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Global cooperation is of paramount importance at a time when the world is united against a common enemy, the novel coronavirus. As a coalition of nations, the European Union is uniquely positioned to facilitate inter-nation support. Last month, a newly coined term, “coronabonds,” entered the scene to describe the concept of European nations pooling their collective debt in order to spread financial risk more equitably across the continent. Countries like Germany and the Netherlands would back this securitization plan as guarantors, making it easier for nations like Italy and Spain to acquire low-interest bonds.

Such a program could make a huge difference for companies hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte insisted over the weekend that coronabonds would not be about absolving Italy’s past debt burdens, but instead show the 19-nation currency bloc can commit to solving problems together. Businesses could also use a lifeline: Italy’s northern region, home to 40 percent of the country’s total industrial capacity, was one of the first industrial areas in Europe to be hit hard by this crisis.

Coronabonds: Who shoulders the burden?

Financial cooperation when it comes to taking on debt is not foreign to Europe, but the very idea of coronabonds faces backlash within some northern European countries. One fear is that co-signed debt would roll over into post-pandemic times. Residents of the Netherlands in particular are reportedly quite staunch in their position. Polling data suggests that many Germans are also wary of any aggressive bond programs.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been a champion of coronabonds, not only because of France’s current needs, but for the long-term future of the EU. Addressing the arguments southern European populists have long made about various EU policies and northern European countries, Macron said the following during an interview with the Financial Times:

“’They’re in favor of Europe when it means exporting to you the goods they produce. They’re for Europe when it means having your labor come over and produce the car parts we no longer make at home. But they’re not for Europe when it means sharing the burden.’”

On that point, Lucas Guttenberg, deputy director of the Jacques Delors Centre think tank in Berlin, recently told New York Magazine, “If some countries come out of this [pandemic] much stronger than others, that is going to politically undermine the European project as a whole.” Countries like Germany are already faring better than southern European counterparts like Italy, partly due to preexisting infrastructure, and will likely recover more quickly because of their wealth.

Will unity and solidarity persevere in the EU?

Ahead of further discussions about coronabonds, the EU’s finance ministers agreed on Thursday to a $590 billion package to support member state businesses and citizens during this recession. A day later, despite resistance from northern countries, the European Parliament passed a ”recovery bond” proposal by a significant majority. While the resolution isn’t binding, it’s a good sign that EU budget decisions will be cooperative with southern European needs.

“Recovery funds,” inspired by coronabonds, could be the topic of discussion during the Eurogroup’s follow-up meeting on April 23. These bonds aren’t exactly like coronabonds — instead of focusing on debt, they will support future investment like building sustainable and digital infrastructure.

After a rocky March, especially as the EU failed to support Italy at the beginning of the outbreak, European unity may be seeing a comeback. During a debate in the European Parliament on Thursday, EU Commissioner President Ursula von der Leyen said despite missteps and complacency early on, “Europe has now become the world’s beating heart of solidarity.”

“This Union of ours will get us through,” she said.

Not everyone has been sanguine about how the leading European powers managed this crisis. The Guardian was particularly pointed in its criticism of the continent’s COVID-19 response in an April 19 op-ed:

“Throughout, there has been a lack of co-ordination: Countries imposed their own restrictions, imposed their own border controls, and banned the export of much-needed medical supplies. Italy received speedier help from China than from its EU partners, and, not surprisingly, that has left a sour taste.”

Coronabonds for the good of the whole EU

Whether coronabonds or recovery bonds are on the table at this point, economists point to the fact that these bonds don’t need to cost wealthy countries much, if designed well. Further, they could actually benefit the entire EU. However, some observers recommend that the EU should take a larger and more federalist step into sharing the debt burden this pandemic will impose on the region.

France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, has gone on the record saying the longstanding divisions within the EU, which involve dynamics between the north and the south as well as richer and poorer countries, needs to be cast aside. It will up to the wealthier nations, he said, to assist their less well-off neighbors that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outside of Europe, some leaders who were involved with rebuilding the global economy after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis have suggested bigger and bolder action is necessary.

During the 2008 recession in the United States, Neel Kashkari, then U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, supervised the bailout of banks and car companies. When speaking with NPR’s Planet Money last month, his advice for a swift economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic was: Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Giving generously during a crisis pays off; being frugal leads to a long and arduous recovery.

A united EU, especially one that has learned from its early coronavirus mistakes, may just err on the side of generosity this time around.

Image credit: ML Watts/Wiki Commons

In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the Startup, Shutdown and Malfunction Rule (SSM). The rule requires industrial facilities in Texas and 35 other states to follow specific air pollution guidelines when starting and shutting down plants or when a malfunction occurs. Previously, plants were able to leverage a loophole to release unlimited pollutants during startups, shutdowns and malfunctions without legal penalties under the Clean Air Act.  

States had 18 months to submit their plans to comply with the SSM rule, but within that time period, Donald Trump became U.S. president, and some states — including Texas — still had not filed their plans. In January of this year, the U.S. EPA began a process to roll back the SSM rule for Texas. On April 7, the Sierra Club and several other advocacy groups filed litigation to stop the EPA from reopening the SSM loophole in Texas. 

States including Texas, as well as industry groups, previously challenged the SSM rule. That case was headed for oral arguments in the D.C. Circuit Court in 2017 when the Trump administration asked for a stay so its attorneys could buy time to study the rule. Texas is the first state the EPA has carved out of the original SSM rule, said Andrea Issod, senior staff attorney with Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. 

Why Texas?

There are a couple of things going on here: the rollback of environmental protections by the Trump administration and business-as-usual in Texas.

The current administration has rolled back several key environmental protections. These shifts in policy affected the Clean Power Plan to reduce emissions from the U.S. energy sector, as well as many others that addressed environmental issues including clean air, clean water and habitat restoration.

The SSM rule is another offensive against the Clean Air Act in a long line of this White House’s attacks. As with many of the Trump administration’s rollbacks, the arguments for rescinding these regulations are generally not clearly laid out and lack legal reasonableness.

Case in point: As of March 14, the administration has only won legal attempts at environmental rollbacks in a handful of cases. When compared with previous presidents, the success rate is abysmal: 5 percent during this administration compared to an overall 69 percent success rate of President Trump’s predecessors.

The Lone Star State continues to chip away at EPA rules

Further, fighting environmental regulation is par for the course in Texas. For over a decade, I worked in the state as an advocate for clean air, energy, and water policy. The only change we saw after November 2016 was that Texas would be on the same side as the decision-makers in Washington.

During the Barack Obama administration, Texas went on a lawsuit rampage, and 27 of the 49 cases focused on objections to environmental regulations. Texas won six of those 27 cases. Four of those wins were in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a notoriously conservative court where Texas prefers to have its cases heard and where the state is hoping the SSM loophole case will be heard, as opposed to the D.C. Circuit, where environmental litigation stands a fairer chance, explained Issod of the Sierra Club.

Yes, we’re in the middle of a crisis, but lax EPA rules come at a bad time

The Trump administration has been on a roll rescinding environmental rules since coming into office. But the timing of the litigation and rule reversals are particularly cruel considering the climate risks U.S. citizens face. During extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and floods, industrial facilities often must be shut down.

But before the deployment of the SSM rule, the loophole allowed industrial facilities to release unlimited pollutants into the air. Typically those who live near such facilities already suffer from poor air quality, and levels of pollution could be 10 times the amount normally allowed. The Texas state government’s resistance to the SSM rule meant that vulnerable, low-income communities located near refineries in Houston were made more so in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, to use just one example. 

Many people in those communities are already suffering from pollution-related illnesses, such as asthma, making them more at risk to complications from COVID-19. Allowing this loophole would exacerbate an already serious problem. Add that to the fact the hurricane season starts in little over a month, and meteorologists are predicting a more active than normal hurricane season this year. With no clear indication of how long the pandemic will last, a busy hurricane season need not be worsened by a loophole that allows more air pollution.

Image credit: David Mark/Pixabay

(Image: A woman has her temperature checked at a COVID-19 response center in Beijing.)

As governments grapple with the scope of need associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, philanthropists are challenged to step up and fill the gap — and many are responding in kind. By the start of this month, more than $4.3 billion in philanthropic commitments had been made around COVID-19, said Jennifer Alcorn, deputy director of philanthropic partnerships for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

During a recent webcast hosted by Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), Alcorn and two other philanthropy professionals shared case studies in how the sector is responding and offered advice on how donors of any size can contribute. Read on for their insights. 

In the U.S., the coronavirus relief bill provides incentive for charitable giving 

"In the midst of this unprecedented crisis, there are so many different pressing needs that it's going to take everyone's collective resources to make a difference as quickly as possible," said Kim Laughton, president of Schwab Charitable. 

Of course, at a time when more than 22 million people — or roughly 1 in 7 American workers — have filed for unemployment benefits in the past four weeks alone, not everyone has the ability to give. But for those who are fortunate enough to be less financially affected by the pandemic and related shutdowns, the coronavirus aid bill enacted on March 27 provides incentive to give more, Laughton explained during SSIR's webcast.

As most of us probably know, the bill provides a one-time payment of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. "If you're one of the lucky ones who has a stable job, expects to remain employed, and you do not need this payment, you might consider giving all or part of it to charity," she said. 

Additionally, donors at any level can deduct up to $300 in charitable contributions from their 2020 taxable income through a provision in the bill. Wealthier donors who itemize in their filings can typically deduct up to 60 percent of their taxable income by donating to charity. The relief bill increases this to 100 percent, excluding donor-advised funds and private foundations, and any excess can be rolled over for five years.

Schwab Charitable offers a list of nonprofits working on COVID-19 response and vetted by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy to guide individual donors. 

Regional action plans put donations to work

In the U.S., some of the leading philanthropic organizations on the front lines of COVID-19 are the country's more than 700 community foundations. While the average community foundation serves around 180,000 people from a given city or county, the scale of coronavirus-related challenges has prompted many to come together in united regional action plans. 

Cities along the U.S. West Coast, including Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, were among the first hit by COVID-19, and case studies from this region shed light on how locally-based philanthropists can maximize their response. 

In the Bay Area, for example, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) primarily serves San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, about an hour's drive south of San Francisco. Its initial COVID-19 fund, launched February, was aimed at serving these two counties, but "we quickly realized this had to be a regional response," said Nicole Taylor, president and CEO of the foundation. 

It joined with the eight other community foundations serving all 10 counties across the Bay Area to establish a regional response fund. Working with dozens of nonprofits across the region, the fund channeled charitable donations to help affected residents pay rent, buy food and meet other basic needs in the wake of the pandemic. The group also launched a  nonprofit emergency fund to help charitable organizations across the region weather the storm. 

Still, the level of need is daunting. Last month, SVCF joined with the mayor of San Jose and others to raise $11 million for Santa Clara County residents through the local nonprofit Destination: Home. "They received 4,400 applications for financial assistance, and that $11 million was depleted in three days," Taylor said. 

More than 7,000 individuals and families are now on the waitlist for assistance in Santa Clara County alone. "That is the level of need we're seeing right here in one of the wealthiest regions in our country," she continued. "The scale of job loss in just two weeks was on par with the first two years of the great recession back in 2008 and 2009." 

The small businesses that employ roughly half of all California workers are also being hit hard. "Before the crisis, half of the country's small businesses only had 15 days of cash reserve, and almost overnight, so many of them had to close their doors or put their work on pause," Taylor said. The community foundation partners joined with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the nonprofit microfinance lender Opportunity Fund on a separate regional relief fund to help small businesses stay afloat. 

Overall, SVCF has seen giving increase by 30 percent compared to this time last year, and "community foundations across the country are doing very, very similar activities," Taylor said. Use this locator from the Council on Foundations to find and support community foundations near you. 

More work is needed to fight the pandemic in the Southern Hemisphere

As healthcare systems are pushed to the brink even in the world's wealthiest countries, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is growing exponentially across Africa and South Asia. This is what keeps Jennifer Alcorn and her team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation up at night, she told attendees at the SSIR event. 

"In the U.S., for the most part, social distancing will be effective, but in many other parts of the world where multiple generations live together, social distancing can be impossible," she explained. "It's critical that we expand enough capacity to ensure that diagnostic testing and results can be processed quickly and efficiently, particularly on the ground in low- and middle-income countries."

The foundation has already committed more than $250 million to support the development of testing, treatments and vaccines, fund centers for disease control in African and South Asia, and contribute to national and sub-national responses to the pandemic worldwide. Its Combating COVID-19 Fund has received donations as small as $10 and as large as $25 million, Alcorn said.

Meanwhile, with funds from large donors including the U.K. government, the Wellcome Trust, Mastercard and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the foundation's COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator is looking to bring treatments, diagnostics and vaccines to market as quickly as possible. Last month, the accelerator announced grants of $20 million each to fund clinical trials at the University of Washington, University of Oxford and La Jolla Institute for Immunology.

"Our goal is to have something to market as early as the end of the year," Alcorn said. "We're moving fast, and our first clinical trials started last week. But we also know that developing and delivering diagnostics that can be used in low-resource settings is going to be a top priority."

The bottom line: Philanthropy professionals dig in for the long haul

The early response from philanthropic organizations and their donors is surely promising. All three experts on SSIR's panel reported increased giving to their respective organizations compared to this time last year, but each underscored that their sector's work is far from over.  

"The urgency of need is critical, but we also have to understand that we are in this for the long haul," said Taylor of SVCF. "There are going to be waves of response that need to happen — not just now in response, but also in recovery."

Image: Kian Zhang and Liz Martin via Unsplash

The roster of workers who are highly vulnerable to the ravages of the novel coronavirus pandemic is a long one, including retail employees, drivers working for public transit systems, farmworkers, meatpacking company employees, first responders and, of course, those on the front lines in hospitals. As they face more threats from hunger to eviction, domestic workers have largely been in the shadows as the work available to them has for the most part dried up.

We can shake our virtual fists at fast-food companies, grocery chains and online delivery services on social media. We can tout our own companies’ contributions in corporate blog posts or on these firms’ media relations pages. But for those of us who focus on social responsibility and corporate sustainability, no mechanism exists that forces us to ensure domestic workers are taken care of during this crisis.

One comment on a recent webinar sums up this problem succinctly. To paraphrase: Those who are saving money on daily expenses, such as cleaning bills, by working from home might consider passing these savings along to a charitable organization or small business, a webcast panelist said. 

Here's our response: While we appreciate the sentiment of cutting a check for a nonprofit or ordering from a local business, if you know your job is secure, and you have had the means to hire domestic help, here’s a simple question. Why not continue to pay that person, even if she — face it, more than 90 percent of domestic workers go by “she” — is not able to clean your house or watch the children, as they did daily, weekly or twice a month as she could before?

Enter the lone voice for domestic workers

The National Domestic Workers Alliance is largely a lone voice doing what it can to shine light on the tragedy now confronting domestic workers. This coalition has tasked itself by doing what it can to slow the spread of COVID-19 by providing emergency assistance for domestic workers (as in house cleaners and childcare workers) during this crisis.

The alliance’s numbers starkly illustrate what these citizens now face. About three-quarters of domestic workers are making a living that had subjected them under the U.S. poverty line. Their median wage is just over $10 an hour, and almost half of these workers are paid an hourly wage that is below the minimum level necessary to support their families.

Furthermore, domestic workers aren’t in a position to make the decisions necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 on their terms. According to the alliance’s survey, 94 percent of these workers reported that any cancellations were made by their clients, not by them. And 70 percent say they have no idea if they will return to those clients’ homes once this pandemic subsides.

Without any social safety, these workers on society’s margins are at huge risk

The rest of this story should be obvious: The vast majority of domestic workers are unable to pay the rent and buy food this month, and because of the nature of their work, many will not qualify for any benefits under the U.S. federal government’s coronavirus relief package.

Hence domestic workers were clearly among those citizens on Pope Francis’s mind when he suggested earlier this week that governments consider a universal basic income in order to support those who have been the hardest hit by this crisis. The National Domestic Workers Alliance’s executive director, Ai-jen Poo, echoed that sentiment in a recent public statement emailed to TriplePundit.

“All of us deserve to feel safe and secure in our lives and work. But for millions of working people, especially people like domestic workers who have lived and worked in the shadows, a lost paycheck could mean losing a roof over their heads or being unable to put food on the table for the families,” said Ms. Poo. “This crisis has heightened that reality and brought it into sharp relief. The inherent value of all work and all of humanity has been revealed through the crisis. Right now, we must respond by urgently providing assistance to all who need it. There is no other greater human imperative.”

Until a universal basic income becomes a reality, or when these essential workers also qualify for the same benefits as the rest of us do, it’s now up to us to speak up for domestic workers, who don’t belong to any “stakeholder group” about which many of us in this space discuss.

In the meantime, this video the National Domestic Workers Alliance released yesterday makes it clear what we can do right now. America’s companies, large and small, could help on this front to start by finding a way to send a gentle reminder to their employees: Be sure to take care of those who are closest to you.

Image credit: Clay Banks/Unsplash

In the west, coconut-based products are booming in popularity. Coconut-based foods and personal care products that include oil, cream, water, and charcoal have all become a popular cooking and cosmetic choices, appearing on more and more shelves and ingredient labels across the country.

Here’s the problem: There remains no broad supply chain certification schemes for coconut-based products, meaning little traceability and a high likelihood that coconuts are being produced unsustainably, or with the use of unfair labor practices including child labor.

“The brands that were in the coconut space didn't really understand the sustainability issues that were facing their supply chains,” said Molly Renaldo, partnerships manager for Fair Trade USA, during a recent interview with TriplePundit. “Whereas, in coffee, cocoa and bananas, the market just knows that ‘hey, we don't want child labor.’”

The global coconut industry still lacks a unified certification process

In fact, nearly every other widely traded tropical commodity has a broad ethical sourcing scheme. Palm oil has the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), cacao has the Cocoa and Forests Initiative, rubber has the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber and even soy now has the Roundtable on Responsible Soy.

This is worrying because the environmental and human rights concerns facing coconuts are real. There are widespread allegations of child labor on coconut farms, according to the United States Department of Labor. Moreover, low wages are persistent across this industry. Coconut farmers very often toil in terrible poverty — as high as 60 percent of them in the Philippines, the world’s top coconut producer. There, farmers I spoke with told me they often make as little as 12 cents per coconut. This adds up to less than $2 a day, according to Fair Trade USA.

The truth is, unless there is traceability — from consumer to farmer — it is nearly impossible to know whether or not your coconut oil, water, or cream is being sourced from an environmentally or socially irresponsible actor, or if any of the high prices you are paying are actually ending up in a farmer’s pocket. This is true for any supply chain: Opacity breeds abuses.

Fair trade is a path toward transparency and fairness for coconut farmers

Here’s the good news: Some nonprofits and corporations have started to address the need for traceability in the coconut industry. The leader is the fair trade movement, and the United States-based nonprofit Fair Trade USA, which launched a certification scheme for coconuts earlier this decade.

“When we first started, no one knew about any of the supply chain issues,” Renaldo said. “The beginning of the program was really just about educating brands.”

That’s because Fair Trade USA takes a market-based approach. Namely, it doesn’t seek to expand sourcing until it is certain it has enough buyers for a particular product. What it provides is complete traceability and transparency — and the opportunity for brands to know and work with farmers in Southeast Asia.

“We often take brands to go meet their farmers and see how things happen on the ground,” Renaldo explained. “It’s really incredible to be able to have brands see the work that the farmers are doing, and then have the farmers finally see someone valuing the work that they do.”

Another similar effort is the the Sustainable Certified Coconut Oil project led by the German development agency GIZ, the Rainforest Alliance and the agribusiness company Cargill, one of the world’s largest traders of tropical commodities.

“We have seen growing customer demand for sustainable certified oil,” said Vivien Nacion, a project manager at Cargill Philippines, during a recent talk with TriplePundit. “They want to make sure the product they consume comes from a farm that is not violating environmental standards.”

Cargill and GIZ have been training farmers on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, empowering them to improve farming practices in exchange for higher prices. In just a few years, they’ve helped thousands of farmers increase incomes by between 12 and 17 percent. Now, they need to find more brands looking to source sustainably.

With scale comes accountability

“We are looking into expanding the market demand for Rainforest Alliance certified coconut oil,” Christiane Hornikel, program manager for nuts and fruit juices at the Rainforest Alliance, told TriplePundit. “We are looking in the food sector, personal care products like shampoos, lotions, crème, as well other manufacturing products that use bio-based materials.”

This is the challenge. Right now, together, these projects are at a small scale, empowering a few thousand of the estimated 8 million coconut farmers in Southeast Asia. Brands need to source more sustainable coconut. Consumer demand, too, will be key in pushing brands so that these projects can grow just as similar efforts have in the oil palm, cocoa, and chocolate industries. 

“We really have to focus on how we make sure consumers really understand coconut supply chains,” Renaldo said. Key to that, she adds, will be brands telling these stories to their customers.

Of the brands taking leadership when it comes to sourcing sustainable coconut, some of them are the usual suspects like Lush, Harmless Harvest, Nutiva and AlterEco. Others are surprising. Kroger, the country’s largest grocery chain and second largest retailer, has been sourcing fair trade coconut for its Simple Truth store label brand, showing that even low-cost food products can be produced with ethically sourced ingredients.

Public pressure has led brands to commit to traceability in industries where labor or environmental abuses are well known, such as the palm oil, garment and shoe supply chains. Coconuts have yet to receive the same level of attention or scrutiny. Smart brands know that’s no excuse to ignore their responsibility. Ensuring traceability and sustainability from the beginning is not only a smart way to avoid negative publicity, but to ensure a reliable supply of high-quality products for their business.

This story was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center.

Image credit: Pixabay

OmniVis developed a handheld, IoT device that detects cholera in water samples within 30 minutes of collection. Until now, that process took over a week. Shorter detection times can reduce illness and death from the disease. The biotechnology company was a second runner-up in the 2017 Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge. The challenge recognizes entrepreneurs who are using technology to address a social or environmental problem.

Now, the team behind OmniVis is using Solidworks to design the OmniMask, which is a tool that they typically use for designing their diagnostics device technology. OmniMask is a 3D-printed mask that was developed to protect front line health workers who don’t have access to enough personal protective equipment (PPE). OmniMask is unique because it is compatible with faces of various shapes and sizes. Using easily accessible materials, OmniMask was designed to be open-source for facilities with 3D printers.

The design and prototype process behind OmniMask

Jordan Florian, Global Health Engineer at OmniVis, and Michelle Florian, Finance and Grants Manager, teamed up to spearhead OmniMask. The married couple’s journey started on a Sunday morning at their home in Indianapolis, Indiana. After spending an entire week working from home, Michelle and Jordan felt there was more they could do to help health workers who were caring for patients with COVID-19.

“We have a lot of family and friends in healthcare and saw things on social media from people who didn’t have PPE. There were designs online for 3D- printed masks, but we could tell they were less than ideal,” said Jordan. The designs he found were very rigid around a user’s face, and there were a lot of gaps. Anyone with a face shape that deviated from the “norm” wouldn’t be able to wear the typical 3D mask.

Michelle and Jordan came up with an idea for a mask that would print completely flat and would form to the user’s face. According to Jordan, the first version was “pretty bad.” After trying it on, they started drawing on the mask, cutting it, and folding it back out. They analyzed the issues on a computer, so they knew what to change, which made the iteration process extremely fast compared to what they usually do with diagnostics.

Making sure OmniMask is accessible and fits everyone

Katherine Clayton, Co-Founder & CEO of OmniVis, suggested trying the mask on different faces. Michelle and Jordan took turns trying on masks and made a few more tweaks. The mask can be customized by applying heat, like from a hairdryer, while wearing the mask. This customized fit ensures there are no gaps or leaks, which is essential when designing a mask with a high-grade filter. Katherine also helped Jordan and Michelle scale down the mask for kids who may suffer from health issues that put them at higher risk of disease – adopting a user-centered design approach, so anyone can use the product.

After that, it was about finalizing the materials. They decided to use PLA filament, which is a pretty standard 3D printer material. “Instead of making customized material, we wanted to make it accessible. We respect those special design materials, but we need to make sure that things are easily sourced,” Michelle shared. Another unique aspect of their design is the filter, which needed to be up-to-par with the standard N95 filters. To make OmniMask accessible, they used hospital-grade furnace filters that they were able to source online. The filter blocks particulates of 0.3 microns or larger, the same as the N95. The filter is a little circle about 1.75 inches in diameter. Right now, they are sending about 10 to 20 filters with each mask. They recommend only 8 hours of use per each filter. You can wipe down the OmniMask after each use and put in a new filter.

Pivoting Operations from the Cholera Testing Kit to OmniMasks

When it came to pivoting their operations from the cholera testing kit to OmniMask, Katherine shared that it has been a balance. OmniVis will always focus on diagnostics because they believe in the importance of prevention and its ability to change the course of disease outbreaks. “Michelle and Jordan fit the cultural values that OmniVis has, making medical devices for good and helping to prevent the spread of disease,” Katherine said.

From a business perspective, as a for-profit company, OmniVis needs to be sustainable. But Katherine expressed that they believe charging for OmniMask is not right during a time of need. OmniMask is an open-source product, so someone else in another part of the world can make it. “Our overall vision is to prevent disease. The way we usually do that is by giving people a way to detect disease. In this case, what came to us is how the transmission of such a contagious virus can be stopped with the right type of mask. OmniMask is something we can do for the world, on our own time,” said Jordan.

With generous funding from Peace First, they are distributing OmniMask to health care workers and individuals who are at higher risk of infection on a local scale first, with 20 distributed so far and 25 orders pending. “We are hoping to find partners who can donate funds that we can use specifically to make and distribute the OmniMask. Our hope and intention are to reach as many people as we can with the partners that we gain,” Michelle shared. Katherine added that they are looking for partners to help them scientifically test the OmniMask and see how well it does at protecting individuals. The team is also hoping to find a partner to help them figure out the best way to make the filters, since not everyone has access to a laser cutter and the filters need to be cut into small circles.

Working together to design and deliver PPE

Katherine advised others who are interested in designing PPE to approach it from the perspective of working together, instead of the usual competitive mindset. Jordan has some additional advice: “It’s not about profiting from this. Unfortunately, we have seen that, and that is one of the big reasons we aren’t charging for OmniMask. You need to approach it with a global health-compassionate mindset, or you won’t have the right intentions when you make your product.”

If you are interested in learning more about OmniVis and their response to COVID-19, please visit their COVID-19 Response Center. OmniVis plans to make the OmniMask file available to the public, so anyone with a 3D printer can make one from home. OmniVis is looking to partner with third party testing facilities to determine mask efficacy and to find manufacturing partners for scale-up. If you are interested in a partnership or donating funds to help with the testing, manufacturing, or distribution of OmniMask, please contact the team directly.

Previously posted on the Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility News blog and the 3BL Media newsroom.

Image credit: Cisco

The leading global asset manager BlackRock kicked off the new decade on January 9 with a commitment to the sustainability goals of the clean energy organization Climate Action 100+. Much has changed since then. However, a new report from the global financial services firm Morningstar affirms Blackrock’s renewed commitment to ESG investing, while adding more evidence to support sustainable investing overall.

So far, ESG investing has weathered the COVID-19 crisis

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that ESG funds were holding more value than the S&P 500, even as the COVID-19 crisis sent the overall stock market crashing downwards.

That trend is mirrored in the pattern of cash flow for ESG funds.

Last week, Morningstar analyst Jon Hale reported that estimated first quarter flows for sustainable funds in the U.S. set a new record of $10.5 billion in positive territory, despite the surging financial storm at the hands of COVID-19.

The previous record was set in 2019, and the difference wasn’t even close.

As tracked by Morningstar, the trend took off last year when ESG funds reached a record flow of $7.1 billion in the fourth quarter. That, in turn, bested the previous record of $4.8 billion for the second quarter of 2019.

Sustainable investing down, but not all the way down

In analyzing sustainable funds, Morningstar does not cast a wide net. They report on a group of more than 300 mutual funds that broadly integrate ESG. The group does not include funds that address ESG in a piecemeal or limited way.

There was one dark spot in the overall rosy picture. Fixed-income sustainable funds began to wilt under the pressure and suffered outflows in March, a trend consistent with conventional funds.

However, sustainable funds overall remained in positive territory through March. They ended the quarter down from January’s record-setting pace of $5.2 billion for a single month but remained positive territory at $1.6 billion for the month of March.

BlackRock comes out on top

The standout performance of BlackRock during the first quarter is especially significant, considering that CEO Larry Fink has faced some criticism for steering the firm into ESG investing only on the margins.

Last year, for example, analysts with the World Resources Institute noted that BlackRock had achieved some progress but not significant change.

This year is already shaping up to mark a more intensive shift. Joining Climate Action 100+ was a significant move that puts more bite in BlackRock’s sustainability bark. The organization is part of a broader network that is aggressively pressuring corporate boards and CEOs to act on climate change.

In addition, in January Fink released a much-publicized annual letter to corporate executives, in which he nailed down the sea change that is shaping up as the millennial generation flexes its financial muscles.

“…as trillions of dollars shift to millennials over the next few decades, as they become CEOs and CIOs, as they become the policymakers and heads of state, they will further reshape the world’s approach to sustainability,” Fink wrote in conclusion.

The proof is in the pudding. In his analysis of 2020 first quarter results, Hale noted that BlackRock’s “iShares ESG ETFs proceeded to scoop up an astounding $6.3 billion during the quarter, accounting for 60% of the net flows into all sustainable funds in the U.S.”

Other top-performing ESG firms for the quarter were Vanguard, Dimensional and TIAA/Nuveen.

The stock market crisis is far from over, but it looks like the chaos will not extinguish those “glimmers of green,” as ESG investing emerges both as one solution for climate change and as a long-term recovery strategy for COVID-19.

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As this pandemic continues, many of you are juggling telework, schooling from home and worrying about loved ones, while economic catastrophe hangs over all of us like a dark cloud. At first, it may seem like the last thing everyday people are concerned with is discerning good corporate citizens from bad actors. “But make no mistake,” my colleague Mary Mazzoni wrote last month. “People are paying close attention to how companies respond — and how they treat their stakeholders when it matters most.”

We’ve said that several times, several ways, for several weeks — and we can now back it up with data. New research from Porter Novelli/Cone sums up what we've believed all along: Companies that aren’t matching their “corporate purpose” rhetoric with action risk that their “true colors will bleed to the surface,” said the communications agency’s CEO David Bentley.

The survey of over 1,000 U.S. adults offers this snapshot: 75 percent believe companies must ramp up their efforts to support COVID-19 relief. The same percentage agrees that how companies act now will affect their perceptions of these firms into the future.

How companies treat their employees is of paramount importance. While over 60 percent of employees say their companies did a solid job supporting their communities during this time of dire need, about 40 percent think their employers could have taken action sooner. Further, respondents believe companies should take care of their employees first — as in, ensuring they stay safe and continue to receive pay and benefits. Then it comes time to focus on how companies can harness their products and services to help their communities.

The reality of our shopping routines — including the empty aisles bereft of paper products and foods that will long be burned into our memory — is that right now many of us don’t feel as if we have much of a choice in what we buy. But when we can finally look at this crisis from the rearview mirror, over 70 percent of U.S. consumers say they will stop purchasing products from companies they perceived to be irresponsible during this pandemic, according to Porter Novelli/Cone's data.

“The research has confirmed what we intuitively knew to be true. Americans are watching which companies are stepping up at this time — and also which companies are falling down. The decisions businesses make today will define them well after this pandemic has passed, which only reinforces the importance of leading with integrity, honesty, compassion and, ultimately, purpose,” said Kate Cusick, CMO of Porter Novelli/Cone.

Therein lies a warning for pet store chains that insist dog grooming is an “essential service,” while many of their employees say they're terrified of going into work. The same goes for meatpacking companies that didn’t do enough to ensure social distancing, resulting in employees succumbing to the coronavirus — thereby putting the nation’s food supply at risk. And for the gaming, crafting and fabric retailers that wouldn’t close locations until they received cease-and-desist orders, well, to rephrase a timeless saying: No bad deed goes unremembered.

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The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of uncertainty, and it naturally raises serious questions for business leaders looking to do the right thing for their communities while keeping their workers employed. In short: We're all worried about a lot of things right now, and we could probably use a little advice. 

For vital information about the disease, we all know to turn to internationally-recognized health organizations like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). But if you're looking for research, insights and information to guide your response, read on for the resources we continue to reference again and again. 

How Companies Can Respond to the Coronavirus 

(Read it here)

Resource type: Research paper

Authoring organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Management Review 

What it is: Researchers led by Michael Hudecheck of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland analyzed how Chinese companies responded to the early spread of the novel coronavirus, calling out best practices for firms now facing the virus in their communities. Their findings highlight how companies can develop an infrastructure for remote work, prepare for operational shocks, assist their stakeholders when it matters most, and communicate with the aim of inspiring others. 

Pull-out quote: "Let others know what you’ve done ... [but] don’t boast: Provide only the most pertinent details, including the amount of funds committed, the key beneficiaries and recipients, and what you aim to achieve with your donation."

Build Back Better: Perspectives on COVID-19 Response and Recovery (Listen here)

Resource type: Webinar and podcast series

Authoring organization: World Resources Institute (WRI) 

What it is: This series of virtual seminars highlights ways to promote inclusive, sustainable growth as part of COVID-19 response and recovery. It focuses on how policymakers can bake sustainability and social equity into coronavirus stimulus packages and how business can advocate for policy change. 

Pull-out quote: "With the pandemic triggering a global economic slowdown, leaders are searching for ways to stabilize impacted industries and shore up their economies. The decisions they make now will have long-lasting effects, so they must choose wisely."

Business and COVID-19: Supporting the Most Vulnerable (Read it here) 

Resource type: White paper

Authoring organizations: Business Fights Poverty and the Harvard Kennedy School Corporate Responsibility Initiative

What it is: This response framework outlines key ways business leaders can work together to support vulnerable populations. Target groups range from small businesses and students learning from home, to women and girls globally who face disproportionate impacts from the pandemic. 

Pull-out quote: "The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is creating the worst humanitarian and economic crisis in a generation, threatening the lives, livelihoods and learning of people around the world. Government leadership is crucial, but companies and civil society organizations also have a vital role in working together to respond to the immediate crisis and developing plans for longer-term recovery and resilience."

Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic (Read it here)

Resource type: Study

Authoring organization: Edelman

What it is: Building on Edelman's annual Trust Barometer, this 12-market study based on over 12,000 interviews analyzes the role consumers expect brands to play during the pandemic. 

Pull-out quote: "Seventy-one percent [of respondents] agree that if they perceive that a brand is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that brand forever."

Fighting for a Just COVID-19 Response (Read it here)

Resource type: Blog post

Author: Derrick Z. Jackson, senior climate and energy fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Center for Science and Democracy 

What it is: Though groups including UCS insist governments must do more to track data around race and health outcomes related to COVID-19, what we know from initial reports paints a grim picture of black and brown people dying in disproportionate numbers. In Louisiana, for example, black people make up less than 35 percent of the population but account for 70 percent of all deaths from COVID-19 statewide. In this blog post, UCS senior fellow Derrick Z. Jackson draws a parallel to government responses following Hurricanes Katrina and Maria — the effects of which predominantly impacted black and brown people — in a call-to-action for governments and businesses to do better. 

Pull-out quote: "The coronavirus gives us the opportunity to declare in our political and medical decisions that we will not drape the cloak of invisibility over historically neglected victims of disaster, as it was in the hollowing out of the black middle class in New Orleans after Katrina and the inhuman abandonment of Puerto Ricans after Maria."

How America’s Largest Employers Are Treating Stakeholders Amid the Coronavirus Crisis (Read it here)

Resource type: Corporate response tracker

Authoring organization: Just Capital 

What it is: This corporate response tracker from Just Capital, which ranks companies based on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, analyzes how the 100 largest U.S. employers are responding to COVID-19. It's updated regularly, most recently on March 31. 

Pull-out quote: "The coronavirus pandemic and impending recession have created an urgent, unprecedented opportunity for CEOs and corporate leaders to put the promise of purpose-driven leadership and stakeholder capitalism into practice."

See also: 5 Principles to Help Guide Corporate America During the Coronavirus Crisis, another helpful resource from Just Capital. 

Resilient Business Strategies: The Road to Recovery Based on Sustainability Principles (Read it here)

Resource type: Blog post

Author: Aron Cramer, president and CEO of BSR 

What it is: In this call-to-action, Aron Cramer of the sustainable business coalition BSR unpacks how businesses can not only respond to the immediate needs surrounding COVID-19, but also learn from the experience and build resilience that's grounded in environmental and social sustainability principles.  

Pull-out quote: "The era of stand-alone sustainability strategies, with subsequent integration of sustainability into company strategy, needs to end; the creation of resilient business strategies that take sustainability as their foundation needs to begin."

See also: Meet the Moment. Build the Future., another helpful blog post from BSR. 

COVID-19 Tracker: Insights for a Time of Crisis

(Read it here)

Resource type: Survey

Authoring organization: Porter Novelli

What it is: This survey of 1,000 U.S. adults offers a snapshot of what people expect from brands during and after the pandemic, with insights on response, communications, employee and community relations, and recovery. Notably, 75 percent of respondents said they will remember the companies that stepped up to help (and those that didn't). 

Pull-out quote: "During this hyper-intense moment in our world, every decision we make as leaders demonstrates our character. Whether it’s the communications we prioritize for external consumption or the maneuvers made to care for our people internally, character is on full display. Remember that with each action you take, because even if you don’t, you can be assured that others will."

Shaping a sustainable post-COVID-19 world: Five lessons for business (Read it here)

Resource type: Article

Authoring: Mike Barry, board trustee at A Blueprint for Better Business

What it is: The architect of Marks and Spencer’s Plan A sustainability strategy outlines how business leaders can turn their words about purpose into action that contributes to more equitable societies following the pandemic. 

Pull-out quote: "Nothing should detract us from winning this war. But as we fight we should seize the chance too to create a new, more resilient, healthy, equal society that lives in equilibrium with nature."

Coronavirus: How to Survive and Thrive (Read it here)

Resource type: White paper

Authoring organization: Markstein

What it is: Marketing communications agency Markstein leaned on research and case studies from multiple sources to inform business leaders looking to support their communities while maintaining their operations and keeping their workers employed. 

Pull-out quote: "No leader will get everything right. The best ones bring humility and vulnerability to the effort, admit their mistakes and adjust."

What Your Business Can Do to Help the Community During the Coronavirus Crisis (Read it here)

Resource type: Article

Authoring organization: Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

What it is: Megan Kashner, director of social impact at the Kellogg School, poses three questions for business leaders grappling with how to respond to COVID-19, leaning on case studies from companies doing it right. 

Pull-out quote: "There are likely creative ways that almost any company can be of use to those in need."

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