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Coral reefs are considered to be the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. They provide societies around the world with $375 billion in ecosystem services each year, but they’re in trouble. 

As of this year, the world has already lost half of its coral reefs and is on track to lose up to 90 percent by 2050, even if global warming is capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius. While governments and NGOs around the world are making policies and enacting programs to stop the demise of coral reefs, one company is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. 

Coral Maker, founded by coral biologist Taryn Foster, manufactures and deploys premade coral skeletons seeded with coral fragments. The use of premade coral skeletons significantly reduces the number of years corals take to reach their mature, adult size.

Coral Maker’s goal is to quickly scale up in order to restore 250 acres of coral reefs annually. And it's utilizing the robotics and engineering expertise of design software giant Autodesk to help make that happen.

“We are always seeking new ways of engaging with innovators and entrepreneurs. They push our thinking,” said Rick Rundell, senior director of research programs at Autodesk Research. “Coral Maker first joined us through a program at our technology center that allows people to do their own technology work. Dr. Taryn Foster collaborated with our researchers working in robotics and AI.” 

The first project that Foster and the Autodesk Research team collaborated on was automating the placement of seed coral into a frame or “skeleton.” Then, Foster worked with a different team to design and manufacture the coral skeletons utilizing recycled construction materials. By providing underwater skeletons for the coral to inhabit, they can more quickly grow to maturity and propagate themselves. 

Coral Maker can now manufacture 10,000 coral skeletons per day, and each skeleton holds six to eight coral fragments. The manufacturing equipment is deployed at coral reef restoration sites in order to reduce shipping and transportation emissions. Foster hopes to deliver tens of millions of coral fragments to restoration sites annually.

“The global risk is that the reefs will die faster than they can reseed,” Rundell said. “Coral Maker is seeding reefs in areas that will be more suitable for reefs in the long term. They are moving them to places where temperatures will be more suitable as the oceans warm.” 

While millions of hectares of coral reefs are currently at risk of degradation, bleaching or die-offs, traditional reef restoration projects using manual methods restore less than one hectare per year. To protect and restore reefs at scale, restoration must advance quickly — which is why Coral Maker utilizes automation, robotics and AI. 

“One of the things that is so challenging when you’re dealing with big, global problems like coral reef degradation is that it’s not always clear as to what one person can do,” Rundell said. “We know we need to cool the planet, but that is difficult. It is inspiring to our researchers and employees to be involved with a group like Coral Maker which is biting off a big, challenging problem in a way that seems like it could really work. They can help make it successful. That’s exciting for us.”

Images courtesy of Coral Maker and Autodesk Research

As a multinational producer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment with dozens of manufacturing and research facilities worldwide, CNH Industrial recognizes that the opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint is substantial. With that in mind, the company has mounted a highly ambitious effort to decrease the carbon emissions associated with its manufacturing processes and products. 

It's an effort that is making significant progress, according to the company’s 2022 sustainability report, which shows that CNH Industrial has reduced emissions KPI by 31 percent since 2018 and now derives 60 percent of the electricity it uses from renewable energy sources.

“Our goal is to lower our carbon footprint by 2030, to reduce CO2 emissions per production hour of our plants worldwide by 50 percent compared to 2018, and to achieve 90 percent of total electricity consumption from renewable sources,” Maria Francesca Drago, CNH Industrial’s energy manager, told TriplePundit.

Part of this effort centers on installing solar panels at the company’s manufacturing sites around the world. Solar installations came online at five sites in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, India and Mexico between 2020 and 2021. Nine plants will have solar installations operational by 2024, with plans to power all plants with 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and install photovoltaic systems on the majority of plants by 2040. 

The company’s strategy utilizes existing infrastructure (roofs) to help generate renewable energy, coupled with innovative installations like solar smart flowers. And its journey offers a lesson for other businesses looking to navigate the nuances of onsite solar in order to reduce their footprints. 

Onsite solar isn’t easy, but it offers real benefits for employee engagement 

Coordinating this effort across a wide variety of jurisdictions brings a particular set of challenges, Drago said. 

The first thing multinational companies like CNH Industrial must do is analyze the national and local laws relevant to each of their sites in order to ensure compliance. For example, India puts a cap on the maximum area covered by solar energy systems, and some states in the U.S. require solar ground installations to be enclosed. Companies also need to know if government grants or subsidies for solar installations are available.

But the biggest challenge — and the greatest opportunity — is involving global employees in these changes, Drago said.

“CNH Industrial has been looking at renewable energy for many years now. We set ambitious targets because we strongly believe we have to adopt a responsible approach based on the contribution of each employee,” she explained. “The real result comes if all of us trust in our capabilities to make the change.”

Onsite solar projects contribute to increase participation and awareness in the low-carbon transition among local employees, raising their sense of belonging to the company, Drago said. Employees at a CNH Industrial plant in India, for example, started asking for information about how to get solar panels for their homes. 

The company also tries to demonstrate the impact of onsite solar by helping employees benefit directly. For example, employees at the company’s plant in Zedelgem, Belgium, can recharge their electric bikes from power generated by onsite solar smart flowers. Inspired by sunflowers, these free-standing arrays offer an alternative at plants where rooftop solar is less feasible. Although smaller, their ability to track and capture the sun’s rays via petal-shaped panels results in 40 percent more energy output for their size.

The role of onsite solar in the low-carbon transition 

Bringing more clean power online while using less land is among the core benefits of onsite solar at corporate plants, said Alex Perera, deputy director of the World Resources Institute’s energy program and its corporate partnership lead for energy. 

“You’re putting solar on an existing warehouse or existing roof,” Perera explained. "You’re not putting it on land, which can be difficult to site because of competing uses for that land,” such as agriculture and housing. 

Further, placing power generation where it’s needed reduces what’s known in the energy sector as load pockets — or areas where local demand for energy exceeds the capacity of energy transmission infrastructure during peak times. 

“New York City is a classic example of a load pocket. There’s just not enough transmission into New York City to meet all the demand,” Perera said. “Putting solar in those areas can relieve congestion.” 

Beyond onsite solar: Small shifts to reduce corporate carbon footprints

Concurrent with its move toward onsite solar, CNH Industrial has a multi-year plan to scale the use of intelligent LED lighting technology to 21 plants worldwide. This smart management system includes motion sensors, dimmers and timers, which will generate up to 30 percent more energy savings than the LED technology already in place at most CNH Industrial plants, according to the company. 

CNH Industrial’s decarbonization strategy also includes a shift toward a more environmentally-friendly product portfolio, including a tractor that runs on bio-methane that can be extracted from organic waste produced on farms in a closed-loop system.

Companies have a major role in scaling solar energy worldwide

Average annual investment in solar solutions needs to double from 2021 through 2030 if the world is to achieve the goals set out in the Paris climate agreement, according to 2022 research from the World Resource Institute. 

“We need to raise the awareness of companies to move toward the sustainability goals so that everyone reduces their carbon footprint for the future of the next generations,” Drago said.

Indeed, these efforts will be “mission-critical,” both for businesses and the environment, in the years to come, added Perera of WRI.

“Companies will not be able to exist unless they align their business interests with climate and development objectives,” he said. “It’s becoming so strategic for companies to do this because investor pressure and consumer pressure is really mounting on companies to move in this direction. The companies that are embracing this, taking leadership positions, and trying to get out in front are going to set themselves up for success in the future.”

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

Image courtesy of CNH Industrial 

Say “secondhand shopping” and many people latch onto an image of thrift stores for the tightly budgeted or the treasure-hunting consumer, whether the shops are physical or online. However, the resale of goods — particularly clothing, footwear and accessories — encompasses a much broader market that is rising quickly to a powerhouse.

Growth in resale — also known as re-commerce, a name derived from the term reverse commerce — is expected to dwarf the growth of fast fashion in the next few years. This speaks to the trend’s potential to improve sustainability in an industry notorious for being anything but planet-friendly. The National Retail Federation put a white-hot spotlight on resale and sustainability at its January 2023 Big Show in New York City, with one expert’s estimation of the resale market reaching $300 billion by 2031.

Thrift stores and consignment shops still factor into the consumer search for secondhand clothes, footwear and accessories, but both brands with big names and smaller merchants using online platforms like Shopify are bringing resale to unprecedented scale.

What’s driving re-commerce’s accelerating positive trajectory?

The rise of resale: The consumer experience and the retail shift

To learn more about what is driving the rise of resale in fashion retail, TriplePundit spoke with Tasha Reasor, senior vice president of marketing at Loop, a returns management app for brands on the e-commerce site Shopify. She likened the shift to the appeal of factory outlet stores, which initially offered discounts on unsold stock before many companies added product lines exclusively for those shops.

“Think about returns: they can come back damaged, they're out of season or simply just can't be resold,” Reasor said. “When we think about re-commerce, you take the ones that can be resold, and you're opting to save money and not waste the returns. You're boosting your profit margins while also promoting a sustainable behavior.”

“American Eagle recently opened a resale shop called AE/RE, and they partnered with ThredUp, a company that specializes in reverse commerce,” she said.

American Eagle’s resale shop offers newer items for resale and vintage wear from its past decades. Therefore, the value of re-commerce isn’t a one-way street benefitting business to recoup profits on unsold and returned merchandise. It brings back the thrill of the hunt for bargains on quality-made items, nostalgia or other shopping aesthetics consumers enjoy.

Digital space created a definite need for resale, too. While the ease of shopping online and the rise of social media influencers stimulated purchasing, consumers also heavily leveraged return policies. Retailers and brands then had to look for ways to process those returns, not only as profitably as possible, but also in a way that retained consumer engagement and loyalty.

“Amazon for years has had ‘buy new, buy old, buy used’ optionality,” Reasor said. “We’re seeing re-commerce … bring that to any brand, all brands, giving them the ability, [especially] through companies like Arrive or ThredUp.” While American Eagle works with ThredUp, Eddie Bauer chose Arrive.

For smaller entities like many of the merchants on Shopify — the world through which Reasor and Loop operate in partnership with Arrive — facilitator platforms provide a more level playing field in resale and return management. 

Plus, while younger generations have long been fans of both online and secondhand shopping, older consumers are in the mix as well. Geared to the 50 and older crowd, AARP featured new innovations in shopping as its May 2023 Bulletin cover story, specifically mentioning secondhand retail as a smart option for dealing with inflation.

Sustainability: A major force behind resale’s rocketing growth

For those consumers pursuing savings through re-commerce, sustainability may not be at the forefront of their minds, but their secondhand purchases nonetheless contribute to more planet-friendly consumption habits. Still, a growing percentage of consumers do have sustainability in mind when shopping resale.

In its survey of shoppers in September 2021, IBM found that 44 percent of consumers — the largest segment of respondents — chose products and brands based on alignment with their values. In our own survey in December 2022, TriplePundit and our parent company, 3BL Media, learned that over half of respondents were already shopping secondhand, with more intending to do so within six months.

That’s a whopping 70 percent of consumers actively or planning to purchase resale goods. Reasor affirmed the relevance of those numbers to sustainability.

“The environmental impact of re-commerce would be reducing resource consumption,” Reasor said. “When you produce new products, you require significant amounts of resources, including raw materials, energy and water. So, if you are repurposing existing products and you are extending their life, you're naturally not needing to build and leverage all those materials.”

More than 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions of the fashion industry come from raw material production and processing, according to research giant McKinsey. Therefore, avoiding product creation from scratch can be a big boost to reducing emissions. Satisfying the customer with resale inventory instead of brand new also saves a sizable investment for companies.

A two-way street of changing behavior: The future of re-commerce and secondhand shopping

As someone who works with the logistics side of sustainability, Reasor noted that companies can use resale to encourage more sustainable behavior by their customers.

“Re-commerce promotes sustainable consumption,” Reasor said. “That starts to change the behavior and the habits of consumers in terms of getting them to think about secondhand being more environmentally friendly and thinking about their own consumption.” 

Loop also partners with the app EcoCart, which enables consumers to get education about carbon reductions associated with order and return choices, as well as to actively make a positive contribution to carbon neutrality.
 
Fast fashion is still growing, albeit at a much lower rate than resale, and it would be naïve to think that resale alone will put it to rest. But brands and merchants have a huge opportunity to influence consumer behavior toward secondhand shopping. Just as sustainability-minded shoppers have steered companies to provide them with environment-friendly options, companies can educate consumers about resale’s value to both the pocketbook and the planet.

Recent reports on the damage caused by fashion’s disposability in Chile and Ghana provide photographic proof of the need for increasing circularity in the industry, to which all forms of secondhand shopping make a contribution. Re-commerce models optimize the ability to scale those contributions.

Consumers have a lot of drivers behind their purchasing choices, and re-commerce speaks to a number of them — affordability, the value of more durable goods, sustainability, shopping experiences and, yes, the desire for style. The “new to me/new to you” mindset and variety behind secondhand can be as satisfying as shopping for never-worn fashion. For some, resale purchases score a bigger buzz.

Given predictions that re-commerce’s growth will be huge over the next several years — and has grown the last few — resale is unlikely to be a short-lived trend. Sustainability has joined price, value, quality and style as an economic force in retail.

Both companies and consumers save money and get the “cool factor” while cooling the planet. That’s too good a bargain to pass up.

Image credit: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Reducing unnecessary taxi time could help the aviation industry put a significant dent in its carbon dioxide emissions. And while air travel may emit less than the food system and other types of transportation, every little bit counts at this point. This is why EMMA Systems — a plug-and-play technology powered by artificial intelligence and aimed at reducing that taxi time — looks like a promising solution. TriplePundit spoke with the founders, Wisam Costandi and Mohammad Hourani, about the innovative technology and their implementation goals.

Using artificial intelligence to predict and communicate needs

Incubated at Qatar Science & Technology Park, EMMA — or  Environmental and Movement Monitoring for Airports — works with an airport’s current software management systems to predict landing and departure needs and communicate those needs to all necessary stakeholders, thus improving efficiency and reducing total taxiing time.

For example, the company’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology can predict taxiing times and inform the air traffic controller, said Hourani, the COO of EMMA. With that information, they can better sequence the lights on the runway to reduce queuing.

“I'm sure it's happened to you where you've landed, you’re taxiing and then you pull into your gate . . . and you just sit there for 20 minutes, half an hour, waiting for the ground handlers to come. These are part of the issues that …. we mitigate,” Costandi, EMMA’s CEO, said. “Maybe there's been a gate change. Does everyone know? Or your plane has come in early and another plane is in your spot, what do you do? So all these issues we help address. And of course, if you're sitting there idling, there's a tremendous amount of [carbon] being emitted while you're just sitting around doing nothing.”

The goal is for EMMA to reduce taxiing time by one minute per flight. The system’s founders estimate that for a large airport like San Francisco International Airport (SFO) that could mean a reduction of 12,000 to 13,000 tons of carbon per year. But airports like SFO are not the company’s immediate or most pressing target.

Regional airports as a target market

At the outset, EMMA is deploying at small, regional airports because they have a quick sales cycle, are growing rapidly, and are looking for cost-efficient, innovative solutions.

“They have more passengers post-COVID than pre-COVID, whereas the very large airports are still at 70 percent or 60 percent of pre-COVID numbers," Costandi said. “So, we're not after the 100 biggest airports in the world, we're after the 1,000 smaller airports.”

And there’s another good reason to implement EMMA in regional airports first — a higher percentage of the flight’s overall carbon footprint can be captured on the ground. 

“If you have a flight which is 1,000 miles, for example, only 25 percent of your [carbon] emissions happen on the ground during takeoff, taxiing and landing,” Costandi said. If it’s a shorter flight, on-the-ground emissions increase to 50 percent of the total flight footprint. “If we can just reduce incrementally and improve what's happening on the ground? That's big over the course of the year.”

EMMA in action

At present, EMMA is active in four airports in the Middle East and Europe. It got its start at one of the top 10 busiest airports in the world, Hamad International Airport in Qatar. And while it was launched right before the pandemic — which no doubt affected its expansion — EMMA is set to be implemented in an additional 70 airports soon.

While the goal is to reduce taxiing time by one minute per flight, there is a lot of variation. “It could be like three minutes up to 25, 30, sometimes even more,” Hourani said. “Depending on the inefficiencies and also on the peak hours in some cases. So, it really varies depending on the size of the airport.”

And EMMA aims to reduce energy use overall, not just on the runway. “We're cloud-based, so we would also like to reduce the presence of servers and infrastructure on-premises,” Hourani said. “So that we also reduce all of these costs for energy that is needed for this infrastructure and just optimize using our accurate data.”

A promising technology 

EMMA is still fairly new, so it remains to be seen how wide its reach will be and just how much of an impact the technology can have. Still, it represents an important technological shift for an industry that spends comparatively little on research and development. And while air travel may produce fewer greenhouse gases in total than passenger vehicles, it still creates a sizable impact. With air traffic on the risee, saving a minute of taxiing time per flight with artificial intelligence certainly cannot hurt.

Image credit: Chris Leipelt/Unsplash

The workplace isn't always the most welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ employees, particularly as increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the community continues to make headlines in the U.S. For fear of discrimination, 46 percent of LGBTQ+ employees say they are closeted at work, according to polling from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation. Around half say they hear jokes about lesbian or gay people at least once in a while, and 31 percent say they've felt unhappy or depressed at work, the survey shows. 

As a result of discrimination in the workplace, white LGBTQ+ workers earn about 10 percent less over their lifetimes compared to straight white workers — and LGBTQ+ people of color, transgender people and nonbinary people earn even less, according to the HRC Foundation. 

Peter Gandolfo and John Volturo, two out and proud partners at the coaching, consulting and investment firm Evolution, wanted to do something about it. They co-created Evolution's Gay Men's Leadership Circles, a peer group of directors, managers and C-suite leaders who meet to lift each other up, support each other in their careers, and share ideas about how to make their organizations more inclusive. 

"The courage that people show up with each week that we meet is palpable," said Volturo, who spent decades serving in C-suites and on corporate boards as an out member of the community. "People get to promotions faster, people get to key decisions faster, because they're seeing different perspectives from their peers and they're feeling empowered in the sense of community we provide." 

But you don't have to be part of the Circles — or even part of the community — to create change within your organization and make it a more inclusive place. Read on for Gandolfo and Volturo's top insights and advice. 

Create and support employee resource groups for LGBTQ+ employees

Employee resource groups, or ERGs, are employee-led groups that foster diversity, equity and inclusion within organizations. They can take many forms — from women's ERGs to Black, Latino and Asian-American ERGs, to wellness-focused ERGs.

For the LGBTQ+ community in particular, "These groups allow LGBTQ+ people and their allies to come together for connection," Gandolfo said. "It allows people to move away from feelings of isolation to realizing they have people in their organizations with similar lived experiences, and they have the support of people who don't even share those identities." 

Gandolfo has a close connection with ERGs and affinity communities, having served as the founding president for Mattel's LGBTQ+ ERG and represented LGBTQ+ alumni on the UCLA Anderson Alumni Board, and he knows the power these groups can hold in helping colleagues to feel seen and heard.

"I was very hesitant in starting the employee resource group at Mattel in particular, because I felt quite supported throughout my career," Gandolfo said. "Yet I realized there were probably people in the organization who hadn't even felt comfortable enough to come out yet because they hadn't had the same experience." 

But don’t make it "their job" to fix your organization

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, we heard a lot from Black employees — particularly Black women — about being implicitly tasked with "fixing racism" and lack of representation within their organizations. Don't make the same mistake with your ERGs, Gandolfo said. 

"Everyone has their own feelings around what level of advocacy or education they want to play," he told us. "It's important for leadership to turn to the ERGs, but not just make it this expectation that it is their job, without opportunity to say no, to do all of this work." 

Embrace hybrid and remote work

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone indoors, diversity advocates have celebrated the opportunities of remote and hybrid work and encouraged companies to keep these systems on board. "Those remote work options can create safer spaces for people who may fear going into the office because of physical or verbal discomfort that could come from things other people say," Volturo said.

"It's also harder for people in the LGBTQ+ community to move from one location to the next because every state does not treat LGBTQ+ people equally," he continued. "You get the ability for those folks to actually work for a company they feel they could work for, but not live in that state where they would feel unsafe with their family." 

Even for employees who wouldn't be required to relocate for a new job, "The idea that they have the flexibility of working from home and avoiding the risk of a microaggression happening in person is really appealing for them," Gandolfo added. 

Leverage diversity, equity and inclusion training to bust unconscious bias 

In a survey released by Indeed earlier this month, LGBTQ+ workers called out LGBTQ-specific diversity training as a solid first step for educating corporate teams about how to avoid, spot, and stamp out microaggressions and discrimination against their colleagues. 

"Diversity and inclusion training is obviously a buzzword today, but it's really important — especially if it's approached the right way," Volturo said. "People don't realize their unconscious biases, and the idea that we can shine some light on that is helpful, as long as it's delivered in a way that people can hear it."

Rally leadership to create a more welcoming culture

"It's really important to get the buy-in of the executive leadership team, so that they start talking the talk and walking the walk and making the environment at work feel a little bit more inclusive, even though it's not going to be perfect," Volturo said.

When leadership is intentional about welcoming the input of everyone on their teams, it allows employees to be more of themselves at work and thrive as a result. "Especially if there isn't an LGBTQ+ person in a leadership role, be explicit about someone in leadership who is going to be an executive champion for this community," Gandolfo added. "There's a lot of benefit to it being someone who doesn't share that identity — it's reinforcing that the responsibility isn't solely on the people who are being marginalized."

Foster a virtuous cycle of inclusion

In his decades of experience in the C-suite, "I made it my business to make sure my teams were the most diverse, because that was the lens through which I look at the world," Volturo said. "As a result, though, my peers also started doing it. When that starts happening within a company, the HR folks start taking a little bit more notice, the leaders take a little bit more notice, and then everyone else does as well, because they start seeing themselves reflected in the new hires." 

Championing diversity also leads to real business benefits. "I had the highest retention on my teams," he continued. "We know through lots of qualitative and quantitative studies that when people are showing up authentically at work, the bottom line improves for companies. Imagine your best workers doing their best work because they're in an environment that supports that." 

Image credits: Daniel James and Teddy O via Unsplash and Evolution

The renewable energy trend crossed partisan boundaries decades ago when red and blue states alike partook in the hydropower boom of the mid-20th century. More recently, some state officials have tried to push the clean power genie back in the bottle by ginning up action against ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. They have achieved some success, but investors just can’t resist the opportunities offered by new clean technologies.

The anti-ESG movement is mostly hot air

In a new report, the consulting firm Pleiades Strategy tracked 165 bills introduced by Republican lawmakers across 37 states, all aimed at steering government pension fund managers and contracting agencies away from ESG principles. Since the “E” in ESG leans heavily on renewable energy, the main thrust of the legislation is to protect fossil energy stakeholders.

Last week, Pleiades reported that the legislative push has met with significant pushback. “This coordinated legislative effort, commonly referred to as the anti-ESG movement, generated massive backlash from the business community, labor leaders, retirees, and even Republican politicians,” a new report from the firm reads.

Among the 165 bills it identified, only 21 became law. Many were substantively amended to satisfy objections. “Broad escape clauses were added to limit the most draconian prohibitions, which experts have warned legally contravene the basic tenets of fiduciary duty, creating a ‘liability trap,’” the report reads. 

Renewable energy is not a new “woke” craze

The Republican-dominated state of South Dakota provides a living example of the extent to which anti-ESG office holders are out of step with business leaders.

Anti-ESG rhetoric is larded with scary talk that warns of a new “woke” threat taking over the country. But there is nothing new about renewable energy in the U.S., and South Dakota is a case in point.

In March, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed an open letter with 18 other Republican governors, warning that the “proliferation of ESG throughout America is a direct threat” that puts “investment decisions in the hands of the woke mob.”

Nevertheless, South Dakota continues to benefit from the 20th-century hydroelectric program. The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) notes that 3 of the 4 biggest power plants in South Dakota are hydropower facilities that were built more than 60 years ago.

South Dakota’s agriculture industry has also benefited from longstanding federal policies going back to the Energy Policy Act of 1978. South Dakota is currently the fifth-largest producer of bio-ethanol among the 50 states, all from corn.

In addition, South Dakota grabbed onto the wind energy coattails fashioned by Iowa and Texas legislators in the 1990s and early 2000s. Wind contributed more than 50 percent to South Dakota's grid in 2021, with hydropower coming in second, according to the EIA. Coal and natural gas each contributed less than a tenth. 

More wind power for South Dakota

Activity in the South Dakota solar industry has also begun to stir. But much attention remains focused on wind resources, including tribal lands. “Four of the nation’s top five reservations with the greatest wind-powered electricity generation potential are in South Dakota,” the EIA observes.

Transmission bottlenecks have been a roadblock to wind development in South Dakota, as in other states. Back in 2012, several South Dakota Sioux tribes organized to overcome the obstacles by forming the Oceti Sakowin Power Authority — which holds an estimated 60 gigawatts of potential wind capacity on tribal lands. Pending resolution of the transmission bottleneck, an initial tranche of projects is in the planning stages.

Diversification in the renewable energy field

New clean power technologies are also popping up in South Dakota. Much of that activity is focused on renewable natural gas (RNG), sourced from the state’s copious production of livestock manure.

At the start of the year, the Pennsylvania-based holding company UGI Corp. announced an investment of $150 million for two new RNG clusters in South Dakota, drawing from multiple dairy farms. The two projects add to a third cluster previously announced, with an investment of $70 million.

The Michigan company DTE Vantage also opened a massive RNG facility in South Dakota last summer. Another RNG company with a hand in the state is the global firm Biogest — which claims “RNG is the only renewable energy source that can be carbon-negative, as it significantly reduces methane emissions from agricultural operations."

ESG or not, new green fuel industries are growing

Sustainable aviation fuel is another new industry establishing a footprint in South Dakota. In 2021, the biofuel firm Gevo began laying plans for an aviation biofuel plant that leverages the state’s corn growers as well as its wind industry.

The Gevo facility broke ground last fall. It includes a green hydrogen system, representing still another potential new industry. With an ample supply of both renewable energy and water, South Dakota has all the basic ingredients for a green hydrogen industry that could lead to follow-on opportunities in green ammonia and e-fuels production.

South Dakota businesses want renewable energy

The Joe Biden administration issued a fact sheet last March that drew attention to supportive relationships between renewable energy producers and other businesses in South Dakota. The White House took note of the meat producer Kingsbury and Associates, which is investing in a new $1.1 billion processing facility in Rapid City. Kingsbury says the new plant will rely on renewable energy, including captured biomethane, to achieve bottom-line results in a competitive environment.

Another indicator comes from the solar developer GenPro Energy Solutions. In May, the company received equity growth funding from the in-state financial firm South Dakota Equity Partners and an established South Dakota investor. The partners launched a new GenPro branch that aims to “open doors to South Dakota and other regional energy providers desiring to develop utility-scale solar projects while embracing South Dakota values,” according to GenPro.

Against this backdrop, last week the Washington Post took notice when an unnamed lobbyist for the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce “scolded the supporters of anti-ESG legislation.”

Speaking of “woke,” all of this should be a wake-up call for anti-ESG candidates. It may be too late to make a course correction in time for the all-important 2024 election cycle, but 2028 is right around the corner.     

Image credit: Kervin Edward Lara/Pexels