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The Caribbean is in the throes of a sinister drought that is ravaging islands like Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and a slew of others. These moderate and sometimes localized droughts are sowing the seed for what is blooming into a region-wide water crisis. In places like Saint Lucia and Jamaica, water rationing measures are already in place. Sections of Jamaica like the Kingston, Saint Andrew, and Saint Catherine parishes, as well as the western parishes like Westmoreland and Clarendon, are hit the hardest. But Jamaica may tap into a natural solution which at scale could prove formidable: protection of wetlands.

Dry and wet seasons are typical for the region, and Jamaica in particular is no stranger to this cycle. The wet season typically begins during late May or early June, but for the better part of this year, water scarcity and lack of rain has been an issue. In April, the government initiated a water supply restriction schedule within the corporate areas of Kingston. 

But as far back as January, people have protested water scarcity and issues in Jamaica's largest parish, Saint Ann. Residents of Mount Edgecombe complained of a persisting scarcity that began in 2020. 

Tamara lives in the Kingston and Saint Andrew corporate area. In many ways, people like her are hit the hardest. Not only are women historically more vulnerable to water scarcity, but Tamara also operates her own farm. Farmers are particularly vulnerable to water scarcity. 

“It was very hard to maintain not only myself, but the animals,” she told TriplePundit. “The reality of continuous days without flowing water became terrible as the hot weather became harsher. I felt a high level of heat stress, and if I experienced that, I could only imagine what my animals would’ve succumbed to. In order to manage, I had to prioritize the animals over myself because I can be helped, but they rely solely on what I can provide. So, the majority of the water that I had in storage was used to supply them and make sure I could at least take a bath.”

Kingston has untapped underground water sources, but there is an issue with attempting to tap into them, Debbie-Ann Gordon-Smith, a chemistry professor at the University of the West Indies, told 3p. “Several studies I’ve been a part of have revealed contamination in the water underground,” Smith said. The main contamination found was sewage waste. 

It’s water she believes could be treated and reused for other purposes, and it speaks to an interesting quality of the land in Jamaica: an ability to hold water, even below the surface.

Tapping these underground channels may be a future solution or even a part of a larger overall plan for more sustainable water policy and practice. In the meantime, the ability of the land to trap and store water offers another solution in a place like the Mason River Protected Area on the border of Saint Ann and Clarendon parishes. The 202-acre wetland is home to the island’s only inland peat bog.

There’s nothing particularly new about protected areas or wetlands. But Mason River is a perfect example of what happens when land is protected and how surrounding communities can benefit, even during droughts. It was declared a wetland of international importance, or Ramsar site, in 2011. 

“In general all the green spaces cumulatively help to improve the environment,” Keron Cambell, a botanist who supervises the Mason River Protected Area, said. “With respect to ecosystem services on a broad scale, we have cleaner air, water to drink and use for irrigation, nutrient cycling, mitigation in terms of flooding, etcetera.” The protected area is owned and operated by the Natural History Museum of Jamaica, which is the division of the Institute of Jamaica that Campbell works for. 

I visited the protected area after it rained across the island overnight.  And even during the dry season, I still had to wade through ankle-high waters in some sections. That water-holding ability is thanks to limestone, Simon Mitchell, a professor of sedimentary geology at the University of the West Indies, told 3p. 

“Wetlands are really formed when we have water captured in a particular place,” Mitchell said. “A place like Mason River is a series of limestones and a relatively flat area, so the water builds up in the depressions in the limestone. We see water being captured in these areas because these limestones have some clay in them, which stops the water from draining away.” 

Much of Jamaica is limestone, evidenced by the many underground rivers, streams and connections to major bodies of water that run through the parishes, Mitchell said. This ability to trap, store and divert water underground might just be the island’s most resilient, natural hidden power against the ongoing drought.

Unfortunately it’s not a cure-all for climate change ills. Wetlands are habitats that host life, and they’re not an infinite or dispensable resource. Even the Mason River Protected Area finds itself more at risk as the days go by. 

Climate change is not only intensifying weather systems and creating global heatwaves, it's also creating longer, more grueling dry seasons. During my visit, I noticed an absence of the carnivorous plants that are usually there year-round. The station attendant explained that their absence is due to the increased heat during the dry season. Some plants completely wither only to return when the wet season begins.

Furthermore, wetlands have become much more valuable with their capacity to absorb and trap carbon dioxide within their bogs and marshes. The loss of these places is even more dangerous because of the years of trapped carbon that is released in the atmosphere when they are dried up or disturbed. 

It’s essential to protect wetlands like Mason River, as their ability to boost climate resilience is priceless. But they are limited in their ability to weather the changing climate. Individuals can support these protected areas through ecotourism ventures like guided tours. The remaining challenge lies with governments, world leaders and policymakers who can sanction or cease environmental crimes and support sustainable ventures. 

I'll let you all in on a little secret: I haven't bought a new piece of clothing in over two years. Don't get me wrong, I love fashion and putting together a great look for a given occasion. But if you collect timeless pieces and take good care of them, you don't really need to buy as much — which, as an added bonus, also reduces your impact on the environment. Read on to learn how I keep my favorites looking fab for 10 years or more and how you can make your clothes last longer, too.

Look at the care tag before you purchase 

Laundering your clothes according to the instructions on the care tag is the best way to ensure they stay looking sharp as long as possible. But if you wait until you get your new outfit home to see what the tags say, you can easily set yourself up for a commitment you can't keep up with long term.

Check out the tags in the store, and be real with yourself: If you know you can't be bothered to take something to the dry cleaners, hand wash it or use the gentle cycle, don't buy it. Thinking you can simply toss it in the regular cycle with your gym shorts will not end well (I speak from experience). 

Use laundry bags to make clothes last longer

Many associate laundry bags with undergarments and other delicates, but they're super useful for making all kinds of clothes last longer. They keep dress shirts, dresses, sweaters, and tank tops from pilling or stretching out, and they protect the screen printing on graphic tees and sweatshirts from peeling. A set of laundry bags will last you for years while keeping your favorite outfits on rotation far longer.

Be mindful on the first washes

While color bleeding isn't super common, it can happen, and the last thing you want to see is an entire load of laundry turned pink by a new red T-shirt.

For the first few washes of a new garment, pay more attention to laundering with like colors, and use cool or cold water to minimize color bleeding. Color-catcher sheets, which you'll find in the laundry aisle at most retailers, can also capture bleeding dyes from the wash water before they can stain other fabrics. 

If you don't have many clothes of the same color, you can also consider laundering a new item on its own for the first few washes using the small load or auto-fill setting on your washing machine. This may sound like a waste of water and energy, but it's ultimately less wasteful than having to prematurely toss a basket full of clothes. If you do run into a color-bleed situation, taking action quickly can still save your stained clothes. This rundown from Fabricare can help.

Zip and flip

When left open, zipper closures can rub up against other garments during the wash cycle and lead to early wear. Extend the life of all your clothes by zipping up your pants and sweatshirts before tossing them in the washing machine. While you're at it, turn items you aren't washing in laundry bags, such as pants or jeans, inside out to minimize visible fading and help clothes last longer.

Use cold water and hang to dry

Laundering in warm or hot water makes your clothes fade and wear out much faster, and with modern washing machines and soaps, it's no longer necessary to use a hot water cycle in order to get clothes clean. While it's your choice if you'd like to hang dry everything — I personally tumble dry things like hoodies and towels to avoid that stiff and scratchy feel — skipping the dryer more often is generally best for most clothing, too.

Bleach with caution

I don't use bleach in the laundry myself, but if you do, proceed with caution. Bleach can wear away at clothing fibers over time, and if used incorrectly, it can even turn your bright whites to a pale yellow. Spandex in particular tends to yellow in a bleach wash, and even a small amount blended into a stretch fabric can cause a problem. Read the wash instructions on the bleach bottle closely, and avoid fabrics such as Spandex, silk or mohair. Bleaching whites less frequently, such as every few washes, can also avoid premature wear to the fabric and make clothes last longer. 

Practice those mending skills 

Even if you don't know how to darn a sock or use a sewing machine, basic mending is within reach for most people. When you see a seam begin to loosen or a small hole start to form, the sooner you take action, the better off you'll be.

At the first signs of wear-and-tear, it's generally pretty easy to see how the affected area should look and what's starting to go wrong. Often a few hand-stitches with a matching thread is all that's needed to correct it. This rundown on repairing a ripped seam and this video tutorial for invisibly closing a small hole can help, but once you get the hang of it, you won't need the instructions to get it right. 

Find a good tailor

Of course, if you wait too long, the tear can start to spread, and then things start getting much more difficult. If you've got a more complex situation on your hands — or mending simply isn't for you — then you may prefer to seek out a professional.

Finding a tailor or seamstress you trust changes the game when it comes to your wardrobe. Not only are their services great for mending, but they can also alter clothes to your measurements — taking an off-the-rack outfit from okay to excellent and letting you thrift shop to your heart's content while being less concerned about finding a perfect fit. 

Likewise, good shoes can last forever if they're re-soled, so try the shoe repair shop rather than the trash the next time your favorites look like they've seen better days. 

What are some of the ways you look to make your clothes last longer? Tell us about it at editorial@3blmedia.com to be featured in a future story on TriplePundit. 

This story is part of Shopping Month in TriplePundit's Sustainable Living Challenge, where we explore simple ways to buy less, keep things longer and shop sustainably as needed. Learn more and take the challenge here.

This story on the energy transition is part of The Solutions Effect, a monthly newsletter covering the best of solutions journalism in the sustainability and social impact space. If you aren't already getting this newsletter, you can sign up here.

The energy sector is responsible for 73 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and it will take $4 trillion to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the United Nations Development Program. It’s the exact kind of unfathomable problem that solutions journalists are skilled at breaking down and turning into a conversation about action. Read on to see how they’re making the energy transition less daunting by focusing on the governments, communities and companies working to make the shift possible.

Investigating companies’ community impact 

Liberty, North Carolina, is the soon-to-be home of a Toyota electric vehicle battery “megasite” that’s bringing a much-needed economic transformation to the mostly rural region. The car company is set to invest $13.9 billion in the project, which is expected to bring 5,100 direct jobs, thousands more indirect jobs and 100,000 new residents to the area, journalist Nicole Norman reported for Inside Climate News. 

That’s bringing about a lot of change to the town of 2,600 and those around it, an area that experienced great economic woes during the 2008 recession. “For the first time in the 250 years of Randolph County’s existence, we have a chance to be wealthy,” John Ogburn, longtime resident and city manager of nearby Asheboro, told Inside Climate News. 

Already, Toyota is partnering with local colleges to fund job training and education programs, and county and city officials are approving new neighborhoods and housing developments. Norman spoke to residents of Liberty and the surrounding communities for an in-depth look at how the project came to be, the community impacts and the new opportunities. Read more. 

Identifying scalable cross-sector collaborations

Community solar projects are only allowed in 20 states, but that number is growing thanks to federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, environmental journalist Alex Brown reported for Stateline. 

Community solar gives places like farms, schools, and stores an opportunity to earn extra income by leasing land or roof space to a solar electricity developer. The developer installs solar panels and funds the project by selling subscriptions to locals who can’t install their own solar arrays. Based on the power generated by the panels, the subscribers receive credits that reduce their electricity bills. The model helps more projects get off the ground, expanding clean energy in a way that often offers financial relief to low-income households that would otherwise be unable to access it.

Legislation to enable and expand these programs faces opposition from utilities in states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington. But a growing number of states, including Virginia and Pennsylvania, are finding ways to work with utilities to make community solar a reality. Brown looked into the benefits, the hurdles and where community solar is already working. Read more. 

Exploring up-and-coming tech solutions 

The millions of electric vehicle batteries reaching the end of their usable lifespan are adding even more waste to the already overwhelmed global electronic waste stream. It’s a challenging problem to tackle, but innovators at Honda are turning to hydrogen fuel cells to ease the strain. 

“Fuel cell vehicles represent a smaller but growing part of the EV field,” senior writer Tina Casey reports for TriplePundit. “They combine hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air to produce an electrical current through a chemical reaction.” 

Honda recently unveiled a power station that uses fuel cells recovered from its cars to generate energy. And it’s launching a new battery and fuel cell hybrid version of its top-selling compact SUV: the CR-V e:FCEV. Designed to appeal to commercial drivers, the vehicle will help alleviate the battery supply chain while allowing customers to meet carbon emission reduction goals. Casey covers how the new tech works and whether it could make a difference. Read more. 

Learning from the failures and the successes 

We all watched electric scooters rise to prominence a few years ago. And we continued to watch when their popularity fell as the purported climate and convenience benefits were overshadowed by safety concerns and mismanagement. Now, a few years after the spectacle, Syris Valentine, a climate solutions fellow at Grist, looked into what we can learn. 

“The true climate benefits of these fleets depends upon how companies deploy and manage them, and safety remains a concern as injuries climb,” Valentine wrote. “But industry leaders appear intent on ensuring their scooters are as sustainable and safe as possible.”

Valentine reviews the issues the industry still faces, like the rise of serious injuries and whether the logistics of distribution and charging negate emissions savings, and speaks to experts about what can be done to address them. Read more. 

Most of the stories above were found via the Solutions Journalism Network’s online database of solution-focused stories. If you’re looking for more stories like these, I recommend checking it out. 

Global demand for avocados is growing steadily, with per-capita consumption in the United States tripling since the early 2000s. With such escalating popularity, curiosity about the avocado industry's agricultural practices is also on the rise. Enrique Audiffred, a third-generation farmer and second-generation organic avocado grower in Michoacán, Mexico, is eager to share more about the subject.

Using data to drive sustainability 

Audiffred studied industrial engineering with a specialty in collecting and analyzing agricultural data using sensors. To him, the benefits of applying technology to organic avocado production are clear. “The digitalization of avocado production allows me to consume fewer resources, making my production costs much lower,” Audiffred said. “Workers benefit from the system, because they are not exposed to pesticides and fertilizers, and our environmental impact is less.”

Sensors installed on Audiffred’s farm monitor moisture, salinity and nutrients in the soil. The data they collect is used to optimize a smart “fertigation” system, or a specialized irrigation setup consisting of sensors and irrigation hoses with valves. The system delivers water and fertilizer directly to the root zones of specific trees lacking in water or nutrients. “It is very efficient,” he explained. “The valves open and close depending on which area needs water and fertilizer, thereby avoiding waste and contamination."

Audiffred also developed a monitoring system to help him identify microclimates and a control system to move production from colder zones into warmer zones. This helps him standardize production and create a more predictable schedule for harvest. 

Another program he created detects anthracnose, a common agricultural disease that can lead to significant crop loss. “This model allows us to apply disease control only when necessary, instead of on a calendar basis,” he said.

“The kind of tech I use on my farm can only be found in five or six other orchards in the whole country,” he continued. “But it should be implemented all over the world for any grower who depends on agriculture for their income.” 

While Audiffred believes access to technology is the industry's biggest challenge at the moment, he's still betting on ag-tech to change farming processes around the world. “Digital agriculture is the Industrial Revolution 4.0. It solves problems with water, insecticides and fertilizer,” he shared. "Most of the issues on my farm are solved by data that is available to me because of the technology I use.”

Although many of Audiffred’s growing innovations are high-tech, he also utilizes one surprisingly simple practice to promote sustainability on his farm: trees.

“Right now, half of my land is dedicated to the production of avocados, and the other 50 percent is a forest right next to the avocado orchard that I maintain to promote biodiversity,” he said. “I am very [environmentally] conscious, and I want to continue to promote sustainability in my work. We depend on the environment, so we must take care of it.”

Growing avocados with the future in mind

Many farmers with multigenerational connections to the land express a profound, deep-seeded commitment to its preservation. Alejandro Bautista, a second-generation avocado grower, is no different. “My father started our orchards 65 years ago, and when I got older, I came to work with [him],” Bautista said. “We now have about 200 acres of different cultivars.” 

Like Audiffred, Bautista supports forests on his land to promote biodiversity and soil health. Of his approximately 500 acres of land, about 300 acres are rainforest. 

“Part of what makes our avocados so rich is our volcanic soil,” he explained. “We have a volcano covered in forest, and we make sure to take care of it. There is a lot of wildlife in the forests, including wildcats and deer, and there is a natural spring that provides water to many communities. We benefit from the ecosystem there.”

Bautista’s family began their organic transition 40 years ago. “The main interest of my family is to be healthy,” he said. “When we looked at the potential damage that [irresponsible agricultural practices] can have on workers, our family and the land, we decided to transition to responsible farming and organic cultivation.” 

The farm now uses only natural fertilizers and maintains grass in the orchards at about eight inches minimum in order to sustain the natural insect population. They also plant trees far enough apart to promote air flow, allowing for ventilation and reducing disease pressure. Rather than agrochemicals, they feed the soil with natural composts and utilize natural insecticides like garlic and chilis to protect crops from pests.

Ever since he was 13 years old, Bautista has dedicated his life to agriculture. With his 70th birthday right around the corner, he is conscious of the legacy he has built in his community.

“The thing that brings me the most satisfaction is that we are walking the talk,” he reflected. “We are teaching by example to have a sustainable way of life. I am happy that my children and grandchildren are seeing this example.”

The future of sustainable avocados 

As sustainable avocado growers in Mexico work to ensure the prosperity and longevity of their farms, the market for organic avocado production continues to expand. In 2022, retail sales of organic avocados reached $162.4 million in the U.S., a 2.8 percent increase from the previous year. 

Farmers like Audiffred and Bautista, who implement practices that preserve natural resources and steward the economic and environmental well-being of their communities, are essential for the industry’s long-term success. Reflecting on the bright future of the avocado sector, Bautista is hopeful for the next generation of sustainable growers. 

“I invest a lot in sustainability education, because I want to know that I am doing something for the next generation,” Bautista concluded. “Responsible agricultural practices are very important. It is a very good business to be a good person.”

This article series is sponsored by the Avocado Institute of Mexico and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Images courtesy of the Avocado Institute of Mexico

As temperatures rise, storms become more severe, and rainfall patterns grow increasingly unpredictable, the agricultural systems that feed our world are under threat. This is particularly evident in California. The state is a leading producer of almost every fruit, vegetable, nut and grain consumed in the United States. However, as climate change intensifies, the heavy reliance on California for the bulk of the nation's produce becomes a gamble.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is attempting to address this issue by proactively promoting the cultivation of crops that may not remain viable in California's future climate in the Mid-Mississippi Delta region — encompassing parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. The project, called Next California, seeks to support and scale a sustainable specialty crop industry through research, pilots and partnerships.

“The original impetus of this project was avoiding land conversion,” said Julia Kurnik, WWF’s senior director of innovation startups. “We aren’t trying to take anything from California, but agriculture will have to shift somewhere. Left to shift on its own, we are fearful that it would move to areas that would involve land conversion, which has a huge environmental impact. If we can switch to current farmland, it is a big sustainability win for everyone.”

The Mid-Mississippi Delta region offers other advantages as a new agricultural hub, with a strong logistics sector and fairly abundant water resources. By transitioning some of California's crop production to this region, WWF aims to mitigate the risks associated with climate change and ensure the stability of the U.S. food supply. 

But a transition to new agricultural regions is not simple. Farmers in the Delta will need to adapt to new crops and cultivation techniques, requiring substantial investment in education, infrastructure and technology. "The program is still early on in its implementation phase, so there is no clearly defined way to say 'this is how we do this,'" Kurnik noted.

WWF partnered with the University of Arkansas to research the needs of a major agricultural transition, such as crop inputs, labor requirements, the environmental footprint of the project, and the potential to implement various types of business models and understand the market as a whole. 

WWF also launched a pilot to help grow crop farms in the region. “The pilot itself consists of five farms, currently,” Kurnik said. “We want to support and scale existing efforts on the ground to show what is possible here. We want to provide farmers with information, not tell them to grow a specific crop. We are connecting farmers to buyers, de-risking and scaling up.”

The project, as well as the agricultural sector in the region, is not without hurdles. Labor is the largest challenge. As Mid-Delta farmers switch from highly-mechanized commodity row crops to specialty crops, their need for labor is growing. Specialty crop farmers also lack the data needed to access financial tools.

“On the lending and market side, if you are looking at community banks and lenders in the regions who give operating loans to farmers, they just don’t have information on specialty crops: no data, no history and no way to judge risk,” Kurnik said. “We have buyers who have never sourced from the Delta and don’t know how to judge risks or determine seasonality. We have to address these hurdles by working with partners.” 

Transitioning a part of the agricultural sector carries an environmental risk for the region, too. Agriculture accounts for approximately 40 percent of California’s total water use, and recent years have seen groundwater wells run dry as the water levels in aquifers plummet. 

“We still need to be doing work on this, because it is not a finished question,” Kurnik said when asked how WWF is ensuring the protection of the aquifers in the Mid-Mississippi Delta region. “We will probably have to consider policy, but we haven’t gotten there yet … A lot of the cropland [in the region] can use rainwater as opposed to groundwater. It is less controllable, so it brings additional risks, but it is already being done. We are also working with land grant universities and the University of Arkansas to get a detailed survey county by county and drill down into the details to know what can be best grown in the regions with their specific soil and water.”

Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of this initiative are significant. Diversifying the geographic distribution of crop production reduces the vulnerability of the U.S. food supply to climate change and creates new economic opportunities for farmers in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. 

“Everywhere in the world will see an increase in disruptive weather events, which will inherently make farming riskier,” Kurnik said. “Growing a diversity of crops helps with that because if you have more growing seasons and a variety of crops in the ground, they will be affected differently ... If you are a rice farmer who only plants in April and harvests in October, you face a lot of risk if something happens to that one crop.”

There could also be potential to scale this project in different regions of the world. “One thing we have discussed from the beginning is that we have felt that this problem is not unique to the U.S.,” Kurnik said. “Different countries and regions of the world have their own Californias and the shifting of food sourcing is going to be a continually changing problem globally … What we grow all over the world is shifting and it is important to think proactively to avoid economic devastation to areas that lose farming communities, or that see major land conversion and vastly disrupted food supply chains.” 

For now, WWF is keeping its focus on the Mid-Mississippi Delta region. This year, as Next California moves from the planning and research phase into action and implementation, the organization is beginning to hand over responsibilities to its on-the-ground organizational partners, Kurnik said. “To succeed in the long-term, it has to be stakeholders in the region making major decisions.”  

Over 80 percent of companies plan to spend more on sustainability efforts like energy efficiency, emissions reduction and pollution prevention this year. But many of them won't talk about it. 

As global regulators crack down on greenwashing and the political pushback against environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in the U.S. continues, a growing segment of companies are staying mum about their sustainability work. 

But this play-it-safe strategy is the opposite of what stakeholders are looking for. Among U.S. consumers, 69 percent agree businesses should communicate more — not less — about what they're doing in the areas of sustainability and social impact, according to new research from TriplePundit, our parent company 3BL and the research technology firm Glow. That includes 75 percent of Gen Z and 74 percent of millennials who want to see businesses communicate more about their efforts and progress. 

What's driving the $44 billion switch to more sustainable brands?

Our latest research builds on the findings of The $44 Billion Sustainability Opportunity report we released with 3BL, Glow and panel partner Cint earlier this year. That first-of-its-kind analysis attached a dollar figure to the value of consumers switching brands for sustainability reasons — adding up to more than $44 billion across 12 industries in the U.S. alone. A quarter of the consumers we surveyed even stopped doing business with a brand in 2023 because of its social or environmental behavior.

The 2024 Consumer Insights & Sustainability Benchmark takes a closer look at what's driving this billion-dollar shift, how consumers define companies as sustainable, and what they expect from the business world this year. 

Read on for some of the standout findings, including how consumers perceive companies that stay quiet, the behaviors they're adopting for the sake of sustainability and the many reasons why the "anti-ESG" movement is failing to resonate. 

Quiet companies leave public perception up to chance

A growing segment of consumers are willing to seek out and validate a company's sustainability information on their own. Nearly half said they search for information about businesses’ sustainability credentials using tools like Google (36 percent) or use sustainability rankings or lists available online (9 percent).

If companies choose not to communicate, consumers will make their own assumptions, and they may not always be positive. Sixty-eight percent of consumers agree with the statement: “Companies that actively communicate their sustainability efforts have a more positive impact on the environment and society, compared to those that do not.” Only 10 percent disagreed. Meanwhile, over 40 percent of consumers assume quiet companies are either “not doing anything” to reduce their environmental impact or “need more substantial environmental initiatives.”

"What we learn is that greenhushing isn’t always a huge detriment to businesses, but it misses the opportunity for business leaders to tell their own sustainability stories and be recognized by consumers," TriplePundit contributor Andrew Kaminsky wrote in the report. "Instead, with the split on how consumers perceive silent companies, business leaders essentially relinquish control and leave public perception up to chance." 

Talking about failure is good, not bad

Companies are often reluctant to talk about things that didn't go to plan. If they miss a sustainability target or sunset a social impact program after little success, it seems easier to quietly remove messaging about the effort from their websites and never mention it again. But consumers say they don't hold it against businesses when they talk about failure. Actually, it's quite the opposite.

We posed a scenario to consumers: “A company launched a program aimed at reducing its social and/or environmental impact, but it wasn’t effective. The company scrapped the program, and leadership decided to talk about the failure and what they learned with their customers and other stakeholders.”

The majority of respondents (44 percent) said they'd think better of the company "because they were transparent." Another 19 percent wouldn't feel strongly either way, saying: "Not everything is going to work, and that’s not a big deal to me." Only 14 percent would think less of the company because it hit a bump and chose to talk about it. 

"It’s all about how business leaders react to failure or underperformance," Kaminsky wrote. "If something didn’t work, discuss what you learned from it and the changes you plan to make. Looking at problems through a lens of progress and learning is better than not reporting the failure or completely ignoring it." 

Consumers are willing to change their behavior for sustainability, and they want companies to help 

While some in the business world question whether Americans are "ready" to change their behavior for the sake of sustainability, this narrative is increasingly at odds with how people really feel. 

Over half of Americans say they’ve already made lifestyle changes in order to reduce their impact on people and the planet. Consumers are shopping secondhand, choosing products made from recyclable materials, and seeking out consumables in reusable or refillable packaging at rates higher than we observed in 2023. Nearly half say they are flying less to reduce their carbon footprints, and around a third are eating less meat. 

Don't let the "anti-ESG" talk slow you down

"Anti-ESG" rhetoric has become more common on political campaign trails and cable news channels over recent years. Some U.S. states have even moved to restrict financial firms deemed to be associated with ESG investments from doing business within their borders. Naturally, the noise has some business leaders spooked. But when it comes to the U.S. public, anti-ESG messaging isn't exactly hitting home. 

For starters, only around a quarter of Americans even know what ESG is, with most simply using the term "sustainability" to describe efforts to safeguard communities and the environment. 

For those who do recognize the term ESG, perception is mostly positive: 69 percent of consumers said businesses should use ESG principles to quantify and improve their impact on people and the environment, compared to only 16 percent who said they shouldn't. Nearly 89 percent of consumers who recognized the term ESG said their perception of whether businesses should use ESG principles has either increased or stayed the same over the past year, with 42 percent saying: “I feel more strongly now than I did a year ago that businesses should be using ESG principles.” 

How to engage consumers

Along with insight into public preferences, the 2024 Consumer Insights & Sustainability Benchmark includes best practices for reaching and connecting with consumers based on what they told us they'd like to see. That includes how to combine data with storytelling to drive consumer trust, where to reach different audiences with sustainability messaging, and how to position corporate sustainability efforts through a solutions lens. Check out the full report for our recommendations. 

In a significant milestone for the carbon removal industry, Climeworks is the first direct air capture company to receive third-party certification under the Puro Standard for its carbon dioxide removal activities. Climeworks’ Orca plant in Iceland was certified by Puro.earth after a rigorous evaluation and third-party auditing process.

The Puro Standard is recognized as the first comprehensive framework tailored specifically for engineered carbon removal methods within the voluntary carbon market. It is designed to ensure carbon removal solutions are transparent and high quality. Certified carbon removal activities meet stringent criteria such as requiring that the carbon is traceable, wouldn’t be captured without this intervention, and will be stored for hundreds to thousands of years. 

“With carbon removal in general, you have to remove more than you are emitting,” said Marianne Tikkanen, co-founder and the head of standard at Puro. “This certification solidifies a milestone in Climeworks’s journey. Direct air capture generally, and Orca specifically, have reached a level of maturity that allows them to be certified with universal rules. We are still going to see big improvements, but they are now showing the world where they are in their technological development and carbon removal journey.” 
     
Orca was the first-ever, large-scale direct air capture and storage plant, meaning it pulls carbon dioxide straight out of the air around it. Powered by geothermal energy, it sucks in air with fans, filters out the carbon dioxide, and stores it underground. The plant can capture up to 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to Climeworks. 

Climeworks' achievement sets a new standard for the industry. Before this milestone, direct air capture projects were self-certified, adhering only to their own internal standards. To secure this certification, Climeworks instead met stringent external requirements, including a third-party audit paid for and overseen by Puro. 

“We organize and pay for the audit to maintain maximum neutrality,” Tikkanen explained. “We act as the referee in the audit.”

To be certified, projects have to show that their carbon removal activities are required by law, that the carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored would not have been sequestered without the project’s operations, and that the carbon removal credits generated by the project are necessary to operate. Once audits are completed, Puro issues the carbon removal credits and publishes the documentation in its public registry. 

The registry tracks the lifecycle of CO2 Removal Certificates, the organization’s carbon removal credits, from issuance to retirement. This allows stakeholders to verify and track the effectiveness of carbon removal efforts, ensuring that the removals are genuine and have not been double-counted. 

Tikkanen acknowledges that direct air capture is not a silver bullet. “It’s not just direct air capture,” she said. “All removals have their place. Locality plays a role in all carbon removal models.” 

For a direct air capture project to work, it needs to have access to clean energy because the project has to remove more carbon than it emits. It also needs access to the right type of geology and natural resources for reliable, long-term storage. And that can limit project viability. 

“A lot of things have to fall into place to create a favorable mix for a project to happen,” Tikkanen said. “However, that is where innovation happens. I think we will see great cost-saving and efficiency innovations in direct air capture and storage in the coming years as people try to find optimal conditions.”

Orca is at the forefront of innovation, testing its equipment in Iceland’s harsh terrain with extreme seasonal conditions, including wind and ice. “They are testing their equipment in the worst possible conditions and still finding ways to make it happen,” Tikkanen said. 

The project’s impact extends beyond its technological achievements, benefiting the broader community and raising awareness about the cost of removing fossil fuel emissions from the atmosphere. “It is good for people to see how expensive it is,” Tikkanen said. “Then, they can consider how they can emit less because it is always better to have not emitted at all rather than paying the high cost of removing it from the air.” 
 
The certification under the Puro Standard marks a critical step for Climeworks and the direct air capture industry as a whole. Tikkanen acknowledged that Orca set a new precedent for the carbon market, encouraging other novel carbon dioxide removal projects to certify so projects around the world can be compared using the same metrics. 

Reflecting on Orca’s influence on the future of direct air capture, Tikkanen drew an analogy to sports. “Orca, a first-of-its-kind technology, is like striving to become a top athlete,” she said. “The human perspective is to appreciate the risk-taking and be sympathetic to the bumps along the way. It takes courage to be transparent while you’re still developing.”

Every year in Canada, 100,000 children who finish grade three are unable to read well enough for their grade level, according to Chapter One Canada. 

“We're seeing kids in grades two, three, four and five who still don't know their letter names,” said Fabrice Grover, CEO of the nonprofit. “They can't pronounce the sounds that those letters make. They don't know how to sound out a three-letter word.” 

Chapter One Canada is closing the reading gap by providing children with one-to-one support in their early education years. 

“If kids aren't reading at grade level by the end of grade three, data shows that they're four times less likely to graduate high school,” Grover said. “And by the time they're 12, there's a five-year gap that forms.”

Socioeconomically disadvantaged families often lack the resources or time to support their children's reading development. There also may be a reluctance to return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic or due to poor transportation systems to get the kids to school.

“The parents might be frontline workers, or they might be newcomers to the country,” Grover said. “They might be residential school survivors and still dealing with the legacy of that intergenerational trauma. So the parents might not be as present as they could be compared to a more advantaged home where the families have more time to spend reading with their kids.” 

This issue is worsened by stretched school budgets and schools’ inability to provide the extra support children need, be it due to cost or inadequate access to literacy specialists. 

“There's a real need for one-to-one literacy instruction to help those kids catch up to their more advantaged peers so that they can have an equal shot at success in school and in life,” Grover said. “Our focus is on providing one-to-one reading support to families and to schools in a way that's cost effective and scalable.”

Chapter One uses a tutoring model known as "high-impact tutoring" or “short-burst tutoring.” It involves short, frequent 5-minute tutoring sessions that are intense and focused on specific literacy skills multiple times a week. These brief, targeted interactions keep children engaged and help them make substantial progress without overwhelming them. 

A Stanford University study of 800 children across 13 schools in Broward County, Florida, found that 70 percent of children who received early literacy intervention from Chapter One tutors reached reading and writing benchmarks by the end of kindergarten. These children also showed a 36 percent higher reading fluency rate in first grade compared to those who didn't receive support.

“We're confident we're on the right track, and that we're using the right approach,” Grover said. “Our challenge is getting the word out to schools and figuring out how to enlist the support of folks who can sign up families for this kind of reading intervention.”

Since its inception in 2018, Chapter One has tutored nearly 5,000 children, with 2,000 in the most recent school year alone. Currently active in 25 schools across eight Canadian provinces, the organization expects to be nationwide by next year. 

As a 30-year-old nonprofit that began in the United States, Chapter One Canada operates independently with a 75 percent Indigenous board, as it primarily serves First Nations children, Grover said. 

“However, our mandate includes all children in need, and public schools are increasingly adopting our program,” Grover said. “We started in Wikwemikong and then Toronto District School Board in 2018, and since then, we’ve grown organically through word-of-mouth referrals.”

Chapter One utilizes a simple, app-based system that connects tutors directly to students via smartphones. Tutors, who are trained and salaried professionals, use the platform to identify and address learning gaps, synchronizing assessment with instruction. This tutoring model is equally effective when delivered online at home. 

“We have 45 tutors right now, and we expect to double that number in the next two years,” Grover said. “And through our participation in HP’s Digital Equity Accelerator, we intend to triple the number of kids in the ‘at home program’ by December 2025.”

The nonprofit received a $100,000 cash grant and equipment credit as part of the HP Digital Equity Accelerator Program, which supports nonprofits advancing digital inclusion. The grant will be used to purchase touchscreen computers for student interaction and hire local people within the communities to help increase awareness about the program. 

“HP has also connected us to MIT Solve, and they give us access to their own staff who advise us on different areas of need,” Grover said. “I was really impressed by MIT Solve’s process, where they help us identify the areas where we need some support and then recruit experts to help us with those pain points.”

Chapter One wants to make its educational model a staple in public education systems globally, starting from its roots in Indigenous communities. They are already in the United Kingdom and the U.S. with plans to expand further.

The program is funded by the Canadian government through Jordan’s Principle, a federal program created to ensure First Nations children can access the support and services they need, making it free for families and schools. Schools are charged a fee to implement the program, but it is subsidized by corporate sponsors, making it more affordable than for-profit alternatives. Chapter One has over 270 volunteers from corporations participating in the tutoring program.

“We want to diversify our fundraising strategies so that we're less reliant on corporate support, which is how we started,” Grover said. “The next step is to attract investment from philanthropists and large international foundations who could really take this to the next level. And because it's already a global initiative, we can take lessons from different countries, and with the advance of AI, figure out what is the most effective solution in each of the scenarios we encounter.”

Deeply invested in making its resources culturally relevant and accessible, Chapter One established the Global Free Library featuring original storybooks co-created with the communities they serve, particularly focusing on Indigenous cultures and languages. 

“This initiative came out of a request from the education leaders in the Manitoulin region where we first started in 2018,” Grover said. “They loved our program but didn’t recognize their kids in the text that we were using to help them learn to read.” 

Users can engage with the texts and click on words to hear pronunciations. “Our Global Free Library commissions authors and illustrators from around the globe to create original stories that will inspire the children and adults who read them,” Grover said. “We want to triple the number of unique users of the global free library [by December 2025*].”

*Editor's note: Updated on June 28, 2024.

Transparency demands related to corporate sustainability practices have reached new heights. Stakeholders, including consumers, investors and employees, are becoming more vocal about their expectations for businesses to provide trustworthy information. In fact, PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey found that 76 percent of employees and 71 percent of consumers think it’s important for companies to disclose their environmental impact, and more than two-thirds want businesses to disclose their climate-related risks.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rules are the most recent example of regulatory bodies implementing mandatory guidelines, joining an evolving regulatory landscape that includes rules already introduced from California, the European Union and the International Sustainability Standards Board. 

Companies can build trust and accelerate their sustainability goals by being upfront and transparent about how they are managing climate risks, meeting established goals and weaving sustainability into their business strategy. Reliable and confirmed environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting can be a key component of driving meaningful action around sustainability.

Navigating climate disclosures holistically

As leaders look to comply with the current regulatory environment, it’s important that they approach climate disclosure rules holistically instead of dealing with them in siloes. Operationally, this approach enables companies to streamline their ESG reporting processes. It also helps them build trust with their stakeholders by telling one, holistic sustainability story.

For example, many companies currently disclose their carbon footprint by reporting on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, which cover direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from company-owned sources, such as vehicles and facilities, and purchased electricity or heat. However, they will likely need to expand their reporting frameworks to meet reporting requirements like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions, or the emissions generated by suppliers that source, produce and transport a company’s materials in addition to the logistics, use and disposal of the products they make. 

For a retail company that needs to report its Scope 3 emissions, for example, this means they’ll likely need to collect and disclose data around the emissions generated by the people they work with, such as the companies that make the products they sell, the trucks that bring the products to the store, and what happens to the products when people are done using them. With the right approach, the store can report their emissions in a way that shows one meaningful, consistent picture to their stakeholders while complying with varying regulations.

This holistic approach can also help companies navigate legal complexities around ESG reporting like the recent stay on the SEC climate disclosure rules. Given the overlapping nature of many of the sustainability requirements worldwide, there are systems, processes and controls that can be developed to position a company to produce data in support of any current or emerging sustainability reporting responsibilities, helping to set up companies to comply with the SEC rules in a timely fashion if the stay is lifted.

Establishing the right team

Sustainability initiatives have typically been overseen by the chief sustainability officer (CSO). However, considering the recent regulatory requirements, chief financial officers (CFOs) should be actively involved as sustainability data becomes integrated into a company's annual report, such as the 10-K filing. 

Given the diverse and specific requirements of various climate regulations, the CFO and CSO should collaborate closely on the company's sustainability initiatives and its ESG reporting.

ESG controllers, an emerging role under the CFO given growing sustainability regulatory requirements and initiatives, will likely play a significant role as the sustainability landscape continues to evolve. These professionals, responsible for overseeing and verifying the reliability of ESG reporting, can act as a bridge between an organization’s finance and sustainability teams by bringing the relevant experience to collect and verify sustainability information. 

ESG controllers can help their organization see the whole picture when it comes to ESG reporting. Where the CSO may lack experience around financial information and sustainability might be new to the CFO’s job description, the ESG controller can help break down barriers between financial and non-financial reporting.

A tech-enabled approach

Meeting the data requirements for climate-related disclosures in ESG reporting can be a daunting task. However, companies can overcome this challenge by harnessing the potential of technology, such as emissions collection systems, data lakes, ERP modules or cloud-based software to capture last-mile reporting. With investments in the right software and systems, businesses can streamline the collection, verification, and reporting of vast amounts of internal and external data.

PwC's leadership in financial and ESG reporting offers clients a valuable advantage by helping to streamline the process of adopting leading practices and establishing holistic processes right from the start. For instance, PwC assists clients in enhancing the benefits of their technology investments in ways such as leveraging cloud-based software to create an automated environment that fosters governance, transparency, and the production of quality ESG reports. 

The integration of data with sustainability metrics goes beyond reporting; it enables businesses to drive sustainable practices, identify areas of high environmental impact, and implement targeted strategies to mitigate risks and improve their ecological footprint. Through advanced analytics, businesses can identify patterns, trends and correlations within their sustainability data.

Meeting the ESG reporting moment

The regulatory environment around ESG reporting is shifting from voluntary to mandatory disclosures, signaling a leap forward for corporate sustainability initiatives more broadly. Regardless of where a company might be on their ESG reporting journey, the growing list of state, federal and international regulatory bodies now requiring disclosures signal that it’s time for companies to take action, or risk falling behind.

“Seventy percent of pet parents are looking for ways to make a positive impact on the environment,” Joanne Dwyer, vice president of corporate social responsibility and sustainability at PetSmart, told TriplePundit. “They want to be able to do that through easy, small changes that they can make in their daily life.” Which is why PetSmart is partnering with sustainable dog product maker West Paw to pilot an in-store toy takeback program.

They’re testing the pilot, which began last month, in 75 PetSmart stores across California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. It’s starting on the West Coast market because of a higher likelihood of consumer participation, Dwyer said. The pilot was originally slotted for three months, but it may be extended. The hope is that it will be successful enough to make it worth expanding to more stores.

West Paw accepts its own Zogoflex and Seaflex toys by mail as part of its Join the Loop recycling program, but the partnership with PetSmart allows any brand of plastic or rubber dog toy to be reborn as new toys and products. All customers have to do is bring their furry friends’ worn-out toys with them on their next trip to a participating PetSmart and deposit them in the bin at the West Paw display. Recycling is limited to plastic and rubber — meaning no tennis balls, ropes, plushies or mixed material toys.

In addition to expanding West Paw’s takeback capacity to include other brands, the partnership with PetSmart eliminates the added waste and emissions associated with mailing the toys in. 

“We're putting those toys on our own trucks that already travel back to our distribution centers,” Dwyer said, adding that the toys are sent to distribution centers near a West Paw recycler. “Being able to leverage that reverse logistics system is critical [to] sustainability ... because we're not adding extra freight as we would if we were mailing something.”

Once the toys are with the recycler they are separated and turned into pellets. The pellets are used to make new Zogoflex products — which are made of rubber and plastic and can be recycled in the same manner over and over again — and Seaflex products, which are made of a combination of Zogoflex and ocean-bound plastic. 

While it’s too soon to know the impact of the in-store takeback program, Dwyer noted that West Paw recycled over 102,000 pounds of material into Zogoflex and Seaflex in 2023 alone. Not all of this comes from old toys, of course. The company also converts other plastic waste into pet products. By 2020, it salvaged over 16 million plastic bottles that would have otherwise gone to landfills.

“The volume of the toys that we collect is going to be one of the biggest metrics,” Dwyer said of how the pilot’s success will be measured. “[But] we're also going to be very interested in the customer feedback around the ease of use because, again, is this something that we can expect them to do over and over again? Is it easy enough? Memorable enough?”

Consumer response is positive so far. They appear excited about the toy takeback option, she said. Employee feedback will also be integral in measuring the program’s viability. If associates have to remove a substantial amount of items that don’t fit the recycling parameters, the company will have to rethink how the program is communicated.

Ultimately, the pilot’s success hinges on changing consumer behavior, which Dwyer recognizes as a significant challenge. Another is that the pet industry overall is behind on environmental action. “We don’t have a lot of opportunities, partnerships or avenues by which we talk about this within the pet industry,” she said. 

PetSmart is also looking to change consumer behavior and give environmentalism in the pet industry a big bump with a second pilot later this summer. The pet supply company will partner with the recycling business TerraCycle to take back multi-layer pet food and treat bags that can’t be recycled through traditional means. That’s a big step in the right direction considering that the industry is responsible for 300 million pounds of plastic packaging annually, with 99 percent of the multi-layered stuff destined for unsustainable disposal.

“Part of what I think is important is we're really trying to make more sustainable products, like the West Paw product line, more accessible to all customers so that they aren't only found in sort of niche areas. We're trying to democratize sustainability,” Dwyer said. “We want everybody to be able to access these products that are better for our pets, better for the planet. Just seeing the initial response from customers on social media and hearing from some of our associates in stores has been really, for me, very hopeful and optimistic.”