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Fleet electrification is now at a point we might call “technological and economic maturity.” As it relates to electric vehicles (EVs), they’re becoming increasingly affordable, cost effective, capable, and able to perform nearly all the functions of ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles.

Full vehicle electrification means zero tail pipe emissions, and this fundamental transformation of powertrain technology can, and will, yield a similarly transformational moment for the planet, as vehicle exhaust emissions are greatly reduced, and air quality improves.

While it’s not yet possible to replace every ICE vehicle in the world with an EV, one area ripe for change is fleets. Whether it’s a multinational delivery company, or your local county government, organizations all over North America are seeing the long-term benefits of adopting EVs into their fleets. Our Adopt EV initiative at Merchants Fleet is aimed at helping organizations plan for this critical transition.

ICE cars and truck = bad air

One of the biggest vehicle segments of polluters in the world is ICE fleets. Every day, millions of ICE vehicles take to the roads and highways of the world to deliver the goods and services that support our modern societies. For any company with a fleet, transitioning away from emissions-heavy vehicles to zero emissions and trucks offer a huge, proportional decline in greenhouse gas emissions. For these companies, the fastest path to meeting corporate environmental goals is integrating EVs into their ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategies.

ESG and electrification

ESG is often referred to as sustainability in a business context, but it’s also directly related to a company’s business model; that is, how its products and services contribute to sustainable development. It’s also about a company’s growth and risk management – as in how it manages its own operations to minimize negative impact.

As organizations adopt and embrace the global ESG push, EVs will play a key role. The speed, simplicity, and effectiveness of adopting EVs can be illustrated in the following examples.

Imagine a mid-sized bakery that delivers bread in a city. The bakery might have several ICE delivery vans that bring baked goods and breads to restaurants and various customers, but it also wants to align with ESG goals it has set for itself. In the short term, the bakery might not have the ability to quickly reinvent a more sustainable way to make bread or the time to source sustainably farmed raw materials. But switching to an An EV-based fleet, which can be done relatively quickly, not only has an immediate benefit for their town’s air, but also almost instantly provides the bakery with a big checkmark in the ESG column, and gives them more time to evaluate better, more sustainable ways to produce their goods.

Similarly, a giant international plastics company might not have the advanced engineering technologies to make plastics from renewable raw materials. But what it can do is offset its emission footprint by adopting the hundreds if not thousands of EVs it will use to deliver product across the globe.

In almost every case, converting to EVs allows a company to say with conviction that “we are truly doing something big for sustainability,” without disrupting every component of their day-to-day operations.

Change is easy

The EV revolution is here, and this technology is only getting more powerful, efficient, and affordable. The sooner that you, the local bakery, and the large multi-national plastics maker begin to leverage this technology, the sooner you can start saving money, make your business more sustainable, and position yourself as an industry leader. Converting even a small percentage of ICE vehicles on the road today to a zero-emission powertrain can result in truly remarkable results for both your business and the planet.

Trusted EV experts can help organizations navigate the EV adoption journey by implementing implementation frameworks to both strategically and logistically prepare the organization for the electrification of its fleet and a sustainable tomorrow.

Guest articles reflect the opinions of the bylined authors and not necessarily those of TriplePundit’s editors and writers.

Image credit: Andrew Roberts via Unsplash

The dust is still settling on the climate negotiations at COP26. The Senate is debating the biggest climate change bill ever. Most Americans, however, do not name climate action as a top priority. But new data from America in One Room, a program of Stanford University’s Center for Deliberative Democracy and nonprofit partner Helena, suggest that the reality is more nuanced.

Climate change isn’t an issue in a vacuum

Researchers continue to poll the American public for shifting attitudes on climate change, and that shift is noticeable, but it’s also showing an increasing polarization. In May 2021, Pew Research released results indicating deep divides between generations, with younger generations, even those leaning or identifying as Republican, backing action on climate change. But as an indication of the polarization of the issue, in a later poll, Pew found that people identifying as Republican are also less enthusiastic about pursuing renewable energy —this despite the fact that red states like Texas have reaped a financial windfall from it.

America in One Room found in its climate and energy project that, if people from all points on the spectrum were allowed the space to have in-depth deliberation about the problem and the solutions, they tended to move in the same direction.

The two-day workshop, the largest controlled experiment of its kind, was held in September 2021 — after the release of the latest IPCC report and heading into COP26. Nearly 1,000 randomly selected Americans gathered to discuss climate change in depth. The participants included 54 percent female, 51 percent college-educated, 35 percent from the South, 18 percent from the Midwest, and ran the gamut in age, race and political beliefs.

Californians and Texans were oversampled to allow researchers the ability to evaluate the differences between the biggest blue and red states. “On almost every question,” Jim Fishkin, Director of the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy told TriplePundit, “the participants from the two states moved in the same direction: toward strong majority support for climate action… It is striking to me that the largest red state and the largest blue state ended up after deliberation with so much agreement on what needed to be done.” In particular, he added, the areas that ended up being closest were for solutions such as eliminating coal, oil and natural gas, and developing new sources of nuclear power.

The organizers noted that the deliberation led to greater consensus, in part, because it didn’t treat climate change as operating in a vacuum. “We believe deliberative polling is just a better, more rigorously scientific and representative method of gauging public opinion than traditional survey and siloed workshops,” Henry Elkus, founder and CEO of Helena, told 3p.

Getting at the polarization issues nationally meant looking at climate in a wider context. “They considered policy proposals within the context of global U.S. economic competitiveness and the impact of certain policies on low- and middle-income Americans,” Elkus said. “Through this lens, climate action isn’t something that needs to supersede other priorities, but rather, can be part of integrated solutions that address the evolving and very interconnected challenges we grapple with today.” Thus, just like sustainability within a corporation, when it is integrated throughout operations rather than a standalone program, it’s more likely to be effective and long-lasting. Climate change impacts every segment of the economy, so isolating it silos the solutions as well as the problem.

Make it personal

Americans have drawn further apart on not only what actions to take on climate change, but whether climate change is happening at all. But as the impacts are felt more intensely at the individual level, denial that something has changed is harder to support. Impacts such as sharp uptakes in insurance payouts from farmers and the multilayered effects of the “megadrought” in the western U.S., among others, affect individuals and communities. When massive floods arrive at your house three years running, you notice.

Further, the process was set up to enable conversations. Ahead of the workshop, participants received a 64-page briefing document, which presented the pros and cons of different policies for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including phasing out of fossil fuels, introduction of a carbon tax and methane standards. The larger groups were split into subgroups to discuss the issues over two days, reconvening at the end to share their results and ask questions of a panel of experts. The uptick in support for action was notable. For example, when Californians and Texans were asked whether the U.S. “should take serious action to reduce greenhouse gases in our atmosphere because waiting to do so is taking an irresponsible risk with our kids’ future," Californians went from 72 percent to 80 percent in support, and Texans went from 67 percent to 79 percent, running almost even with each other.

Elkus found the levels of agreement encouraging. “I think it was striking to see everyday Americans arrive at conclusions around climate proposals that seem to confound the policymakers tasked with solving these challenges,” he told 3p. “Across the board, with incredible nuance and depth, participants arrived at compelling solutions to some of the greatest challenges we’re collectively facing.”

Making climate change personal is not only about the impacts it has on the individual, but it is also about individuals coming together to find the solutions. What seem like intractable problems are not in reality: They are political problems rather than technical ones. The organizers of the workshop hope that participants will become more civically engaged as a result of their experience. “We are driving the message that Americans are not irreconcilably divided,” Elkus said, “and can come together to create meaningful inputs for decision makers around these issue areas.” Fishkin added that the deliberative methodology used can drive depolarization. As the Senate debates the massive climate bill, they could take a page from a deliberative playbook and get in one room tackle climate change.

Image credit: Adobe Stock

It’s difficult to fathom, but roughly 2 billion people around the world don’t have access to basic sanitation, including toilets and wastewater systems. According to Water.org, “More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.”

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lay out an actionable agenda for improving the equity and sustainability of our systems. Ensuring universal access to water and sanitation, ending poverty, tackling climate change, and achieving gender equality are central to this agenda. 

With less than a decade left to achieve the SDGs — and setbacks related to the coronavirus pandemic threatening to derail progress — it’s past time to take concerted, strategic action to push forward on key equity issues. 

Putting humanity at the center of product design offers an opportunity for businesses to create long-term, sustainable change 

As we look ahead, businesses have a clear role to play in helping to address these SDGs, specifically in the way products are designed, with a focus on affordability, accessibility, availability, and acceptability for a diverse array of people at every socioeconomic level in our society. 

Product development traditionally focuses on what consumers need, what the business requires to meet its standards and generate a profit, and what’s possible through science and technology. This approach delivers consumer-centric innovation (at least to those who can afford it), with quality products that meet shoppers’ needs. But what if product designers and innovators considered the needs of all of humanity? What if businesses solved the biggest problems facing humanity in an economically viable way?

As the chief scientist and technical vice president at Kimberly-Clark, it’s my job to figure out what’s next for the company and how we can continue to develop products that provide better care for a better world. I am proud that we make essential products like children’s diapers, menstrual pads and tampons, and incontinence products that overcome social stigma, alleviate embarrassment, and give people greater control of their lives. 

At Kimberly-Clark, we’re on a mission to advance the well-being of 1 billion people in underserved communities around the globe by 2030 with the smallest environmental footprint possible. We’ll only accomplish that by inspiring diverse, inclusive, empowered, passionate people — inside our company and beyond. 

That ambition may seem far-fetched to some, but to change the world, we first need to change our minds. We all have the potential to become billionaires if we stop defining a billionaire as someone who accumulates a billion dollars and start defining it as someone who helps a billion people.   

And I believe we can all become billionaires through “humanity-centric innovation.” This is about solving the biggest problems for humanity in an economically viable way. It’s about moving our businesses from being consumer-centric or even human-centric enterprises to focusing on the greatest needs of humanity and solving these problems to benefit every single person, and ultimately every living thing on Earth for generations to come.  

Embrace a breakthrough mindset

We need a breakthrough mindset to make this happen. Breakthroughs come about by asking: What is impossible today, but if it could be done, it would fundamentally change our lives for the better?

A great example of where all of this could come together is in a menstrual pad or a roll of toilet paper. Imagine a world where a used product is worth more than a new product. Imagine if we could access the bio-data and bio-materials in these products with a high degree of data security and bio-ethics. What could it tell us about human health and wellness, and how could that data improve the lives of people all around the world? 

Imagine if your toilet paper could tell you if you had the onset of colon cancer, or if a panty liner could send a signal to a smartphone with information about ovulation, pregnancy, a urinary tract infection or a sexually transmitted disease. 

If a used product is worth more than a new product, products could be given away for free. Anyone needing period products would have access to them so they could go to school, be empowered, realize their potential, and help us to achieve gender equality.

Now, imagine if the products were not only free, but if they could also generate income for their users who could choose to sell their bio-data or bio-materials to pharmaceutical companies to cure diseases. Or what if this data and these materials could provide a source of donations to advance medical science and improve human health? Ultimately, if a used product is worth more than a new product, there is greater incentive to recycle, which fuels the circular economy and helps reverse global warming.

This type of humanity-centric innovation will help us apply exponential technologies and new business models to ordinary products to solve problems like ending poverty, improving human health, mitigating climate change, and achieving gender equality.  

Explore new solutions that expand access to sanitation and empower women and girls 

While many of the product innovations I mentioned above are not possible today, there is still a critical role for businesses to play in thinking differently about how they can help to address some of the world’s most critical challenges and push new solutions forward. As an example, Kimberly-Clark recently came together with our foundation, our Kotex brand and the nonprofit Toilet Board Coalition to create the Women in the Sanitation Economy Innovation Lab. 

Launched in 2020, this targeted incubator aims to cultivate and catalyze women-led, early-stage businesses within the sanitation economy. What’s really different about the Innovation Lab is it empowers women entrepreneurs to solve sanitation challenges in their own communities — where they are the true experts — while engaging Kimberly-Clark mentors in a way that shows our teams how important this work is and how it impacts people. It also provides our employees with a way to use their talents and skillsets to help lift others up.

This work builds on our Toilets Change Lives program that we launched in 2014 in partnership with Water For People, WaterAid and Plan International in response to the global sanitation crisis.

Find synergy between your personal purpose and your work

When I think about these big societal issues like ending poverty, tackling climate change, achieving gender equality, and providing access to clean water and sanitation, I always think about my own personal accountability to take action, and why it’s up to each one of us to commit to making lives better. 

About 24 years ago, I learned my wife was pregnant with our first child, and I started reflecting on what I had accomplished in life, what I had not accomplished yet, and what I wanted my legacy to be. I then crafted my personal purpose statement, which has been my North Star ever since. My personal purpose is to help create businesses that improve people’s lives, and to help raise children who live a life fulfilled. 

I’m fortunate that my personal purpose is in complete harmony with Kimberly-Clark’s purpose of Better Care for a Better World — and finding ways to fulfill my own purpose while delivering on my company’s both drives and inspires me. 

It is time for each of us to stop thinking of ourselves as employees of institutions and to ask how we motivate our institutions to work for us to make the world a better place. In the 20th century, institutions hired individuals. I predict that in the 21st century, individuals will hire institutions to enable humanity-centric innovation, fulfill personal purposes, and make us all billionaires. 

So, what’s your personal purpose? What’s your moonshot? I truly believe if you dream it and believe it, you can achieve it. Just remember, if you don’t paint your masterpiece then it won’t get painted. No one can paint it but you!

This article series is sponsored by Kimberly-Clark and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Image credits: Water F

or People/Grover Quiroga and WaterAid/Eben Liebenberg

Whether or not the Omicron variant turns out to be as deadly as earlier iterations of the COVID-19 virus, it should send up red flags for stakeholders in the grocery store business. Frontline retail workers are already stressed by a never-ending stream of negative customer interactions related to pandemic safety, and Omicron is a reminder that the threat of a mental health crisis looms larger with every fresh wave of infection.

A closer look at mental health among grocery workers

Almost two years into the pandemic, the physical risk of COVID-19 transmission in retail stores and other indoor spaces is well understood. Far less measured is the impact on mental health, and a new study of grocery store workers in Arizona seeks to close the gap.

Authored by a team of public health, worker health and retail marketing researchers at the University of Arizona, the study was published last September in the academic journal Public Health Reports under the title, “Essential but Ill-Prepared: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affects the Mental Health of the Grocery Store Workforce.”

The study consists of an online survey completed by 3,344 grocery store workers in July 2020. The research team worked with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 to solicit participation from the union’s 24,000 workers in Arizona. More than 90 percent of the respondents reported regular interaction with customers.

Workplace safety and mental health

The online format of the study may not convince skeptics, but the results strongly suggest that all retail stakeholders need to review and reinforce their COVID-19 safety protocols even as scientists learn more about the Omicron variant.

Editor's note: Be sure to subscribe to our Brands Taking Stands newsletter, which comes out every Wednesday.

In the Arizona survey, 20 percent of the respondents “exhibited signs of severe anxiety and depression” as the pandemic stretched into its first summer. The research team also notes that “for grocery workers, we found that the levels of anxiety and depression are more than twice the national average.”

The authors conclude that “the COVID-19 pandemic has placed grocery store workers on the front lines of essential services but left them largely ill-prepared to safely navigate their interactions with coworkers and customers, which greatly increases their risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2.”

They also observe that grocery workers tend to be economically disadvantaged, which amplifies the risks.

“Work environments that require frequent interactions with people outside one’s household, coupled with a lack of adequate support services, render this group vulnerable to negative physical and mental health consequences,” they explain.

Retail stakeholders can clean up their acts

The authors present two steps that grocery stores and other retail businesses can take to improve employee perceptions of their safety, leading to improved mental health outcomes.

One is to ramp up their workplace COVID-19 safety rules and enforce them, rather than relying on voluntary compliance.

“Both safety trainings and administrative controls increase employees’ perceptions of their employers’ commitment to their safety, which can motivate them to follow safety protocols and reduce transmission risks in the workplace,” the research team explains.

The second step, clearly necessary with the Omicron threat looming, is to ensure that all employees have access to COVID-19 vaccines, as a means of bolstering safety assurances.

Preparing for the Omicron variant

Both of these steps are fraught with challenges.

The COVID-19 vaccine side of the solution should be simple, but it is not. Some employers did step up during the earliest months of vaccine availability in 2021, but almost a year has passed and employers still need to proactively challenge misinformation, including politically charged ideology.

That is a very tall order. Even as the population of unvaccinated adults shrinks, the demographics of the unvaccinated have come into sharp focus. Reaching out to disadvantaged communities and people of color is only part of the solution.

As of May 2021, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor noted that “the unvaccinated group are younger, more likely to identify as Republicans or be Republican-leaning, and more likely to have lower levels of education and lower incomes than the vaccinated population.”

That survey occurred during the early months of vaccine availability. By late May, 62 percent of adults had been vaccinated. Younger adults had only just become eligible, which may have accounted for some of the age disparity.

In September, KFF noted that concern over the Delta variant was one of the factors motivating more unvaccinated adults to get vaccinated. Ethnic disparities in vaccination rates have also eased alongside concerted outreach efforts, but the political divide has sharpened.

As of late September, the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor reported that 72 percent of adults had received at least one dose of a vaccine. Racial and ethnic disparities all but disappeared, but “large gaps in vaccine uptake remain by partisanship, education level, age, and health insurance status,” KFF noted.

If the Omicron variant does prove to be a lethal menace similar to that of Delta, employers should be prepared to encourage and assist more unvaccinated employees to get their shots.

Workplace safety and patriotic duty

Employers are beginning to recognize the impact of COVID-19 safety concerns on employee well-being. Many took action in the early months of the outbreak, even as former President Trump continued to downplay the impacts of the pandemic.

However, the workplace safety side of the solution is also complicated by the political divide over COVID-19 vaccination.

Even with clear protocols in place, employers and their workers must still deal with noisy, rude and all too often violent backlash from customers and clients who refuse to believe that COVID-19 is, in fact, a public health crisis.

Given the factors identified in the KFF survey, the prospects for toning down the backlash are slim. However, corporate leaders could make a difference, by exerting their financial muscle on elected officials who continue to thwart efforts to get the pandemic under control.

Public messaging could also make a difference. Vaccine refusers are singularly focused on their individual rights, regardless of the risk they pose to others — even to members of their own families. In consideration of the political divide over vaccination, corporate leaders could position their brands behind public health messaging that focuses on the common welfare as a patriotic goal. That could help diffuse and redirect the emotional underpinnings of vaccine refusal, at least to the extent they are rooted in politics.

The appeal to patriotism may not motivate hard core refusers to get their shots, but it would add some much-needed clarity to the debate over vaccine mandates. After all, the U.S. Department of Defense requires a long list of vaccines for active duty troops as well as for Reserves and National Guard, and that list that now includes COVID-19.

Given the cascade of supply chain crises linked to the pandemic, COVID-19 prevention really is a matter of national security. Any adult American shopper should be willing to rally around that flag.

Image credit via Philippe Beliveau/Unsplash

The economic data suggests that this holiday season is a mixed bag for companies so far, but for countless U.S. families, the bag, or should we say cupboards, are empty. Food banks from Oakland to Orlando to Philadelphia are struggling to keep up with demand. Their employees and volunteers face an uphill climb as surging food prices and ever-present supply chain snags are making it more complicated for them to help families still trying to get back on their feet while the pandemic still lingers.

Little relief is in sight, though this week’s Giving Tuesday has offered a lift to some food banks. But overall, that's a blip in assistance, not a spike.

Companies that want to assist but are in need of ideas on how they can help can take notes from this northern California tech company.

San Francisco-based Afresh operates a platform that harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) to help grocery retailers run their fresh food supply chains run more efficiently. If deployed successfully, Afresh’s AI can help grocers reduce their losses from perishables that end up spoiling; and in turn, the technology can help keep food out of landfills, saving money for retailers and companies alike.

Editor's note: Be sure to subscribe to our Brands Taking Stands newsletter, which comes out every Wednesday.

Now, the four-year-old company seeks to pay it forward. Afresh and its employees recently adopted a Bay Area food bank. Going beyond cash donations, the company has also pledged to help the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank with volunteers once a week. Afresh employees volunteering their time will allow the food bank’s staff to deploy other volunteers to other food banks and pantries that are struggling with boots on the ground as they meet increased demand.

“We can’t run our local food pantries or provide our vital services like home-delivered groceries without volunteers. The pandemic caused not only a huge increase in need but also a shortage of volunteers,” said Katy Mann McKnight, Director of Community Engagement at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, in an emailed statement to TriplePundit. “We are so grateful to Matt Schwartz [the company's CEO] and the Afresh team for being the first company to adopt a food pantry and provide us with the ability to focus our efforts on other locations and programs. We hope this partnership will inspire other companies to do the same.”

The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank currently distributes about 1.3 million meals a week to 52,000 households – 20,000 more than before the pandemic. As with other food banks that serve regions with a high cost of living, such organizations won’t see a reduction in demand anytime soon as many families cope with accumulated back rent and mortgages.

As is the case across much of the U.S., California’s re-opening this past summer masked continuing problems. While some people have been moderately or untouched by pandemic’s economic impacts, food banks are clearly facing continuing support needs by a larger number of people who are still harder-hit than before last year’s COVID-19 shutdown. Continuing that high level of financial and logistical support is essential for effective food bank operations and crucial for supporting the large numbers of local food-insecure families across the country.

Image credit via San Francisco-Marin Food Bank press room

With online shopping carts already brimming with Cyber Week deals, 2021 is poised to be a record holiday spending season, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail survey, which polls U.S. consumers and executives heading into the retail sector’s most important months. But as American families continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic and worsening inflation, the season will be brighter for some than others. 

More than 11 percent of respondents, mostly from low-income households, don’t plan to spend anything at all this holiday season. That’s double the rate Deloitte recorded in 2020 and the highest it’s seen in a decade. Meanwhile, high-income households have seen their holiday spending power increase, another stark reminder of how the pandemic and related economic disruptions have worsened inequality in the U.S. and globally. 

“Perhaps the most sobering fact about the holiday shopping season is that low-income groups continue to suffer,” Oleksandr Yampolskyi, director of retail and wholesale group leader at Deloitte Ukraine, said of the findings in a statement. “Their average holiday spending has decreased almost twofold in the last two years.”

“Layaway angels” help make seasons bright

Pay Away the Layaway, a nonprofit that pays off layaway balances for children’s gifts, clothing and necessities during back-to-school season and the holidays, is once again looking to ensure that every child has something to smile about this season, regardless of their background. 

2020 was one of Pay Away the Layaway’s “biggest years ever” as donors rallied behind families struggling amidst the pandemic, founder Lee Karchawer told Yahoo Life last year. The organization calls its supporters “layaway angels” — a term that includes individuals who make small donations online, high-profile donors like television personality Montel Williams and Dallas Mavericks center Dwight Powell who step up to clear hundreds of layaway balances at a time, and corporate donors that leverage their networks to benefit the nonprofit. 

T-Mobile is one of the backers looking to make 2021 another banner year for the organization. Every year, the mobile company rallies its employees, customers and fans to support an outstanding nonprofit in a campaign it fittingly calls Season of Giving. Past beneficiaries include Feeding America and Team Rubicon, and this year T-Mobile is brightening the holiday season for hundreds of families with Pay Away the Layaway. 

“We chose Pay Away the Layaway because we understand how much of a financial strain the pandemic has put on families,” the company told TriplePundit in an email. “This year Americans are anticipated to experience the greatest insecurity toward holiday spending in the last decade. Pay Away the Layaway is an amazing organization working to make a difference for families in need by paying off their layaway balances that include gifts for their children, such as games, toys, books, backpacks, clothes and coats.” 

T-Mobile will donate up to $1 million to Pay Away the Layaway, including a $250,000 initial donation to pay off layaway balances at military exchanges and Burlington Stores on Giving Tuesday (Nov. 30). T-Mobile customers can support the campaign through click-to-give on the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, triggering a $1 donation for each click up to $300,000, and anyone can contribute $5 to the campaign by re-tweeting the brand handle’s #TMobileGivesBack post, up to $200,000. 

The campaign, which runs from Nov. 30 through Dec. 14, is also an annual favorite among T-Mobile employees. “Employees across the country [are] fired-up to make a difference,” the company told 3p. “They are passionate about and support their local communities.”

Each T-Mobile employee gets $20 to give to their chosen charity each year through Benevity, and the company is also matching employees’ personal contributions to Pay Away the Layaway up to $250,000. Employees can also volunteer for their favorite local nonprofits to benefit Pay Away the Layaway, with T-Mobile matching employee volunteer time with $10 in charitable contributions per hour, up to $2,000 a year. 

“Our Season of Giving is all about coming together during a time of year that should be joyous, but is often challenging for far too many families …. and we want to make a difference for those who may need a little help,” Janice V. Kapner, T-Mobile chief communications and brand officer, told 3p. “We want it to be easy for everyone to help give back, so just one click or tweet can really make a difference. It’s community supporting community – and we hope everyone will join us!”

Setting the stage for more engagement 

Will a paid layaway balance solve the persistent challenges of wealth and income inequality in the U.S.? Of course not. But it can make the season a bit more special for a child in need, and that’s a victory in itself — not to mention a compelling conversation-starter when it comes to helping people think differently about what their neighbors may be facing in these still highly uncertain times. 

“We're grateful and thrilled to spread joy alongside T-Mobile this holiday season,” Pay Away the Layaway founder Lee Karchawer told 3p. “Knowing we will make thousands more children smile this year with T-Mobile's support is a dream come true. This partnership will change lives like we've never been able to before, all in the name of creating a kinder, gentler world.”

For T-Mobile, this season of generosity complements year-round efforts to build more equitable systems in response to the pandemic — including Project 10 Million, an investment of more than $10.7 billion to provide free internet and free mobile hotspots for underserved children in partnership with school districts.

As a values-driven company — as highlighted in its most recent Corporate Responsibility Report — T-Mobile says it is committed to doing good this (and every season), which means not only doing right by its customers, but also others of those in need.

This article series is sponsored by T-Mobile and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Image courtesy of Pay Away the Layaway

The transportation sector is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States, according to the EPA, having dislodged electricity generation from the top spot in 2017. It will likely remain the chief emissions offender too, because while GHGs from electricity generation have fallen compared with 1990 levels, emissions from transportation activity are still edging upward.  

As this trend continues, sharper focus will fall on the need for emissions reductions from the transportation sector. Though total transportation emissions also include those from planes, trains and ships, over half of the sector’s emissions come from road vehicles alone. 

Of that portion, medium- to heavy-duty trucks have the most impact, contributing a full 20 percent of road transportation emissions while representing just 5 percent of all registered vehicles. Decarbonize these, and substantial GHG reductions can be realized. 

Happily, momentum is building to make this happen, spurred on by various cities, states, the U.S. federal government and the business community. 

Decarbonizing corporate fleets is a key tool to reduce global emissions

Black & Veatch, a leader in clean energy, engineering and transportation infrastructure, surveyed executives at 420 Fortune 1,000 companies, and 89 percent of them said reducing GHG emissions is an organizational goal. Over half (53 percent) also indicated that electrifying their vehicle fleets is a primary strategy to cut emissions. 

Augmenting that effort is pressure from state governments that are making zero emissions vehicles (ZEV) mandatory at some point on the horizon. But while the signposting toward cleaner transportation seems clear, fleet decarbonization will not happen overnight. 

“To convert a fleet to zero emissions by 2030 or 2040 would be considered an aggressive goal,” said Maryline Daviaud Lewett, director of business development for transformative technologies at Black & Veatch. “It takes five to 10 years to convert a medium to large size fleet, so to reach a 2030 goal, you need to start now.” 

Even starting today, fleet managers have much to consider, not least of which is figuring out which zero-emission technology will best fit their operation. 

Unlike the passenger vehicle market, where electric vehicles (EVs) have been on sale for around a decade with choices growing robustly each year, zero-emission fleet transportation vehicles are really just beginning to emerge. As the technology in this space evolves, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) will come into their own alongside battery EVs, because for some classes of vehicle, fuel cells will be more suitable.  

EVs or hydrogen fuel cells? What works best and where

In general, EV power trains work best in predictable environments where temperate climates prevail, as those systems excel over shorter range hauls with flatter terrain. They’re also better suited for lighter weight vehicles, up to Class 6 — which, for context, includes single-axle trucks and school buses.

Conversely, FCEVs are advantageous for longer range cycles, performing better in colder climates and in circumstances where repeatedly negotiating steep grades with heavy payloads is expected. Class 8 trucks — think: large semi-trailer trucks — would be ideally suited to FCEV power trains. 

There are further considerations fleet managers must consider, though, even once they figure out which zero-emission vehicle platform will likely work best. As things stand today, they face a zero-emission fleet market still in its infancy, with commensurate limitations. 

Scaling zero-emission fleets in an emerging market

For the moment, EV technology is further along. There is a higher degree of standardization in charging infrastructure, for example, along with increasing vehicle choice either available now or in the near-term pipeline. 

There’s a lot of business interest in EVs, too. For example, Amazon has invested in the EV company Rivian and committed to purchase 100,000 electric delivery trucks from the startup. In addition, the major international logistics companies, Fed-Ex, UPS, DHL and even the U.S. Postal Service, have all made commitments to introduce electric trucks for their “last-mile” deliveries.

Even Class 8 vehicles can be fully electric on predictable short-range routes. Via a public-private partnership, the Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative announced in August will deploy 100 fully-electric Class 8 trucks made by Daimler and Volvo. These will serve the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in California, connecting them with nearby distribution centers. The project is slated to displace 690,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year, while reducing pollution in the disadvantaged communities those routes traverse.  

But while EVs forge ahead, “hydrogen is a bit behind regarding the technology adoption rate in the US,” Daviaud Lewett told TriplePundit. “Things are not standardized, and the infrastructure is expensive.” Progress is nonetheless being made in the FCEV space. 

Black & Veatch has built 18 hydrogen stations in California, where the nation’s hydrogen filling stations tend to be concentrated. Yet for FCEVs to gain traction and become an important part of the zero-emission fleet, the U.S. needs more fueling stations as well as reliable hydrogen supplies in distributed locations, ideally green hydrogen. 

The road forward for hydrogen fuel cells

Sourcing hydrogen itself is a tough nut to crack, with a carbon footprint of its own to consider. Most hydrogen produced today is derived from natural gas, with production centralized in just three key U.S. states. Additionally, since natural gas is mostly methane, which is itself a greenhouse gas, only if it involves carbon-capture can it be seen as a suitable bridge fuel known as “blue hydrogen.” The most promising source, however, is green hydrogen. 

Green hydrogen is derived from the electrolysis of water: the process of splitting off hydrogen atoms from H20 in an electrolyzer. Though energy intensive, if done with 100-percent renewables, the process would result in zero-carbon emissions. Ultimately, site level electrolyzers are foreseeable, reducing the current reliance on centralized sources. 

There are several pilot programs running for renewable hydrogen around the world, but as a reference, even conventionally sourced hydrogen cuts emissions in half compared with the diesel and gasoline it replaces in FCEVs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. 

Beyond solving for hydrogen sources, FCEVs face another fundamental challenge: There are no large truck fleets currently on the market. FCEV buses are just now coming into the mix, which will help with moving people, and Daviaud Lewett predicts truck fleets could follow in about three to four years’ time.

The bottom line: Decarbonizing fleets is challenging, but it’s more than doable

In short, there are a lot of moving pieces involved in decarbonizing fleet vehicles in a young and still evolving market. Fleet operators who want to make the switch have to plan carefully to select the right technology and the right vehicles while considering infrastructure needs, especially if they want to bring EV charging or hydrogen filling stations on site. For fleet EV charging, it can take up to 18 to 24 months to build out the onsite charging infrastructure, including getting the requisite power supply from local utilities. But it will likely be increasingly advantageous to make the effort.

The bottom line, Daviaud Lewett told us, is “the total cost of ownership of a zero-emission fleet is already competitive with conventional fleets.” But since there are greater upfront costs, government investment can spur things along. “Where there are subsidies and grants available, things are moving fast,” she said. 

It’s also encouraging to note also that major oil and international energy companies are getting involved in the zero-emission fleet vehicle space, which brings a final thought: If incumbent energy companies are prepared to invest in technology that allows for the decarbonization of fleets, there is promise in the possibility that the world can transition from the legacy technology of the internal combustion engine to a zero-emission fleet future.

This article series is sponsored by Black & Veatch and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team. 

Image credit: Daimler (press use only)

One obstacle standing between electric vehicles (EVs) and the commercial market is the length of time it takes to recharge the battery. However, EV charging times have been steadily shrinking as the technology improves, and a new chip from the firm Navitas Semiconductor could kick the fast-charging trend into high gear.

EV charging and the disappearing gas station

Charging time is not an issue for fleets that can park when not in use at privately-owned garages, lots and depots. The time issue mainly applies to fleets that need to rely on public charging stations. A long EV charging time can easily add an unwelcome layer of complexity onto scheduling and route planning.

Fortunately, concern over access to public charging station is beginning to fade. Improvements in battery range enable new EVs to stay on the road longer without recharging, and today’s electric vehicles can charge faster. A sharp, ongoing increase in the number of public charging stations also makes it easier for fleet vehicles to recharge on-the-go.

In fact, public EV charging stations are rapidly becoming more available than gas stations. That is especially evident in urban areas, where “gas deserts” are occurring as real estate trends push local pumping stations out of city centers.

Analysts at The Rocky Mountain Institute argue that the gasoline gap can be can be filled by EV charging stations. They suggest that automakers, ride-hailing companies and other electric vehicle stakeholders work to ensure that charging stations are built in urban low-income communities.

Consolidation in the gas stations sector has also had an impact on gas availability outside of cities, forcing drivers to travel farther in search of fuel. As the 20th century drew to a close there were about 200,000 gas stations in the U.S. Now there are only 150,000, many of which are co-located with convenience stores.

The co-location strategy has been a lifeline for the remaining gas stations, but it requires more land, limiting site selection for new locations.

In addition, the convenience factor is not exclusive to gas stations. EV charging creates many more opportunities for adding convenience to daily routines. For example, Ikea was an early adopter of EV charging for shoppers, and the U.S. Department of Energy has been working with numerous corporations to add workplace charging stations. Drivers with home charging stations can also enjoy the convenience, comfort and safety of refueling at home, rather than detouring to a gas station.

The rise of EV fast-charging

Corporations seeking to burnish their sustainability credentials are especially interested in growing the nationwide EV charging network. From a logistics and operational point of view, the only remaining obstacle is charging time. Despite recent improvements in fast-charging technology, there is still a wide gap between the time it takes to recharge EV batteries when compared to filling up a gas tank.

That is about to change with a new generation of technology improvements. One example is Navitas Semiconductor. The company recently introduced a new iteration of its power-integrated circuit used in mobile charging, from hand-held devices to electric vehicles.

Navitas is marketing the award-winning chip under the name GaNFast. Instead of the conventional silicon-based formula, GaNFast is based on gallium nitride, a crystalline material known for superior switching speed and conductivity performance.

“GaNFast integrated power ICs use next-generation GaN to replace legacy silicon chips and enable up to 3x faster charging and 3x more power in half the size and weight for mobile fast chargers, consumer electronics, solar inverters, data centers and electric vehicles,” Navitas states.

A companion technology, GaNSense, is designed to build even more efficiency into the fast-charging system.

From smart phones to electric vehicles

Though the impact on charging times for electric vehicles has yet to be demonstrated, Navitas has documented the performance of the GaN platform on small handheld devices. The company claims that its “ultrafast” charger using GaNSense can take a smartphone with a powerful 4,500 mAhr battery from zero to 100 percent charged in just 17 minutes.

Meanwhile, it looks like fleet managers will soon be able to trim their calculations for charging times at public EV charging stations.

Tesla has been grabbing media attention with its “Supercharger” network of fast-charging stations, but activity has also been bubbling up outside of the spotlight.

In one especially interesting development that has an impact on EV charging times, the Department of Energy notes that the level of power available at DC fast-charging ports has increased dramatically. Earlier DC (direct current) ports were capped at 50 kilowatts. Now they routinely exceed that mark, which some reaching as high as 350 kilowatts in the U.S.

Legacy engineering firms are also contributing to the trend. The global company ABB, for example, is behind the increase in 350-kilowatt charging stations in the U.S., and it recently launched its “Terra 360” charging station with 360 kilowatts of power.

ABB introduced the new EV charging station in Europe and reportedly plans on bringing it to the U.S., so the Department of Energy may have to revise its DC charging port figures again.

According to ABB, the new charging station can provide up to four electric vehicles with a full charge in less than 15 minutes.

For those topping off a battery, the charging time is even more attractive. ABB claims that the new station will add 100 kilometers of travel (about 62 miles) in less than three minutes of charging.

The new station is designed for commercial fleets as well as workplace or customer charging.

As gas stations continue to disappear, fleet managers have all the more incentive to begin planning their operations around electric vehicles and charging stations.

Image credit: Michael Fousert via Unsplash

The UN climate summit in Glasgow may be over, but the debate over next steps has only just begun. As world leaders consider where to go from here, it’s important to remember that action, not commitments, will ultimately determine the success or failure of our global climate strategy — a strategy that requires the engagement of not only national governments, but companies and individuals as well.

The private sector has shown it can be a powerful engine for change but it’s the passion and ingenuity of the corporate workforce that keeps that engine humming. And therein lies the rub, for many companies have struggled to keep employees engaged — a task now further complicated by the pandemic. More than a year of isolation has left people feeling more disconnected from their employers and their sustainability work. And Zoom happy hours, while quite nice, aren’t going to bridge the gap.

Employee engagement is not a novel concept. For decades, companies have seen it as a valuable tool for securing and retaining talent, increasing productivity and improving their bottom line. Now, amid the public’s rising concerns about climate change and other environmental issues, employee engagement has also become an essential tool for implementing corporate sustainability strategies.

The good news is people want to be part of the solution. A 2019 survey of the Fortune 1000 found that half of employees wanted to see environmental protection and other worthy causes somehow reflected in their job responsibilities. And yet, the same survey also found that only a quarter of employees actually felt that their company’s stated commitments were connected in any way with their day-to-day work.

Employees are rightfully demanding more transparency and accountability from their employers, and when they don’t feel they’re getting it, they’re increasingly embracing activist tactics. In recent years we’ve seen several high-profile examples of employee activism in the technology, apparel and consulting sectors — cautionary tales for any company that wishes to avoid similar conflicts.

The pressure for companies to step up their game is unlikely to abate any time soon. Today, Generation Y makes up the largest portion of the U.S. labor force, and 70 percent of them expect their employers to take an active role in addressing issues like climate change and social justice. Moreover, Generation Z, which is just now entering the job market, is more racially diverse and better educated than previous generations, and shares many of Generation Y’s positions on environmental and social issues.

Young Americans want their employer to be an agent of change, not a barrier to it. But business leaders need to offer more than lip service to prove their bona fides, they need to foster a culture of environmental stewardship — at every level of their institution.

At World Wildlife Fund (WWF) we identified three pillars upon which companies can build an effective employee engagement program. First, equip employees with the information they need to understand sustainability issues — how they impact their business as well as their daily lives. Second, provide meaningful ways employees can put this information into action — at work and at home. And third, incorporate philanthropy — both employee giving and corporate funding — to maximize the employees’ impact and incentivize participation through creative match and grant programs.

It’s not just about dollars. Employees can give, volunteer or lend their voices to the growing chorus of people calling for change. The important thing is they feel connected to the work and empowered to be a part of the solution.

Deloitte is one corporate partner laying the path for this employee journey. As part of its strategy to reach net-zero by 2030, Deloitte has set out to drive responsible climate choices within its organization and beyond. WWF worked with Deloitte to develop a climate impact assessment to help people learn more about the impact of the food they consume, the products they purchase, and the way they travel. Employees can determine their climate impact and, more importantly, unlock positive climate actions they can take today to live more sustainably.

When employees are given the big picture and are able to see their company’s role in it, they then become empowered to carve out a meaningful role for themselves. And by bringing employees into the fold and acknowledging them as key stakeholders in corporate sustainability efforts, companies can spur exactly the kind of productivity and innovation needed to drive large-scale, transformational change.

So, there you have it. Even in these uncertain times, millions of employees across America are eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work. They have the will. Who will show them the way?

Image credit: Tim Foster via Unsplash