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When you think of competitive and ambitious brands, love, respect and “delivering happiness to all” are not the first words that come to mind. Yet the automaker Subaru of America demonstrates that having these words at the heart of the business can make a great impact on profit margins and company reputation, as well as people and communities.

Global sales of Subaru vehicles continued to rise this year, led by steady growth in the U.S. market. Subaru of America recently reported 14 consecutive months of increased sales. Encouraging retailers to embrace its philanthropic and social impact mission, the Love Promise, Subaru of America says it aims to be “more than a car company” for its customers.

“The Subaru Love Promise is a way to show love and respect to everybody that we interact with,” said Burton Hughes, general manager at Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas, a retailer that won the Subaru Love Promise Customer and Community Commitment Award for six years in a row. “As we focus on being more than a car dealer, I believe that we've been able to model the Love Promise in a way that our team embraces it.”

The Love Promise Customer and Community Commitment Award is a national recognition given to Subaru retailers who consistently deliver exceptional customer experience while supporting causes in their local communities. 

At Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas, retail managers say there’s no shortage of choices in their community. “There are so many great nonprofits out there, it's nearly an impossible decision,” said Jennifer Vitale, the retailer’s assistant general manager. “When we look at the opportunities to give back, we start evaluating them first with the five Love Promise pillars in mind, and we try to spread our support equally amongst them.” The five pillars of the Subaru Love Promise are environment, health, education, pets and community.

For larger organizations, thinking globally yet acting locally can help scale and balance nonprofit support, Hughes said. “An easy way to start giving back is to look at the local chapters of the national nonprofits your organization supports,” he suggested. "This often leads to multi-year partnerships.”

Retailers like Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas also look to support smaller, locally-led nonprofits alongside the local chapters of national groups like St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and AdoptAClassroom.org. “We also love the charities that are operating in the shadows that may not have national support,” Hughes said. "At the level that we can engage with them, it may make the difference of whether they still exist tomorrow.”


This year, Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas received the most prestigious award a retailer can receive from Subaru of America, the 2023 Subaru Love Promise Retailer of the Year Award.

The retailer has donated more than $1 million to local nonprofits since 2021, supporting over 50 organizations that include the mental health initiative Hope Means Nevada, the animal rescue organization Hearts Alive Village, the tree-planting program Go Green for Good Health, and the service and therapy dog provider Michael’s Angel Paws.

The automaker and its retailers also look to involve customers in giving back by facilitating donations via the sales process during the annual Subaru Share the Love Event. For example, with Hope Means Nevada, a nonprofit led by the Nevada Medical Center that is dedicated to improving mental health among Nevada teens, Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas allocated $50 for every vehicle purchased and $3 for every oil change during the campaign period. This resulted in a contribution of over $14,500 to Hope Means Nevada and also got customers involved in making a difference.

“Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas plays an essential role in our fight against the epidemic of youth suicide in Nevada,” said Julie Murray, co-chair of Hope Means Nevada. “With their ongoing support and donations, Hope Means Nevada is able to continue to raise awareness of Nevada’s high rates of mental health challenges and connect youth with desperately needed resources.”

The reputation of a company precedes its profitability, and establishing trust with people in the local community can lead to increased loyalty and sales. Managers at Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas have seen this firsthand. “I've seen many of our nonprofit partners, executive directors, and vice presidents come in who just want to buy a Subaru because of our support in the community,” Vitale said.

 "I've also seen people who have been directly impacted by the nonprofits we support come in and buy a Subaru only because of our support to that nonprofit,” she continued. “For example, once I saw a lady with a dog that had a Michael’s Angel Paws vest on, and I assumed she was a volunteer for them. When I asked her, she said she wasn’t a volunteer but was buying a Subaru because of the support she got from Michael’s Angel Paws, because she had received her service dog from them.”

Michael’s Angel Paws is a Nevada-based organization that trains service and therapy support dogs for community members facing physical or emotional challenges. Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas has raised over $64,000 for the nonprofit so far, and its showroom is dog friendly. In addition, after 25 weeks and a cumulative 500 hours of training, some employees from the retailer certified their own pets as therapy dogs in order to bring them to volunteer efforts in the community.

Like other participating retailers, Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas also partners with TerraCycle to collect hard-to-recycle waste. “We have our own recycling at the showroom with TerraCycle boxes. We recycle cabin air filters and plastic wrappers,” Vitale said. Retailers across the U.S. have collected more than 10 million pieces of hard-to-recycle waste as part of the Subaru Loves the Earth initiative since 2018.

Along with customer loyalty, research shows that being a responsible business has a positive impact on staff retention. Employees in an organization that is driven by corporate social responsibility are often aligned with a bigger mission that motivates them to stay longer, reducing the costs and disruption of recruitment and retraining.

“The cool thing is, as we've expanded and done more in the community, our employees are very much engaged and keen to volunteer their time,” Vitale said.

Partners like Christy Stevens, executive director of Hearts Alive Village Las Vegas, a shelter and veterinary center for dogs, cats and barnyard animals, are also reaping the benefits. “The Findlay Subaru of Las Vegas Team is a shining example of how to care about the community where you do business,” Stevens said.

This article series is sponsored by Subaru and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team. 

Images courtesy of Subaru

Recent scenes from New York City of stranded cars, closed subways and pedestrians in hip-deep water are shocking, but unfortunately they should no longer come as a surprise. Extreme weather, worsened and amplified by climate change, is devastating communities and permanently reshaping landscapes worldwide. This year, disasters drained the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's relief fund before the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. 

“In 2023, there have been 23 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each" — a new record for the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported last month. Insurance companies in disaster-affected states such as California, Florida and Louisiana have announced they will no longer write new policies, raising questions about the long-term insurability and outlook of otherwise vibrant state economies. The U.S. National Flood Insurance Program needs to be reauthorized in November. 

Globally, rising borrowing costs have increased the burden of climate risks, presenting a particular dilemma for developing countries that face increased climate risk yet have limited fiscal space to invest in needed infrastructure to build resilience to climate-related disasters. 

As we face the full and growing proportions of the climate crisis, we will need to consider new approaches to planning for and responding to chronic and acute physical risks.

In the aftermath of the Maui wildfires, U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to support Hawaiians in the recovery and reconstruction to “build back better." This phrase was brought into widespread use after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and the Haiti earthquake in 2010. It sounds appealing. But a new approach is needed to address the impacts of extreme weather, which are projected to worsen. As NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus recently noted, “This is the merest beginning of what we’re going to see in coming years.”  

We need a new approach to disaster recovery — one that considers the scale and scope of climate risks, prioritizes communities, and remains adaptable to a planet whose physical characteristics are irreversibly changing. We must expand how we respond to, and recover from, climate-driven weather shocks to strengthen economic and societal resilience. 

A first step will be to recognize the nature of the risks we face. These risks include the Black Swan catastrophic events that fall in the low-probability, high-impact “fat tails” of statistical probabilities. As climate instability increases, once-rare events will become more frequent, more intense and more damaging. Compounding risks — where one risk factor, such as hurricane-driven winds, triggers another risk factor such as wildfires — become the norm. Even worse, these new risks include cascading impacts if global temperature increases exceed Paris Agreement goals and we breach tipping points that irreversibly destabilize weather patterns. Consider that this year NOAA recorded the highest average global surface temperature for July since global records began.  

Dealing with these risks means that when infrastructure is rebuilt, it will be essential to consider a broader range of climate conditions and potential impacts than existing building codes, emergency operations plans and capital investments might suggest would be necessary.   

A second step would be to recognize that affected communities should dictate the pace and priorities of recovery efforts in order to enable them to build their communities back better. Vulnerable and underserved populations are also those disproportionately impacted by disasters. In the U.S., Justice 40 aims to help rectify that. Internationally, calls for debt relief, a global loss and damage fund, and climate repatriations aim to drive capital into climate-affected communities to make up for systemic injustices.

Directing investment to these communities is important, coupled with a place-based, community-led approach to recovery, to reduce the risk of disaster opportunism. Such an approach may be slower, as some expect will be the case in rebuilding in Hawaii, and more challenging, as was the case in Princeville, North Carolina, after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It will require more creativity, inclusivity, and responsiveness to local conditions and needs. Such an approach will indeed strengthen resilience and will involve close community engagement and consistent effort.

A third step is to recognize that in some cases, confronting the realities of a changing planet will involve difficult questions about whether certain lands should be re-developed. For example, in Alaska, a remote village of 260 people located 125 miles east of Nome has moved to its third location. Residents may need to move again because the area remains susceptible to storms and winds, with decisions informed by climate change vulnerability and risk assessments conducted by WSP and Bristol Engineering Services, an Alaskan Native Corporation. Many risks of climate impacts, such as flooding and the consequences under current and future climate conditions, are manageable today, particularly with clear strategies to adapt to rising seas.   
 
As disasters mount, we must confront hard choices about where and how to invest limited resources to create a livable future. We also need to rethink risks and how we can rebuild infrastructure that can withstand these future risks — in its full range of forms — and support community resilience. Specific answers will depend on each affected community's challenges, whether catastrophic wildfires, extreme heat, the accelerating impacts of drought and floods, or a potentially compounding combination. If we adjust our investment approach now and engage communities that are harmed or at risk, we can reduce economic and societal damage in the future. 

As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reach their midpoint, the world is “woefully off-track” in meeting the targets by the 2030 deadline, the United Nations warned this summer. Only 15 percent of the SGDs are on track, according to the U.N. Global Compact. Progress on 37 percent of the targets has either stagnated or reversed, while efforts on the remaining half are considered weak or insufficient. With seven years left to meet the Global Goals, the U.N. is calling on the private sector to help accelerate implementation.

While business leaders remain confident about the vision for the future underscored in the SDGs, their confidence in meeting the targets by 2030 dwindled from 92 percent in 2022 to 51 percent this year, according to a new report. 

Last month, Accenture partnered with the U.N. Global Compact to publish the Global Private-Sector Stocktake, a first-of-its-kind look at private-sector impact on the SDGs, with tangible action items and resources that companies can consider to drive progress on the road to 2030. The report outlined 10 key pathways for corporations — which include putting existing markets to work for social equity by way of a living wage and addressing gender pay gaps, as well as more transformative moves to integrate the SDGs into corporate finance and promote sustainability leadership in the private sector. 

Sustainable corporate finance 

“There is a lot of momentum around impact accounting, which ensures companies are taking into full account both tangible outcomes like revenues and returns for shareholders, but also the intangible outcomes like indirect carbon emissions,” said Vik Viniak, senior managing director and North America sustainability lead at Accenture.

“For example, Mastercard links incentives for executives and employees to their ESG [environmental, social and governance] objectives, which include gender equity and emissions reductions," he said. "With Google and Amazon, if you look at their tech businesses like Google Cloud and [Amazon Web Services], they are using green principles to create more energy-efficient computing systems, and that ties into their executive remuneration. In most public companies, your compensation is tied to shareholder value, but it is important to remember that ESG is also directly tied to shareholder value.”

Sustainable corporate finance just makes good business sense. Impact accounting helps corporations establish better decision-making frameworks and can give companies leverage in discussions with their supply chain partners.

“If you are looking at two suppliers in your supply chain and everything else is equal, but one supplier has a better record on emissions, suddenly the decision becomes much easier,” Viniak said. Impact accounting should also be part of a company's public reports, he said. 

However, he emphasized that sustainable finance is an evolving space. The U.N. Global Compact launched the CFO Coalition last month to put clear definitions and guidelines in place to help companies integrate the SDGs into their corporate financing. Viniak is optimistic about the coalition's work. “The current state of confusion is causing companies to not take action," he said. "There is a paralysis. This clarity can help get blood flowing so it can function.” 

Strengthening sustainability leadership for the SDGs

“True sustainability leadership is about holding senior leaders accountable," Viniak said. "Empower everyone in the organization to take action, but make sure leaders are talking the talk and walking the walk. We need humility and self-realization in organizations. Management can lead by being humble and knowing that they can do more.”

There are clear benefits to corporate support for the SDGs, but it is important for companies to be able to substantiate their claims, show their metrics, and transparently report on their goals, reasoning and progress. “The market has gotten smarter," Viniak said. "Investors and consumers can identify SDG-washing in companies that can’t support their claims.”

When leaders embrace the SDGs, it can serve to engage the entire workforce, Viniak said. “For leaders, one of the most important incentives for working toward the SDGs is that people are going to get excited," he told us. "At Accenture, we have a huge, young workforce, and this workforce is asking Accenture what we are doing for the SDGs. Our CEO always says that we need to be our best credential. We have rallied our workforce around the mission of sustainability, and in our global workforce, in every community we are in, our people are making an impact. You can rally your whole organization around the SDGs and give them the tools to measure their impacts, and we can all hold each other accountable.”

The SDG Stocktake is a clarion call for all corporations 

For companies that have yet to examine their impact on the SDGs, Viniak emphasized that it is not too late. “I encourage every company to start the process of understanding specific ESG impacts based on their industry and sector,” he said. “The biggest positive and negative impacts need to inform strategy.” 

Once a corporation clearly understands their ESG impacts, they can evaluate how those impacts could help meet the targets of the SDGs and embed that into their decision-making frameworks.

“You can't improve what you can't measure," Viniak said. "Companies must reflect on their impact on the SDGs. Then, they must set goals, identify how they can continue to accelerate the areas in which they lead, and how they can double down to improve those areas where they might be behind.”

Scaling up new incentive systems is also key to move progress forward. In the Global Private-Sector Stocktake report, business leaders clearly identified the support they need. “There is a huge lack of clarity in terms of goals and measurements," Viniak explained. "Eighty percent of business leaders claim there are insufficient policy incentives to incorporate ESG considerations, and 84 percent are uncertain about measurements and calculations.” 

Fortunately, the private sector is rapidly innovating to address leadership concerns, with new data management companies and softwares regularly coming to market that address these challenges. “There are now data providers that are helping companies define specific impacts on the SDGs," Viniak said. "This kind of data could help companies understand their own impact in a measurable way for the first time."

But for these services to make a difference, companies have to use them. "Companies need to see the value of this and pay for it," Viniak said. "This data could revolutionize incentives if tied to accounting and taxation in the future. We may be able to crack the data measurement problem soon. While companies are currently not being held accountable in consistent ways, with emerging data tools, they can be and should be.”

Viniak recognizes that the private sector is off track, but he remains optimistic. “Games are won in the second half, not the first,” he said. “Yes, we are trailing. We are behind, but we can win. The private sector is a key player to achieve the SDGs. It is time to step up in the second half to win this game.”

Despite the environmental toll of fossil fuel extraction, industry stakeholders are still trying to make the case that global economic security depends on ample supplies of petroleum, coal and natural gas. But their argument starts to crumble as more sustainable forms of energy emerge. Further, investor attention is turning toward the value of protecting natural ecosystems from the harmful impacts of human activity, as a means of fostering a secure and healthy environment for long-term economic growth.

The value of petroleum

Wind and solar power began to commercialize in force during the first decade of the 2000s, with support from the Barack Obama administration in the U.S. and other heads of state globally. Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and other fossil fuel stakeholders arrayed in opposition. Arguing these new resources were too expensive, they claimed that government policies friendly to renewable energy would prove harmful to local communities. 

Only fossil resources, Tillerson claimed in a 2013 shareholder meeting, could prevent “energy poverty" and help resolve global public health issues.

This appeal to economic equity and public health rang hollow back then. And the argument is further undermined by the falling cost of wind and solar.

Here in the U.S., policymakers and entrepreneurs are working to improve access to low-cost solar power among underserved households. Price parity enabled wind and solar to become the preferred pathway for new power generation capacity on the U.S. grid. New forms of energy storage also provide for increased resiliency and reliability.

That could explain why fossil fuel stakeholders have dropped the “energy poverty” argument in favor of a more broad-brush appeal to global energy security. 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) provides one such example. On Monday, OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais warned CNN reporter Becky Anderson that oil prices would surge to $100 per barrel unless investors stepped up their activity. 

Al Ghais said a total investment of at least $12 trillion would be needed between now and 2045 to prevent a spike in petroleum prices.
“By underinvesting, we are actually endangering energy security… Without this [investment], I think there are serious possibilities that prices, the volatility, will be increasing as demand grows,” he told CNN. “We have to make sure that the world has enough energy — stable, affordable, reliable, not intermittent sources of energy.”

Anderson elaborated further, reporting: “Al Ghais said population and economic growth meant there was ‘no way on earth’ that the world’s future energy requirements could be satisfied by renewables alone, or by relying on hydrogen as an energy source."

The value of nature

Among other issues, the energy security argument neglects to include at least one key factor. In addition to making up for an investment gap, petroleum stakeholders will need to maintain a workforce capable of putting those dollars into action. That prospect is rapidly dimming. A new generation of climate-aware workers are rising, and they are dismissing fossil energy careers in favor of work that tackles the climate change crisis head-on.

Consumers, clients and activist shareholders are also driving the investor exodus from fossil energy. Although ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles have come under sustained attack by fossil energy stakeholders and their allies in government, the ESG movement is still growing and evolving among companies and investors, in response to consumer preferences for environmental protection.

In the U.S., consumer surveys show strong support for companies that place a value on environmental stewardship. In contrast to OPEC’s focus on energy security, investors are increasingly focused on risks to other areas including food systems and property.

The nature accounting movement

That more expansive view of risk management is underscored by the new Nature Finance Focus report from the Pollination Group, a climate advisory and investment firm.

Pollination is part of a global movement to account for the value of nature, similar to the way in which many companies account for carbon. The nature accounting movement puts a value on resources that were previously regarded as infinitely abundant and free for the taking, including air, soil, rain and other water systems. All of these resources are now at grave risk.

Some familiar examples of nature investing include sustainable energy, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, along with recycling and other aspects of the circular economy.

The report is part of a string of moves to advance the valuation of nature — which looks to quantify the vast benefits ecosystems provide, from absorbing carbon out of the atmosphere to providing us with food and clean water. It comes shortly after the newly formed Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures issued its final recommendations for corporate risk reporting tied to nature. 

Released in September, the Nature Finance Focus report includes a survey of 557 institutional investors and asset managers from the U.S., U.K., France, Australia, Japan and Singapore.

The survey indicates that ESG principles have laid the groundwork for pivoting to a broader focus on natural systems — particularly in the U.S., where 87 percent of institutional investors are on track to increase their stake in natural assets and 71 percent of asset owners “consider nature a new emerging asset class.” Among all six regions, 69 percent of investment firms plan to increase their focus on the risks and opportunities tied to natural assets like soils and water.

Although the sample size is relatively small, the survey respondents represent an outsized influence on financial markets. Of the 557 respondents, 332 manage more than $100 billion in assets and 47 manage more than $500 billion, according to the Pollination Group. 
 
“Though risk perception, motivations for investment and expected returns differ across the globe, all regions share the view that nature–related investments can be recognized as a new asset class (75 percent), with larger investors much more likely to hold this view,” the report found.

Beyond ESG

Pollination Group recognizes that throwing money at investment opportunities is not a solution. Meeting the expectations of a climate-aware workforce is also a critical element. 

“It’s clear that investors across the globe are starting to recognize the potential this has for reducing risk, and the critical responsibility to protect our natural environment,” explains Martijn Wilder, Pollination co-founder and CEO. “But we need much more: a significant and sustained build in capability across capital markets, including skills and human capital, information infrastructure, and new models and norms.”

In addition to attracting climate-aware talent, companies that adopt nature-based principles may be able to raise the bar on climate action without becoming entangled in partisan political battles over ESG principles. 

In the U.S., the Joe Biden administration put forward additional support for a focus on the value of nature. In August, the Office of Management and Budget issued proposed guidelines requiring all federal agencies to account for ecosystem services in their cost-benefit analyses for new infrastructure projects. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes ecosystem services as the “benefits that humans receive from nature" — which "underpin almost every aspect of human well-being, including our food and water, security, health, and economy."

This marks the first time the U.S. government has required an accounting of natural assets. In a White House statement describing the proposed guidelines on August 1, OMB emphasized the bottom-line benefits of nature valuation.

“The environment benefits our lives every day: Timber provides the structure of buildings that underlie our economy. Pollinators help grow our food. Healthy forests reduce wildfire risk and improve air quality. Wetlands help to manage flood risks and provide habitat for fish and wildlife that support an outdoor recreation economy,” the announcement reads. “When we account for our environment, we are able to harness opportunities to confront climate change, promote prosperous and resilient communities, and invest in strong infrastructure."

The EDF (Environmental Defense Fund) and 16 partner organizations voiced their support for the proposed guidelines on September 19. “Accounting for these benefits will help advance nature-based solutions that build climate and flood resilience, improve water quality and public health, and provide quality habitat for wildlife and outdoor recreation,” said Dr. Natalie Snider, associate vice president for EDF’s Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds program, in the statement.

To the extent that nature valuation emphasizes sustainable solutions and low-impact renewable energy resources over fossil fuel extraction, the core principles of the ESG movement are not just alive and well. They are also gathering force.

In the U.S. at least, whether or not that momentum continues after the 2024 election cycle is up to the voting public. 

Image credit: Jeffrey Workman/Unsplash

By Caroline Morris

How can we use new technology and collective action to significantly improve the lives of all people and the health of our planet? That was the central question at the recent second annual Impact Data Summit, hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth with the Rockefeller Foundation and Data.org, for social impact leaders.

Coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly meeting and Climate Week NYC, conversations at the summit looked at the current realities of data, artificial intelligence and social impact, their impact on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, the role of cross-sector collaboration to drive that impact, what the future holds for transformative technology, and how to make sure that future is sustainable, equitable and accessible.

“As leaders in data, we need to move fast and now, not tomorrow,” said Shamina Singh, the president and founder of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. “Don’t leave here without a new partnership, without a new plan, without a new program … AI, I hope you will think, means actionable impact.”

Here are the key takeaways that will define the future of data and AI.

AI can help the world meet its sustainability goals, with humans' help

Data and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to help achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the U.N. in 2015 to jump-start improvements including climate action, gender equality and inclusive economic growth. “Digital technologies can actually help accelerate 70 percent of the SDG targets, which is quite incredible,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary-general of International Telecommunication Union, the U.N. specialized agency for information and communication technologies. “Only 15 percent of the targets are on track.”

Her faith is grounded in the game-changing nature of AI. AI can interpret vast amounts of data that no human could ever process. And it can distill that data into something immediately actionable — a necessity as we race against the clock to solve these human crises.

At the same time, human beings must constantly scrutinize AI to understand what it’s saying and how it can help generate outcomes that help society and leave no one behind. The wrong outputs and outcomes “will only get amplified very quickly in this environment,” said JoAnn Stonier, the Mastercard fellow specializing in responsible AI and data. “As long as we have the accuracy, we have the right data, and we’re doing all of our homework, I do think we’re going to start seeing some amazing solutions," she added.

Innovating with guardrails

The internet was not based on a single piece of technology. Instead, its enduring power emerged when Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf — known as the “fathers of the internet” — invented the protocols and architecture that allowed computers to form networks with one another. “As long as the internet adhered to the basic architecture, it could continue to evolve,” Kahn said. That approach allowed the internet to persist and expand far beyond its first small network of computers.

For AI to make an impact, it will need a similar set of protocols and architecture to create interoperability on an international level.

Regulation will have a role to play, too. AI should be serving the communities in which it exists, and these needs vary widely depending on location, so regulation cannot be one-size-fits-all; it requires context to be effective. “Technology is extremely difficult to regulate for a number of reasons. It evolves very quickly. What you don't want is a static piece of regulation that is built based solely on the way the technology works today,” said Dorothy Chou, head of policy and public engagement at Google DeepMind. “Historically, what we've seen is that good regulation actually creates public trust.”

Together, we go far

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Kenya's government wanted to make informed decisions for the health and safety of its citizens, explained Shikoh Gitau, founder and CEO of Qhala, a Nairobi-based consultancy that specializes in health informatics and the technology of social impact. But every health center had its own small and private data silo, so policymakers were forced to follow frameworks created on other continents, which ultimately proved poorly suited to the needs of Kenya.

Information that’s fragmented by unnecessary barriers or delayed by bureaucracy loses its ability to make an impact. The way to change these limitations is through collaboration between the public and private sectors. As Holly Krambeck, director of development data partnership for the World Bank, said, “As much as I hate to admit it, international corporations can’t solve everything, so we need global partners of all different types.”

Drawing in and opening up

As of now, 85 percent of all AI developers are men, Gabriela Ramos, assistant director-general for the social and human sciences at UNESCO, said at the summit. And, as several panelists noted, the majority of data fed into AI comes from North America. That means AI models are being trained with data from a tiny sliver of the global population. In fact, there is almost no data representing the Global South at all — and if there is, it’s outdated and in incompatible formats.

These gaps in data and AI — as well as a lack of diversity among the data scientists — ultimately hurt everyone. For example, failing to represent women and people of color can produce inaccurate AI outcomes. Those oversights result in leaving millions of investment dollars on the table — money that could help drive resilience, economic growth and the physical wellbeing of entire communities. “You get out of data what you put into it,” Ramos said.

However, getting the most out of data and AI requires unraveling deep-seated, systemic issues. “We have to be mindful about not reproducing inequalities from the analog world into the digital,” said Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, the director of the OECD Center for Entrepreneurship , SMEs, Regions and Cities. This means investing in data collection in underrepresented areas, improving accessibility to such data, drawing diverse voices into the development of AI, and listening to the local communities where new technology will be placed to best serve their unique needs.

When it comes to developing digital technology, one of the most significant measurements is how it contributes to the improvement of human life. There may be a divide between better data and better decisions that will make a real difference in people’s lives, said Gina Lucarelli, team leader of the U.N. Development Program’s Accelerator Labs. “The real gems are the moments where you bridge that gap and you actually see data that drives decision-making.”

Caroline Morris is a contributor to Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. 

This story was previously published by Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and the 3BL newsroom.

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When Beauregard Burgess and three friends decided to start a hog and poultry farm in 2015, they chose an odd location: 20 acres of swampy land on the east side of Homer, Alaska, a coastal hamlet south of Anchorage. The land, logged years ago, was in an industrial part of town, and its soil was in poor health. That anemia was part of the appeal for Burgess and his colleagues, who wanted to raise livestock in a way that would add nutrients and beneficial microbes to the ground, restore the local ecosystem, and improve the local food scene. 

Today, Blood, Sweat, and Food Farms is something of an oasis. Its lush pastures are just down the road from auto shops, lots crowded with heavy equipment, and heaps of gravel. Burgess and his partners have turned the lot’s acidic, water-logged earth into a rich humus, and they’ve done so in an organic, regenerative way — that is, without synthetic chemicals. Such an achievement has involved a number of innovations and tactics, from building bioswales that limit flooding to spreading nutrient-rich compost across fields. But one tool in particular stands out: biochar — a jet-black substance made by roasting plant matter, like wood, in an oxygen-deprived environment. 

The glorified charcoal is rare on American farms, yet it has become a focal point in the movement to turn agriculture into a climate solution. Biochar can lock up planet-warming carbon for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, and unlike other, higher-tech technologies that suck carbon out of the air, it’s relatively straightforward and accessible. 

“Look at the playing field. What else is out there that’s commercially viable right now?” said Kathleen Draper, board chair at the International Biochar Initiative. “The reality is: It’s a shovel-ready technology.” 

As a result, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Shopify, and other corporations trying to burnish their image as climate-conscious are paying biochar producers millions of dollars so that they can claim credit for the carbon that’s locked up in the soot and not in the atmosphere heating the Earth. Biochar now accounts for the vast majority of the carbon dioxide that has supposedly been removed from the air after being purchased by companies seeking to offset their planet-warming emissions, according to cdr.fyi, a website that tracks carbon removal data.

Still, it could be years before biochar fulfills its promise, if it ever does; only a small fraction of the amount that would meaningfully chip away at global emissions is currently being produced. And there’s no easy answer for how to scale it up. 

Farmers have used charred plant matter for millennia to improve soils. In the Amazon rainforest, known for its nutrient-poor dirt, archeologists have dug up pockets of unusually dark, fecund earth, commonly referred to as terra preta. Those soils likely were made fertile thanks to intentional burning and the proliferation of a biochar-like substance thousands of years ago. The porous, spongelike material can act like a steroid for soil. It gives dirt structure, which helps bacteria and fungi latch onto it and make nutrients available for plants. And when it rains, biochar keeps soil from shedding off fields.

But that’s not why it has seen a resurgence in the United States. Two decades ago, when the world was awakening to the dangers of climate change, scientists became interested in the soil soot as a tool for carbon sequestration. The carbon that plants pull out of the air typically winds up back in the atmosphere, where it traps heat and warms the planet. Generally, plant matter either decomposes — say, as corn husks left in farm fields or food waste in a landfill — in which case microbes convert carbon into carbon dioxide; or it gets burned, sometimes for fuel or to get rid of waste wood.

Researchers have found that the process of turning wood, twigs, or leaves into biochar, through a procedure called pyrolysis, could turn about half of that matter’s original carbon content into a stable form that could stay in the ground for centuries. A study published in March in the Journal of Environmental Quality also found that using biochar, which helps keep nutrients like nitrogen in the ground, could cut planet-warming nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture by almost one-fifth.  

“Our objective is to try to use biomass that would otherwise be rapidly decomposing [and] doesn’t have other utility,” said Charlotte Levy, a science advisor at Carbon180, a nonprofit that advocates for carbon removal. “One opportunity we see for that is to use corn stubble that gets left in the field.” The United States produces some 14 billion bushels of corn every year. Some of the husks, stems, and cobs left over could be turned into biochar and added back into the soil. 

Burgess’s team at the farm in Alaska makes their biochar out of waste wood, rather than inedible corn parts, in a cylindrical steel tank the size of a small car. The wood comes from a local land-clearing company, co-owned by Burgess, that supplies logs that can’t be used for construction or firewood. “The things that end up as biochar on our farm were the things that could achieve no other higher purpose,” Burgess said. 

Blood, Sweat, and Food has the capacity to roast wood into about 200 pounds of biochar each day. While they mainly mix the finished product with feed for their chickens and pigs, which do the work of spreading the char around fields by pooping it, they’re also starting to sell it to nurseries, greenhouses, and other farmers around Alaska, Burgess said. 

Making biochar a global climate solution — the sort hoped for by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  — will require producing it on a much larger scale. The amount of biochar being produced in the U.S. — 100,000 metric tons — is tiny compared to the amount needed to sequester carbon in a globally significant way.  By one estimate, biochar could offset the equivalent of up to three gigatons of carbon dioxide each year by 2050. That’s roughly the same as shutting down 800 coal plants. To get there, producers would have to ramp up worldwide production drastically.

And even if producers do manage to ramp up production that much, there’s the risk that it would undo some of its benefits, particularly if the industry shifts to growing plants specifically for the purpose of making biochar. That could lead down a path paved by biofuels like corn ethanol, which has morphed into such a big business that much of the corn grown in the United States never ends up on dinner tables.

As soon as you start converting forests or fields into rows of crops with the aim of producing biochar, “you get into a lot more complicated questions,” said Levy. At that point, if you factor in the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the changes in land use (say, logging), then biochar may help worsen climate change, not solve it. 

But the nascent industry isn’t anywhere near that point, Draper said. At the moment, she said, there’s enough plant waste already out there to make a dent in emissions without growing more crops. While there’s significant demand for biochar on the carbon market, industry proponents are trying to generate more interest among farmers and other businesses, like concrete companies that are adding the soot to asphalt to make their product less carbon-intensive or governments that could pour it into abandoned oil and gas wells.

There aren’t enough farmers actually using biochar to meet the demand generated by companies keen on buying the carbon credits associated with the charcoal. “The hiccup right now,” Draper said, “is that all of the investors want to know who’s buying the biochar and for how much.”

Part of the challenge is that biochar doesn’t exactly fit into the standard American farming curriculum. It’s neither a fertilizer nor a pesticide, and it doesn’t supercharge crop production. “It’s not something that’s likely to double yield,” said Milton McGiffen, a cooperative extension specialist and agricultural researcher at the University of California, Riverside. Still, McGiffen said, biochar’s benefits are clear, particularly when it’s added to soils that have a lot of sand or clay and struggle to hold onto water and nutrients.

Another challenge is that not all biochar is equal. How it’s made, and how it’s applied to soil, can affect how it works, said Rachel Seman-Varner, a soil scientist at the American Farmland Trust. “Biochar started to be promoted as a single solution and a silver bullet, and it’s much more nuanced than that,” she said. “A lot of people are trying to shift toward understanding that biochar is a class of products.” 

Char made by roasting corn husks at 900 degrees Fahrenheit, for instance, won’t have the same properties as wood that’s broiled at 1,400 degrees F. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are putting together a national database to help farmers choose from the many different types of biochar and connect them with local producers, and Congress is weighing legislation with bipartisan support — the Biochar Research Network Act — that would increase funding for similar research.      

As proponents work to make the advantages of biochar more widely known to farmers, Burgess’s approach might offer some realism, and hope.

“For us, it’s not so much that biochar or pasture-based livestock or any of this is a panacea,” he said. It’s just a small way to limit waste, produce local food, and perhaps keep some carbon in the ground, too. 

This article originally appeared in Grist. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org.

Elementary and secondary school teachers want to teach about sustainability, yet many lack the time, resources, and in particular, the tools to do so effectively. For those in the United States, help is on the way. 

By 2030, the Sustainability Education Coalition aims to give more than 10 million K-12 students access to educational resources that will help them make informed decisions and take responsible actions when it comes to sustainability.

It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and launched by Discovery Education, a leader in developing digital content for K-12 teaching. 

“The need for comprehensive sustainability education has never been more pressing,” Amy Nakamoto, Discovery Education’s general manager of social impact, said in a statement. “Recent statistics reveal a concerning trend: While the majority of teachers recognize the importance of teaching students about climate and sustainability, only half of them are currently addressing these vital topics within their classrooms.” 

Three factors hinder teaching sustainability to K-12 students in the U.S., Natamoto said. First, some teachers have difficulty figuring out where classes on sustainability belong in their curricula. 

“It could be in science classrooms, it could be in social studies classrooms, it could be in blended STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] classrooms. I think currently, teachers are having a hard time figuring out where it fits in the school day," Nakamoto told TriplePundit. 

Others feel they do not know how to teach sustainability topics, she said. Teachers need and want more support in this area, according to a report from the Smithsonian Science Education Center. Of the teachers surveyed, 69 percent said professional development on sustainability would be helpful. 

“They want to be able to talk about this with their students, but they don’t know how,” Nakamoto told us. Lastly, while school administrators believe sustainability is a critically important topic to teach, they don’t know how to get the resources to do so, she said.

The Sustainability Education Coalition aims to solve all three problems. It uses insight and expertise from partner companies to create digital content for students to learn from alongside the lessons on the Discovery Education Experience learning platform, Nakamoto said. Support is specifically focused on providing STEM and sustainability education resources to school districts that would struggle to access them otherwise.

“Another way the collaboration happens, in addition to the curriculum and the content, is through strategic thought leadership that takes educators and administrators and puts them in the same rooms as these leading companies,” Nakamoto said. “So [the companies] can understand the challenges of schools to talk about these topics, and the schools and administrators can understand how companies are wrestling with these topics in more real-time.”

On the other side, company partners benefit from joining the coalition through employee engagement, Nakamoto said. Employees want to see their companies investing in initiatives that align their corporate mission with a local community mission. 

“Employee engagement is leveraging the employees of our partners to be part of the story. So, we are telling their stories, we are filming them and the solutions they’re doing,” Nakamoto said. “We deeply believe in showing the people who are the leaders in this movement to the students in classrooms across the U.S.”

So far, Subaru of America, LyondellBasell, Nucor, Honeywell, and the National Environmental Education Foundation have partnered with the coalition. Each company that joins helps to unlock access to a complete library of STEM and sustainability education resources for some critical communities, Nakamoto said.

“[Sustainability] is a topic that everybody is both wrestling with and evolving with at the same time,” she concluded. “We have a big vision to grow this to represent multiple sectors, multiple interests because the sustainability story is an everyday story that we all experience just walking through the world. In order to tell that story to students, we need to be influenced by all of the sectors that are engaged in sustainability at their corporate and community level.”

The latest iteration of Patagonia wetsuits could change the way we think about outdoor gear. Made with sustainability, repairability and recyclability in mind, the brand's line of Yulex wetsuits launched this month represent a strong departure from the single-season neoprene version that dominates the market. The company isn’t gatekeeping, either. It’s hoping to encourage other manufacturers to follow suit.

The problem with wetsuits

“Conventional wetsuits are made with polychloroprene,” said Mackenzie Warner, a material developer at Patagonia. Also known as neoprene, the synthetic rubber pollutes waterways, languishes in landfills and never biodegrades. Worst of all, producing it creates cancer-causing chemicals that are devastating the community surrounding the only U.S. chloroprene manufacturer. 

Wetsuits aren’t the only consumer item made from neoprene, nor is the chloroprene plant the only petrochemical factory releasing toxic chemicals in the Louisiana region known as Cancer Alley. But the outdoor industry’s contribution to a cancer rate that is 50 times higher than the national average is undeniable.

“No home in the community around [the] plant has been untouched by cancer,” Chris Nelson and Lewis Arnold, both surfers and journalists, wrote in Nordic Surfers Mag. With a population that is over 90 percent Black, the situation reeks of environmental racism. 

A better rubber

Patagonia started designing wetsuits in 2008 and introduced the first suits made from Yulex eight years later. “As a brand, we wanted to get into wetsuits to show that it can be done in a better way … meaning less impact, less harmful material usage, and a better product in the long run,” Corey Simpson, communications manager at Patagonia, told TriplePundit. That upstream approach resulted in better repairability, functionality and durability for the user.

The company behind the Yulex material got its start by sourcing natural rubber from a desert plant called guayule. “I was actually working in a retail store here that was next to the headquarters. And this guy came in wearing a backpack and … takes out this huge blob of rubber. But it was clear rubber. It looked really clean. And he's like, ‘This is the future of your wetsuits,'” Simpson recounted. “That led us into our first natural rubber wetsuit. Since [then], it has just been a constant crank to get more refined materials and have higher and higher output with the least environmental impact as possible.”

That search for better materials led to the hevea tree, which can be tapped for its natural rubber. “That rubber is then purified to eliminate like 99 percent of the impurities and proteins and allergens that are in the natural rubber. And then, at the end of that process, you get what is called Yulex Pure,” Warner said. 

The Yulex Pure material is Forest Stewardship Council certified, according to creator Yulex Corp. That means the forest the trees are grown in is responsibly managed to promote biodiversity and prevent deforestation while providing social and economic benefits. 

Yulex natural rubber is not unique to the Patagonia brand. The company does not own a patent or the rights to the material. Rather, it's looking to encourage as many competitors as possible to make the switch to Yulex in the interest of sustainability. Another surf label, The Seea, also makes Yulex wetsuits and has since 2018. 

“We understand that there's no other really clean supply chain. And we've spent so much time, energy, and money vetting this and really being able to scale the supply chain that it's like, ‘Hey, we've got this now, capitalize off of our leg work, please take this and then run with it,’” Simpson said. “Please utilize this technology, please use this supply chain.”

Beyond a single season

Between the sun, salt water and overall harsh conditions, most wetsuits are only designed to last through a single surf season. But Patagonia has taken a more sustainable approach to this, as well. “We really strive to have our wetsuits last for multiple seasons and years,” Warner said. “To do that, we want to put high-quality fabric on the interior and exterior lining.” 

For now, that means continuing to use nylon in the lining of the wetsuits, which runs the risk of shedding microfibers. “With any fiber, of course, there's a concern of microplastics and we do our best to mitigate [that in] the construction of the net or the woven fabric,” she said.

All of the nylon that is used in Yulex wetsuits comes from post-consumer recycled material, but Warner said the brand will keep striving for more sustainable options. “As new technologies become available, we'd love to explore the use of different yarn types and different stretch fibers and all these different things,” she told us.

Another big difference between Patagonia’s Yulex suits and the average wetsuit is the ability to repair them, which is not typical. Not only have they been designed with repairability in mind, but there’s no cost to the consumer to get a suit repaired, aside from shipping charges.

“Our wetsuit team has repaired suits over and over for people where they're like, ‘Oh, I remember this suit.’ And they're rebuilding it again for its second and third life out there,” Simpson said. “It's just unheard of outside of our walls. It just doesn't exist, and our hope is that people see that value and understand … they can keep it in use longer.” 

While the initial price point may be significant — starting at $100 for shirts and vests and over $450 for full suits — it’s worth it in the long run, especially because the suits significantly reduce environmental impact, he said. That impact is further reduced by the wetsuits’ recyclability. “We've found a way to enhance recycling techniques, to essentially turn our old wetsuits that are beyond repair into raw material that can then be used in new future products,” Warner said.

Setting a new standard

Patagonia is well known for its dedication to repair. As this extends into the realm of wetsuits, there is potential to influence other brands to move toward more sustainability in their own products.

As consumers come to terms with Earth’s finite resources, it’s imperative that clothing companies and outdoor gear makers encourage repairability along with recyclability and sustainable materials. If this can be done with wetsuits, surely it can be done with just about anything with the proper effort. And while cost remains a limitation for many people, the importance of long-term value can make a difference in how they spend their money. Brands that promote a business model of quality over quantity will ultimately do better for both consumers and the planet.

It’s no secret that the adoption of advanced technologies is accelerating in agriculture and construction. Machines today are more powerful, precise and easy to use than they have ever been, making them more efficient, productive and sustainable. 

Sustainability is top of mind for many businesses, and for agriculture and construction, it is an opportunity to transform how we manage our natural resources to grow food and build communities. 

In real terms, that means finding innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions — in the plants where we build our machines and also during their usage — and developing methods to preserve the natural environment while maximizing productivity. 

These challenges are familiar to CNH Industrial. Selin Tur, the company’s vice president of advanced technologies and innovations, and John Crowell, director of sustainability, explain how the industry is adopting and continuing to develop advanced technologies to find viable sustainability solutions. 

How do advanced technologies play a role in achieving sustainability goals?

Selin Tur: All the technologies we work on have a sustainability impact, from automation and autonomous technologies to alternative fuels and electrification to advanced materials. That’s by increasing productivity, driving efficiency higher or reducing fuel consumption.

John Crowell: The path to achieving our sustainability goals is one of continuous improvement. Whether it be decarbonizing within our own operations, within our value chain or related to our product portfolio, it’s technology advancements that progress us forward.

What are the sustainability challenges that advanced technologies can help address?

ST:  They can help reduce the carbon footprint of CNH Industrial and our products. Alternative powertrains, such as fully electric, hybrid electric and biofuels, are all viable solutions. They can reduce operations’ emissions while maintaining quality and productivity. 

JC: There are further ways to meet the decarbonization challenge. We can manufacture our products with materials that have a lower emission impact for a higher level of recyclability, but also a higher level of end-of-life recyclability.


And precision technologies offer farmers innovative ways to lower their carbon footprint. Examples include improving water efficiency by using variable rate irrigation systems linked to real-time weather forecasts, which also take into account how the crop is growing. And pesticides can be applied precisely where they are needed.   

Advanced technologies can also preserve biodiversity which considers the interconnectedness between water risk, water scarcity, climate change and ecosystem. Using precision technology to minimize inputs supports the natural environment and contributes to healthier soils. 

What are some examples of advanced technologies addressing sustainability challenges? 

ST: Recently we acquired ‘sense and act’ specialist Augmenta. A key solution the company offers is a multispectral camera and advanced artificial intelligence engine. This ‘sees’ the crop in front of the tractor and adjusts the fertilizer being applied in real time by visually measuring the crops’ nitrogen levels.  This provides a new level of efficiency for farmers. 

It optimizes inputs according to crop status and demand through precise rate control at normal vehicle speeds. This provides a new level of field efficiency for the producer.

At the end of the year, we’ll be launching the New Holland T4 Electric Power. It’s the industry’s first all-electric light utility tractor. With a battery pack that can support a full day of operation, it’s a viable alternative fuel solution for farmers looking to decarbonize. 

It also adds to our growing electric product portfolio across agriculture and construction, which includes a series of mini excavators, a compact wheel loader and backhoe loader. 

JC: Alongside electric, our work with Bennamann highlights a tried and tested biofuels solution. Bennamann has expertise in capturing, repurposing and storing fugitive methane emissions for energy use. And when connected with our machinery, they can dramatically reduce emissions to deliver a carbon-negative system that fully supports a circular economy. When electricity is generated from captured fugitive livestock methane, it can be used to power the tractor, the farm and even be sold back to the grid.

What are the significant challenges or opportunities regarding advanced technology adoption? 

JC: One adoption challenge around decarbonization is ensuring that the alternative fuel equipment can complete all the tasks on the farm. That’s why biomethane is such an attractive solution – it delivers the same power as a conventional diesel machine. 

Another challenge is variety in what our customers are aiming to produce. Because of this, there's a great degree of variability in the solutions they're looking for. They want to be sustainable, but all want to maximize their productivity. And to satisfy this, we continually evaluate our portfolio. 

ST: For customers, price and availability are key. Installing and operating advanced technologies must come close to their current total cost of ownership and provide a significant return on investment. As accessibility to these fuels increases, so should the variety of equipment that can utilize them. 

JC: Indeed, there is still an infrastructure challenge — whether that be recharging/fueling stations or biodigesters. Training and support, both for operators and our dealer partners, will also be needed to ensure a smooth transition to these new solutions.

What promising technology advancements hold potential for sustainable agriculture and construction? 

ST: Certainly, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. Advanced sensors will make farming practices more efficient by controlling the volume of chemicals applied to fields.

We’re also working on augmented and virtual reality. These solutions also accelerate product development times through virtual assembly and digital prototyping — and they can reduce our travel by enabling us to conduct virtual design reviews. It’s sustainability through reduction. They also enable remote diagnostics and mean field issues can be resolved quickly without having to wait for a technician to attend.

JC: There is also an increasing focus on electrifying implements and not just the vehicle. There's a great opportunity there for further innovation, leading to increased productivity and sustainability. 

What does future collaboration between your technology and sustainability functions look like?

JC: It's a collaborative engagement between our teams. We both acknowledge the challenge of decarbonizing our products, but also the opportunity for the industry, and for our customers.

The sustainability team is leading the efforts to help the company meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s objectives. And in doing so, we are learning from the research and development team. They’re showing us what’s feasible, what's within their technology innovation roadmap and what really matters to our customers.

ST: My team is in an advantageous position working with John. It enables us to tie our innovation and technology programs into company sustainability goals and targets. It’s a good process that has real customer benefits.

--

With CNH Industrial continuing to innovate, the agriculture and construction industries are progressing toward a more sustainable future. It’s clear that advanced technologies are more than just an option — they’re essential. We are committed to delivering solutions that produce food, fiber, energy, shelter and infrastructure for a growing world population sustainably.

And that does not mean sacrifice. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Advanced technologies are unlocking new ways for operators to add value, from a sustainability standpoint and beyond. 

This article series is sponsored by CNH Industrial and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Image credit: Valentin Valkov via Adobe Stock

Voter engagement is on the rise across the United States, with the elections of 2018, 2020 and 2022 breaking records for high turnout. But around a third of eligible U.S. voters — more than 50 million people — are still not registered to vote. Importantly, young people (those aged 18 to 25) are less likely to be registered. Earlier this month, activists, nonprofits and brands across the country marked National Voter Registration Day with engagement campaigns aimed at getting more people set up to head to the polls in November. 

The observance day has proven a success since it first launched in 2012, with organizers reporting more than 5 million people registered to vote on the holiday over the past decade. In New York City on the sidelines of Climate Week and the U.N. General Assembly, brands including The Body Shop, Tony's Chocolonely and Partake Cookies joined civic organizers like HeadCount, Democracy NYC and NYU Votes for a registration event in Washington Square Park, where nearly 750 people registered to vote or checked their voter registration status. 

Hundreds of similar activations took place across the U.S., but with the 2023 midterm elections approaching and a pivotal presidential election in 2024, this work is just beginning. So, what's still needed to get more folks registered, and how can brands keep the momentum going? 

Reaching young people: A critically underrepresented demographic for voter registration

Talking heads on TV news often paint a picture of apathetic young people who can't be bothered to show up at the polls. But have you ever stopped to think about why more young people don't vote? 

"We know that a disproportionately low percentage of young people are represented in government," said Hilary Lloyd, vice president of marketing and corporate responsibility for The Body Shop North America. "So then it follows that a disproportionately low percentage of young people's preferences or the issues they have passion for are represented in government."

Indeed, the median age is 57.9 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and 65.3 years in the U.S. Senate. Just three U.S. senators and 16 House members are under the age of 40. 

With this in mind, it's less a matter of getting folks in their teens and 20s to put down the TikTok and head to the ballot box, and more about helping young people see themselves and the issues they care about represented in the public sector. On this front, state and local elections provide a vital proving ground, with a growing number of young people throwing their hats in the ring for public office. The November elections offer an actionable opportunity for their peers to get registered and support them. 

"The more folks we can get engaged in civics early, the more likely we can get more representation for young people and the issues that young people are passionate about in political discourse across the U.S.," Lloyd said. 

Brands show up and show out for National Voter Registration Day

The Body Shop asked young people about those issues at the event it hosted with the youth voter registration organization HeadCount in Washington Square Park. "We hosted a customer engagement activity, asking folks who participated in the event to tell us what they're voting for, to put forward in people's minds what's important to them as we get into election season," Lloyd said. 

Around 500 participants named issues ranging from LGBTQ+ and women's rights to climate justice, education and Social Security. Young organizers including Deja Foxx, a 23-year-old reproductive rights activist and founder of Gen Z Girl Gang, and Genesis Butler, a teen animal rights advocate and founder of Youth Climate Save, were in attendance helping to get people registered to vote. "It makes sense for young people to encourage young people to get involved in public discourse and democracy," Lloyd said. 

The Body Shop hosted smaller events at retail stores across the U.S. and leveraged its e-commerce and social media platforms to get people registered. On an ongoing basis, shoppers can scan a QR code at "Act," or activism, Stations in The Body Shop stores to register to vote straight from their phones. 

HeadCount's efforts with The Body Shop and other companies like Monumental Sports and Entertainment and Major League Baseball helped the organization register more than 16,000 voters this year, Lloyd said. 

How to keep the momentum going on voter registration 

The Body Shop's voter registration campaign is part of a broader effort called Be Seen, Be Heard, which launched last year with the aim of getting more young people involved in public life. The campaign takes the form of partnership with groups like HeadCount and activists like Foxx and Butler, who will continue to partner with the company to drive voter registration on social media in the lead-up to 2024. 

Beyond the U.S., Be Seen, Be Heard is global — and early outcomes from the campaign show what's possible when brands put concerted effort into engaging young people in the electoral process. 

The campaign reached approximately 51 million people online in its first year, gathering more than 90,000 signatures on petitions related to key issues in countries around the world, according to the company. In Canada, store managers helped rally nearly 13,000 signatures in support of moving federal elections to the weekend so more young people can make the time to vote. In Malaysia, the company and its supporters successfully pressured the government to honor their commitment to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. In New Zealand, The Body Shop’s partner Make It 16 won a supreme court case which found the country's current voting age of 18 to be inconsistent with its bill of rights.

"Some really remarkable movements have taken place," Lloyd said. "We want to move people through petitioning government or petitioning for legislative change, which creates real, fundamental, systemic change." 

While global civic activations may be out of reach for some companies, voter registration groups like HeadCount, Rock the Vote and NextGen America make it easy for any brand to get involved by hosting registration pages on their websites and spreading the word among their customers. Meanwhile organizations like Time to Vote are calling on companies to commit to give their employees paid time off to cast their ballots on election day. 

"Be a facilitator for voter registration," Lloyd recommended to other business leaders. "Use your reach, use your platforms — both your retail and digital presences — to drive voter registration. Partner with folks like HeadCount or organizations who do the same."

It really can be as simple as sharing a post on social media, as the queen of summer Taylor Swift proved when her recent Instagram post drove a 1,226 percent jump in participation on the voter registration site Vote.org. Considering nearly half of U.S. states have recently passed legislation that makes it harder for people to vote — including changes to registration laws and polling locations — efforts like these are sorely needed, and certainly far from over. 

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Images courtesy of The Body Shop