More than 110,000 U.S. restaurants closed over the past year — and as shutdowns resumed, well over 10,000 of them shuttered in the last three months of 2020 alone. Across the country, the heartbreak continues. Many of these were beloved local institutions, and some had made investments in tents and other equipment to adapt to the new reality of doing business during a pandemic, ultimately to close their doors anyway.
And as many restaurants and bars were shut down to counter the COVID-19 surge, few policies were put in place to help small business owners and their employees get through this crisis. For owners, the only flaw in their business decisions was a failure to do the impossible: develop a completely pandemic-proof plan.
Nevertheless, even though this “dark winter” makes us wonder if there’s any light at the end of this tunnel, leading restaurateurs say one signature can give the restaurant industry a much-needed lift.
The (partial) solution? Start with the 25 percent tariffs on many European food and alcohol products, which the Donald Trump administration imposed months before the pandemic in October of 2019.
At first glance, those products may seem like a small part of U.S. restaurant and bar menus. But consider the list of products, which includes cheese, frozen fruit, meats such as ham, olives, whisky and wine. Then add the fact that restaurants using these products must make the stark choice to either pass on the costs to their customers or simply absorb it themselves — the latter of which is non-starter in a sector with very thin profit margins.
“Frustratingly, restaurants have been caught in the crossfire of a much larger trade war. The goal of the tariffs was to hit back at the European Union in a long-running feud between U.S. aircraft giant Boeing and its E.U.-based rival Airbus,” restauranteurs Kwame Onwuachi and Alice Waters argued in a recent Washington Post op-ed. “Spanish wine may have nothing to do with Boeing, but the Trump administration thought it could bring Europe to its knees over aircraft subsidies by taxing food exports.”
Any appeals the restaurant industry has made to the White House have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, the outgoing administration is lengthening the list of products subject to these tariffs as part of its long dispute with the European Union over subsidies for its aviation industry.
Such a move may score political points in some circles, but it’s a gut punch to small businesses on both sides of the pond. One business association pointed out how a 25 percent increase in cost can hurt countless small businesses, while Europe’s aircraft sector — the core of this ongoing spit-spat — was slapped with only a 10 percent tariff. Another group suggested at least 13,000 jobs disappeared as the tariffs were first imposed, hardly a small number at a time when jobs are scarce.
The effects not only hit restaurants and their employees. Yet another restaurateur noted that smaller food distribution companies could suffer as small, family-owned restaurants would not benefit from purchasing from larger suppliers that only offer discounted prices to large restaurant chains.
It will take a long time before the 2 million-plus jobs that the restaurant sector lost during the past year will ever come back. Nevertheless, Onwuachi and Waters say that, with a “stroke of a pen,” President-elect Joe Biden could reverse those tariffs and give restaurants and bars a much-needed break.
One coalition is keen on amplifying that call to action. The Coalition to Stop Restaurant Tariffs, which just emerged last month, is urging the incoming White House to nix those tariffs soon — and keep small businesses out of the line of fire in what has been a 16-year-long tussle between the U.S. and European Union.
Even as the coronavirus pandemic challenged companies to do more to support their communities while bracing against economic upheaval, many refused to let their sustainability ambitions fall by the wayside. Case in point: These 10 brands moved a step closer to closed-loop operations this year — and their example helps to pave the way for a truly circular economy in which nothing becomes waste.
Nike rides the circular economy all the way to the Olympics
Nike launched a host of circular products this year, including a recycled-content version of the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star and an "exploratory footwear collection" made from factory and post-consumer waste. But the line of competition apparel for the Tokyo Olympics (pictured above) was arguably crown jewel in the brand's 2020 foray into the circular economy.
Although the Tokyo games were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, athletes representing the U.S., France and Brazil will compete in Nike uniforms made with 100 percent recycled polyester when teams take the field in 2021, proving that circularity doesn't mean sacrificing performance.
Image credit: Burger King
Burger King tests reusable packaging
The fast-food chain made headlines in October with news it plans to test reusable packaging in partnership with TerraCycle’s Loop initiative. Beginning next year, Burger King will trial reusable containers for sandwiches and drinks at select restaurants in New York, Portland, and Tokyo.
Customers who request reusable packaging will be charged a deposit, which is returned when cups and boxes are returned to in-restaurant collection points, where they're sanitized and put back into use.
The trial is part of Burger King’s goal to source all packaging from renewable, recyclable, or certified sources by 2025 and follows rival chain McDonald’s move to test reusable cups in the United Kingdom.
Image credit: Loop
Loop expands across the continental U.S.
Reusable packaging platform Loop launched in 2019, and its model of delivering mainstream products in reusable packaging has grown in popularity since then. Even as people grew wary of reusable items due to the coronavirus pandemic, Loop saw its sales surge in 2020 — and in September, its service rolled out to all 48 contiguous U.S. states.
"Consumers are understandably anxious in this new world, but they still want to make purposeful purchases," Heather Crawford, Loop’s global VP of marketing and e-commerce, told TriplePundit in May. "If you can meet shoppers where they are — which is, right now, at home and online — and also establish trust in the safety and hygiene of the reuse system, even in a difficult situation, what we're seeing is that consumers still really embrace it."
Used Ikea furniture is refurbished before returning to the sale floor. (Image credit: Ikea)
Ikea rolls out buyback program for used furniture
Ikea kicked off a large-scale furniture buyback program on Black Friday last month. Twenty-seven countries, including Germany, Australia, Canada and Japan, will be part of the project Ikea is calling “Buy Back.” The United States will not initially participate, though U.S. stores may join in the future, a spokeswoman said.
Where available, customers can receive up to 50 percent of an item’s original price in the form of a store voucher. Items not resold will be recycled or donated to local community projects, according to the company.
Image credit: Adidas
Adidas unveils fully recyclable sneaker
This fall, Adidas rolled out a fully recyclable version of its Ultraboost running shoe, made from a single material without glue. The shoes were raffled off to interested consumers in October, but Adidas plans to launch a successor in a larger volume in the spring of next year.
Last year the footwear giant also sold 15 million pairs of sneakers made with plastic collected from beaches and coastlines in partnership with Parley for the Oceans, with plans to up that figure to 17 million in 2021.
Image credit: Puma
Puma uses plastic collected by self-employed garbage pickers
Puma's spring collection was developed in partnership with the First Mile Coalition, a network of self-employed refuse collectors in Taiwan, Honduras and Haiti, who remove plastic waste from ecosystems and sell it to make a living. Following in the footsteps of other major brands like Timberland and HP, Puma's foray into so-called "social plastic" helps the company utilize more sustainable materials while creating income opportunities for people in regions with no formal waste collection.
“We hope that whoever buys this collection feels good about this purchase, not just in terms of choosing something that uses sustainable material, but knowing that those entrepreneurs in the first mile are being connected to this product, because it’s their material going into it,” Kelsey Halling, head of partnerships for First Mile, said of the collection in a statement.
Image credit: Patagonia
Patagonia doubles down on reuse and repair
Patagonia is a longstanding proponent of repair, reuse and conscious consumption. The cult favorite brand started selling gently used outdoor gear and clothing for men, women and children in its online Worn Wear shop back in 2017, and last year it launched the ReCrafted collection made from goods deemed too damaged to be sold in the secondhand store.
Patagonia expanded its foray into the circular economy this year by creating repair guides in partnership with iFixit to help customers repair their worn-in gear themselves. And just before Black Friday, the brand added an option to buy used through Worn Wear next to every new product listed online, making it the first company to give customers an easy way to purchase a used alternative when shopping for new products.
H&M tests creative materials, including ... food waste?
H&M aims to source exclusively sustainable materials by 2030 and become "climate positive" by 2040 — and the fast-fashion giant's fall/winter 2020 collection may bring it one step closer. Featuring curious biodegradable materials, including fiber derived from wood pulp and food waste, the line doesn't skimp on circularity or style.
“For A/W20, we really wanted to be trailblazers – pushing the limits of creativity and sustainable fashion – by focusing on waste,” H&M creative advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson, said in a statement. “Working with this kind of transformation and being able to speak to our customers through beauty, we hope that waste can be part of the future of sustainable fashion.”
Image credit: HP
HP rolls out "the world’s most sustainable PC portfolio"
Over the past year, TriplePundit has tracked HP’s use of plastic recovered from ecosystems and waterways before it can reach the ocean. From its June 2019 release of the world's first computer monitor made with ocean-bound plastics to the first PC built with these materials announced three months later, the tech giant has steadily increased its use of recovered plastics while raising awareness of ocean health.
In May of this year, the company unveiled what it billed as "the world’s most sustainable PC portfolio," including a new Chromebook made with ocean-bound plastics. An HP representative called the line a "culmination" of the company's work in sustainable product design, but it's just the beginning: HP has pledged to include ocean-bound plastics in all new desktop and laptop computers launched in its Elite and Pro lines.
Image credit: The North Face
The North Face creates in-house residency for circular design
Outdoor gear label The North Face was early to the circular economy party, having launched its re-commerce platform in 2018. The North Face Renewed collection includes refurbished clothing that is available for sale at steep discounts compared to buying new. The California-based brand claims to have already diverted more than 200,000 pounds of used clothing from landfills — and this year it expanded the Renewed program to include an in-house design residency.
Rotating groups of The North Face designers will attend bi-annual sessions at the company’s Renewal Workshop in Cascade Locks, Oregon, to learn more about the principles of circularity. They’ll also create custom, one-of-a-kind pieces from garments that were previously thought to be irreparable, which will be available for online auction. The first round went on sale in February.
Description
These 10 brands moved a step closer to closed-loop operations this year — and their example helps to pave the way for a truly circular economy in which nothing becomes waste.
During the four years of the Donald Trump administration, U.S. business leaders have had to step up and fill a leadership void on climate action and other issues of fundamental public interest. That work must continue under a new administration in order to repair the years of damage and neglect. It will be no less difficult due to the persistence of conspiracy theories partly aided and abetted by the president himself, and one early test of leadership will be how business responds in the upcoming United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
The U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: A powerful branding opportunity
At first glance, supporting the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration would seem to be a piece of cake for businesses seeking to burnish their green profiles. After all, public support for environmental action is strong, and U.S. businesses have years of experience in preserving butterfly habitats, sponsoring litter cleanups, raising public awareness about environmental issues and, of course, planting trees.
The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration takes efforts like these to the next level, calling for a global, all-hands-on-deck effort by governments, NGOs, and private businesses to preserve and restore ecosystems. The initiative dovetails with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals for counteracting climate change, protecting and improving the well-being of local populations, and preserving biodiversity.
To amplify and reinforce the effort, the U.N. is encouraging all participants in the Decade to make use of its brand book, complete with a colorful logo, social media cards and messages, and the hashtag #GenerationRestoration. The branding provides businesses with a readymade pathway for lending their support to the effort and identifying themselves globally with the cause of global ecosystem restoration.
A red flag for U.S. businesses
The new U.N. Decade will officially launch on World Environment Day, on June 5, 2021. That leaves U.S. business leaders with plenty of time to familiarize themselves with the U.N. resolution that established the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and plan ahead for initiatives and activities that connect with the Sustainable Development Goals.
What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, if history is any indication. Long before Trump took office, conservative pundits and politicians poisoned a generation of voters against global action through the United Nations, drawing on the emotional tug of thinly veiled anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
Agenda 21 was adopted as part of the 1992 U.N. summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a non-binding planning document intended to provide guidance for sustainable development efforts. Unfortunately, it gave fodder to conspiracy theorists who raised the specter of communism and the abolition of private property. By 2012 it had become a political hot potato in the U.S., stifling serious debate over a national plan for sustainable development.
A necessary minefield for U.S. businesses
The climate change “hoax” is among a list of conspiracy theories regularly promoted by President Trump before and during his term in office. In his first year, he moved to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, playing right into conspiracy theories about the U.N.
Those conspiracy theories are bound to endure long after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, along with the voter fraud conspiracy theory, the white supremacist movement, the socialist takeover theory, and the web of fantasy drawn by Qanon believers, among others. The result is that businesses supporting the new U.N. Decade will expose themselves to a hotbed of hysteria fueled by social media and conventional media alike, even leading to the potential for violence.
That makes it all the more important for business leaders to support the U.N. Decade, if not through direct branding then by taking more aggressive action to push back against conspiracy theories about sustainable development and climate action.
Business leaders have already ceded far too much of the public square to crackpots, bad actors and self-interested politicians. They cannot rely on the goodwill of the incoming Biden administration to change hearts and minds on sustainable development.
The COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest example of the potential for lethal consequences on a massive scale when misinformation runs amok. Now is the time for U.S. businesses to take control of the climate debate, stake their brands on truth and science, and fight for a more sustainable future.
2021 kicks off the U.N. Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Backing such a cause should be a no-brainer, but as distrust in multilateralism runs high, will U.S. businesses show their support or cave to the pressure?
In the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, plenty of press was paid to empty store shelves and disruptions in the global food supply. The impact on smallholder farmers within the agricultural value chain was less widely reported, but arguably even more severe: In a July survey of 2,400 smallholder farmers growing cocoa, coffee, and other crops in Africa and Indonesia, 70 percent reported having less income than usual, and over half said this affected their ability to feed themselves and their families.
Multinational supply chains also rely on the goods these farmers sell — meaning large food and beverage businesses can play a role in helping farmers cope with the impacts of the pandemic, while shoring up their own commodity supplies against future risk. This sweet spot of mutual benefit is the focus of a supply chain partnership announced earlier this month.
To bolster the global food supply chain, help smallholder farmers
Launched by Root Capital in collaboration with Keurig Dr Pepper, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ezrah Charitable Trust, the new partnership is focused primarily on resilience — now and into the future.
Called the Feed the Future Partnership for Sustainable Supply Chains, the program will provide financial support and advisory services to small agricultural businesses working in key commodities, particularly those owned or led by women. Collectively, these businesses represent 150,000 farmers in 12 countries across Africa, Latin America and Indonesia.
The team at Root Capital, which invests in small agricultural enterprises that support smallholder farmers, saw the impact of the pandemic in these communities early on. "With the onset of COVID-19, the ability of small and growing businesses in the agriculture sector to provide critical employment, continued income generation, protection of vulnerable ecosystems and essential services to rural communities has never been more vital," Willy Foote, founder and CEO of Root Capital, said in a statement. "From Peru to the Democratic Republic of Congo, these enterprises are under enormous strain. Yet, with support, they have met the challenge head-on — not only maintaining their business operations, but also protecting both the lives and livelihoods of their farmers and employees."
For large consumer goods companies, supporting the small agribusinesses in their supply chains is not only the right thing to do, but it's also a smart business move that can help to avoid future risk.
"By leveraging our longstanding partnership with Root Capital, we were able to quickly pivot to support those in our supply chain most vulnerable to the threats of COVID-19 and ongoing challenges such as climate change and food insecurity," Monique Oxender, chief sustainability officer for Keurig Dr Pepper, said in a statement. "Our contribution to the Partnership for Sustainable Supply Chains is an extension of our deep-rooted commitment to partnering with our coffee growing communities to improve livelihoods and safeguard the future of coffee and will help to support business continuity and resiliency for our coffee suppliers."
Over the next three years, the partnership will provide tailored advisory services to small agribusiness participants and give small grants to farmers and their communities. Additional financing will be provided through flexible credit via patient loan terms, interest rate relief and debt forgiveness for enterprises most at risk, complemented by a $35 million loan guarantee from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. "With this financial support, businesses can continue to serve, and buy from, vulnerable smallholder farmers in their communities," a USAID statement on the partnership reads.
The program builds on the Partnership for Sustainable Coffee, a three-year collaboration between Keurig Dr Pepper, Root Capital and USAID that supported sustainable livelihoods for 330,000 smallholder coffee farmers and their families.
Microfinance investor Root Capital, along with Keurig Dr Pepper, USAID and Ezrah Charitable Trust, say they will work together to help smallholder farmers build resilience — now and into the future.
From fully recyclable running shoes to vegan leather made from fungi, Adidas has big plans for 2021. In a press announcement on Monday, the footwear giant pledged to include sustainable materials, such as recycled polyester and sustainably-grown cotton, in more than 60 percent of the products it sells next year. How will it reach this 2021 milestone? Let's take a look inside its materials portfolio to find out.
New vegan leather alternative drives buzz
Adidas is no stranger to plant-based leather alternatives, having launched vegan versions of several classic styles in 2020 — including the cult favorite Stan Smith (pictured above). But the company plans to take plant-based material innovation one step further in 2021.
News that Adidas is developing its own vegan leather quickly generated buzz this week. Made from mycelium, a component of fungus, the biological leather alternative is set to debut in footwear next year, although specifics are slim.
Adidas unveiled the fully recyclable Ultraboost DNA Loop running shoe in 2020, and a wider rollout is planned for 2021.
Slow but steady progress on circularity
Adidas has steadily increased its use of recycled materials over the past decade, with more upticks planned for 2021. More than 60 percent of the polyester in its branded footwear and clothing is now recycled, and Adidas is targeting exclusively recycled polyester by 2024.
The company is also looking to support the development of circular production models through research partnerships, including efforts to transform used clothes into a cotton-like material. A fully recyclable version of the Ultraboost shoe, made from a single material without glue, was raffled off in October, and Adidas plans to launch a successor in a larger volume in the spring of next year.
The purchase and development of new recycled materials will be partially funded by a sustainability bond the company issued in September, valued at more than $600 million, which was five times oversubscribed.
"We have continued to invest in sustainability initiatives during the coronavirus pandemic, and we will significantly expand our range of sustainable products in 2021. To this end, for example, we have worked with our suppliers to create the structures that make it possible to process recycled materials on a large scale," Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in a statement. "Not only does our commitment make adidas more sustainable, but it also drives the development of the whole industry."
Adidas and Parley for the Oceans collected almost 7,000 tons of plastic last year, which Adidas will use to produce around 17 million pairs of shoes in 2021.
Ocean plastic products prove to be a consumer hit
Adidas already has lofty sustainability ambitions on record, including a brazen objective to "end plastic waste." A five-year partnership with the pollution awareness initiative Parley for the Oceans has slowly inched the company closer.
Adidas and Parley launched their first shoe made with plastic collected from beaches and coastlines in 2015 and have sold millions since, including 15 million pairs in 2020 alone. The partners collected almost 7,000 tons of plastic last year, the equivalent to around 350 million plastic bottles, which Adidas will use to produce around 17 million pairs of shoes, among other products, in 2021.
Images courtesy of Adidas
Description
In a press announcement on Monday, Adidas pledged to include sustainable materials, such as recycled polyester and sustainably-grown cotton, in more than 60 percent of the products it sells next year.
Image: PepsiCo, one of the companies involved in this latest collaboration to fight the social effects of COVID-19, has already donated more than $45 million to combat rising hunger related to the pandemic and distributed over 50 million meals worldwide.
The Consumer Goods Forum is rallying corporate members in a coordinated effort to support communities most affected by COVID-19. The move follows a statement from CEOs in the food and personal care space, who called on their peers to step up and act locally.
Beyond the direct health impacts of the pandemic, the accompanying economic crisis is the most devastating seen in a generation. Worldwide, COVID-19 could push up to 115 million people into extreme poverty this year (meaning they earn less than US$1.90 a day), the first increase in global extreme poverty in over two decades — and advocates warn the world's poorest may be among the last to receive a vaccine.
Even in wealthy countries like the U.S., conditions are stark and worrisome. More than 14 million people in the U.S. are out of work. Up to 13 million renter households are at risk of eviction, with CDC protections set to expire at the end of the year. And an additional 17 million U.S. residents could become food insecure because of the pandemic, bringing the total to more than 54 million people in the country, including 18 million children.
"This is a critical time for us. Our members recognize their responsibility to meet the needs of the most vulnerable," Wai-Chan Chan, managing director of the Consumer Goods Forum, said in a statement. The trade group identified a series of actions to accelerate support for vulnerable communities, which include deploying cash and in-kind donations and developing partnerships with community groups.
Some of the world’s largest retailers and manufacturers, including Walmart, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills and PepsiCo, signed on to follow the roadmap and work with each other on a collective response.
Aligning the industry's response effort is a potentially significant development. The 45 companies that signed on to the Forum's effort have already collectively donated hundreds of billions of dollars in response to the pandemic, but without coordinating with each other and with community groups on the ground, it's harder to see the impact on a broader scale or identify where gaps may exist in underserved communities.
"We must act together and intensify how our products and services reach these most vulnerable populations and mitigate the negative health and economic burdens that families around the world are experiencing during COVID-19," Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider and Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller said in a joint statement on behalf of CEO members of the Forum's board of directors. "We need to go further and faster together.”
"It is hoped that by joining forces and focusing on local actions, member companies aim to move faster and more efficiently, while empowering the local teams, who are best placed to know what’s needed and how to work with key local partners and authorities, to implement at speed," the Forum's announcement goes on to say.
The trade group says it will collect feedback on members' response efforts in the coming months and publish a progress report by the spring of next year. Members will also share their experiences with each other via the CGF’s Global Learning Mechanism.
Some of the world’s largest retailers and manufacturers, including Walmart, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills and PepsiCo, signed on to a coordinated COVID-19 response effort through the Consumer Goods Forum.
While the harsh realities much of 2020 has wrought upon us are poised to continue for several months into 2021, few of us will feel wistful about winding up this year. But it wasn’t all bad news: We took a look at 2020 in review to see what articles were the most popular with our readers on TriplePundit the past 12 months – the following articles are what clearly resonated with you.
Yes, 2020 has been a horrid year for many reasons. But new developments in technology are one reason for optimism.
As 3p’s longtime writer Tina Casey pointed out this spring, the recycling sector can emerge stronger and more resilient than before the pandemic – even if importing recyclables to China is no longer an option. New technologies will be the key, however, if we can become successful in tackling the mounting waste problem.
The oceans have long been at a tipping point, and it’s clear that catastrophe awaits if we keep allowing tons of plastic waste to end up in our seas. As society seeks solutions for reversing this crisis, it’s clear we need ideas, so Roya’s article clearly struck a chord. “Small steps like reconfiguring a bike grip can make ripples toward circularity in the global business community not only through the waste captured and reused, but also by putting these issues at the forefront,” she wrote in May.
Yes, there was a lot of bellyaching on Twitter over this decision, but as I explained, Taco Bell’s decision summed up what a lot of restaurants faced as they had to shift to a model driven by deliveries and, of course, drive-thru. “Taco Bell has had to pivot quickly during this pandemic, which thereby comes with supply chain disruptions, dining room closures, and the need to take on new health and safety precautions,” I said over the summer.
“As the Black Lives Matter movement begins to fade out of the mainstream media’s headlines, professional sports leagues and individual players are taking actions to ensure the issue of police violence against Blacks in America remains in the public eye throughout the summer,” Tina wrote in August. This was among several articles Tina and other 3p writers wrote about how professional sports team owners and players showed the business community how to get it done when it came to pushing for social justice.
“Essential workers” became part of our lexicon this year, in part because within the retail sector, many companies were dragging their feet when it came time to compensate their employees commensurate with the risk they endured day after day. Clearly, many out there were searching for some positive news; hence this story about Lowe’s offering another round of bonus pay to its employees caught readers’ attention this summer.
We’re proud of the coverage here on TriplePundit when it comes to the intersection of the Black Lives Matter movement, the inequities COVID-19 has further unmasked and how both are intertwined with the climate crisis.
Nevertheless, huge sustainability stories have still occurred pandemic or no pandemic, including this decarbonization decision the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reached earlier this month. And, this story is another fine example of how Tina will take on a big environmental news story and break it down to explain why it matters to the business community.
Lost in all the news about this crisis – from the pandemic deniers who called it the “China virus” to the anti-maskers to those who keep traveling as if there’s nothing amiss – is the fact COVID-19 is yet another virus that has a connection to how our society has hugely disrupted nature, especially from trafficking wild animals or relying on factory farms for food.
“It’s time to transform our relationship with nature into a more positive one that is less exploitative and creates more understanding of the value to human health — and the economy — of a resilient natural world,” Nithin concluded.
It’s been a trendy choice, even if it turned out that no, last-based saturated fats aren’t really that good for you, either: Coconut oil has long been viewed as beneficial for not only for the environment, but human health, too. The product has become a popular cooking and cosmetic choice, appearing on more and more shelves and ingredient labels. So, is it a viable substitute for palm oil, an ingredient that has scored more criticism (including here on 3p) as it became a mainstay in more food and consumer products? Well, it’s complicated. Read Nithin’s deep dive for a refresher.
With COVID-19 now seemingly spinning out of control during this “dark winter,” it’s easy to forget all of the disruptions that unfolded earlier this spring. Many companies stood on the sidelines, then promised to write a check and sought props for what was already clearly table stakes (it’s true, we have the receipts, i.e. the story pitches). Other companies rapidly stepped up and started to make masks, PPE, hand sanitizer and life-saving medical equipment - Mary highlighted 15 of them.
“As we all take a closer and more intentional look at how we are going to make progress in this fight for racial equity and justice, I would like to offer some thoughts on how a company should go about addressing racial equity in the near term, a blueprint of sorts,” wrote Cecily Joseph, who serves as Chair of the Net Impact Board of Directors and Advisor and is the former Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Symantec.
The numbers showed many of you listened and booked marked this article after we published it in June; Cecily suggests a 4-part approach for following through on a strong and authentic corporate diversity strategy. Let’s hope her advice was taken to heart.
Editor’s note: TriplePundit will published at a much lighter schedule for the rest of the year, as much of the staff will be taking some well-deserved time off. Thank you for your support, and we’ll resume our regular publishing schedule the week of January 4, 2021. Happy Holidays and definitely we're hoping for a Happier New Year!
Noor (short for Noor Yasmin) and Aziz are two of the newest members of the Sesame Street family. Introduced earlier this month, the six-year-old Muppet twins are modeled after Rohingya children living in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh - the world’s largest refugee camp - and aim to become teachers and friends.
“Noor and Aziz are at the heart of our efforts to bring early education and learning through play to children and caregivers affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis, who have been impacted tremendously by the dual crises of displacement and the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sherrie Westin, President of Social Impact for Sesame Workshop, said in a press statement.
“These are two very special Sesame Muppets—for most Rohingya children, Noor and Aziz will be the very first characters in media who look and sound like them. Rooted in the rich Rohingya culture and informed by extensive research and input from Rohingya families, Noor and Aziz will bring the transformative power of playful learning to families at a time when it’s needed more than ever before,” Westin added.
The need for Rohingya children to thrive in a decades-long refugee crisis
The Rohingya people have faced decades-long discrimination, targeted violence and statelessness in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Many have found temporary shelter in Bangladesh. Since 2017, over half of the 745,000 Rohingya who have fled to Cox’s Bazar have been children, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In such a protracted crisis, families, and especially children, need more than basic humanitarian aid to grow and succeed in their endeavors. The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that 61 percent of the world’s refugee children attend primary school — in low-income countries stooping to less than half. Secondary school enrollment drops even lower. These numbers matter to more than the Rohingya. They point to significant populations of undereducated children and young adults.
Diminished education can be measured in economic impact, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found in its recent study on education during this year’s pandemic. The study identified that a learning loss of one quarter during the crisis could result in an almost two percent decrease in GDP in 2100.
An “all out push on a massive scale” for refugee early education
Sesame Workshop’s multifaceted program aims to protect refugee families from long-term, long-range consequences, by providing a basic educational need for children up to the age of six. More than a year in development, Noor and Aziz are part of the not-for-profit’s Play to Learn humanitarian initiative that reaches Rohingya children through a partnership with the NGOs International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Bangladesh-based BRAC. The initiative is also supported by New York University’s (NYU) international research center Global TIES for Children and the LEGO Foundation.
The principle behind the program is to bring learning and healing to displaced children through play. In the show, Noor and Aziz (beside other familiar Sesame Street characters such as Elmo) teach children about math and science, as well as social-emotional well-being and health and safety, writes Sesame Workshop in a press statement, adding that the lessons are founded on five characteristics of “playful experiences” that prepare the ground for learning: joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative and socially interactive.
Rohingya refugee children attending class in Bangladesh (Image credit: Sir Barnaby/Wiki Commons)
“Learning through play also helps children to develop the holistic skills, including creativity and social-emotional skills, which are vital to survive and thrive in this rapidly changing world,” Sarah Bouchie, Chief Impact Officer at the Lego Foundation, which has granted $100 million to Play to Learn initiatives, said in a press statement.
These lessons reach the children through BRAC’s infrastructure, its Humanitarian Play Labs and direct services. During the pandemic, BRAC and IRC outreach workers adapted services to include regular phone call check-ins, as well as audio, written and poster content specific to coronavirus-related needs. In the new year, facilitators will be trained, and video segments, storybooks and printed educational materials will be integrated into direct services, writes Sesame Workshop in a press release.
Earlier this year, Sesame Street aired a new show in Arabic called Ahlan Simsim, translated Welcome Sesame, for Syrian children displaced in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. By implementing yet another program in the same year, Sesame Workshop demonstrates its lack of hesitation in expanding its refugee response. “It’s an all-out push on a massive scale,” the nonprofit explains on its website. “Because an investment in these children is an investment in a more peaceful and stable world for everyone.”
Developing a model for child-focused humanitarian aid
“One of the big gaps in humanitarian assistance for so long has been that only about 3 percent of humanitarian aid goes to education, and of that, only a tiny fraction goes to early childhood education,” Scott Cameron, the executive producer of the Ahlan Simsim, told Fast Company in January. “As a global community, we need to figure out ways to really create new models to help children in need in these crisis settings.”
To continue developing and scaling their approach, Sesame Workshop and its partners are testing their educational methods for the first five years to determine what tools and strategies work best and connect with kids. The study will double the amount of evidence available concerning which early education programs are most effective in crisis situations, Sesame Workshop writes on its website. The data will be shared with the humanitarian community so as to ensure progress continues and does not rest solely on the backs of Muppets.
“We look forward to sharing our findings with the entire humanitarian community so that we - and others - can better reach and teach the world’s most vulnerable children,” Sherrie Westin, President of Global Impact and Philanthropy at Sesame Workshop, said in a press statement from NYU.
The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine is already facing numerous challenges.
First, there’s allaying doubts about the vaccine, understandable considering the darker episodes of vaccine experiments in U.S. history. Then, we’ve got the question of fairness, as some members of Congress who questioned the seriousness of the pandemic have already scored the first of their two necessary shots. Stories about wealthy Americans determined to cut in line are also sowing concern. Plus, there’s another dilemma — the moral conversation of why many of the world’s poorer nations could face years until their citizens get inoculated.
One way to gauge whether the COVID-19 vaccine is distributed fairly and equitably across the U.S. could hinge on the success of a multi-stakeholder program announced yesterday.
Lyft, specifically the health care transportation arm of the U.S. rideshare giant, said it has kickstarted a national campaign to help secure universal access to the COVID-19 vaccine. The company will partner with a wide range of organizations, including JP Morgan Chase, Anthem and the United Way. The goal is to provide 60 million rides if needed — remember, we’ll all need to receive the vaccine twice if we are to achieve herd immunity and knock out this virus.
For now, the program promises to involve many moving parts. The list of questions includes how to transport the most vulnerable, underserved populations to the clinics and retailers that have promised to be part of the mass vaccination effort. Further, Lyft needs to sort out how many of these rides will be free or subsidized. In fairness, the company can’t provide all these rides at no cost or at a discount, so all the partners in this effort will have to figure out how to collect donations from either companies or individuals. After all, Lyft’s drivers — who at a minimum rely on ridesharing to supplement their incomes — will have to be paid.
“Access to reliable transportation represents a major barrier to care for millions of Americans across the country,” said Lyft Healthcare’s Megan Callahan in a public statement. “In fact, lack of transportation is one of the top reasons people miss medical appointments. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this problem, creating a huge challenge in making sure vulnerable populations have access to the vaccine — especially for seniors living alone, low-income workers and parents with young children. We estimate that 15 million Americans will face transportation issues trying to get to vaccination sites. That’s where Lyft can make a difference.”
Additional organizations and businesses that have reportedly signed up for this effort include Centene Corporation, Epic, Modern Health, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, National Hispanic Council on Aging, the National Urban League, National Action Network and One Medical.
Many of us are already aware of the many hurdles facing the global food system as it seeks to feed 10 billion people by 2050 while harnessing fewer resources and ensuring minimal land use. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has made the food and agriculture sector’s challenges even more apparent as more citizens confront food insecurity.
But even if a crisis can lead to an opportunity, the companies driving the global food system have a huge learning curve coming in the years ahead if we as a society are going to produce enough food without mowing down the planet’s landscape. Human rights activists have long been concerned about the impact the quest for more farmland has had on Indigenous and poorer communities. Emissions linked to agriculture are another culprit food and beverage companies need to confront in the coming years.
Concern should also be focused on natural habitats, according to a study released this week in the journal Nature. The group of researchers who teamed together on this article concluded we can expect to see millions of square miles of lands rich in biodiversity disappear by 2050.
After evaluating the habitats of almost 20,000 species, researchers found almost 90 percent could see the land on which they roam become lost to farmland by mid-century; almost 1,300 could lose more than 25 percent of their natural habitat.
“Until we start addressing what we eat, how it is produced and everything in between, we're not going to make wide-scale progress towards existing conservation and biodiversity targets,” said Michael Clark, an environmental sustainability researcher at the University of Oxford and one of the study’s co-lead authors, in an interview with The Independent.
For food companies managing global supply chains that also say they are committed to preventing biodiversity loss, this study adds another layer of complexity to their sustainability agendas. The study’s authors made it clear that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing the globe’s food supply in the coming years. Various tactics such as decreasing meat and dairy consumption, tackling food waste and finding new ways to boost crop yields are all on the table.
The surging interest in plant-based protein in North America, for example, could help manage such a problem on this side of the pond, but such a shift will go for naught in regions where meat consumption has long been quite low and food insecurity looms as a constant threat. Conversely, talk about increasing yields in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa — where evidence suggests such a shift is already occurring — makes sense. But several time zones away, U.S. farmers have largely won that battle over the past few decades.
Some food and beverage companies are currently making the moves necessary to secure a more sustainable supply chain. It’s clear, however, that the time to rethink our global food system was yesterday — and companies and their suppliers will have to consider a wide range of strategies in order to be up to the task of growing more food with minimal destruction.
A team of researchers says the way in which the global food system now operates could result in millions of square miles of natural habitat gone by 2050.
