Search

The murder of George Floyd last May forced a reckoning among leading U.S. companies that claim to support racial justice and equality. For all the talk of diversity and inclusion, institutional racism is baked into American society. Now the global money management firm BlackRock is raising the bar. The company has taken the rare step of committing to a third-party racial equity audit, with the aim of exposing its own role in systematic exclusion and division.

BlackRock and the Biden connection

Due to its size, BlackRock plays an influential role in the corporate social responsibility and ESG investing fields. The company is estimated to have $7.8 trillion in assets on its ledgers, making it the largest money management firm in the world.

BlackRock’s commitment to a racial equity audit startled some observers. It also puts considerable pressure on other firms to follow suit.

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

However, the move was all but inevitable, considering BlackRock’s association with the Biden administration. President Joe Biden won his office in part on the strength of his campaign’s racial equity platform. When he tapped BlackRock executive Brian Deese to be his lead economic advisor as Director of the National Economic Council, he also put the company’s name and reputation front and center in the effort to tear down race-based institutional barriers in the U.S.

The National Economic Council keeps a low profile, but its position as an advisory group within the Executive Office of the President positions Deese to influence every aspect of the Biden administration’s racial equity goals.

More BlackRock connections at the Biden White House

Along with Deese, Biden also tapped another BlackRock executive and former Obama staffer, Wally Ademeyo, for an influential economic position as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen welcomed Ademeyo in an official statement last week, taking note of his experience in national security and his work in a key Obama administration post impacting structural racism.

“Wally is also a tireless advocate for the working class. He helped build the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from its foundations after the Great Recession,” Yellen said. “Those values – and that managerial experience – will be a tremendous asset to Treasury now as we continue implementing the American Rescue Plan.”

The social justice revolving door swings both ways

A third BlackRock executive and former Obama staffer to join the White House is Michael Pyle, as chief economic advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris.

All together, these three appointments have provided fresh opportunities to criticize the “revolving door” between business and government. However, the appointments also illustrate how the social responsibility focus of a younger generation of executives can influence both business and government.

Deese took up a climate action role at BlackRock, and his early resume includes stints at the Center for American Progress as well as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Center for Global Development.

Adeyemo was tapped to lead the Obama Foundation as its President in 2019, making him the head of a rapidly growing organization focused on community action.

“Since 2017, the Foundation has launched a series of programs that support leaders around the United States and the world who work to create positive change in their communities, including the Obama Foundation Fellows, Leaders, Scholars, and Community Leadership Corps, as well as the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and Girls Opportunity Alliance initiatives,” the Foundation explains.

Pyle served as an outside advisor to the Harris campaign last year. In an interview with his home-state newspaper the Herald & Review last February, he articulated how institutionalized racism intertwines with the challenges prioritized by the Biden administration.

“The core of the (present) job is helping her [Harris] and advising her on how she and the president should navigate these four interlocking crises and challenges: the public health crisis, which is a significant part of the economic crisis, the climate crisis and the racial justice and equity challenge,” Pyle explained. “It’s…helping to make her priorities and views get represented in policy decisions that the administration makes, and helping to advise around those four core challenges.”

The union factor

Seen through the lens of the Biden administration’s focus on racial equity, the powerful role of BlackRock executives in shaping federal policy practically compels the firm to establish a leadership position on evaluating the corporation's role, if any, in perpetuating structural racism.

The Biden administration’s support for labor unions may also be a factor.

One leading driver of the racial equity audit movement is the investment firm CtW. The firm works with labor unions in the shareholder activism area, focusing on excessive executive pay as well as “irresponsible and unethical corporate behavior.”

“Founded in February 2006, the CtW Investment Group works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with Change to Win, a federation of unions representing nearly five million members, to enhance long-term shareholder returns through active ownership,” CtW says. “Members of CtW affiliates participate in Taft-Hartley plans with over $250 billion in assets.”

“The long-term health of these pension plans, and the retirement security of the workers and families who rely upon them, are threatened by conflicts of interest on Wall Street and in the boardroom, a corporate backlash that seeks to weaken the accountability of executives to shareholders, and outright corporate fraud,” CtW adds.

What is a racial equity audit?

CtW’s initial focus has been on corporate transactions that benefit executives while harming shareholders. Motivated by last year’s George Floyd protests, CtW reached out to SEIU and targeted Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan for shareholder proposals requesting a racial equity audit.

As described by CtW, a racial equity audit would provide full transparency on corporate practices that perpetuate institutional racism.

“We believe that the finance industry has played a critical role in perpetuating unequal wealth distribution to communities of color,” explains CtW, adding that “The only way to effectively address racial injustice and economic inequality is careful study of how the industry’s products and services have contributed to this imbalance.”

BlackRock takes the racial equity spotlight

CtW has effectively called out financial institutions on their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, stating that "monetary pledges and verbal commitments alone are not sufficient to address the systemic racial disparities within our financial system.”

U.S. financial institutions are already facing renewed scrutiny under the pro-worker policies of the Biden administration. In that context, BlackRock’s commitment to a racial equity audit sends a message about the transparency pressures that financial institutions can expect over the next four years, and possibly well into the future.

BlackRock has also raised the profile of CtW and other drivers of the racial equity audit movement. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reporter Saijel Kishan took note of BlackRock’s commitment along with several other CtW actions that have resulted in racial equity agreements, some of which hinge on policies and programs that firms are already implementing.

If BlackRock is serious about leading the charge to dismantle institutional racism in the U.S., the company has a long, hard fight ahead.

The failed insurrection of January 6 fostered a state-based voter suppression movement that has steamrolled across the nation, exposing consequences of corporate acquiescence in government policy that supports white supremacy.

Business leaders are only just beginning to reckon with their own role in perpetuating deep-rooted racism that cuts to the very core of American democracy. The January 6 insurrection was a test that business leaders failed to pass. As a group, their response to the failed insurrection was weak, disorganized and fleeting, even though millions of PAC dollars have supported the Republican members of Congress who supported the insurrection.

Perhaps with some prodding by BlackRock and the Biden administration, others may find the courage to acknowledge their role in institutional racism, take steps to undo the damage, and build a more firm and lasting foundation for the future of American democracy.

Image credits: Julia Mouketo/Unsplash

The legacy of racism in the U.S. is both systemic and structural. Here’s a 21st century example: A 2019 Pew Research Center study found that only about two-thirds of Black households had broadband internet access, compared to almost 80 percent of white families. Smartphones have helped narrow the gap a tad, but some things — like doing research, applying for jobs or emailing a doctor — are accomplished better on a laptop with a broadband connection.

To that end, CEO Action for Racial Equity (part of a larger group, CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion) recently announced its commitment to close the digital divide by advocating for public policies that would narrow that gap. The coalition’s call to take action on this challenge comes 20 years after some observers predicted the advent of the internet and proliferation of home computers could lead to even more of a societal divide based on class, education and race.

But such policies are not just about access to digital resources, job boards or video tutorials. Lives are at stake, literally.

Technology, racial equity and the lack of healthcare access

As telehealth becomes even more mainstream, especially after this year-long global pandemic, we have yet another reminder of how COVID-19 has widened the societal gaps that have long existed. With that gap in technology access, added to the fact that Black citizens work disproportionately in jobs deemed as “essential,” then another problem could worsen — as in the fact that the life expectancy gap between Black and white people has increased over the past decade by 40 percent, from 3.6 years in 2010 to 5 years as of 2020.

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

To that end, CEO Action for Racial Equity is also calling for policies that would allow for expanded access to telehealth services, made possible largely by more affordable internet services. “Instead of simply taking a look at pre-existing policies that we could align our support to, we are starting with an issues-first approach,” said Roz Brooks, the coalition’s policy lead, who is also the U.S. Public Policy Leader for PwC U.S.

A “do tank,” not a think tank

CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion is a group of almost 2,000 global executives leading the world’s largest companies across 85-plus industries. Professionals who work with one of the group’s signatory companies have an opportunity to lend their efforts to CEO Action’s racial equity agenda. Depending on the company, these employees can work full-time with CEO Action for Racial Equity for a year or two while their companies continue to pay their salaries.

The opportunity to use their skills — whether they work in information technology, legal or marketing — to pursue social change while staying on the company payroll has clearly resonated with employees across many industries and companies. About 250 professionals are currently working with CEO Action for Racial Equity.

This setup results in an organization with the mentality of a startup, explained Roy Weathers, vice-chair of policy and societal engagement at PwC and CEO of CEO Action for Racial Equity, during an interview for 3BL Forum last month. Weathers described these professionals’ work as contributing to what is more of a “do tank” than a think tank.

Over the past year, CEO Action for Racial Equity has also spoken out in favor of police reform as well as against voter suppression efforts across the U.S.

Image credit: Good Faces/Unsplash

Photo: The San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, California. The reservoir and adjacent dam are among the water projects that could benefit from the Biden administration’s proposed infrastructure bill, according to recent press reports.

Last week, the White House announced the American Jobs Plan, a far-reaching, economy-wide infrastructure and jobs investment proposal. While the plan proposes $621 billion for transportation infrastructure — what people typically think of when they hear the word “infrastructure” — surprisingly, the bulk of the proposal would go to community infrastructure, as in sustainable housing, broadband access, electric infrastructure and, critically, water. The proposal comes not a moment too soon.

What’s in the American Jobs Plan?

The American Jobs Plan proposes $111 billion for water infrastructure, but that is spread out over several initiatives, including: $45 billion to eliminate all lead pipes and service lines; $10 billion to monitor and remediate drinking water contaminants and invest in small, rural water systems; $56 billion to upgrade and modernize America’s drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems; and $16 billion to plug oil and gas wells that contaminate local water and air quality. Additional funds earmarked in this infrastructure bill would address the effects of drought in the western U.S. along with investments in resilience solutions for areas disproportionately affected by climate change.

Comprehensive in nature, these solutions aim to tackle water from several different angles. Typically, policies tend to silo water quality and water quantity. Further, problems relating to climate change, such as nature-based infrastructure, tend to be put into another silo. Developing a plan that uses water as the connector makes sense as these issues often overlap.

While pipe materials or industrial processes may lead to poor quality, pressures on water quantity can also case degradation in the quality of water. For example, in Guanajuato, Mexico, the depletion of aquifers for a thirsty agricultural sector has led to toxic levels of arsenic in local drinking water supplies. California’s breadbasket, the Central Valley, has long endured similar problems. And restoring wetlands and watersheds, often viewed through the resilience lens, also helps protect water quantity.

Why an infrastructure bill now?

The American Society of Civil Engineers recently released its 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. As of now, water infrastructure report cards are not ones you’d want to take home to your parents.

Dams scored a “D.” According to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, more than 2,300 dams fall under the category of deficient high-hazard-potential, meaning if these dams failed, the result would likely be a direct loss of human life and extensive property damage. The high number of dams in this category is due to lack of adequate investment.

Drinking Water scored a “C-.” While increased attention has led to better strategies and smarter investments, the system as a whole remains critically underfunded and beyond its planned life expectancy. A water main breaks every two minutes in the U.S., resulting in an estimated 6 billion gallons of treated water lost each day — which also results in compounded losses due to the energy-water nexus. It takes water to generate electricity (using fossil fuel- or nuclear-powered electricity) and treating moving water requires an extensive amount of electricity. The high volume of water loss flushes money down the drain and generates unnecessary associated emissions.

Stormwater scored a “D.” With climate change leading to more economic losses due to flooding throughout the country, the state of stormwater infrastructure is a serious concern. While stormwater infrastructure runs the gamut extensive concrete storm sewers to flood control reservoirs, urban centers in particular face challenges with the rising costs of infrastructure upgrades, particularly after suffering repeated flooding events.

Wastewater scored a “D+." Like drinking water infrastructure, much of the wastewater infrastructure is old and underfunded. In fact, 15 percent of the country’s 16,000 wastewater treatment plants exceed their design capacities. Further, in some urban areas, extreme weather can stress the system. As an example, Austin Water has issues boil water notices twice in the last three years - once after catastrophic flooding and again after this year’s ice storm.

In addition, events in recent years have raised alarm about the toxic levels of chemicals in drinking water, most recently in Jackson, Mississippi. And while lead in water makes the news, especially from places like Flint, Michigan, other chemicals threaten our water supplies and public health.

For example, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), man-made chemicals used in many everyday consumer goods like nonstick cookware as well as water- and stain-resistant clothing and furniture, are extremely harmful in low doses and do not break down in our bodies. The American Jobs Plan specifically targets money to monitor and remediate PFAS in our water systems, and Michael Regan, the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Program, called out the necessity of addressing them during his confirmation hearing in the Senate. To further drive the point home, a nine-month study conducted by Consumer Reports and The Guardian found that 118 of 120 samples taken had levels exceeding Consumer Reports’ recommended maximum for PFAS, arsenic and lead.

What’s at stake in the infrastructure bill

America’s water infrastructure has been at a critical level for some time, as systems built in the first half of the 20th century have already started to age, and now they confront added pressures from population growth in urban areas and accelerating climate change. A major push, like the White House’s infrastructure bill, could jumpstart investment across the broader water sector. Further, by tackling the problems facing the sector with a broader stroke and creating solutions strategically, investors and policymakers could uncover even more efficiencies. Some have called this plan a “moonshot” for water. As our most critical resource, water deserves nothing less.

Image credit: Fredrick Lee/Unsplash

FedEx recently announced it will be carbon-neutral by 2040, nearly ten years earlier than what is required by the Paris climate accords. This initiative is impressive given FedEx’s enormous transportation footprint with 84,000 vehicles globally. Also, FedEx plans to largely focus on emissions reductions and not offsets. The company pledges to invest $2 billion towards the low-carbon transition for electrifying its enormous fleet, sustainable energy and carbon sequestration.

More than 50 companies have vowed to be carbon-neutral by 2040, and FedEx is one of the latest to join the list due to concern by shareholders, employees and consumers about climate change.

Electric vehicles a key to a carbon-neutral FedEx

By 2040, FedEx plans to fully transition its global parcel pickup and delivery fleet to zero-emissions and electric vehicles (EVs). This plan follows other timelines in the works, such as California’s announcement to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars and dramatically reduce fossil fuel use by 2035.

GM says it is also creating an electric future and is looking to capture the market opportunity of this transition. The automaker plans to phase out gas and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035. One long-term option for Fedex could be the scaling up of GM’s BrightDrop, which offers electric vehicles for commercial delivery companies.

“Our need for reliable, sustainable transportation has never been more important,” said FedEx Express executive Richard Smith in a public statement. "BrightDrop is a perfect example of the innovations we are adopting to transform our company as time-definite express transportation continues to grow. With this new suite of products, we will help improve the safety, security and timeliness of FedEx Express deliveries while reducing our environmental impact and protecting the well-being of our couriers."

Fully ‘renewable’ by 2040?

FedEx’s carbon-neutral plan will kick into gear quickly, but critics are concerned it isn’t fast enough. By 2025, EVs will account for at least half of FedEx’s global fleet purchases and 100 percent of fleet purchases by 2040. Although there are plans to ramp up the use of EVs, older vehicles could remain on the road for years, spewing pollution.

Also, EVs may not be running on fully renewable sources by 2040 and could still rely indirectly on natural gas. Although EVs may not directly produce emissions, the power plants required to produce the electricity could depend on fossil fuels such as natural gas, the burning of which results in the emitting of greenhouse gases.

More efficient aircraft

FedEx operates the largest global air fleet, with more than 650 aircraft. Its carbon-neutral plan involves investing in alternative aviation fuels and boost efficiency.

FedEx’s 2040 goal to be carbon-neutral compliments an earlier sustainability commitment to reduce aircraft emissions 30 percent by 2020. The company has begun using Boeing 777F aircraft, which use 18 percent less fuel compared to MD11 freighters yet have greater payload capacity.

Sustainable energy

FedEx plans to continue making its 5,000 facilities eco-friendly through increased efficiency and the expanded use of renewable energy. Some of this plan is already underway: One regional headquarters for FedEx Express is housed in a groundbreaking building in the Netherlands. Not only is the building carbon-neutral, but it’s actually energy positive. It has a heat and power plant fueled by recycled biological waste that sends heat to nearby buildings. Further, there are more than 20 FedEx Express buildings spanning the globe that are LEED- Platinum certified.

Although this is an impressive start, FedEx has a long way to go when considering the scale and reach of its facilities and the need to scale up renewable energy production to power its fleet.

Nature-based carbon sequestration

A $100 million gift from FedEx will help fund the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture to support and refine natural carbon sequestration solutions. The goal of the project is to enhance the Earth’s ability to store carbon.

“Researchers will develop methods that build on natural carbon storage systems, including biological ecosystems and the geological carbon cycle, improving, where possible, how quickly carbon can be absorbed, how much can be contained and how long it can be stored,” FedEx said in a statement.

FedEx has already made some good strides towards a more sustainable future, and the recent announcement to be carbon-neutral by 2040 shows a commitment for the long haul. “While we’ve made great strides in reducing our environmental impact, we have to do more,” says Chief sustainability officer, Mitch Jackson. “The long-term health of our industry is directly linked to the health of the planet, but this effort is about more than the bottom line – it’s the right thing to do.” 

Image credits: Liam Kevan/Unsplash; John R Perry/Pixabay

By some accounts, the past decade has witnessed a growth in awareness of animal welfare and companies responding by striving to make their supply chains more humane. Announcements such as ending the use of gestation crates, using more or only cage-free eggs and telling suppliers to stop injecting livestock with antibiotics are among the shifts we have seen in recent years.

But according to a new report that World Animal Protection and Compassion in World Farming recently issued, the world’s largest food companies’ deeds on the animal welfare front have not matched their words.

Overall, progress on animal welfare is occurring; but frankly, that bar was fairly low to begin with.

The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) Report ranks companies in six tiers: Think of Tier One akin to receiving an “A” grade, the fifth tier as an F, and the final tier as the student who never showed up to class and scored an incomplete. Only four companies, all of them based in the United Kingdom, made it into the BBFAW’s top tier: Cranswick, Marks & Spencer, Noble Foods and Waitrose.

The rest of the list is a who’s who of leading food brands, and their scores don’t put them in the brightest of lights, even if a few managed to jump up a BBFAW tier or so.

We can’t know your animal welfare score if you’re not reporting

For one thing, companies generally are under-reporting their animal welfare performance. “Whilst 79 percent of companies have published formal improvement objectives for farm animal welfare (75 percent in 2019), there is a gap in companies’ disclosure on how these commitments are leading to improved welfare performance on the ground,” say the report’s authors.

In addition, while the performance of animal welfare at retailers, wholesalers and the food service sector has remained relatively static over the past few years, the overall scores of food producers and manufactures has actually improved a few notches – a trend seen for the first time within this annual report.

Progress, but little purpose and far from any perfection

Overall, progress on some of the cruelest practices within the global food industry has improved but is still fitful. For example, the use of cage-free eggs has become mainstream, with a majority of companies indicating that they reveal the percentage of hens within their supply chains that aren’t kept in close confinement. Nevertheless, only about one-quarter of all the companies surveyed in this report have disclosed that a majority their hens are kept free of close confinement.

Meanwhile, companies overall appear skittish when it comes to discussing the darker side of animal welfare across their supply chains. Take beak trimming: Only one in eight of the 150 food companies studied for this report disclosed the percentage of egg-laying hens subjected to such treatment. And frankly, if a company is shy about disclosing, they most likely aren’t performing on a trajectory acceptable to many of their stakeholders.

Before the pandemic, investors were increasingly urging companies to eliminate animal cruelty from their supply chains, generally from a reputational standpoint. The global pandemic largely sidetracked such conversations, but the role many U.S. meat companies had in spreading the virus – and their lack of accountability – offered a reminder that such investor activism won’t be dormant for long. In addition, consumers have increasingly been concerned about animal cruelty; as the world reopens; there’s no such reason such sentiment has gone away.

Image credit: Laura Anderson/Unsplash

Photo: Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, one city reportedly under consideration to host the 2021 All-Star Game after MLB pulled the game out of Atlanta in the wake of what critics say is a law that increases voter suppression in the state of Georgia.

The 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was scheduled to be played in Atlanta, Georgia on July 13 this year. It was supposed to feature a celebration of the life of Black baseball legend, entrepreneur and civil rights advocate Henry Aaron, who passed away in January at age 86. Instead, the game will be played in another state, and it has become a powerful flashpoint in the fight against voter suppression nationwide.

Henry Aaron, baseball star and civil rights hero

Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron is best known in sports circles for his stellar career with the Atlanta Braves. He is also widely recognized for his longtime support for civil rights organizations.

Aaron’s activism was informed by his own life story. His childhood in Mobile, Alabama was punctuated by the routine of hiding under his bed whenever the Ku Klux Klan marched through his segregated neighborhood. He began his baseball career in the Negro Leagues and Minor Leagues under Jim Crow conditions, and he joined the Braves in 1954, when overt, state-sanctioned segregation was still the norm.

“Aaron continued to endure racism throughout the entirety of his baseball career, which lasted from 1954 to 1976,” recounted CBS sports reporter Katherine Acquavella last January.

“During his journey to passing Babe Ruth in all-time home runs, Aaron received relentless hate mail and threats to his life, solely because of his race and the fact that he was breaking a white man's record,” Acquavella wrote. “He was forced to depart via the back exits of ballparks for the sake of safety, he needed a police escort with him most of the time and his children were subject to strict rules and limitations due to kidnapping threats.”

Aaron eventually made his home in Atlanta and became one of the city’s most high-profile and successful entrepreneurs, providing all the more reason for MLB to celebrate the life of this extraordinary man at one of the sporting world’s most high profile events.

Voter suppression a slap in the face for MLB

The All-Star Game was already scheduled for Atlanta when Aaron passed away. The coincidence of his death set the stage for what should have been a powerful, poignant remembrance. It was also an opportunity for MLB to raise its diversity profile, reaffirm its support for the Black Lives Matter Movement, and shake free of its segregationist past once and for all.

Instead, MLB got a cold, hard slap in the face. Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled state legislature in Georgia passed, and Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed, a new voter suppression law that has quickly become the leading symbol of Republican efforts to disenfranchise Black voters across the country.

In the wake of voter suppression, a brand reputation at stake

By March 26, the Major League Baseball Players Association indicated that its members were open to moving the All Star Game out of Georgia.

The promotion of the 2021 All Star Game as a homage to Hank Aaron made it all but impossible to consider anything else. Holding the game as planned would have forced MLB to promote its brand to audiences around the world as clueless, hypocritical, disrespectful and cruel all at once.

Adding more fuel to the fire, a coalition of top Black executives issued a public letter last week that casts the voter suppression bills as a continuation of white supremacist violence throughout the civil rights movement. The coalition urged corporate America to “marshal its collective influence to ensure fairness and equity for all.”

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

MLB ultimately decided that protecting its brand reputation was the only option. On April 2, the official MLB.com website carried word that the 2021 All Star game is moving out of Georgia.

“The decision [to move the game] comes a little more than a week after the passage of S.B. 202, a Georgia law that President Joe Biden criticized earlier this week, saying that it will restrict voting access for residents of the state,” reads an article posted on MLB.com on Friday.

The article cites MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who said that “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”

Manfred also observed that last year MLB became the first professional sports organization to join the non-partisan Civic Alliance, an organization promoting equal access to the ballot box that currently lists 1,119 business members with a reach of almost 5,200,000 employees.

The decision most likely reflects another significant development that occurred earlier this year, when basketball star and high profile voting rights advocate LeBron James became the first Black person to be a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox, and one of the very few Black owners in MLB history, by virtue of his newly acquired stake in the team’s parent company Fenway Sports Group.

The power of the corporate voice

Chaffing at any criticism describing their efforts as voter suppression, Republicans in Georgia have been quick to frame the issue as a demonstration of harmful anti-business policies promoted by Democrats.

Somewhat ironically, the Atlanta Braves organization provided a tone-deaf but on-point summation of that argument.

“Unfortunately, businesses, employees and fans in Georgia are the victims of this decision,” the Braves wrote in an official statement.

That misses the point. By nature, the purpose of a boycott is to spark a public discussion of harm that is already occurring.

The history of the civil rights movement is itself peppered with the effective use of boycotts, most famously during the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, which took place during the years in which Aaron was just beginning his career with the Braves, from 1955 to 1956.

Voting rights advocates have not fallen for the trap. While expressing disappointment over the economic fallout, they have adopted a message that supports the MLB decision as a flexing of business empowerment muscle and an expression of civic responsibility.

Last week Georgia voting rights activist Stacey Abrams provided a ringing endorsement of the MLB decision and defended the responsibility of corporate citizens to act.

“Our corporate community must get off the sidelines as full partners in their fight,” Abrams wrote in a statement.

U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) struck a similar note, stating that “businesses and organizations have great power in their voices and ability to push for change.”

“It is not the people of Georgia or the workers of Georgia who crafted this law, it is politicians seeking to retain power at the expense of Georgians’ voices,” he added.

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) also echoed the theme, while pinning the blame for economic pain on the shoulders of Republican office holders.

“The leadership of Georgia’s Republican Party is out of control and Georgia is hemorrhaging business and jobs because of their disastrous Jim Crow voting law,” Ossoff wrote.

When boycotts work

Consumer boycotts are notoriously fickle, and they rarely succeed. The MLB decision, however, falls into the category of a corporate boycott. These can be highly effective, and the business of professional sports has wielded its influence to great effect in recent years.

In 2018, the National Basketball Association moved its All-Star Game from Charlotte to New Orleans, in protest of North Carolina’s notorious anti-LGBTQ “bathroom bill.” Significant parts of the law were overturned in court just one year later.

In March 1991, the National Football League moved its previously scheduled 1993 Super Bowl out of Arizona after the voters turned down a measure to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a paid holiday. The issue came up for another vote in 1992, and this time it passed.

Supporting such corporate activism is an emerging layer of employee activism, as top athletes leverage their media access to push owners into action.

One especially interesting development occurred in February, when after months of attacking the Black Lives Matter movement, former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia) was forced to sell her stake in the Atlanta Dream franchise of the Women’s National Basketball Association. The sale took place after months of lobbying by players on the team, many of whom are Black.

A second chance to get it right on voting rights

Corporate citizens across the nation dropped the ball after the failed insurrection of January 6. The unprecedented effort to overturn the 2020 election by force drew criticism from a few corporate leaders, who withdrew financial backing for Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.

However, some of those who initially pledged to defund insurrection-supporting members of Congress later opened the door to PAC donations again. Others never really targeted insurrection supporters at all, but simply pledged to review corporate giving across the board.

By March, the corporate movement to defund insurrectionism had withered on the vine, even as a Republican-led voter suppression movement took hold in state legislatures across the nation. In effect, Republican office holders are seeking to accomplish by law what the insurrectionists failed to achieve by violence.

Now MLB has provided corporate citizens with a second chance to lead on voting rights.

The decision to move the All-Star Game has had some impact. Over the weekend, HP, Dow, Salesforce, Viacom and Under Armour joined almost 200 companies in a statement denouncing voter suppression laws in Georgia and other states.

That is all well and good, but the state-by-state, piecemeal protection of voting rights is not sufficient. The end game will take place in the U.S. Senate, where the landmark federal voter protection bill H.R. 1 hangs in the balance. Its fate depends on the ability of a razor slim Democratic majority to abolish or revise the Senate filibuster, which has been described as a lasting “monument to white supremacy.”

If corporate leaders truly are serious about stopping voter suppression efforts while protecting the voting rights of their employees, customers and clients this time, they should be prepared to push the issue to the limit, lobby for reform of the filibuster, and direct their PAC dollars to U.S. Senators and candidates who support H.R. 1.

Image credit: Jakob Rosen/Unsplash

One pastime that gained traction over the past year are virtual tours. There’s no shortage of “best in class” lists and suggestions on various publications. As iconic sites such as the Taj Mahal started to launch virtual tours (which made many a holiday or birthday gift list), technology companies such as Amazon, Airbnb and Google got into the act, often pitching these options as doing good abroad while doing so from the safety of home.

So, even if mass vaccination continues apace worldwide, there’s no reason to believe these virtual tours will still go away anytime soon. We still don’t know if new strains of COVID-19 will occur, and this week’s news that France went into a third nationwide lockdown shows how this insidious this virus is. While the usual popular destinations like Las Vegas and Cancun are already seeing a resurgence in visitors, for lesser-known destinations, it will take a long time for those tourist dollars to return to those communities.

Nevertheless, virtual tours still present opportunities for communities and local tourism sites to showcase what they have to offer. Take a historic site in Lebanon, a country where most visitors – as in expats living in the Middle East – visit either to see the country’s beaches, the coastal archeological site Byblos or the Cedars of God. Of course, upon landing in Beirut, many travelers are happy to only indulge in the city’s bacchanalian nightlife (or get some plastic surgery done!). In any event, most of Beirut’s hotels arrange tours that usually cram in a few highlights that include Byblos, the caves at Jeita Grotto and a religious site or two – leaving out other worthwhile destinations.

Speaking of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, the city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s Baqaa Valley, about 40 miles northeast of Beirut, has set some hopeful expectations on a new app that highlights the city’s legacy. Known in Greek and Roman times as Heliopolis, Baalbek is home to stellar archeological sites (as shown above) that include temples dedicated to Bacchus and his boss, Jupiter. Now these sites are on an app that can be a joyful time suck for archeological and history geeks.

The virtual tours of these sites are the result of a partnership between Flyover Zone Productions - which has also created virtual tours of the cultural heritage sites worldwide - the German Archaeological Institute and the Lebanon’s cultural ministry. The end result is an app that can be downloaded on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Users can take a narrated tour of Baalbek as it exists today, or they can be transported to 215 A.D., when the city reached its economic and cultural zenith.

The app, Baalbek Reborn, also has a giving back component. The app supports Arcenciel, an NGO in Lebanon that offers support to the country’s underprivileged and marginalized communities. Baalbek Reborn includes a direct link so that users can make a donation to support restoration efforts, which include vocational training given by heritage experts, efforts to rebuild Beirut's lost traditional workmanship and in turn help preserve the craftsmanship and the centuries of history Lebanon’s neighborhoods still hold.

Even as more consumers adopt a “book-now, figure it out later” mentality with their travel plans, one thing we learned last year is that the global pandemic has shown no shortage of curve balls. Projects like Baalbek Reborn can provide tourist destinations a chance to land on travelers’ radar – and if they have a sense of purpose behind them, can help drive social enterprise as well.

Image credit: Fred Nassar/Unsplash

With the Biden administration taking office, climate change and man-made environmental impacts are once again at the forefront of American policy. President Biden is reestablishing the country’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions, investing heavily in renewable energy and rejoining the global stage on climate policy, starting with the Paris Climate Accord. What is missing from the conversation, however, is how weather information and analytics can aid in helping mitigate risks today caused by climate change and can also reduce emissions further reducing future impacts.

Conversations around climate change typically center around such things as increasing sea and surface temperatures, as well as the rise of extreme weather events. A new United Nations report shows climate-related disasters jumped 83 percent: from 3,656 events during the 1980-1999 period to 6,681 in the past 20 years, with major increases in extreme weather events.

But we should also be discussing how using weather analytics can be part of the solution for tackling climate change. Weather is the fuel of the future. Look at supply chain logistics, as an example. Supply chains account for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in most consumer goods categories; insight from weather information can help minimize those emissions.

Weather insights for transportation can help address climate change

Americans spread more than 48 billion pounds of salt on roadways to keep roads and motorists safe during winter weather. Growing evidence shows that the chemicals contaminate drinking water and harm the environment. Road pavement forecasting, which uses a combination of high-resolution forecasts, road sensors and environmental assessment of temperature influences on road sections, can reduce unnecessary treatment. Instead of treating an entire roadway, road maintenance crews can choose to treat selected locations along a road where there are cold-spot road sections, or they may decide whether treatment is necessary at all. Using this method, the Maryland Department of Transportation has used 53 percent less salt over the past five seasons.

Reducing aviation emissions through the use of weather insights

Weather analytics can also help reduce emissions in the aviation sector. Historically, routing decisions have been made using worst-case weather scenarios which are more operationally restrictive.  Advanced forecasting capabilities offer more accurate, detailed, and specific data for flight management. Having near-pinpoint accuracy in detecting dangerous weather conditions, such as clear air turbulence, allows pilots to make smaller, calculated shifts in their route rather than having to fly hundreds of miles out of their way to avoid a speculated event, saving not just time, but fuel as well.

Specific weather insights for long-range route planning, as well as for real-time tactical flight management, may mean the difference between not loading extra fuel as a precaution for alternative landing options, or circling an airport before eventually landing, ultimately contributing to a reduction of greenhouse emissions.

Shipping industry and weather-optimized routing

The shipping industry is among the leading producers of sulfur emissions worldwide. Burning bunker fuel accounts for almost 90 percent of global sulfur emissions and the 15 largest ships in the world produce more sulfur each year than all cars put together. In 2020 the International Maritime Organization introduced new regulations to combat the impact of sulfur emissions by enacting a worldwide 0.5 percent sulfur emission cap. New equipment and alternative fuels will aid in this directive, as does weather analytics. Studies show that weather-optimized routing can reduce emissions up to 4 percent and reduce fuel consumption up to 10 percent, depending on the type of vessel, the season, and the conditions. Route-planning is established prior to voyage but is an ongoing dynamic process. If there is bad weather ahead, sophisticated algorithms that utilize information about the ship and its capabilities and the weather effects on that specific ship can make numerous calculations and provide one or more alternatives for the mariner to optimize a route.

These climate change solutions are global solutions, not specific or confined to a region. In today’s connected world we monitor global weather patterns and model for localized impact. We have weather observations on the ground, in the sky with weather balloons, drones and airplanes, and above the earth with satellites. The Internet of Things (IoT) provides additional weather data, such as sensors in cars and marine buoys and sensors on turbines in wind farms. This robust data, combined with the confluence of ongoing weather and climate research and advanced weather models and technology, makes it possible to improve supply chain’ impacts on the environment.  

As President Biden and his administration act to address climate change and environmental impact, it’s a must that they bring the science of weather to the table: not just in the context of response and mitigation to extreme weather events, but also in how we can utilize our existing depth of expertise and application of weather analytics to reduce impact on the environment.

Image credit: Ashim D’Silva/Unsplash

With the infrastructure and electrification focus of the new American Jobs Plan, President Joe Biden has set the stage for the “Big 3” U.S. automakers to enjoy a thriving market for their new electric vehicles in the years to come. For those concerned about the car-buying habits of millennials, an affordable zero-emissions car could be just the ticket to attract a new generation of climate-aware drivers who benefit from other elements of the new plan, including well-paying union jobs, subsidized child care and other policies that lift working households.

Why millennials often don’t buy cars

Several years ago, auto industry observers began to notice a concerning trend in which younger drivers were not buying cars. Affordability and urbanization were cited as leading factors.

“…less than half of potential drivers age 19 or younger had a license in 2008, down from nearly two-thirds in 1998,” noted reporter Jordan Weissmann in a 2012 article. “The fraction of 20-to-24-year-olds with a license has also dropped. And according to CNW research, adults between the ages of 21 and 34 buy just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in America, a far cry from the peak of 38 percent in 1985.”

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Anthony Seba dialed those concerns up to an 11 in 2018, when he co-authored a report suggesting that electrification and autonomous technology would lead future generations of U.S. drivers to rely on fleet vehicles and ride sharing. He predicted that personal car ownership in the U.S. would practically evaporate by 2030.

The more recent picture is actually more complicated than that, and far less gloomy for the automakers. In April 2019, for example, MIT’s Sloan Management School published a lifespan study indicating that the dip in the rate of car ownership is a temporary phenomenon. The study did find that car ownership is lower for millennials early in life, but over time the rate of car ownership evens out.

COVID-19’s effect on the automakers

The automakers still have to be wary of new trends that make personal cars less necessary, such as the rising popularity of e-bikes and the creation of walkable communities. In addition, The American Jobs Plan also eases pressure on car ownership by improving access to mass transportation.

On the other hand, the COVID-19 crisis has brought a new appreciation for the personal car as a mobile living, working, and entertainment space, not just a means of getting from one place to another.

The COVID-19 crisis has also sparked a renewed interest in moving outside of urban areas or purchasing a second home. That trend could also motivate additional car buying.

The American Jobs Plan provides ample support for a rise in personal car ownership through its pitch for road and bridge improvements.

Connectivity and the personal car

The American Jobs Plan also includes a substantial emphasis on rural broadband and affordable broadband. That could further incentivize car ownership, by bringing full Internet connectivity to an estimated 30 million Americans who live in areas without adequate services.

“With the 1936 Rural Electrification Act, the federal government made a historic investment in bringing electricity to nearly every home and farm in America, and millions of families and our economy reaped the benefits,” the American Job Plan notes. “Broadband internet is the new electricity. It is necessary for Americans to do their jobs, to participate equally in school learning, health care, and to stay connected.”

Range anxiety no more

That reference to the Rural Electrification Act is no accident. It brings up the elements of the American Jobs Plan that support electric vehicle ownership.

Between new electric vehicle charging stations, new transmission lines, more renewable energy capacity, grid resiliency initiatives and more funding for energy storage and clean tech R&D, the American Jobs Plan covers a sprawling web of initiatives that support electric vehicle makers and EV owners.

The charging station network is especially important, because it assures EV owners of access to electricity everywhere they go.

In addition, the American Jobs Plan doubles down on Biden’s commitment to support the electric vehicle market through the purchasing power of the federal government. Much attention has focused on the Postal Service fleet of 230,000 vehicles, but the Department of Defense also has the power to move markets. The Department of the Army alone has a fleet of 225,000 vehicles.

More support for union workers

The Big 3 automakers are Ford, GM, and the recently renamed Stellantis Group, which includes the Chrysler, Ram Trucks, Jeep and Dodge brands. Together, the automakers’ history with unions has had its ups and downs, but that reservoir of experience should put them in a relatively good position to grow their business within the strong pro-union policies envisioned by the American Jobs Plan.

In particular, GM has a head start through its ambitious electrification commitment. The company has also proven its interest in a holistic approach to selling electric vehicles, including support for thousands of new EV charging stations, a role in building out the nation’s renewable energy infrastructure, and the promotion of more affordable EV models.

GM also burnished its social responsibility image during the COVID-19 outbreak by working with unions and health professionals to ensure worker safety at its auto manufacturing plants, while making a sharp pivot into PPE and ventilator production.

The outcome under strong pro-union federal policies is less certain for startups, including the high-profile Elon Musk-led venture Tesla Motors. Tesla has become notorious for anti-union policies in its U.S. operations, and the company’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis did not earn it high marks.

On the other hand, Tesla itself was the beneficiary of a federal initiative that echoes some key themes of the American Jobs Plan. In 2010 Tesla was among the first companies to receive funding through a newly created loan guarantee program administered by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The loan program was created through a 2005 Act of Congress, which aimed to kickstart energy-related innovation in the U.S. Telsa used its $465 million loan to establish an electric vehicle factory in Fremont, California. The new factory launched Tesla far ahead of the Big 3 in the race to get zero emission autos on the road.

If the company needs a similar level of support to keep up with the emerging competition from the Big 3 automakers, the pro-union elements of the American Jobs Plan could force a culture shift for Tesla and others that have resisted unionization.

Image credit: Ford Media Relations