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President Joe Biden has given every indication that his administration will take climate action seriously. And a majority of voting Americans agree with that, especially when it comes to advancing clean energy goals, according to a recent survey from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

While 53 percent of those surveyed felt that climate change should be a high or very high priority for the Biden administration, 66 percent supported developing clean energy sources. Digging a little deeper shows even greater support: 83 percent support creating jobs programs to help unemployed workers from fossil fuel sectors, 82 percent support funding more clean energy research, and 72 percent want the U.S. to transition its economy to 100 percent clean energy by 2050, one of the cornerstones of President Biden’s climate plan.

How some U.S. states have already hit the ground running on climate action

Clean energy has long been an easier sell in certain corners even than other forms of climate action. Two of the top states for renewable energy are Texas and North Carolina. North Carolina ranks second in the U.S., after California, for installed solar generating capacity. Texas, despite being the oil and gas capital of the country, leads in the nation in both installed and under-construction wind generating capacity. In Texas, the wind boom took off when the state created a targeted renewable portfolio standard in 1999, one of the earliest ones in the U.S. The state blew past its initial modest capacity goal and has continued to grow since, accounting for 18 percent of the state’s electricity generated in 2019.

Renewable energy has been a boon for the states that have encouraged and supported it. About 113,000 people are employed in the renewable energy sector in North Carolina, which added another 1,800 jobs in 2019. Texas had about 254,000 people working in renewable energy in 2019. While the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the renewable energy sector hard, as with the case of many other sectors, jobs are expected to rebound once the Biden Administration’s policies begin to take effect and the pandemic (eventually) recedes.

Further, in addition to the well-documented benefits to air quality from renewable energy, technologies such as wind and solar create market opportunities for both businesses and community development efforts. Most renewable energy sources are also no- or low-water, so they are better able to preserve water supplies for other uses like municipal and agricultural needs.

In states like Texas, as well as developing a more diverse energy portfolio, renewables can also help diversify local economies. The state has long been dependent on oil and gas revenue to fill its coffers. New streams of revenues can allow for less volatility in public finances and more opportunities for boosting private investment with public investment.

What a new plan to tackle climate change will look like

Even in a low-regulation state like Texas, the renewable energy portfolio standard enacted by the state’s legislature enabled the wind market to grow and thrive in Texas. Regulations create market certainty that, if done well, foster private investment and development. Effective regulations should also consider the needs of affected communities, both in terms of job loss or creation and air quality and other health benefits. More than ever, policies must be crafted in a way to address past deficiencies or injustices and lay the groundwork for innovation and investment in the context of climate action.

On Thursday, The Department of Energy (DOE) announced its new leadership team, comprised of highly-qualified engineers, lawyers, and policy experts on issues such as energy jobs, energy justice, and public engagement. DOE is a technical agency, which oversees several national labs across the country. Policy formulation related to climate action will require partnerships with state, local, and tribal governments and with industry in order to be effective.

But climate action plans and renewable energy investments require more than technical solutions. In order to address climate change and engage industry and communities successfully, the solutions must be integrated throughout the government, not siloed into one agency. Right now, it appears that is the goal of the new administration.

It’s all about embedding and integrating

Climate goals and solutions must be embedded and integrated throughout agency budgets and regulations in order to be effective. To that end, Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen hopes to establish a climate hub in her Treasury Department, and the Department of Agriculture has announced a new senior climate advisor position. Much like in a corporation, sustainability efforts are most effective when they are part of the operations instead of a standalone initiative; hence the same approach toward climate action must be the same in the federal government if it will be set up for success.

The Biden administration has signaled that has plans to embark on climate action seriously. The sentiment is already there: Clean energy is a central solution to any climate change plan and is already supported by a majority of Americans. Emphasizing the economic benefits and opportunities of investing in clean energy could help bring more people to the table.

Solving the climate crisis will require everyone to take action, and well-crafted policies are the first step to spurring innovation and investment in sustainable solutions.

Image credit: PxHere

Photo: the headquarters of IRENA, one organization that has promoted green hydrogen, at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Green hydrogen was little more than a pipe dream just a few years ago. Now, the technology has emerged as an important tool in the global sustainability toolkit. One new development is especially significant in that it demonstrates how the world’s top oil-producing nations can help meet the growing demand for emission-free aircraft fuel.

Leading petroleum exporter wants to lead on green hydrogen economy

Hydrogen is an abundant, ubiquitous industrial feedstock that has many applications in addition to its use as a zero-emission fuel.

Unfortunately, hydrogen does not exist on its own. It must be extracted from hydrogen-rich resources. Currently, the primary source for the global hydrogen supply is fossil natural gas.

So, although hydrogen is a zero-emission fuel, it certainly is not an effective pathway for decarbonization.

That’s where “green” hydrogen comes in. Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen extracted from renewable or reclaimed resources. The main focus of attention in recent years has been on electrolysis, which involves “splitting” hydrogen from water by applying an electrical current.

As a decarbonization strategy, electrolysis makes no sense if the electricity is sourced from fossil power plants. However, the rise of low-cost renewable energy has changed the game — and it just so happens that the coastal oil-producing nations of the Middle East are ripe with water, wind and solar energy.

In the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi has been an early experimenter in the green hydrogen trend through the Masdar energy company and Masdar City urban innovation center. Masdar has already been investing in wind and solar developments to meet skyrocketing demand for clean power in key wind and solar markets including Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. That makes green hydrogen a next logical step.

Planning ahead for the zero-emission aircraft of the future

The new project pairs the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy and Masdar in a memorandum of understanding with the airline companies Etihad Airways and Lufthansa Group, with Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Siemens Energy and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation joining on the research, technology, and financial side.

The collaborative effort will build a demonstration-scale green hydrogen plant at Masdar City to produce fuel for ground transportation and shipping as well as aircraft.

Of particular interest is the broader network of high-stakes collaborators working to transition Abu Dhabi into the green hydrogen economy.

“The project represents the first concrete step under a strategic partnership between Mubadala Investment Company, the sole shareholder of Masdar, and Siemens Energy, intended to accelerate green hydrogen capabilities in Abu Dhabi,” Masdar explains, adding that the effort includes the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ as founding members of the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance.

That type of networking is also at work in the U.S., where the Department of Energy has been supporting a portfolio of renewable hydrogen projects. U.S. manufacturers are also organizing under the Western State Hydrogen Alliance and other consortia.

In other signs of a growing network in the U.S., last fall Mitsubishi spearheaded the launch of the Western Green Hydrogen Initiative, which includes National Association of State Energy Officials, the Western Interstate Energy Board and the Green Hydrogen Coalition (GHC).

Abu Dhabi’s exploitation of its wind and solar resources for green hydrogen also involves deploying its existing fossil infrastructure for green hydrogen. In that regard, it is similar to the dynamic at work in the U.S. For example, the University of Texas is studying how its home state can become the “backbone” of the hydrogen economy in the U.S., with a focus on integrating its state’s vast wind and solar resources into its oil and gas infrastructure.

Putting an end to flight shaming

The partnerships between public sector, private sector, and academic stakeholders are bound to grow as the need for rapid decarbonization becomes more urgent.

That is especially true in the aircraft industry, where the “flight shaming” trend has upped the motivation for commercial customers to cut down on air travel.

Travel will recover after the COVID-19 pandemic eases, but global businesses have already learned how to operate while cutting travel to a bare minimum. To the extent that those lessons learned ripple into the post-pandemic world, airlines will have to work harder to entice commercial customers back on board.

JetBlue and other airlines already have established carbon offsets as a means of countering flight-shaming. A zero-emission fuel would provide them with a new marketing angle that bears directly on their operations.

It won’t be easy. “The decarbonization of aviation remains the most important challenge facing the industry and will require significant investments in efficiency and innovation with a focus on developing technologies to switch to sustainable fuel sources to allow the UAE achieve its CORSIA targets,” explains Tony Douglas, the CEO of Etihad Aviation Group.

Nevertheless, the involvement of top legacy fossil stakeholders indicates that powerful new momentum is building toward the goal of global decarbonization.

Image credit: Masdar/Facebook

This op-ed on the business case for ensuring reproductive rights was co-written with Ruth Shaber, MD.

The landmark U.S Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is celebrating its 48th anniversary this month. If the Supreme Court continues to erode its protections and others related to reproductive rights, the map of abortion availability in the U.S. is certain to change dramatically. Twenty-four states are likely to outlaw abortion entirely. With five states already down to one abortion clinic, millions more women would be living hundreds of miles away from abortion providers.

American corporations should be very concerned.

Recognizing the value that gender diversity brings to performance and profitability, companies have invested millions to attract, develop and retain female talent. Strengthening fertility and maternal health benefits has been one increasingly popular means to this end, continuing an upward trend even during the current economic downturn.

Yet there appears to be scant conversation within the corporate community about strengthening the other end of the reproductive rights spectrum: access to contraception and abortion. This despite the fact that most women, even those who have children or want to conceive at some point, spend most of their reproductive years trying to delay or avoid pregnancy. Ninety-nine percent (99 percent) of all women use or have used birth control during their lives, and nearly 25 percent have had an abortion by age 45. Nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned.

If Roe v. Wade falls, unplanned pregnancies could force an untold number of women to leave or delay entry into the workforce, limit their participation to part-time work, or forfeit education or training necessary to advance and earn higher salaries. Companies that are working diligently to achieve greater gender parity in their workforces would suffer setbacks that compound the hard-hitting pandemic’s disproportionately harsh impact on the female workforce.

Ironically, corporations will bear some part of the responsibility if this grim scenario plays out. Since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, numerous corporations have rushed to distance themselves from lawmakers who contested the presidential election results. They would be wise to consider making changes to their political contributions criteria that go deeper, or risk further damage to reputation.

A new, first-of-its-kind analysis by the Sustainable Investments Institute examining corporate political spending in the 2020 election cycle paints a dismaying picture of the degree to which leading U.S. companies have supported and enabled anti-choice politicians, party structures and political action committees (PACs). The institute found that Fortune 250 companies’ combined political giving to these recipients amounted to at least $88 million in 2020. Within this total, $17.8 million went to congressional candidates in the South, where 72 percent of recipients held anti-abortion views. Companies gave $12.4 million to anti-choice Midwestern candidates, where the figure was 63 percent.

Fedex is one example. The Sustainable Investments Institute estimates that the company’s total spending to anti-choice recipients amounted to at least $4.2 million in the last three election cycles since 2016. Or its rival, UPS, which spent at least $7.6 million to support anti-choice candidates and political committees in the same period.

Even leading health insurers like Anthem, Cigna, Centene and United Health Group, which insure abortion care, are some of the companies that contributed a combined $2.4 million to the Republic Attorney Generals Association in this period, an important funder of anti-choice legal challenges.

The business community isn’t deliberately setting out to destroy reproductive rights. Comprehensive reproductive healthcare is simply a casualty, like LBGTQ rights, carbon emission reductions and other causes that many companies attempt to address within their own four walls but sell out in the political marketplace.

Since 2019, partnering with over thirty institutional investors including New York City Comptroller Scott Springer, Amalgamated Bank, and the Presbyterian Church USA, Rhia Ventures has interviewed dozens of the nation’s largest companies about their reproductive healthcare benefits and how they are preparing for a possible post-Roe future. Few are thinking about it, let alone what they can possibly do to stop this train in its tracks.

As if reading from a script, every company has told us that their corporate political contributions are made to further narrow business interests and do not imply an endorsement of a politician’s every vote or viewpoint. This rigidity leaves American women working for business leaders who will pay for their eggs to be frozen, but who don’t blink twice before cutting checks to politicians who are working overtime to ban abortion and diminish access to contraceptives and other reproductive rights.

Companies instinctively shy away from taking stands on controversial issues. It wasn’t so long ago that most companies found reasons not to support their LGBTQ employees out of a misplaced fear of perpetual backlash from the religious right - in the 1990s, only a relative handful of Fortune 500 companies provided same-sex domestic partner benefits. But by 2015, 379 companies had signed on to an amicus brief supporting marriage equality. There’s no evidence to indicate that any of them have faced any damage from having taken this stand, nor have there been reports of backlash against any in the business community who have endorsed racial equity in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.

Companies who are serious about attracting, retaining and promoting a loyal female workforce don’t need to sit on their hands as the assault on reproductive rights continues. Reproductive rights can be supported by joining in business amicus briefs, lobbying policy makers, making public statements, and at the least, refraining from supporting politicians who are leading the charge against reproductive healthcare. Internally, companies can make the simple decision to reimburse travel costs for employees who need to travel unreasonable distances to obtain abortion or other reproductive healthcare. Companies can’t thrive without women.  And women can’t thrive without reproductive healthcare – all of it.

Ruth Shaber, MD, co-author of this article, is the founder and president of the Tara Health Foundation, which promotes health, well-being and opportunity for women and girls through innovative evidence-informed programs.  She is also the co-founder and board chair of Rhia Ventures, a group of foundations and investors that collaborate to bring new types of capital and enterprise to the field of reproductive health in the United States.

Image credit: Pxhere

We haven’t heard much about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a while, and it’s clear the global pandemic is one reason. Yet, the SDGs are a reminder of how the COVID-19 crisis cruelly exposed all the hard work that needs to be done worldwide, including curbing poverty, hunger, gender inequality and the climate crisis.

This week, the UN announced it wants to kickstart the drive to ensure all 17 of the SDGs become reality by the end of the decade. That renewed effort, says the UN, relies on the global business community to cement its commitment to sustainable development.

The UN Global Compact (UNGC), the pact tasked with striving to engage businesses to do their part to further environmental and social responsibility, says it’s tweaking its strategy in order to both the Paris Agreement’s goals as well as achieve the SDGs. For now, the three-year strategy focuses on five areas in which businesses can improve.

At the moment, these five points are vague: they include the setting of targets and having businesses hold themselves accountable in meeting those goals; measure impact in five of the 17 SDGs; engage small- and medium-sized enterprises; and more cooperation with the UN and its partners.

Finally, the UNGC is calling for more business cooperation in national and regional networks, with a focus on three regions: the Global South, China and the U.S.

If that last pillar was in part a pointed jab at the U.S. after what had transpired the past four years, well, the UN’s call to recalibrate and double down the SDGs is echoing other voices within the U.S. that have urged the same from the new presidential administration.

Shortly after the November election was called for Joe Biden, the Brookings Institute was one organization that urged the new administration to rewrite the book on diplomacy and global development. Brookings’ suggestions were numerous: Staff USAID to the fullest and lift that agency’s head to cabinet rank; incorporate climate action into just about every U.S. global development policy; and rejoin the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Accords. In summing up those suggestions, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank called for U.S. global development policy to align with the SDGs.

Another group calling for a renewed focus on the SDGs is the Council on Foreign Relations (CFI). Noting that the government of China had embraced the SDGs while the previous administration dismissed them, last month the CFI are an opportunity for the U.S. to score an “entry point” in policies related to education, health and technology – for both foreign and domestic policy.

If the Biden administration can succeed at accelerating vaccinations to the level at which it promised the American public – which would signal that the country is finally emerging from the pandemic – the results include a newly repaved path for the SDGs. Assuming yesterday’s inauguration festivities, which emphasized “unity,” resonates with both citizens and the companies for which they work, we could see a reenergized commitment to the SDGs. After being urged the last four years to lead, the business community may finally breath a sigh of relief and become engaged to follow a plan. The outcome would mean far more that the reappearance of those shiny SDG lapel pins; it means a more unified, clear way to measure progress on those global goals, as well as a framework to help keep businesses, and governments, accountable.

Image credit: Sgt. Charlotte Carulli/Wiki Commons

President-elect Joe Biden campaigned on a plan to take decisive action on climate change, and some of the heavy lifting has already happened even before Inauguration Day. On Jan. 15, the France-based global energy company Total announced that it has withdrawn from the lobbying organization American Petroleum Institute (API), making it the third such company to leave in recent months. In addition, Biden plans to pick up the Keystone XL oil pipeline project where the Barack Obama administration left it — in the reject pile.

Total pivots to renewable energy

To be clear, Total still maintains an active interest in developing new fossil fuel resources. For example, on Jan. 14 the company announced a significant new oil and gas discovery off the coast of Surinam. Nevertheless, Total also represents the ability of global legacy firms to invest in a more sustainable business model — if they choose.

There certainly is a lot to choose from. Over the years, renewable energy startups have amassed considerable resources and know-how, making them ripe targets for acquisition and joint ventures with companies like Total.

Total has already amassed a strong renewable energy portfolio, and it poured on the heat in the days leading up to Inauguration Day. On Jan. 19, the company announced a $3.6 billion bond program to finance its renewable energy strategy, which will lean heavily on acquisitions. That includes acquiring a 20 percent interest in India-based Adani Green Energy, which plans to develop 25 gigawatts in wind and solar power over the next five years.

Three days later, Total joined with the firm Engie to develop a 100-megawatt green hydrogen project in support of Total’s La Mède biorefinery in France. The project will deploy solar power to generate hydrogen from water and will be the largest of its kind in France.

Total also made a big move in the U.S., and this is perhaps the one most relevant to its decision to withdraw from the API. On Jan. 14, Total joined with the Hanwha affiliate 174 Power Global in a development deal involving 10 utility-scale solar installations and two energy storage projects, which are already in the 174 Power Global pipeline. Together the 12 projects add up to 1.6 gigawatts in clean power capacity.

Interestingly, Total announced the deal out of its Houston office, deep in the heart of Texas oil and gas country. The Lone Star State will also be the location of five out of the 10 solar projects involving Total, which is also of interest. Despite its status as a top oil and gas producer, Texas has also become known for its leadership in the U.S. wind industry. More recently, the state has become a target for solar power developers, too. The other five solar projects are spread among Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming and Virginia, and the two storage projects will go to Nevada and Hawaii.

Total withdraws from API

Somewhat ironically, in 2019 the API moved into new, energy-efficient platinum LEED-certified headquarters at Capitol Crossing in Washington, D.C.

That didn’t seem to impress Total. On Jan. 15, the company announced that it will not renew its API membership for 2021. Total based its position on a review of key points, including support for climate science and the Paris Agreement, as well as carbon pricing, carbon capture, and policies that promote renewable energy.

The review found that API is in partial alignment with Total on some of these points, but the company cited a clear split in the area of subsidies for electric vehicles, which API opposes.

Total highlighted another deep fissure regarding the Donald Trump administration’s rollback of methane emission rules for drilling operations, which API supported. Total says it is still committed to promoting natural gas as a transitional energy source, but it opposed the rollback due to the climate impact of the new policy.

The bottom-line impact of the rollback also became apparent last fall when Total’s home country of France rejected a $7 billion liquified natural gas deal, partly due to concerns over methane emissions from U.S. gas operations. A plan to import U.S. gas into Ireland through the Port of Cork also hit a brick wall earlier this week based on the country’s opposition to fracking.

The Biden effect and the Keystone XL Pipeline

In addition to citing particular parameters outlined in its September 2020 Getting to Net Zero report, Total noted that API supported a number of candidates who opposed the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The company did not cite President Trump by name, but its meaning was clear: “As part of our Climate Ambition made public in May 2020, we are committed to ensuring, in a transparent manner, that the industry associations of which we are a member adopt positions and messages that are aligned with those of the Group in the fight against climate change,” said Total Group Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.

API has already lost the support of two other leading energy-transitioning companies, BP and Shell. When President Biden takes office, the climate action focus of the new administration may soon motivate others to shift their lobbying resources in support of renewable energy.

As one sign that the Biden administration is serious about taking bold, attention-grabbing steps on climate action, earlier this week word leaked out that President Biden plans to sign an executive order revoking the permit for the notorious Keystone XL oil pipeline on his first day in office, in addition to restoring the U.S. to the Paris Agreement.

As a cross-border project bringing tar sands oil from Canada into the U.S., Keystone XL requires a State Department permit. The permit was denied in 2015, when Biden served as vice president during the Obama administration, partly on the basis of climate action. The Keystone XL project was later revived by the Trump administration in 2017.

Biden has already won high marks among environmental advocates for his climate action and environmental justice plan. By revoking the Keystone XL permit and rejoining the Paris Agreement, Biden has also made it clear that energy companies seeking to do business in the U.S. will need to join the global decarbonization movement.

As for API, the failed Jan. 6 insurrection incited by President Trump appears to have motivated the organization to reconsider its support for legislators opposed to climate action.

Last week, Reuters reported that API member Chevron is among a growing number of U.S. firms that are reviewing or have outright halted donations to the 147 Republican members of Congress who objected to the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6. Other API members are also taking that step, in a move that may factor into API’s own decisions as well.

Image credit: Andy Feliciotti/Unsplash

In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and as a new presidential administration takes shape, Facebook has hired Roy Austin to become its first VP of Civil Rights. Austin has worked as a civil rights lawyer for over 25 years, and he has also served on the White House Domestic Policy Council as Deputy Assistant to the President for the Office of Urban Affairs, Justice and Opportunity during the Obama administration.

Facebook talks meaningful change after a boycott and a walkout?

The new position comes after last summer’s ad boycott “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign engaged more than 1,000 companies — including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Starbucks — to pause advertising on the platform through July to urge Facebook to build a permanent civil rights infrastructure.

Stop Hate for Profit was spurred by Facebook’s lack of response to the incendiary language President Trump had posted on social media during the George Floyd protests in the spring, some of which included racially charged phrases such as “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” In an unprecedented move, Twitter flagged that post. Facebook heads decided to take no action on the cross-posted comments, citing the importance of free expression. As companies paused their ads, Facebook employees walked out.

The new VP position doesn’t respond directly to the requests of the Stop Hate for Profit boycott, which recommended creating a specifically C-suite level position. In fact, the coalition claims that during a July 7 meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and CEO “made clear he had no intention of taking any steps to tackle our requests.”

What the VP position will bring is someone to oversee civil rights accountability and best practices, according to Facebook’s two-year independent civil rights audit. The audit, which concluded in July, just as Facebook was coming under fire for its lack of civil rights action, notes the position as part of the progress the company made during its two years of observation. Also included were the creation of a Civil Rights Task Force led by COO Sheryl Sandberg, establishing civil rights training for employees and agreeing to add additional civil rights experts to its team.

Despite the progress, auditors are wary of celebrating too heartily. “Given the breadth and depth of Facebook’s reach and its impact on people’s lives, Facebook’s platform, policies, and products can have significant civil rights implications and real-world consequences. It is critical that Facebook establish a structure that is equal to the task," wrote the audit’s authors.

Facebook advertising on precarious footing

Facebook’s approach to civil rights could also affect its own business performance. Data from marketing research company Forrester Research, which it disclosed this month to Retail Dive, found that most companies that paused advertising on Facebook during the boycott did not see adverse effects on their bottom line.

"The fact that they did okay, and there was literally no negative impact, they did no worse than their worst timeframes, to me suggests that the incremental lift [i.e., from Facebook ads] is very, very limited," Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, told the news site Retail Dive, also noting that before the boycott, very few companies had been bold enough to stop advertising on social media. This data, therefore, affords unique insight into Facebook’s effectiveness.

With insight like this cutting at the root of Facebook’s value proposition, company executives may not feel as inclined to scoff at the requests of boycotters. The data from Forrester should signal to the social media giant the need to set Austin up for success. Otherwise, advertisers may have fewer reservations about pausing or cancelling advertising altogether the next time a civil rights infraction occurs without appropriate response.

One VP alone can’t shift Facebook’s approach to civil rights

Facebook’s civil rights audit includes steps the business must take to make real progress and avoid continuing to facilitate dangerous dialogue. Much of this guidance includes continuing to build the necessary infrastructure and staff to support a highly capable VP of civil rights.

The first two recommendations for the company’s accountability structure are continuing to onboard civil rights expertise for existing teams and building out the civil rights VP’s team up front so that Austin can act with vision and proactivity instead of getting bogged down by more frivolous tasks at the outset.

As Austin enters Facebook, the company may be demonstrating some growth. A day after the harrowing storming of Congress, spurred by Trump, and as employee activists called for a permanent ban of Trump from the platform, Zuckerberg reported that the president’s suspension would not be lifted at least until after he left office.

Perhaps Austin can keep this momentum going. “I am excited to join Facebook at this moment when there is a national and global awakening happening around civil rights,” he said in a statement. “… I could not pass up the opportunity to join a company whose products are used by so many and which impacts the civil rights and liberties of billions of people, in order to help steer a better way forward.”

Image credit: Joshua Hoehne/Unsplash

As a new administration confronts massive challenges, endless questions and plenty of doubts about the republic’s future, one thing is clear: The years-long misinformation campaigns amplified by cable news networks and social media — which some have called the "infodemic" — helped plunge the U.S. into multiple crises at once.

That’s the main takeaway from the annual Trust Barometer report from the public relations firm Edelman, and the findings this year just aren’t pretty.

For those of you who have coped with the uncle or cousin at the holiday table who kept saying, “Well, I heard on Facebook...” about anything ranging from Antifa to Mike Pence to Mark Zuckerberg, you’ll appreciate Edelman’s findings as much as you’ll be discouraged by them.

First, the bad news: Almost 60 percent of the more than 30,000 people Edelman surveyed said government officials, business leaders, and journalists are intentionally misleading people by saying and posting information they know is false. “This is the era of information bankruptcy,” Richard Edelman, the firm’s CEO, said in a statement.

The survey also found that less than 1 in 4 of those surveyed practice what’s known as “information hygiene,” which in Edelman’s definition includes taking actions such as fact-checking information or avoiding the din of social media noise.

The consequences are stark: Well over half of those who lagged in vetting information were less willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Almost the same amount believe the pandemic is a ploy to replace human workers with robots or artificial intelligence.

The good news is: Due to this infodemic crisis, doors are opening wider for the business community. Just over 60 percent of those surveyed by Edelman said business is the most trusted institution, well outpacing government. Further, more than 75 percent indicated they trust their employers, and almost two-thirds place trust in their companies’ CEOs.

As encouraging as the results may be for companies, the challenge they face is to not fumble this opportunity. Companies would be wise to prioritize transparency over jargon, encourage open conversations about where an organization succeeds and where it’s falling short, and not be afraid of taking a stand on some of the most polarizing issues of today.

On that last point, speaking out and taking action on challenges many of us find triggering can be difficult. After all, communications professionals and public relations firms generally still advise their corporate clients to take a more cautious approach when addressing social and economic issues, if they even broach them at all.

But last summer’s calls for social justice, in addition to the violence in D.C. only two weeks ago, have shown that there is no nuanced or “both sides” formula to address these problems. The sword cuts both ways: If more of us are trusting companies, it also means we expect them to not only say what they believe, but actually follow through on doing the right thing during this fraught time. Then, perhaps, we can emerge from the depths of this infodemic.

Image credit: Preston Low

Long before the novel coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. was dealing with a pandemic of systemic racism, as TriplePundit has long reported. By expanding the market for Black farmers, the Hellmann’s Food Relief Fund, launched by the Unilever condiment brand sharing the same name, aims to tackle aspects of both pandemics: the COVID-related hunger crisis and the systemic bias against Black Americans working in agriculture.

A hunger crisis that won't go away

The growing hunger crisis in the U.S. (reflecting a global hunger crisis) has been depressingly prominent in the headlines since the pandemic began last March — and it shows no signs of abating. More Americans went hungry in November (nearly 26 million, or 1 in 8 U.S. residents) than at any point during the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. As a result, food banks have seen a 70 percent increase in demand since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, American farmers have been forced to waste millions of pounds of fresh produce due to affected restaurant and food service supply chains, including farmers across Idaho and Montana forced to give away or destroy millions of potatoes. Farmers are desperately trying to find markets for their products — and that is especially true for Black farmers, who have long experienced economic disadvantages and disproportionate access to markets.

Hellmann’s saw a way to address this web of problems in U.S. agriculture with its Food Relief Fund, committing over $1.5 million to help those most in need in New York City, the brand’s birthplace. As part of that initiative, the brand is partnering with community-based organizations and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to direct funding to the purchase of 200,000 pounds of food from Black farmers to support their businesses.

Hellmann’s is tackling multiple systemic problems within U.S. agriculture

Overall, Hellmann’s set a goal to rescue more than 1.2 million pounds of food from farms that would otherwise go to waste, and feed more than 230,000 people in need by the end of 2020.  In New York alone, an estimated 1.5 million people are now facing food insecurity, and as such Hellmann's program will continue into 2021.

“The goal of the Hellmann’s Food Relief Fund is to not only end food waste, but also tackle food injustice and food system inequities and its disproportionate impact on the Black community,” Ben Crook, senior marketing director for Hellmann’s North America, told TriplePundit.

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives is sourcing excess food from Black farmers and sending it to the East Side House Settlement (ESH), which then distributes the food to New York families in need. Each week, ESH distributes boxes of produce and pantry items for community centers in the South Bronx, as well as to partner pantries and families enrolled in ESH’s public school-based sites. “Currently, we’re helping feed over 5,000 people in need each week,” Daniel Diaz, executive director of the East Side House Settlement, told 3p.

Black farmers hard hit by COVID-19 get a helping hand

“Through the Hellmann’s Food Relief Fund, our member farmers not only gain access to a larger market, but also have the opportunity to receive fair retail pricing for their produce,” added Chawnn Redden, regional marketing coordinator for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. “This translates to increased revenues that help sustain Black-owned farms, providing resources for necessary infrastructure and even helping save their lands.”

Black landowners have experienced a 90 percent land loss since 1910, and currently Black Americans own just 1 percent of rural land nationwide, Redden said. Further, Black farmers make up only 1.3 percent of all Americans working within agriculture.

Many Black farmers have also been especially hit hard by the pandemic, Redden adds. “In our early COVID-19 assessments, 84 percent of Black farmers reported a decrease in their markets as a result of the pandemic, leading to increased food waste and financial loss. The challenges faced by Black farmers and cooperatives are rooted in well-documented instances of discrimination, inequity and heir’s property issues that lead to land loss.”

Those involved with Hellmann's program are far from the only ones looking at this issue. The newly announced Justice for Black Farmers Act would transfer up to 32 million acres to Black farmers over the next decade. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the lead sponsor of the bill, said it would enable Black farmers to acquire up to 160 acres apiece at no charge through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) system of land grants. Under the bill, an Equity Commission would also study the legacy of discrimination at the USDA and suggest reforms that could reach the farmer-elected county committees that help guide operations at local USDA offices. An independent board would hear appeals of civil rights complaints decided by USDA officials.

If moved forward, the legislation could help begin to address racial disparities in U.S. agriculture in which both the government and the private sector will have a decisive role to play in the near future.

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Businesses seeking to shrink their carbon footprint can take a cue from the U.S. Air Force. Decarbonizing aircraft fuel will take some time, but meanwhile the Air Force has been deploying energy efficiency as a powerful tool for reducing carbon emissions and saving money, too. The Air Force also stands to reap additional benefits that can apply equally to the commercial sphere, including improved reliability, resiliency and productivity.

Energy efficiency can pay for itself, without paying up front

Energy efficiency has often been called the low-hanging fruit of climate action, and for good reason. According to one study, a full slate of energy-efficiency measures could cut carbon emissions in the U.S. as much as 50 percent by 2050.

An energy-efficiency upgrade can easily pay for itself over time by cutting utility costs. However, the up-front cost of equipment and installation has prevented many business owners from making the investment. Similarly, up-front costs can be a significant obstacle for upgrading public facilities. That is why the Air Force, and other federal agencies, have begun focusing more attention on a financial arrangement called an ESPC, or an Energy Savings Performance Contract.

The basic premise of an ESPC is fairly straightforward: The upgrade is conducted by an energy services company, and little or no up-front payment is required from the client. Instead, the client pays for the upgrade in increments over time.

An ESPC can also include a long-term maintenance and repair contract, as well as provisions for training and updating employees. That’s an important consideration where new technology and staff turnover are involved.

If all goes according to plan, the client still saves money compared to past utility costs, even after deducting the payments to the energy services provider.

Energy efficiency and COVID-19

The ESPC concept is not actually a new idea. However, in past years there was little post-installation data available for assessing such projects’ effectiveness on a broad scale.

More recently, the data has been piling up in favor of ESPCs. In 2017, the Department of Energy published a list of benefits attributed to ESPC projects.

“ESPC projects can yield benefits beyond just energy savings, like avoided operations and maintenance expenditures, increased occupant productivity, health and comfort, and reduced air pollution,” the agency wrote. “Research has shown gains of 6 to 26 percent in ‘occupant performance’ in various groups, such as students learning in schools, employees working in commercial offices, or consumers spending in retail venues.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging full blast, the Department of Energy’s observations on the health benefits of ESPCs are especially interesting. The agency made this point in 2017, three years before the pandemic hit the U.S.:

“Building retrofits that improved the indoor environment of a building have reduced instances of communicable respiratory diseases by 9 to 20 percent and allergies and asthma by 18 to 25 percent, and other health and discomfort by 20 to 50 percent.”

Even after a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available, experts warn that the world must increase its guard against communicable diseases moving forward. That provides businesses with yet another reason to invest in energy-efficiency upgrades.

The U.S. Air Force will decarbonize, with biofuels or not

The Air Force provides a useful decarbonization model for businesses that don’t have a clear pathway for switching to carbon-free or carbon-neutral fuel in the near future. This branch of the military has been actively promoting the use of jet biofuel, including numerous contributions to foundational biofuel research. However, its transition to renewable fuels will take years if not decades.

Meanwhile, last October the Air Force launched a new crowd-sourcing initiative aimed at decarbonizing itself and the entire Department of Defense, too. With jet biofuel and other alternatives far off on the horizon, energy efficiency and ESPCs are certain to play leading roles in the near term.

A new $403 million ESPC project for the Air Force’s Yokata Air Base in Japan provides an illustration of the scale and potential for savings involved. The sprawling base includes more than 450 buildings.

The contract covers $167 million in installation costs plus a 21-year service agreement with Schneider Electric. The firm has amassed considerable experience in the ESPC field, and the Yokata project is its fourth ESPC with the Air Force.

The heart of the project is a new 10-megawatt combined heat and power plant with microgrid controls. Along with building automation systems, new lighting systems, plumbing fixture upgrades and other measures, the contract provides for guaranteed energy savings averaging $20 million annually. The Air Force expects to save 30 million gallons of water annually along with the considerable savings in energy and electricity.

Energy efficiency and resilience

The Yokata project also highlights the interplay of resilience and energy efficiency. While the cost and energy savings of the Yokata project are impressive in terms of both climate action and bottom-line benefits, the main motivation behind the upgrade is resiliency. Once completed, the new ESPC will help Yokata Air Base continue operating smoothly despite the grid issues that have troubled the Tokyo area in recent years.

Resiliency is a key issue for national defense, and it is also looming large as an issue for businesses facing the impacts of climate change. In previous years, companies had to rely on fossil-fueled emergency generators for backup power. ESPCs can provide a pathway for building resilience while reducing carbon emissions.

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Most of us are not one of the Bill Gates of the world and don’t see ourselves as philanthropists. But that could soon change with the introduction of the new fintech platform Amicus.io, designed to scale donor-advised funds by making philanthropy as easy as online banking.

While philanthropy has been around for a long time, it is a vast, fragmented landscape, with approximately 1.3 million charities in the U.S. Many people would like to make a bigger impact with their hard-earned dollars but don’t know where to start. Amicus.io founders Walt Ruloff and Cor Hoekstra hope to solve that with an integrated platform that connects people with charities to create a “virtuous giving cycle.”

The idea is to tap into the $121 billion currently sitting in donor-advised funds (DAFs). With the Amicus platform, individuals would be able to use their bank accounts to access DAFs for their charitable giving. The company says it is now in the early stages of implementation with a tier-one global bank.

Tapping into the uptick in charitable giving

In a recent interview with TriplePundit, Ruloff and Hoekstra discussed why such a platform is urgently needed and how it can make a difference in charitable giving — not just during a crisis, but consistently. In the wake of crises like the novel coronavirus pandemic, charitable giving tends to rise, studies show. DAFs showed substantial increases in grants to organizations as well as in inflows to the funds themselves during the pandemic. The key is to find a way to keep the donor funds flowing steadily post-crisis.

In 2005, Ruloff, founder and chairman of Amicus.io, started to investigate nonprofit technology. Recognizing immediately that the sector has no underlying technology infrastructure, he started to design a system that would re-engineer the philanthropy value chain starting from the donor through to the nonprofit organization, and finally to the beneficiaries on the ground. Ruloff started Amicus.io Global Relief Solutions, Inc. in 2013 and Amicus.io four years later to bring charitable giving into the consumer banking experience. He was joined by Hoekstra, a 30-year veteran in the supply chain management technology sector who is now CEO of Amicus.io.

Democratizing philanthropy

Ruloff’s story begins after selling a software company he had founded; he wanted to direct some of that money toward charitable giving but found the world of philanthropy complex, with little transparency.

“Quite frankly, if you're a donor, and you give money away and you're not the Gates Foundation or some sophisticated foundation, you don't know how it's spent, you don't know where the money goes, and you don't know ultimately what the effectiveness of your donations have been,” he told 3p. 

At the same time, Ruloff noticed two important trends: people’s desire to be more engaged in giving to causes they care about, and “a massive digital transformation that was taking off, transforming corporations, but not the world of philanthropy,” he said. “Fast forward to the advent of the cloud, and we realized we could roll out a solution like Amicus at scale.”

Scaling to millions of donors

The result, Ruloff explained, is to take an entirely fresh approach to philanthropy. “We're approaching it from the idea of acquiring tens of millions of donors at scale with our bank partners, to bring those donors to the charities, and then offer the charities on the cloud. It’s a complete operational tool, allowing the charities to build, post, fund and execute their projects through a pipeline with tracking capabilities.”

Hoekstra added: “Our vision is a form of automated philanthropy, with monthly automated contributions, as easy as online banking. To mobilize donors at scale we want to bring the tools of the 1 percent and the level of sophistication and intentionality to the 99 percent. DAFs are a proven, time-tested tool but they have been only available to high net-worth individuals. It is time to change that—so that everyone can be a philanthropist. We can write checks all day long, but the idea is to be intentional - to be a savvy donor, just like we are savvy investors.”

The platform is ready to go, and Amicus hopes to make an announcement soon about its upcoming bank partnership, Ruloff told us. “We’re excited to be creating a standardized platform that brings charities and donors togethers in a new way," he said. "Our goal is to really change the way philanthropy works.”

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