, leaders have been called upon to address the evolving effects of the pandemic on both society and the workplace. People across the workforce have been forced to undergo drastic changes in a short period of time — loss, financial uncertainty, and increased responsibilities at home and work — requiring leaders to pivot and develop new leadership skills and techniques. 

More than ever, employees are looking to leadership to meet them where they are, to engage in real conversations, listen, empathize, and be willing to adapt in order to put their people first. 
 
At Banfield Pet Hospital, culture is our top priority. We are the leading provider of preventive veterinary medicine, seeing more than 9.6 million pets a year.As such, our nearly 20,000 employees, who we call associates, are navigating how to balance increased demand for pet care in our hospitals with the challenges brought by the pandemic, professionally and personally. 

It’s during these times that leaders are given the opportunity to prove what their culture is made of. For Banfield, the answer is clear: We put our people first.

We established people-first programs and initiatives to enable our associates to have a better, more impactful life while future-proofing our business for long-term growth. In an era of tension and turnover, we were met with increased retention and Banfield grew two times faster than the industry average, enabling the practice to care for more pets and deliver on our purpose — A Better World for Pets — while driving business results.

Ultimately, culture starts at the top. It’s about leading with curiosity, advocacy and impact — all underscored by an urgency to overdeliver, improve the lives of those one is responsible for, and positively impact societal wellbeing. Here are a few ways we go about it. 

Meeting people where they are
 

The key to a positive culture is an open, two-way dialogue rooted in authentic engagement. Associates must feel safe to speak up. As leaders, we must go where the conversation is happening instead of expecting the conversation to come to us. 

With the social barrier of working remotely, many leaders are wondering how to engage in conversation-at-scale and connect with a dispersed workforce. This is where leaders must prioritize being agile and using new, creative ways of communicating and reaching our employees — no matter where they are.

As a leader of a company where the workforce is 75 percent millennial and Gen Z professionals, social media has been an invaluable way to meet people where they are and create a safe space for honest discussions. When done correctly, it can empower employees, ensuring that everyone’s voices are heard, and creating conditions in which we can listen, learn and act. 

For example, I host sessions I call “Banter with Brian” on my Instagram feed, an Ask Me Anything-style activation where I solicit and answer questions directly from our associates. The ideas, comments, and feedback I hear and then activate on — whether that’s new scrub policy or technology investment — are critical to not only the future success of our practice, but also the continued engagement of our workforce.

Putting advocacy for others at the forefront


Strategy without empathy is a wasted idea. You can have the best strategy in the world, but if your people aren’t behind it, it’s unlikely to have the intended impact. 


Taking the time to authentically connect with our people has led to major breakthroughs to help tackle some of the most pressing issues impacting our people, the veterinary profession, and society at large, such as financial debt and mental health and wellbeing. 

Veterinarians graduate with the highest debt-to-income ratio of any profession, which was weighing heavily on our associates and holding them back from thriving in their careers. In response, we introduced a Veterinary Student Debt Relief Program, becoming one of just 8 percent of U.S. companies that offer a student debt benefit. To date, we’ve already contributed more than $20 million toward helping our veterinarians pay off student loans.

We also rolled out programs and benefits to give our people tools and resources to help them take care of themselves. These include free access to Headspace, which offers everyday mindfulness and meditation, “ASK – Assess, Support, Know” suicide prevention training, and resources like “Calm the Chaos” conversation guides to ensure we are offering simple practices to support our teams. Additionally, we established Diversity Resource Groups to better understand how we can create a more personalized culture to meet diverse needs. 

Putting ambitions into action

Culture of every kind begins with the behavior of leaders. To say that another way, if you are interested in changing the culture of your organization, your first step should be to look in the mirror and make sure you are setting the kind of behavioral example you want everyone else to follow. This means not only fostering the right environment, but also taking actionable steps to invest in your people — and activating your associates to not only improve the workplace but make a lasting, positive impact on society.
 
By creating an environment at Banfield where our associates feel empowered to candidly share their ideas and feedback through open-way dialogue and conversations at scale, we’ve been able to identify three priority areas to devote considerable resources toward impacting our people, business and society at large: opening educational pathways, elevating mental health and empowering women. We’re calling this effort BANDtogether.


Among these areas, I’m particularly passionate about how we are expanding our educational pathways initiatives. Over the next year, Banfield will commit nearly $10 million toward helping veterinary professionals realize their full potential while creating accessible pathways for individuals that aspire to follow in their footsteps. This includes a partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a paid internship called NextVet — which gives high school students across the country an immersive, hands-on veterinary experience — and an expanding partnership with InStride. 

We’ve been able to help more of our paraprofessional associates get their undergraduate degrees with 100 percent tuition coverage from Banfield through our partnership with InStride. Significantly, we’ve seen a 16 percent increase in retention among program participants compared to non-participants. This program has the dual impact of yielding highly skilled and engaged hospital teams able to provide quality veterinary care to more patients while benefiting our associates’ lives.


The bottom line

Culture is about people. Our people are our most valuable asset, and a business is only as strong as the culture it creates. My why — what fuels my passion — is being able to empower and support the teams that are making a meaningful impact on our clients and communities every day. 

Let your people strategy be your business strategy. 

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

Images courtesy of Banfield Pet Hospital

A recent study found evidence of bias in the hospitality industry when researchers emailed 6,000 hotels for restaurant recommendations from email accounts with seemingly "racial" or "ethnic" names. While this won’t be news to BIPOC communities, it does validate what they’ve been saying all along about the insidious nature of everyday discrimination. Likewise, the study should act as a wakeup call for the hotel sector, its management and the service industry in general. Between viral videos, Gen Z’s purpose-driven expectations and so-called cancel culture, a proactive approach to discrimination is more imperative than ever.

This research, conducted by Alexandra Feldberg of Harvard Business School and Tami Kim of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, was carried out between 2016 and 2020. The pair messaged concierges at thousands of hotels around the United States to ask for local restaurant recommendations. They did so from accounts set up to make it appear as though the sender was of a particular race, such as one with the name Mei Chen to evoke an Asian woman, LaToya Washington to evoke a Black woman and Brad Anderson to evoke a white man.

While the response rates were higher for the accounts with the white-sounding names (43 percent) than the Black-sounding names (40 percent) and even more so than the Asian-sounding names (36 percent), the biggest difference was in the quality of the responses. For example, whether or not staff answered with personalized greetings or not varied greatly. Such a greeting went out to perceivably white names almost 75 percent of the time, compared to only 61 percent and 57 percent of the time to perceivably Black and Asian names.

Responses to guys like "Brad Anderson" also included a higher number of recommendations. About 28 percent of responses to white-sounding names gave information in addition to what was asked for in the original email, whereas only 16 percent of those responding to Black-sounding names and 4 percent of those responding to Asian-sounding names sent extra recommendations or information.

As Kim told Harvard Business School: “If hotel managers were only checking response rates, they wouldn’t see any differences in how their service representatives respond to people's emails. Then they might think, ‘Oh, my service representatives are doing great. There's nothing to improve here.’ But what our results are showing is that we need to go beyond that because, even if they are responding to everyone, it doesn't mean that everyone is getting treated equally.”

She and Feldberg did have a few suggestions for the hotel industry, such as surveying a range of different customers to determine if their experiences were of the same quality. Next, they suggested tracking things like greetings and upgrades in order to ensure that guests are getting the same treatment regardless of race. And last, they proposed that hotel management could use a similar methodology as the one in their study to catch bias and provide coaching to staff.

Also of great importance, the study’s authors note that hotel management can create an environment that fosters equity in customer service by setting standards for how employees interact with customers and administer perks. Furthermore, by holding staff accountable for who they give perks to and why, there is a better chance that they will be distributed in an unbiased manner.

Staff composition is of notable importance as well — but it’s no miracle cure. As a 2015 Harvard study on bias in Airbnb bookings discovered, name discrimination occurred even when the host was Black. Still, hiring a diverse staff along with diverse leadership with definitive service protocols in place will go a long way toward remedying the present situation within the hotel industry, Feldberg and Kim said.

Now is the time for hotel management to act. With the advent of live-streaming and apps like TikTok, ignoring discrimination and bias among frontline workers can have devastating effects on businesses that risk getting caught up in a scandal. But it’s not just misbehavior caught on camera that can be problematic. People talk on social media, and they notice when they don’t get the same treatment as others.

Gen Z now makes up roughly 40 percent of U.S. consumers. That’s a big deal considering that they are holding brands to task when it comes to social justice issues. While many are too young to book hotels themselves, they won’t be for long. And those at the older end of the spectrum aren’t likely to treat hotels any differently than other brands. They’d simply rather spend their money somewhere that reflects what matters to them. Hospitality brands that hope to court this target market will have to tackle inherent bias among customer service staff.

Image credit: Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

ESG reporting laws, as in those monitoring companies' environmental, social and governance performance, are coming.  

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is working on a new rule that will require U.S.-listed companies to provide investors with detailed disclosures on how climate change could affect their business. Europe recently announced new requirements on how banks report environmental risks and carbon targets.

These proposals are only the tip of the iceberg. Regulators across the world are actively working on new legislation to increase corporate transparency on ESG issues.

It will take time for the regulations to get ironed out – and there still may be no universal measuring stick to evaluate ESG performance. But that doesn’t mean you should sit back and wait. The pressure to be more transparent extends far beyond regulators. Sixty-four percent of consumers say they choose, switch, or avoid brands based on their stance on societal issues. Eighty-five percent of investors consider ESG factors in their investment decisions.

Hone Your Reporting Strategy Now: Now is the time to get a handle on your ESG data. Here are four steps you can take today to get started.

Understand why you’re reporting on ESG: There are a variety of reasons to report on ESG initiatives. Some consider ESG core to their corporate values. Others seek to satisfy investors and shareholders. Still others look at it primarily for risk mitigation. Whatever the reason, understanding the why behind your disclosures will shape your ESG reporting strategy.   

Choose the information you will disclose: Focus on ESG metrics that are most meaningful to your priority stakeholders – be that employees, customers, the board, investors, or regulators – and that align with your company’s values and strategy. If your company is committed to environmental stewardship, for example, consider reporting on energy efficiency, air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Also consider what others in your industry are reporting to make it easier for stakeholders to compare performance. The next step is to measure ESG performance across your supply chain. No matter what metrics you report on, however, make sure your claims can withstand scrutiny. Expect public declarations to be fact checked more frequently by stakeholders and auditors.

Decide on your reporting frameworks. Nonprofits, business groups and other organizations have created dozens of reporting frameworks to guide companies on what ESG metrics to measure and how to do it. Three popular frameworks include the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), and Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Each group has its own agenda, which means some frameworks focus on environmental metrics, while others focus on social issues. Since no one framework covers all aspects of ESG, many companies decide to pull from several frameworks to create their own. Understand your priorities and incorporate the frameworks that align closest with your objectives.

Leverage technology for an integrated reporting effort. ESG reporting is a complex undertaking that can’t be efficiently managed via spreadsheets. Manually collecting data -- on your carbon footprint and water usage, diversity and inclusion, ethical labor practices, and more – that might reside in many locations across the organization and your supply chain is almost impossible.

Integrated software simplifies data collection and reporting by bringing critical ESG data together in real time. This makes it quick and seamless to build reports, make decisions, and communicate your ESG efforts in a credible and cohesive way.

For effective ESG reporting, double down in 2022: The demand for ESG information is high. Don’t wait for regulations to shake out before getting a solid reporting process in place. Voluntarily reporting on ESG now gives you the opportunity to tell your own ESG story and proactively drive positive change.

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: Burst via Pexels

Environmental organizations and sustainable business groups are greeting the new disclosure rules proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with enthusiasm, and for good reason. The proposed SEC rules validate the scientific consensus on climate change on a straightforward, bottom-line platform that leaves no room for doubt, skepticism or conspiracy theorizing. In effect, the proposal invalidates a decades-long effort to obstruct meaningful action on climate change, undertaken by fossil energy stakeholders and their political allies.

Money talks: Climate change is real, says SEC

SEC Chair Gary Gensler explained the proposed climate disclosure rules as an expression of the agency’s foundational mission. In doing so, he threw a giant monkey wrench into the machinery of the climate denial lobby.

“Today, investors representing literally tens of trillions of dollars support climate-related disclosures because they recognize that climate risks can pose significant financial risks to companies, and investors need reliable information about climate risks to make informed investment decisions,” Gensler said in a press statement this week.

"Our core bargain from the 1930s is that investors get to decide which risks to take, as long as public companies provide full and fair disclosure and are truthful in those disclosures,” he further explained.

That reference to the 1930s is a not-so-subtle reminder that the U.S. economy went into the Great Depression at the beginning of that decade, on the heels of a financial catastrophe touched off by the stock market crash of 1929.

As described by the Federal Reserve, a frenzy of speculation during the 1920s preceded the crash, propelled by new financial instruments that enabled everyday people to borrow money to invest. Without a meaningful risk disclosure platform, uninformed investors were almost literally throwing money into a black hole.

Follow the money, follow the science

As the SEC explains, Congress created the agency in 1934 because “our country decided that for capitalism to flourish, we needed to protect investors from fraud and unfair sales practices.”

The SEC also notes that its regulations have kept pace alongside the growth of the financial sector. Although U.S. securities regulations have changed over the years, the two underlying principles have stayed the same since 1934:

• People who seek your investment dollars must tell you the truth about their businesses. 

• People who sell securities must treat you fairly and honestly, putting your interests first.

In that context, the proposed rules provide governmental support for the many institutional investors that have followed the facts on climate science in recent years.

The rules also reward the many corporate leaders who have voluntarily pushed the market for renewable energy and other decarbonization technologies, partnered with local and federal decarbonization efforts, and participated in platforms for science based climate disclosures, such as the Science Based Targets initiative.

The new rules also validate the efforts of activist shareholders, who have worked to align stubborn corporate boards with the facts about climate science.

Next steps for climate action

The proposed rules are certain to elicit a storm of protest from fossil energy stakeholders and their allies.

However, they will have to create a new playbook. The denialism of the early 21st century won’t wash in 2022, now that the gears of climate change are fully in motion, just as scientists predicted.

Extreme heat, drought, wildfires, flooding, sea-level rise and damaging storms are never good for business, all the more so when the impacts grow more frequent and intense with every passing year.

The climate denial lobby will also have to reckon with consumer sentiment, which is far more sensitized to environmental issues than in years past.

In addition, the climate denial lobby will have to walk a fine line between defending fossil energy interests and accounting for the impact that Russia’s misbegotten war on Ukraine has had on global energy markets.

Tragically and horrifically, Vladimir Putin’s murderous rampage through Ukraine is yet another demonstration that the global fossil energy economy is inherently insecure and burdened with reputational risk.

Corporate leaders — including several major oil and gas stakeholders — have been quick to exercise their financial muscle to assist in the international effort aimed at pulling the pins out from Russia’s war machinery.  

As the comment period for the proposed SEC rules gets under way, the defenders of the fossil energy industry will find that the ground has shifted under their feet. The smart money is on climate science.

Image credit: Kelly M. Lacy via Pexels