Search

Corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have become more sophisticated over the years, providing new opportunities to attract and retain top talent. That also means human resources departments are confronted by a wider range of choices when evaluating DEI programs and the impact they have on employees and the company. Making the right choice is critical because there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and a combination of data and human insights can point a company in the right direction.  

Deploying data for DEI

When the tech recruiting firm Built In asked hiring teams how they are supporting their hiring pipelines with DEI initiatives, the importance of data was a common thread among their answers. 

“Hiring can be a complex set of processes to evaluate and codify, but that isn’t stopping culture leaders from making moves in the right direction,” noted Conlan Carter, a writer at Built In. “Organizations like Headway and Belvedere Trading are utilizing a data-focused approach to identify problem areas in all areas of their hiring process, and teams at Calm are applying modern tools to support a growing diverse candidate pool.”

Headway provides a good example. “Data tracking has played a large role in our ability to diversify our candidate pool,” Natalie Dunnege, the company’s head of talent acquisition, told Built In.

Headway is a national, virtual mental health services network. The wide geographical reach of the business offers both challenges and opportunities for building workforce diversity.

“Hiring demographic data provides patterns in candidate activity," Dunnege said. "Those patterns point toward where to dig deep and problem-solve. We also track the percentage of Headway interviewers and hiring managers who are trained in inclusive hiring practices with a goal of 100 percent completion. We then use our demographic funnel data to help identify whether a hiring team is upholding those practices.”

Human connections and the “pipeline” myth

The human factor is another key element. The website CIO, which focuses on news and insights for chief information officers, described how the nonprofit organization Black Tech Pipeline helps connect Black professionals with hiring teams that have strong DEI profiles.

The idea for Black Tech Pipeline took shape in 2018 when Pariss Chandler, the founder and software engineer, asked her social media followers on X (formerly Twitter), “What does Black Twitter in Tech look like?”

The question grew out of her experiences being the only Black person at her workplace. The need to connect on a personal level hit a chord. The tweet went viral. It sparked a flood of responses, including messages from companies seeking help recruiting Black professionals.

Chandler began to pinpoint a key obstacle to diversity hiring in the tech field: the illusion that there are not enough Black professionals in the pipeline.

“Companies expect [Black tech professionals] to come to them, but these people do not know they exist or cannot access them,” Chandler told CIO. “So, how do they expect them to find the opportunities available to them?” 

“The illusion of a 'pipeline problem' is perpetuated by the bubbles that exist in the technology sector — people think there aren’t enough Black IT candidates simply because they don’t see Black tech professionals at conferences, in leadership positions, or applying to jobs in their organization,” Sarah K. White wrote for CIO. “And, on the flip side, many Black tech professionals don’t have the right networks and connections to find available jobs."

Surmounting this obstacle is a matter of hiring teams breaking out of their comfortable social bubbles and actively seeking new opportunities to connect in person. “Many jobs are landed by referrals, connections, and shared networks, so it’s important that those networks remain diverse,” White concluded.

Moving beyond metrics

Another perspective on the human factor is provided by A. Benjamin Spencer, dean of William and Mary Law School. In an op-ed published by Bloomberg Law in November, Spencer noted that diversity programs at law schools and other employers have faced mounting criticism in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision on affirmative action.

“Setting aside the legal question of whether the decision requires a change in these programs — a matter the courts will sort out — it seems they must and will evolve away from their traditional focus on hiring 'diverse' candidates toward some other approach. But what should that approach be?” Spencer said.

Spencer anticipates that employers will seek new opportunities to address under-representation at the root. That means, in part, that hiring teams will need to view candidate excellence through a holistic lens that considers factors beyond “the best grades, the highest scores, or the most awards,” he said.

Drawing from his own experience, Spencer notes that the conventional metrics of “the best” fail to factor in the importance of personal qualities. He lists maturity, judgment, empathy, personality, perspective and experience among other key elements.

“Fundamentally, any hiring process should have as its lodestar excellence as appropriately and broadly defined to place the best people in the job,” he said.

Similar to Chandler, Spencer advocates for law firms to move beyond their traditional focus on hiring from particular law schools. They also need to engage with regional and specialty career fairs to connect with a more robust, diverse pool of prospective employees.

When applied to employers in general, Spencer’s guidance would replace an exclusive reliance on test scores and other metrics with an “inclusive excellence” model that takes other factors into consideration.

“But this is only part of the solution; firms must pay attention to the entire pipeline that produces the pool of candidates, taking care to provide equal opportunities for people from all backgrounds to enter and successfully to progress through the gauntlet that culminates in graduation and professional licensure,” Spencer said.

Next steps for DEI

Despite an overwhelming consensus on the bottom-line benefits of workforce diversity, the political and legal backlash against corporate DEI programs continues to pose a challenge.

Some business leaders and organizations are simply ignoring the anti-DEI chatter. Others, however, are searching for ways to create the conditions for progress without expressing the acronym “DEI.”

The language dilemma was described in a Psychology Today article written by Eden King and Mikki Hebl, the authors of the new book, "Working Together: Practicing the Science of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion."

“We recently wrote a book about how people, leaders and organizations can apply scientific findings toward improving diversity, equity and inclusion,” King and Hebl wrote. “That’s what every one of the 216 pages of the book is about. Yet… we seriously considered leaving those words out of the title.”

“Anti-DEI discourse suggests that these programs are about unfair and illegal decision-making that favors one group above another,” they said. “In fact, any such effort would be entirely contradictory to the notions of diversity, equity and inclusion."

Joelle Emerson, co-founder and CEO of the DEI firm Paradigm, also observes that anti-DEI critics have gone over the top.

“The term DEI has become weaponized and cast as the villain in the economic or social issue of the moment,” she wrote in an op-ed published by Fortune. “This year alone, it’s been blamed for a bank collapse, a train derailment and, most recently, antisemitism on college campuses.”

King and Hebl suggest that adopting alternative language like difference, belongingness and fairness could help hiring teams skirt some of the most hyperbolic objections, but that may ultimately prove ineffective in today’s hothouse partisan political environment.

As the anti-DEI movement continues to gather force, business leaders will need to step up and assert their right to talk about DEI in any way they choose.

A grassroots organization is spreading the word about climate-smart agriculture while tackling food insecurity and increasing climate resilience. And women's leadership is the key to it all.

The pan-African nonprofit Camfed trains young women to become agricultural guides who teach their communities about climate-smart agriculture techniques, which help farmers increase crop yields by adapting to the effects of climate change while reducing their environmental impact.

As farmers increase their yields and improve their quality of life, the ripple effects spread across the community, evident in metrics like higher attendance and fewer dropouts at local schools. “More children actually complete school," said Esnath Divasoni, a sustainable agriculture expert at Camfed in Zimbabwe.

The connection goes beyond academic performance. Giving families the tools to produce enough food helps them afford school fees and ensure children are getting the proper nutrition so they are not struggling to make what’s typically at least a five-kilometer walk to school, Divasoni said.

Agricultural guides make sure no one is left behind

Camfed’s agricultural guides bridge a gap in services by working with smallholder farmers from marginalized communities who may otherwise be left behind. Extension workers from Zimbabwe's Ministry of Agriculture train farmers with larger plots, but Camfed’s guides reach those who are missed because of their age or the size of their land, which is often an acre or less, Divasoni said. The guides ensure that farmers have access to climate-smart agricultural techniques that enable them to grow enough food for their families and, potentially, extra food to sell.

“What we teach, or what we give to the community members, are techniques,” she said. “Basically, we are bringing the new and the old techniques together.” By creating a fusion of traditional and new practices, the guides help the farmers they work with produce at the same level, or higher, than those who are supported by extension workers. 

Climate-smart agriculture techniques include digging planting basins to conserve water, using recycled plastic water bottles for drip irrigation, cooking on cleaner-burning stoves instead of open fires, saving local seeds for the next planting season, improving soil conditions, and growing trees for wood, nuts and fruits.

“Most of the farmers that we work with can't afford to go and buy fertilizers,” Divasoni said. “So, we are teaching them to make their own compost. We are teaching them to use the available resources. We are also looking at diversification of crops for better nutrition. We used to have farmers who just plant one crop, but they now understand the importance of diversifying. We are also looking at water harvesting through the construction of dams and ponds. We are also looking at the adoption of small livestock.”

Increasing utilization of climate-smart agriculture has a big impact

Most farmers in the program were originally using one or two of the climate-smart techniques — now, many have added up to seven more, Divasoni said. That’s a huge uptick compared to the baseline, and it shows the value of Camfed’s work.

Giving women the opportunity to become agricultural guides also teaches them valuable techniques and leadership skills so they can further improve their communities, increase food security and improve environmental stewardship. That development helps support their education. In turn, more children — girls especially — can remain in school.

A variety of community improvements are made possible through the program’s knowledge sharing. “We have seen people who never used to plant trees. They are now taking the initiative to plant trees,” Divasoni said. “We have also introduced the use of clean cookstoves, which use less firewood and smaller firewood than an open fire. We've seen some communities coming in with the initiatives of actually advancing the technology.” 

After the organization provided the tools and knowledge to build stoves that were fixed in place, some communities made moveable stoves with materials like metal so they could be used for more tasks, she said.   

The guides operate under the same premise. Originally, 1,000 agricultural guides were trained on climate-smart techniques. Each of them has gone on to train at least 10 young women from their community who reach out to more community members and farmers. The program reached over 100,000 people by the end of 2022, according to Camfed. 

Perhaps the strongest proof of the effort’s success comes from the meal program, which feeds 27,000 students each day thanks to parent support groups. Additionally, gardens have been planted at many schools to provide fruits and vegetables for the students.

Camfed’s agricultural guides are up to the challenge

That’s not to say that the program hasn’t faced challenges. Naturally, there is pushback from some farmers who don’t see a reason to change what they are familiar with. As members of marginalized communities themselves, the guides are able to serve as role models and demonstrate why the new techniques are worth adopting.

Divasoni shared the story of Philomena, who was able to demonstrate the value of climate-smart agriculture to her community by planting side-by-side plots of maize grown conventionally and maize grown with climate-smart techniques for comparison. The climate-smart crops yielded greater output than the conventional plot. As a result, community members were eager to learn from Philomena, inviting her to teach them the new techniques. 

“And that was not only Philomena,” Divasoni said. “It also happened in many other parts of the country where they were experiencing resistance … The majority of the community members were not really listening to what we were doing until they saw the results. And the good thing is we are coming from those same communities. By being part of the community and showcasing that we are trusted, they now see the importance of what we are doing.”

Other challenges that farmers face include climate change and a rise in heatwaves, cyclones and hail storms. Scaling the program and increasing the number of guides can help more farmers become resilient to the impacts of climate change. Divasoni is confident that can be done thanks to the partnerships Camfed has developed and the trust it’s built in local communities.

Food security and secondary education completion for people from all economic backgrounds are inextricably intertwined. By bringing climate-smart agriculture to even the smallest landholders, Camfed’s guides are helping make these goals a reality. 

When I set out to become an environmental journalist, I took classes that left me pondering how to practice sustainable living in daily life. But from what I’d seen on social media, living more sustainably looked pretty expensive — and like many college students in the United States, I was on a strict budget.  Adding the newest, trendy, eco-friendly products to my delicate balance of bills and necessities was not an option.   

Fortunately, over time I learned that making sustainable changes to my lifestyle doesn’t require buying new things or following trends — and it can save me money, too. For our 2024 Sustainable Living Challenge, I’m reflecting on the simple things that made a big impact in my student years. 

Conscious and secondhand shopping 

One of my earliest college memories is digging through a week's worth of my trash for a class assignment. The goal was to categorize it and determine how to reduce my waste from the results. You might know this exercise as a waste audit. 

That’s when I realized far too much of the food I bought was going to waste. As someone who used to live a 30-minute drive away from the grocery store in a house that split groceries between three people, I was stocking up out of habit. So, I tried conscious shopping. There are many definitions of the practice, but I did so by taking a second to consider the environmental and social impacts of my purchases and asking myself whether I would truly use things before buying them. 

I started by picking up smaller portions of ingredients and taking more frequent, smaller trips to the grocery store. Seeing the reduction in my food waste encouraged me to consider all of my purchases this way. When it came time to furnish my new apartment, I took my time considering what new furniture pieces I truly needed and waiting for the right thing to pop up at a thrift store or on Facebook Marketplace. This kept me from impulsively buying trendy decor that would be “out of style” quickly or acquiring furniture I wouldn’t use just to fill space in a room. 

Sustainable swaps and reuse

My new focus on reducing waste led me to find reusable alternatives for household items like paper towels and dryer sheets. Sure, the upfront cost of washable towels is more expensive than a roll of paper towels. But if I reuse the washable towels for years, the upfront cost is negligible compared to the amount I’d spend on disposable paper towels in that time. 

I used what I had left of single-use items like dryer sheets and disinfecting wipes before swapping them for reusable options like wool dryer balls and cleaning concentrates that can be mixed with water in refillable bottles. I also looked for ways to reuse things I would otherwise throw away. Glass peanut butter and pickle jars make great storage containers for leftovers. 

Sharing with friends and roommates 

I didn’t have a lot of free time between work and school, so grocery shopping and cooking became ways to spend quality time with my friends and roommates. This also made it easier to shop in bulk for ingredients and split them, which produced less packaging waste and cost less than smaller portions. 

Making cooking a fun social activity frequently kept me from ordering takeout that would arrive in foam containers and plastic bags. And I could take the leftovers to school the next day instead of grabbing more to-go containers of food for lunch. 

Even when we didn’t cook together, we often brought extra food to each other's houses when we accidentally cooked too much or would be gone for a few days and didn’t want it to go to waste. 

Food is the main example I have of sharing, but there are plenty of other things to share. When I didn’t have an oddly specific tool I needed to fix something, for example, my friends studying engineering usually did and were happy to save me from buying something I may never use again. 

Taking care of my belongings 

The most valuable lesson my pursuit of living sustainably on a budget taught me was to take better care of my things to keep them out of the landfill and avoid buying replacements.  

I learned to bring my dirty, sometimes smelly sneakers back to pristine condition by carefully washing them. I asked my mom to teach me to do a basic stitch to sew up small holes in my clothing. For the alterations I couldn’t make myself, I found a tailor. I made sure to keep up with routine maintenance on my car like changing the oil, and I started sharpening my kitchen knives. I updated, restarted, and removed unnecessary files and apps from my laptop frequently — which, I’ll admit I’ve been slacking on since college and I’ve noticed a difference in performance. 

Initially, this felt like additional work I didn’t have time for, but most of the tasks were easier and less time-consuming than I assumed. And the payoff of keeping my things working better for longer is always worth it. 

Using less energy 

One of the things I dreaded most while attending college in Michigan was the winter utility bill. The average temperature in my college town during January is a high of 29 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 13 degrees. My utility bill typically doubled when I turned on the heat for the winter because I was using more energy. 

Though it seems counterintuitive, I learned that keeping my apartment at a lower temperature would slow the heat loss to the outside world compared to when my thermostat is set at a higher temperature. This small change saved energy and lowered my monthly bill. Luckily, I grew up in a town several hours to the north, so I didn’t mind keeping my space a couple of degrees colder and wearing sweaters around the house. 

I also took advantage of the heat from the sun by opening my blinds and the heat from cooking in my oven. In the summer, I did the opposite. Avoiding using my oven, keeping my blinds closed, and keeping the thermostat at a higher temperature helped keep my space cooler while reducing my energy use. 

Having fun at home 

My focus on saving money as a student didn’t stop me from having fun. My friends and I spent countless nights playing board games (many of which were purchased from thrift stores), playing instruments together (several of them were in the college marching band), and simply enjoying each other's company at one of our apartments. 

Though staying home was a habit formed mostly by budgetary constraints, it remained one of our favorite ways to spend our free time after a few years passed and we had more money to spare. Our choice to enjoy the things we already owned also happened to be the sustainable option. If we’re putting in the effort to make our spaces more sustainable, why not take the opportunity to enjoy our hard work with our friends and family by inviting them over for a night in? Playing board games and instruments may not be your thing, but you’ve probably stocked your home with things you’d enjoy doing instead. 

Leaders looking to improve their company's performance on gender equity have a successful coalition to learn from. More than 80 global CEOs are searching for the best ways to advance gender equity as a part of the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative. 

Catalyst, a global nonprofit focused on advancing gender equity in the workplace, observed that women's representation in leadership roles was stalling, said Andrew Grissom, the nonprofit's director of community growth. To drive progress, the team formed a coalition of business leaders who were advocates of women’s leadership and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to join Champions for Change. 

To qualify to join the group, companies must have at least two women on their senior leadership teams who report to the CEO and at least two women on their boards, Grissom said. One of those women must also identify with a marginalized racial or ethnic group, and the company has to have a Catalyst membership.  

The nonprofit has tracked the CEOs' gender equity commitments since 2017 — and the leaders made good on their promises to advance women across racial and ethnic groups into leadership roles while raising the bar on accountability, measurement and transparency, according to a recent Catalyst report. 

What sets “champion” companies apart 

In the past three years, 93 percent of the companies in the CEO Champions For Change group conducted a pay equity review, according to Catalyst’s report. In comparison, 58 percent of all U.S.-based companies voluntarily conducted pay equity reviews during that time. 

"Nearly all Catalyst Champions for Change companies are conducting these reviews,” Grissom said. “We define [a pay equity review] as close examinations of workforce and compensation data that ensure compensation and awards are equitable across gender, race and ethnicity. These reviews are no longer elective. They are table stakes for leading-edge companies today.” 

Pay equity has positive implications for attracting top talent, reducing turnover rates and driving economic growth. Eliminating the gender pay gap will provide an estimated $447.6 billion to women and their families while reducing their poverty rate by half, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy.

Companies in Catalyst’s initiative also concentrate on retaining and advancing women in leadership, including women of color. Though the representation of women in senior leadership roles has increased over the past decade, women of color are not included in this progress. In fact, women of color are still underrepresented in leadership roles, and they are most often absent at C-suite levels. In Champions for Change companies, women occupy 30 percent of executive positions and 34 percent of senior managerial positions — compared to 24 percent and 29 percent, respectively, in other companies. 

Advancing in the boardroom is another challenge that women face. The average percentage of board seats occupied by women at companies around the world is 19.7 percent, according to research from the consulting firm Deloitte’s Global Boardroom Program. In recent years, the tenure of directors who are women has declined from 5.5. years to 5.1 years, compared to a 7.6-year average tenure for directors who are men.

Companies in Catalyst’s initiative are outperforming their peers in this area, too — 37 percent of their board seats are held by women, compared to 30 percent of board seats across all Fortune 500 companies.

One example of a leading company in the initiative is Zoetis. The animal healthcare provider set five-year goals to increase the representation of people of color and advance women's leadership. And it's already made progress, increasing representation of women at the director level and above from 32 percent to 40 percent globally since 2020. It also increased overall representation among people of color in its U.S. workforce from 21 percent to 25 percent, according to 2023 disclosures. 

The keys to success

When women of color do reach the top levels at Champions For Change companies like Zoetis, they're likely to stay: These firms collectively retained at least 89 percent of women who identify with marginalized racial and ethnic groups at the manager, senior manager, and executive levels, according to Catalyst’s report.

The nonprofit attributes this success to these companies' use of employee resource groups (ERGs), as well as programs focused on sponsorship, mentorship and career progress — which build a community and opportunities for development and networking. 

“ERGs are instrumental in creating compelling work environments for women to stay and thrive,” Grissom said. Additionally, ERGs provide a safe space for women to network and connect to career opportunities. Both formal and informal sponsorship programs help women connect to and learn from senior leaders, and they're crucial for their career advancement, according to Catalyst.

Research shows that the obstacles in the way of women's leadership are related to discrimination and unconscious gender bias. Traditionally, the spotlight is on organizational culture to close the gender gap, but the CEO Champions For Change companies show that going beyond the internal organizational environment and taking the initiative to set high global standards is a robust way to move toward gender equity and propel others to follow suit. 

Consumer demand for sustainable building materials is rising, but the question remains: What, exactly, counts as sustainable? That can be a difficult question to answer. For indoor spaces in particular, the sheer number and variety of available materials and products can be overwhelming. Gensler, the largest design and architecture firm in the world, created a solution that demonstrates how one company can make a difference with sustainable design.

Pushing the market for sustainable interior materials 

Much attention is paid to the sustainability of steel, concrete and other structural materials used in the building industry. Interior spaces are just as important, and they can present new and different sustainability challenges.

“Every day, people work in and around spaces filled with furniture, but how many of us know how our furniture impacts us or the environment?” the U.S. Green Building Council asks rhetorically on its website. “Furniture products can be made with high-emitting materials that can off-gas chemicals and potentially affect employee productivity; or they could be manufactured with high-embodied carbon materials that contribute to climate change.”

Interior design teams already choose materials based on aesthetics and performance. Gensler maintains that sustainability should feature just as prominently and that sustainability standards should be straightforward and easily accessible. To help push the industry in that direction, the firm created a platform called the Gensler Product Sustainability Standards. 

The firm announced plans for the standards last year, and the platform officially launched in January. In addition to identifying sustainable options among existing products, the platform is expected to motivate manufacturers to develop new products.

“As architects and designers, selecting more sustainable building materials is one of our most substantial opportunities for impact,” the Gensler team wrote in an August blog. “We have a responsibility to define clear, impact-based priorities for sustainable materials, and a key step in this mission is publicly sharing a minimum sustainability standard for all our projects.”

“We recognize the power of collective action and strive to use our influence responsibly by increasing demand for sustainable materials in the market,” Gensler added.

Focusing on the doable

Gensler’s platform is an actionable initiative, not an aspirational one. It launched as GPS Standards v1.0, indicating its focus on product categories in which suppliers have already made sustainability disclosures, such as those outlined by the U.S. Green Building Council and other sustainability pace setters. Gensler expects that future versions of the platform will reflect a more proactive approach to motivate progress in the design industry.

To provide for maximum impact now, the current version centers around 12 categories representing the highest volume of materials used in interior spaces today. That includes office chairs, ceiling materials, insulation, carpet tiles, decorative glass, glass partition walls, gypsum board, interior latex paint, non-structural metal framing, furniture workstations and resilient flooring, which refers to vinyl and other materials that give slightly underfoot.

In addition to raw volume, Gensler also selected product categories based on their current state of traceability, including lifecycle and indoor air impacts. A sustainability paper trail already exists for carpet tile, for example, whereas Gensler determined that broadloom carpet is still problematic.

Control over the selection of materials is another factor. “The focus on today’s market-ready product categories is important to ensure enough GPS compliant products are available to maintain competitive bidding and avoid barriers for design and construction processes,” according to the firm.

Communication and education

Last month, TriplePundit checked in with David Briefel, Gensler’s sustainability director who was instrumental in designing the standards, to get some insight into the launch of the platform.

“We’ve definitely been getting some feedback in the buildup to launch, and we got a lot this month,” Briefel said. “People like the idea and the collaborative nature. We are very transparent, and we’ve made an effort to align with industry standards.”

Once the platform was activated, Briefel and his team zeroed in on areas of improvement. One of those is coordinating with manufacturers to avoid duplicating requests for information.

“The challenge is largely around communication with manufacturers,” Briefel said. “We have an entire part of the team focusing on manufacture engagement. We are tracking outreach and making the information available to everyone.” 

Although sustainability has become part of the mainstream conversation, Briefel also noted that its status within the design world varies from one client to another.

“Some markets are more sophisticated than others,” he said. “Some clients have done deep dives but others are more focused on energy efficiency, and for some, it’s not a priority. That’s why we thought it was important to have our standard as a baseline, regardless of the individual market.”

The next steps

Considering the ever-growing supply chain complexity of the task chair industry alone, the coming years will be full of challenges for the interior design industry. Nevertheless, a new language for sustainable materials is beginning to take shape.

Gensler’s platform is part of a movement that gathered force last November when the American Institute of Architects, the International Living Future Institute, the International Well Building Institute, the U.S. Green Building Council, and Mindful Materials announced their joint support for the Common Materials Framework for building and product materials.

The first-of-its-kind collaboration drew attention to the framework, which launched in 2021 as the premier digital language for tracking and reporting sustainable building materials. It covers human health, climate health, ecosystem health, social health and equity, and circularity. 

“Every organization defines product sustainability differently and asks for different pathways or labels to meet the same objectives — safe, sustainable and socially just materials.” Alex Muller, the vice president of strategy at Mindful Materials, said in a statement. “So, it’s not surprising we’ve made less progress than we’d want. That’s all about to change thanks to the Common Materials Framework.”

The change will not happen overnight but, as Breifel told 3p, the work done today will help prepare the designers of the future to create buildings and rooms that support a healthy, sustainable planet, inside and out.

Editor's Note: This story was updated on February 16, 2024, to clarify the scope of Gensler's business.

As we celebrate Valentine’s Day, a day that has become associated with chocolate almost as much as romance, we must acknowledge some grim truths about where cocoa comes from and how it’s produced. This isn’t a guilt trip for consumers or a sermon against corporate greed. Rather, it’s a call to companies to ensure a future where cocoa production thrives through concerted investments in the people and places that sustain it. 
 
The cocoa industry generates roughly $200 billion in annual profits, yet the farmers who produce it — most of whom have never tasted chocolate — often make less than a dollar a day from growing and selling cocoa. This has several ripple effects. Impoverished farmers increasingly rely on older plantings with declining productivity. They cannot afford to replant trees, address diseases or buy fertilizer to replace nutrients in the soil. They pay labor less and this often means child and/or illegal labor. And because it’s often cheaper to expand production into virgin forests than to replant crops on degraded land, cocoa is a leading driver of deforestation, accelerating climate change and leading to rising temperatures and further declines in crop yields.
 
This vicious cycle of environmental degradation, poverty and human rights abuses is precisely what’s happening in West Africa, where 75 percent of the world’s cocoa for chocolate is currently grown. But if we get cocoa right, it could become a model for the more sustainable and resilient production of other tree crops that also generate high rates of deforestation, such as palm oil and coffee.
 
Many experts have pointed to the challenge of the cocoa industry’s distinct hourglass structure — with a few million small-scale farmers at the top and hundreds of millions of consumers at the bottom connected in the middle by a bottleneck dominated by less than a dozen companies. But herein lies my reason for optimism: Those few companies in the middle wield outsized influence over the industry. If they can come together around common-sense solutions that benefit everyone, they can drive the lasting, large-scale change we need.
 
Long-term contracts (LTCs) are a key ingredient. Many large-scale buyers prefer spot-market purchases from intermediaries or producers because they feel it helps them obtain the best price on the day of the purchase. But this strategy doesn’t help producers become more sustainable, bolster their resilience to climate change or protect supply chains from future shocks. 

LTCs, on the other hand, benefit buyers and producers by lowering transactional costs and improving profitability by acting as an asset for producers. They can use LTCs to borrow money that they need to invest in replanting trees, rehabilitating degraded land, adopting more sustainable practices, using proven inputs to increase production and ensuring the economic future of their households. For companies, these contracts ensure future access to supply, quality and traceability without covering upfront costs.
 
Notably, the newest generation of LTCs is often designed to acknowledge the importance of partnering between buyers and sellers rather than just “buy low, sell high” relationships. In exchange for creating this asset for producers, downstream buyers can ensure more stable supplies. But in these partnerships, buyers are increasingly beginning to set price floors to pay premiums for improving both social and environmental performance. Such as ensuring that products are deforestation-free, involve zero child labor, contribute to rehabilitation of degraded land and more. These LTCs recognize the interdependence of producers and buyers by creating a new asset for producers and placing more conditions on both producers and buyers. This creates long-term commitments, transparency and more certainty in the face of climate change.
 
The pivotal companies in the chocolate bottleneck must find new ways to collaborate. They all share similar risks. The reputation of a sector is only as good as its worst performer. 

Similarly, the least efficient producers have the biggest negative impacts and shape the reputation of the industry. Producers need platforms to share information about the impacts of climate change and increasing temperatures on production, and which investments and practices best address them. 

Companies must move beyond sharing information about cocoa’s impacts and their individual commitments to invest in fixing them. They need to share information about what works and what doesn’t so that everyone can improve more quickly. This will help companies diversify strategies, drive innovation and ultimately make cocoa production more resilient.
 
Businesses can’t do it alone, but they must do more and increasingly recognize that the viability of the chocolate sector is linked to their collective actions. They need governments to create enabling conditions for industry-wide change. This is true in producing countries as well as in consuming ones. In the United States, companies should urge Congress to pass the recently introduced FOREST Act, which would require companies to ensure their supply chains do not contribute to illegal deforestation. In the European Union, a similar regulation was enacted that complements industry efforts to foster a more sustainable future. Hopefully, other nations will follow suit.
 
When Forrest Gump famously said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get," he was commenting on the positive side of life’s uncertainties. But when it comes to cocoa production for chocolate, uncertainty about the future — be it driven by climate change or shortsighted business practices — is a major impediment to healthy communities, healthy forests and healthy bottom lines. It’s time to look beyond the next harvest, see past business rivalries, and fix our collective gaze on a more sustainable and delectable future.

Homepage image: Jessica Loaiza/Unsplash

Following a wave of high-profile criticism and new state legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, it may seem that the corporate DEI movement is retrenching. But regathering would be a more accurate assessment. In this day and age of labor shortages, a strong DEI profile is all the more essential for businesses to thrive and grow. 

DEI is good for business 

So far, much of the media attention has focused on state-based legislation that bans DEI programs from public schools and universities. Florida is the most notorious epicenter of such activity, though bills in Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and both of the Dakotas have also been signed into law, with many more in the pipeline, according to the online education tracker BestColleges.

In contrast, the private sector is relatively untouched, enabling businesses to continue their DEI practices without interference, for the most part.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) provides a good example of private-sector momentum on DEI. The trade organization represents one of the fastest-growing sectors of the United States’ economy. They are keenly aware of the need to attract, cultivate and retain enough workers to keep supporting that growth.

“Prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) programming is the path forward to helping the solar and storage industry achieve its goals,” wrote Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of SEIA, and Erika Symmonds, vice president of equity and workforce development at the association, in a blog post. 

“It’s how we spread wealth, deliver upward mobility, and ensure that the workplace support systems we put in place are fully embraced and elevated in tandem with our industry’s growth,” they added. “It’s also how we attract and retain the top talent we need to become the dominant energy source in our economy … A company’s workforce is its most powerful asset. As companies seek to increase profit and reduce turnover, well-executed diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are great for business and great for our industry.”

Amplifying the DEI effect

SEIA also demonstrates how trade organizations can educate and support their members, helping to amplify DEI messages about workforce development. The organization launched a DEIJ Certification program three years ago, and so far the program has enlisted 52 participants across the solar industry spectrum, including SEIA itself as well as developers, manufacturers, financiers and service providers.

The program includes an assessment step, a communications plan, a mentorship program and training for hiring managers. Since launching, the program has also expanded in response to emerging needs.

“This includes new modules on mentorship, LGTBQ+ inclusion in the workplace, creating inclusive spaces, and strategies for attracting, hiring, and retaining military veterans and spouses,” Hopper and Symmonds wrote.

“In addition, all 52 organizations report that they are working directly with the frontline communities impacted by energy development and have either created a process or are working on a process to collect feedback from impacted communities,” they reported. “Inclusion assessments, feedback processes, and mentorship programs … help boost retention and generate a more inclusive culture. As these programs expand, participating companies will see the benefits and become more competitive when they’re trying to hire top talent.” 

Vigilance needed to preserve DEI progress

Although private-sector action on DEI has been relatively free from partisan political interference, cracks in the shield have appeared.

In 2020, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning DEI programs among federal agencies, a policy that also impacted private sector contractors and grant recipients. The order was later rescinded by President Joe Biden. However, it served as the inspiration for Florida’s new “Stop WOKE” legislation, which prohibits employers from enrolling their workers in DEI programs. The Florida law seems unlikely to survive a First Amendment challenge, though it could nevertheless inspire copycat bills elsewhere.

Another form of attack on corporate DEI initiatives appears in the torrent of state-based legislation aimed at criminalizing transgender existence and reproductive health care, to the extent that they impact corporate health plans and other aspects of employee relations.

Influencers continue to influence against DEI

More broadly, the persistent influence of former President Trump on the U.S. political landscape all but guarantees the anti-DEI movement will continue to wield power over state legislation in the coming years. Trump may or may not survive as a political force past the 2024 election cycle, but the anti-DEI torch was also taken up and amplified by other influential private-sector figures. 

Most notably that includes Tesla investor and CEO Elon Musk, whose views on DEI attracted renewed attention after he purchased the social media site Twitter, now known as X, in 2022. Tesla’s latest 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission omitted all references to minority inclusion, a break with the company’s past practice, according to Bloomberg Law.

Musk also posted anti-DEI statements on social media, such as a December 2023 post in which he stated, “DEI must DIE. The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.”

In other words, programs that support inclusion and diversity are somehow unfair to, well, everyone. If that sounds like a weak argument, it is. And most of corporate America is ignoring it.

The latest example of corporate indifference to the “different discrimination” argument comes from a new national survey of senior executives in companies with more than 1,000 employees by the research organization Public Private Strategies Institute.

The survey reveals “a strong consensus across political affiliations that diversity initiatives are critical for business strategies, create significant value, and will become increasingly important,” according to the institute. “Business leaders across the board see diversity initiatives as very important for their business strategy and expect it will become more important in the coming years.” 

“With 82 percent of executives indicating that diversity initiatives are critical for their business strategies, the connection between business diversity and business success is undeniable,” Tammy Halevy, executive director of the institute’s Reimagine Main Street program, said of the survey. “It’s not just about being on the right side of public opinion, but on the right side of growth, innovation, and performance in a rapidly evolving business landscape.”

Staying the DEI course has been a winning business strategy, partisan politics or not. However, the background chatter against DEI is all but certain to gather steam in the run-up to the 2024 Election Day. Business leaders will need to push back more aggressively in order to ensure that their workforce keeps thriving and growing into the future.

Marketers tackled Super Bowl LVIII with a star-studded lineup of ads featuring everyone from Tina Fey and Jennifer Anniston to Michael Cera and Arnold Schwarzenegger. A 30-second spot during this year's Super Bowl set advertisers back around $7 million, and while standard product features with a side of comedy dominated the airwaves, a number of brands took the opportunity to raise awareness for a bigger message. From Dove's short film about empowering girls in sport to Google's take on accessibility for people with disabilities, here are all the brands that took stands in their Super Bowl ads this year. 

Dove 

Unilever brand Dove is at it again with another purpose-driven ad campaign focused on body positivity and empowering women and girls. The personal care brand's short film for the Super Bowl opens with footage of young women athletes falling down and getting back up during sport. Then comes the message: "The knocks don't stop girls playing sports. Low body confidence does." 

The film then shifts to a young girl peering self consciously at herself in the mirror as she tugs on her swim uniform. The spot aims to raise awareness of the role unattainable beauty standards and body image play in 45 percent of girls quitting sports by the time they're 14. "Together we can keep them in the game," the brand declares, with a call-to-action for viewers to get involved in Body Confident Sport, an evidence-based effort to build girls' confidence and keep them playing the sports they love. 

The program was developed over three years in partnership with Nike, the Center for Appearance Research and the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, with input from girls and coaches across six countries. The program trains coaches, physical education teachers, and other educators to deliver confidence-building programming to girls aged 11 to 17, and training materials are available for free on its website. 

Google

Most of us love the advanced cameras on our smartphones because they help us snag a better shot for Instagram, but features like these can also serve a deeper purpose. That's the focus of Google's 2024 Super Bowl ad spot, which features the story of a visually-impaired person using the guided frame feature on the Google Pixel phone to snap selfies with his partner and document his life. 

The film contrasts Javier's blurred vision with perfectly framed, crystal clear photographs taken with an artificial intelligence assistant that lets the user know how many faces are in the frame and takes hands-free shots when they're ready. The rapid-fire montage of Javier's trips with his partner, his first completed marathon, his first home and, finally, the birth of his first child make clear how much adaptability features like these mean for people who walk through the world with different abilities — and it's a perfect example of how brands can sell their cool stuff, while making it much bigger than selling their cool stuff. 

The National Football League

The NFL leveraged its own ad space at Super Bowl LVIII to raise awareness for the International Player Pathway Program, launched in 2017 to reach talented athletes around the world with training and an opportunity to earn a spot on an NFL team. The ad spot opens with a young boy running through a crowded outdoor market in Ghana's capital city of Accra, imagining he is playing football with NFL stars. With a little help from a nearby dog, he discovers an NFL training camp and meets former New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who tells him, "It doesn't matter where you're born, as long as you're born to play." It's a heartwarming message that resonates instantly and showcases the program that brought 37 international athletes to the NFL over the past six years. 

The International Pathway Program Class of 2024 includes 16 athletes from around the world. Umenyiora, who has Nigerian-British roots, will spearhead the NFL's outreach program in Africa. "This is only the beginning for these players," he said of the incoming class. Watch the ad on YouTube here.

The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism 

This powerful ad spot opens with the voice of Clarence B. Jones, a draft speech writer for civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "Sometimes I imagine what I'd write today for my dear friend Martin," Jones says. "I'd remind people that all hate thrives on one thing: silence." 

Images of Black Lives Matter activists and peace demonstrations against anti-Jewish hate fill the screen as Jones goes on: "The people who will change the nation are those who speak out, who refuse to be bystanders ... When we stand up to silence, we stand up to all hate." 

The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism was founded in 2019 by sports executive Robert K. Kraft with $20 million of his own investment. It says it aims to unite Jewish and non-Jewish people to stand against hate and discrimination of all forms. As antisematism rises in the U.S. amidst Israel's war with Hamas, the organization is doubling down on its mission to raise awareness under the call to action, "When one hate rises, they all do." The organization invites viewers to join the conversation on social media using the hashtags #StandUpToJewishHate and #StandUpToAllHate in a poignant message that unites around a common goal of equality for all. 

Microsoft

In another ad focused on the power of artificial intelligence, Microsoft showcases how modern technology can help people realize their dreams. The spot opens with people going about their daily lives, as superimposed text spells out judgements placed on them by others: "They say I'll never open my own business, or get my degree. They say I will never make my movie, or build something. They say I'm too old to start something new, too young to change the world." It shifts to a young woman who stares at the camera defiantly and says simply, "Watch me." 

The film then shows off how Microsoft's AI assistant Copilot can help creators get tasks done and make their visions a reality — from a young woman filmmaker storyboarding with help from AI-generated images, to a student asking the tool to quiz her in organic chemistry. Copilot's response to each query — "yes, I can help" — puts a punctuation on a powerful narrative that advertises the company's technology while delivering a relatable message about overcoming naysayers, obstacles and self doubt. 

Homepage image: Phillip Goldsberry/Unsplash

The field of sustainable living casts a wide net and raises many questions. First and foremost is whether or not it makes a difference. After all, if you invest in a new water-saving toilet and your neighbor expands their two-bedroom starter home to a five-bedroom, six-bath mansion, where is the impact?

The answer is simple. Sustainable living makes a big difference to the person who practices it. That is the impact.

Take me, for example. The neighbor conundrum happened to me, only it did not involve a neighbor. When I moved from a small apartment in a city to a house in the suburbs, my no-car, small footprint, energy-efficient lifestyle exploded into two cars and my own in-ground oil tank, among other routine features of raising children in a single-family suburban home.

Year by year, ways to lessen the blow began to emerge. Replacing a 50-year-old, 35 percent energy-efficient oil furnace with a 95 percent efficient gas system was a good start, along with a new set of double-pane windows.

Joining my town’s environmental commission, connecting with the local Democratic Party organization to help environment-wise candidates campaign for office, and giving public workshops on creating art with recycled materials also enabled me to participate in community-wide conversations about sustainable living choices. Community engagement is not simply a box to check on a to-do list. It fosters life-long social connections and support networks, adding to the enjoyment of community life and personal well-being.

A similar principle applies to sustainable choices made in the home. They open up a chance to enjoy parts of an ordinary day that would otherwise go unnoticed or unattended. To the extent that sustainable living also reduces utility bills and other expenses, that’s icing on the green cake. Here are some of the ways that sustainable living adds to my enjoyment of life.

Home heating 

I love winter. I love bulky sweaters, scarves, slippers and housecoats. And hats. I love bundling up with grandma’s crochet blanket on the couch to watch TV, and I love a thick layer of quilts on the bed at night. Because I love all of these things, I keep the temperature in my home fairly low during cold weather. If you are not a fan of this choice, that’s okay. You can try something else.

Air-drying laundry

My gas-powered clothes dryer is a real energy hog, but I used it all the time until I read an article about preserving the lifespan of blue jeans by air-drying them. At first, I only air-dried jeans, towels and other heavy items. After a while, it seemed just as easy to air-dry entire loads.

Hanging everything up piece by piece takes time, and that’s okay. I use that time to relax from a hectic day and catch up with my favorite radio programs. Podcasts and audiobooks are other options. 

Using alternative transportation

When my family was young and my work commute required a car, I was dashing back and forth in the car all day every day, and into the evening. Nowadays it’s different. I have enough free time to enjoy a 40-minute round-trip walk into town for errands. Walking is an exercise session and I save on parking fees, too.

Rediscovering local mass transit options is another lifestyle enhancement because that’s the time I get to read a book without interruption. I get much more reading done now than ever before, even though trip planning can sometimes be a hassle especially when a train gets stuck.

Yard care

Yard care is another choice that varies widely according to circumstance and personal inclination.

Choosing not to use a gas-powered lawn mower or apply chemicals to my new suburban lawn was an easy choice for me. When weeds began to take over parts of the grass, I replaced them with beds of hostas, daffodils and other easy-care perennials. Existing forsythia bushes and English ivy were also allowed to run rampant.

On the downside, hostas, daffodils, English ivy, and forsythia are not native to the United States, and they are not particularly friendly to pollinators. A more sustainable choice would have been replacing weedy parts of the lawn with native wildflowers. Eventually, I ripped out the non-native beds, threw down some wildflower seeds, and invested in a few wildflower seedlings from the local nursery.

With the non-native plants out of the way, volunteer tree species also began to appear, including locusts and sassafras. The sassafras in particular were a big thrill that triggered childhood memories with their deliciously fragrant leaves. Last year I added a pair of pawpaw saplings just to see how they would do, too.

My yard looks dreary all winter but that’s nature for you. The reward is a lively display of birds, bees and butterflies beginning in early spring and lasting into the fall, along with the occasional visitor in search of spare seeds during the winter.

No buying new

I love hunting through thrift shops for buried treasure, so buying second-hand is another sustainability checkoff box that adds zest to my life.

Garage sales are another option, of course. My town established a formal freecycle schedule, where residents can drop off used goods and pick up something else without exchanging money.

The internet also opened up a wide field of second-hand buying opportunities, including no-buy clubs on social media and online marketplaces.

Cooking at home

Cooking at home is yet another sustainable living choice that varies widely according to circumstance. I love it, so I do it, and I compost my food waste.

Within the cooking space, energy-saving choices include avoiding the oven during summertime and cooking enough at one time to make meals with leftovers.

What else?

With the exception of the new furnace and windows, my sustainability choices have not involved any significant new investments. Nevertheless, solar panels, home energy storage, smart home systems, electric vehicles, and other new carbon-cutting technologies are becoming more affordable, and my neighbor across the street just cut down a huge old tree that was shading parts of my roof all day.

My next step is checking out the new tax credit for home solar panels under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. What’s yours?  

Carbon emissions from the global shipping industry are “headed in the wrong direction,” despite efforts to replace the heavy fuel oil currently used by most ships with cleaner fuels, according to a 2023 assessment from the United Nations. 

Still, the fuel transition is just one pathway to decarbonize the shipping industry. New technologies are also emerging to help get shipping emissions back on track until heavy oil is banished forever.

Emissions from the shipping industry are headed in the wrong direction

“The shipping industry accounts for over 80 percent of the world's trade volume and nearly 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with emissions escalating by 20 percent in just a decade,” according to the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTD).

The UNCTD also notes that almost 99 percent of the global shipping fleet still relies on conventional fuels. With an estimated 60,000 cargo ships currently in operation, alternative fuels have barely made a dent.

The future looks somewhat brighter in the years to come, with 21 percent of new ships on order designed for alternative fuels. However, that still leaves plenty of room for conventional fuel. With a cargo vessel’s typical lifespan of 20 to 30 years, the gears of decarbonization will grind slowly.

The persistence of conventional fuels notwithstanding, new technologies can help make a significant reduction in shipping industry emissions within the near future. Here are five retrofits that can make a difference.

1. The return of wind power

New high-tech, rigid sails are appearing on cargo ships. While not entirely replacing conventional fuel, they can make a significant cut in fuel use, drawing aerodynamic lessons learned from racing yachts, motorsports and aircraft.

Some don’t resemble sails at all. The Swedish firm Oceanbird and the United-Kingdom-based startup Green Energy Technologies, for example, are developing rigid sails for shipping vessels that resemble long, tall smokestacks.

Another kind of approach is represented by the Finnish company Norsepower. Its hard sail is based on the Magnus effect, which refers to a sideways force on a spinning object, such as a curveball. Norsepower harnesses the Magnus effect in a long tube called a Flettner rotor. 

Norsepower has installed its Rotor Sail technology on cargo vessels for 10 years. The company recently announced that it is preparing for mass production.

In a recent voyage to validate the technology, a tanker owned by the Japanese firm Sumimoto made the Atlantic crossing between Amsterdam and New York City with a fuel savings of 16 percent attributed to the Rotor Sails alone. Another 12 percent in fuel savings came from Norsepower’s route optimization system, for a total of 28 percent.

2. Producing calcium carbonate at sea

Another emerging trend that could be brought to bear on ship emissions is the carbon capture-and-recycling trend, in which airborne carbon is repurposed to make fashion accessories, plastics, yarns, fabrics, synthetic fuels, and other products normally made with virgin petrochemicals.

In a seagoing twist, the U.K. startup Seabound created a system aimed at capturing 95 percent of the carbon emissions from a cargo ship’s exhaust. The exhaust is exposed to calcium oxide pebbles in a controlled environment, which traps carbon in the form of calcium carbonate.

In addition to its use in medicine, calcium carbonate can be rendered back to calcium oxide, a common industrial chemical used in making cement, paint, chalk, paper and plastic, among other products.

Seabound recently completed a two-month pilot test of the system on a 787-foot long cargo ship capable of holding more than 3,200 standard containers. The real-life pilot project achieved promising results with a carbon capture efficiency of 78 percent.

Near-term prospects for commercial development also look promising. In addition to funding from the U.K. government, Seabound is working with investors and leading stakeholders in the global shipping industry toward a goal of launching the technology into the market in 2025. 

3. New energy-efficient materials and designs

A transition to lighter, more fuel-efficient materials is taking shape. The superstructure of a cargo ship, which refers to the parts of the boat above the main deck, is one key focus of attention. The U.S.-based shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO, for example, began the complex process of transitioning its ship works from heavy gauge steel plates to lightweight, ultra-thin plates for use in superstructures beginning in 2017. 

The European Union also launched a fuel-efficient materials initiative, one result of which is the introduction of lightweight plastic composite “sandwich” panels for deck structures. 

New treatments for the hull of a ship can also make a significant difference in fuel consumption by reducing friction as the ship moves through water. For example, in December the global shipping firm Stolt Tankers announced the world's first application of a new graphene coating on the hull of its Stolt Lotus ship that resulted in an estimated fuel savings of between 5 percent and 7 percent.

“[The] graphene technology, developed by Graphite Innovation and Technologies Coatings, has the potential to reduce fuel consumption and resulting greenhouse gas emissions,” according to Stolt. 

4. The solar-powered ship of the future

Solar panels are another way to introduce alternative energy into the shipping industry, though a lack of adequate deck space presents an obstacle. The newly launched U.S. startup Voltic Shipping is addressing that hurdle. It’s developing a barge that provides more space for solar panels. The company’s ultimate aim is to apply its system to seagoing cargo ships, enabling them to run on 100 percent solar energy.

That may take years of development and testing, but the near-term goal of a solar-enabled barge appears well within reach. The leading U.S. firm Crowley already introduced an electric tugboat that could be powered by solar panels on a solar-equipped barge. Shipbuilders in China and Turkey also introduced electric tugboats.

To maximize deck space, Voltic’s solar array is arranged on a retractable, expandable rack elevated above the deck, allowing for cargo underneath. While the barge is moving in open water, the rack can expand well beyond the footprint of the deck, significantly increasing the area available for solar panels. The rack folds up accordion-style for cargo loading and unloading and maneuvering in tight spaces.

“Our barges will be able to transport cargo in a wide variety of settings, including low sunlight and night-time thanks to onboard batteries,” according to the company.

5. The seagoing energy storage systems of the future

The high cost of batteries is an obstacle to ship electrification. Voltic’s solar solution could help cut costs by enabling batteries to recharge while at sea. A broader downward trend in the cost of energy storage could also help propel the ship electrification movement.

Last May, participants in a U.S. Department of Energy workshop on energy storage were presented with a 2022 study that found electrification to be a more efficient way to cut shipping emissions compared to another emerging electricity-based option, carbon-neutral electrofuels.

The advantage of direct electrification is a steep drop in the cost of battery-type energy storage systems alongside improvements in battery performance, according to the study.

“Past studies on ship electrification have relied on outdated assumptions on battery cost, energy density values and available on-board space,” the researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, observed. 

“We describe a pathway for the battery electrification of containerships within this decade that electrifies over 40 percent of global containership traffic, reduces [carbon dioxide] emissions by 14 percent for U.S.-based vessels, and mitigates the health impacts of air pollution on coastal communities,” they concluded.

The signs of progress are clear, though it will take years before new technologies and alternative fuels make a significant impact on global shipping emissions. In the meantime, a complete rethinking of the way that goods and materials are used in the global economy would go a long way toward reducing unnecessary emissions by eliminating unnecessary trips.