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Fossil fuel companies may be forced to pay the full cost of doing business as mounting lawsuits seek to hold the industry accountable for billions of dollars’ worth of damages done by the climate crisis. New Jersey is the most recent in a slew of states and local governments to ask the courts for compensation — citing over half a century of lies used to hide the consequences of releasing greenhouse gases en masse from the public in order to bolster profits. The Garden State is also asking for an injunction to block the industry from continuing to spread misinformation. Defendants include the American Petroleum Institute as well as Chevron, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. 

“Since at least the 1950s, its own scientists have consistently concluded that fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollution that can have catastrophic consequences for the planet and its people. The industry took these internal scientific findings seriously, investing heavily to protect its own assets and infrastructure from rising seas, stronger storms, and other climate change impacts,” the lawsuit reads. “But rather than warn consumers and the public, fossil fuel companies and their surrogates mounted a disinformation campaign to discredit the scientific consensus on climate change; create doubt in the minds of consumers, the media, teachers, policymakers, and the public about the climate change impacts of burning fossil fuels; and delay the energy economy’s transition to a lower-carbon future.”

According to the suit, those impacts are being felt now, and New Jersey is experiencing more than its share at the forefront. The state has sustained massive hurricane damage in recent years, with 30 lives lost to Hurricane Ida and billions spent to fix the damage done by Hurricane Sandy and reinforce the coastline in anticipation of future climate catastrophes. Additionally, the state’s urban centers and coastal communities remain at risk of flooding, with low-income communities in Atlantic City and Newark in particular danger. 

The industry isn’t new to lawsuits from New Jersey or anywhere else. Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts and Minnesota have all filed suit against the fossil fuel industry as well, as has Washington D.C. The city of Hoboken, New Jersey — which has been particularly hard hit by hurricanes and tropical storms over the past decade — sued in 2020. The city also pointed to the industry’s orchestrated campaign to deceive the public on what it already knew to be true about climate change from its own scientific studies: “Defendants spent millions of dollars on advertisements that cast doubt on climate science; funded scientifically unsound research to do the same; and created expansive networks of front groups to ‘reposition global warming as theory, not fact’.”

While these tactics no doubt got us where we are today, industry representatives naturally argue that holding the oil companies to task in a court of law is frivolous and a waste of time and money. In regards to the lawsuit from the city of Hoboken, a representative from Shell said on Frontline, “We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government, supported by action from all business sectors, including ours, and from society, is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress.”

While the irony in the statement is palatable considering the industry’s blatant crusade against cooperation and solutions, legal action may just be humanity’s best hope for bringing the climate crisis into check. Looking back on consumer protection lawsuits that changed the face of advertising and product safety, the courtroom certainly provides a legitimate path to forcing corporate responsibility.

But while states like New Jersey have access to funds and legal teams that may be able to help with recouping damages, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico is often left in the dark thanks to repeated thrashings from worsening climate crisis-fed storms and hurricanes. Additionally, the island is at risk from rising seas and eroding shorelines, as are numerous islands across the globe — many of which could disappear altogether. Likewise, the countries that have been hurt the most by climate change also have the fewest resources to pursue legal challenges. That’s not to say they aren’t fighting anyway — for example, the commonwealth recently brought a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty before the U.N. So although states like New Jersey may need to get the judicial ball rolling, the future of the climate could very well be decided in the courtroom. 

Image credit: Michael Kaucher via Pixabay

This Halloween, Mars and Rubicon are coming together to offer trick-or-treaters an easy way to collect and recycle their candy wrapper waste.

Mars, one of the world’s largest producers of candy and confectioneries, and Rubicon, a digital marketplace company for recycling, are working to grow the Trick-or-Trash candy wrapper recycling initiative launched by Rubicon in 2019. Through the program, participants can sign up to receive a recyclable “Trick-or-Trash” bag with a pre-paid postage stamp and instructions on how to collect candy wrapper waste and return it for proper recycling. 

Candy wrappers are not recyclable in most municipal recycling programs, so the wrappers of roughly 600 million pounds of candy purchased in the United States each season end up in landfills. The average trick-or-treater generates one pound of trash, most of which is plastic candy wrappers. Trick-or-Trash aims to give Halloween lovers a simple, fun and free way to combat waste. 

Mars, the maker of candy brands like M&M’s, Skittles and Snickers, knows Halloween, and company leaders see opportunity in investing to make the holiday easier on the environment. “As the authority on Halloween, it is critically important that we are investing in our biggest season in one of our biggest opportunities: recycling our packaging,” Tim LeBel, president of sales at Mars and “chief Halloween officer,” told TriplePundit. 

For Rubicon’s part, “our mission is simple: to end waste,” said Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dan Sampson. “We want to get people off the landfill model. We don’t feel that taking trash and burying it in the ground is a sustainable way for people to operate. It’s bad for people, business, the environment and communities. We want as much waste as possible diverted from landfills.” 

From classrooms to community hubs, growing the Trick-or-Trash program for a more circular Halloween

More than 75 percent of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, up 11 percent from 2021, and 93 percent of them plan to incorporate chocolate and candy into their celebrations. 

“There are several moments in the year when the amount of waste generated spikes,” Sampson of Rubicon explained. "A lot of those moments are around holidays when people are spending more on things like candy. Packaging goes up, and waste goes up at a commensurate pace. Halloween is one of those moments when the volume of waste spikes. Most of the packaging materials are not recyclable, so we tried to come up with an idea to combat this problem while having a bit of fun, and Trick-or-Trash came from that.” 

Rubicon launched the Trick-or-Trash campaign in 2019 by providing schools with candy wrapper recycling boxes, reaching 450 schools that year. When schools shuttered amidst the pandemic in 2020, Rubicon pivoted and expanded the program to include 750 businesses and community organizations.

The program reached 2,000 schools and businesses by the end of last year, and now it’s expanding once again. “Mars came to us with the idea of creating a trick-or-treat bag using the same process as our Trick-or-Trash boxes,” Sampson said. 

Trick-or-treaters sign up online to receive a bag at their homes, which can be filled, sealed and sent back via a prepaid return shipping label. “This program is in its fourth year, and with the addition of Mars, it is bigger and better than ever,” Sampson said. 

The reverse trick-or-treat bags became available online on Oct. 6, and the initial run of 5,000 bags sold out in five hours. “Bags were available in all 50 states, and we had purchases in all 50 states,” LeBel of Mars said. “Word got out very quickly. We were overwhelmed by support.” Thousands more bags are reserved for communities where Mars associates live and work — including Topeka, Kansas; Waco, Texas; and Newark, New Jersey. “Because of the incredibly positive response, by the hour we are revisiting what more we can do. It’s just one step in creating a more circular holiday,” LeBel continued.

How are candy wrappers and Trick-or-Trash bags recycled?

“The composition of an average candy wrapper is usually a mix of materials that doesn't lend itself to simple recycling in the way a can or a bottle does,” Sampson explained. “There is plastic in them, but there is also often aluminum and other materials. Additionally, wrappers are so small that they are not easily recycled, either.” 

Rubicon’s recycling partner, G2 Revolution, is tasked with processing the Trick-or-Trash bags. At G2’s plant, bags are emptied onto a conveyor belt and inspected for non-recyclable materials, which are extracted and discarded. The wrappers are then cleaned to remove food residue, and the clean wrappers are turned into pellets — which is the process material for creating new products. “Individual wrappers, when discarded, are almost impossible to recycle,” Sampson said. “When we collect in bulk, like in Trick-or-Trash, they can be effectively processed and recycled.”

“The brilliance is in the simplicity of this program,” LeBel added. “It’s consumer friendly and super easy. Most people are trying to do the right thing, so if you can make it easy for the consumer to do it, you can make some magic.”

Making a movement

While reducing waste is a critical mission for Rubicon, Sampson also emphasized the importance of educating young people about sustainability — and Halloween is a great time to do it. The company partnered with the National Wildlife Federation to create educational programs, lesson plans and reading lists for children of all grade levels, which are available for free on the Trick-or-Trash website. “We have built in this component because it’s important for us to educate future generations,” Sampson told us. “We can help teachers show their students how recycling works and why it’s important.” 

The boost from Mars was well timed as Rubicon looks to expand the impact of its Halloween programming even further. “Given our mission, we are always looking for partners with true commitments to sustainability,” Sampson said. "We have expanded our footprint and are making a bigger impact on waste that is generated at Halloween, and Mars is accelerating this.”

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

Image courtesy of Mars Incorporated 

Meal delivery startup Daily Harvest is teaming up with the American Farmland Trust and California Certified Organic Farmers to provide $10,000 grants to 12 historically underserved farmers in California’s Central Valley and Central Coast. The grants aim to help farmers scale their operations and expand organic acreage and come as California is confronting a historic drought. Notably, all of the grantees are Latino farmers, and half of the grantees are women.

Historically underserved farmers often lack access to resources due to race or gender. For example, Latinos make up 97 percent of farmworkers in California, yet only 3 percent of them own their own farms. The new program gives these Latino farmers grant funding, technical support and market access through a three-year transition to more regenerative production practices. 

“For many of these farmers, land access is their biggest challenge," Rebecca Gildiner, Daily Harvest’s director of sustainability, told TriplePundit. "Being able to access land, let alone own land, is challenging. For example, one of our growers was recently able to lease two acres, but she is told what she is and is not allowed to grow, so it is difficult.”

“Many farmers also face language barriers and cannot access government resources in their primary language," Gildiner added. "Farming is so risky, and farmers that have more of a safety net are able to take on more risk. The farmers we work with in particular are small-scale with tight margins, so they face even more risk."

The technical training starts with a simple program they call “tailgates.” These tailgates provide community-tailored opportunities for farmers to come together for direct farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchanges. California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) sponsors the events and provides farmers with information about their grants to assist with regenerative and organic practices.

“The communities of growers can apply to fund anything they need, from compost to cover crops to tractors. It’s not prescriptive," Gildiner explained. "From there, we look to bring growers who are interested in organic transition into the next phase of one-on-one support, where CCOF and American Farmland Trust can give on-farm support through an organic transition. We want to find market outlets for growers, and we want small-scale farmers to have the resources to be a part of the regenerative movement. We want to increase representation in our supply chain, because regenerative agriculture has to be people-focused and take care of humans.”

Daily Harvest’s partners say they are taking the long view. They recognize that each farmer’s challenges are unique, and organic or regenerative agriculture may not be the immediate answer for all of these farmers.

"This program is committed to supporting farmers continuously over the three years of transition with grant funding, technical support and market access," said Jessy Beckett Parr, chief program officer at CCOF, in a public statement. "Long-term partnership is what makes the implementation of regenerative practices on the road to organic transition successful."

Gildiner added: “Our program is distinctive, because although we believe in organic agriculture, we don’t want to be prescriptive. There may be challenges [for a grower] that makes it so that organic doesn’t make sense to them at the moment. So, we bring broad technical and general assistance to the growers to be supportive through their process.”

Maria Narez is among the Latino farmers receiving a grant. Narez owns and operates her own vegetable farm near Salinas, California, and for her, scaling her business is one of her biggest challenges. In the past, accessing land and buying equipment has been too cost prohibitive. "The most difficult thing for me right now is financially my ability to expand," she said. Narez is using her grant to scale up operations at her farm.

"A more just and regenerative food system starts with the people who grow our food," said Rachel Drori, founder and CEO of Daily Harvest. "This program aims to tackle systemic issues at the root by giving historically disadvantaged farmers in California's Central Valley and Central Coast the tools they need to expand their operations while scaling organic and regenerative approaches that benefit growers, consumers and the planet."

Gildiner agrees that a people-centered approach is crucial as the program works each of these 12 Latino farmers. “Regenerative does not have one definition," she told 3p. "We are working with ATF and CCOF to take a place-based approach to growing diversity in our supply chain. Our program is complex because regenerative agriculture is complex. However, we aren’t scared to take that on, because that’s how you solve the problem." Gildiner noted that Daily Harvest aims to expand this programming to wherever there is demand from farmers. 

Image credit: Daily Harvest via PR Newswire

Some grim news recently surfaced: Wildlife populations across the globe are plunging dramatically. Vertebrate populations, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, have dropped by 69 percent on average since 1970. Discouragingly, these WWF and Zoological Society of London studies show greater declines every time they’re released. Given these alarming drops, it’s not surprising that 1 million plants and animals are currently threatened with extinction. Yet biodiversity plays a crucial role in maintaining the health, productivity and stability of our environment — which we depend on for our economy, well-being, and health. 

What’s at stake if wildlife continues to disappear?

We’re tightly linked to the other species on this planet, receiving a multitude of benefits from nature. For starters, bees, bats and birds pollinate many plants, including crops. Food production across the globe, worth $235 billion to $577 billion annually, relies on pollination by honey bees, native bees and flies. And just like vertebrates, we’re seeing declines in pollinating insects from pesticide use, habitat destruction and parasites. 

In addition to pollination, wildlife helps in other aspects of agriculture. Birds, beneficial insects, snakes, bats, and other mammals like skunks and coyotes consume pests that otherwise would harm crops. And they eat a lot of them! For instance, a single barn owl can eat more than 11,000 mice over its lifetime, pests that otherwise would have consumed 13 tons of crops, seeds and grains. This pest intake translates into a lot of savings: One estimate found that bats prevent agricultural losses in the U.S. to the tune of $22.9 billion each year. 

Beyond the bucolic world of cultivation, wildlife provides substantial value as a source of food, clothing, raw materials and recreation. For instance, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated that 41 percent of the U.S. population participated in wildlife-related recreational activities such as fishing, hunting and the viewing of animals in their natural habitats. That year, Americans spent nearly $76 billion watching animal species such as birds and marine mammals, while they spent over $26 billion on hunting expenses. On a similar note, direct consumption of wildlife can be a lucrative industry. U.S. commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated over $255 billion in sales and supported 1.8 million jobs in 2019. Finally, the booming field of ecotourism can generate income for local communities while helping preserve wildlife and local habitats. 

What can businesses do for wildlife?

WWF is calling not only to stem the loss of biodiversity, but also increase the extent of nature by 2030. How can companies pitch in? First of all, wildlife declines are a symptom of a much wider set of environmental problems, and tackling these will help. By far, their biggest threat comes from the destruction and fragmentation of habitats. However, if global warming isn’t limited to an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius this century, it’s likely that climate change will become the main driver of biodiversity losses in the future. If that weren’t enough, overexploitation, pollution and invasive species also are a menace to many species in the wild. 

Many businesses have already taken concrete action to help wildlife. For instance, protecting and restoring habitat benefit the animals that live there, and some businesses have already committed to this cause. Businesses can also avoid habitat destruction in their day-to-day operations. For instance, they can prevent development or operations in habitats important for imperiled species and biodiversity, employ strategies reducing their impacts on wildlife, restore previously degraded areas, or engage in biodiversity offsets and voluntary compensatory actions.

Combatting the illegal wildlife trade is also beneficial. Businesses can take a number of steps including sharing information, working to stop the transport of illegal wildlife products, raising awareness and declaring a zero-tolerance policy for this trade. The Trade, Development and the Environment Hub brings many organizations together across multiple countries to make the trade of wildlife, meat and agricultural products more sustainable. 

Finally, tackling climate change is good for the environment and businesses. Many companies have already set science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Other steps businesses can take to fight global warming include reducing energy consumption and waste, encouraging employees to take public transit or carpool, choosing more environment-friendly infrastructures and equipment, and choosing suppliers with good environmental practices

Everyone, including businesses, should play a role in helping wildlife populations recover. Losses of wildlife are symptoms of a disease, but one that’s curable. If we address the root causes, wildlife will bounce back. 

Image credit: Janko Ferlic via Unsplash

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is a big undertaking, but companies are realizing the benefits, encouraged by demands from consumers and investors. But once all of the reporting work is done, that information needs to be communicated to the public.

This is a tricky task. If companies boast about their strategy or overstate their performance — whether intentionally or accidentally — they run the risk of being labelled a greenwasher, a tag that could bring financial and regulatory consequences along with lost trust among stakeholders. Stay too quiet — also called greenwhispering — and companies can appear ambivalent about ESG issues. 

It’s a difficult balancing act but a necessary one.  Effectively communicating ESG performance is vital to avoid throwing away the hard work a business puts toward developing an ESG strategy and measuring performance.

Why is it important to communicate ESG performance?

More than ever before, consumers and investors want to support brands committed to sustainability and social impact. A study by Kantar showed that the brands consumers see as having a positive impact grow at twice the rate of other brands. Today, demonstrating that your brand is a responsible corporate citizen is necessary to ensure long-term sustainability and growth.


Research technology business Glow measures consumer perceptions of companies and their ESG efforts. Their data shows that 25 percent of consumers have changed brands because of perceived ESG performance, with the brands deemed to be most sustainable gaining twice as many switchers as the average brand. 

There are plenty of stats to show that both consumers and investors care about ESG performance and are willing to put their money where their mouths are. Being able to communicate your ESG progress and performance is a vital part of doing business today.

Despite companies’ tireless efforts, however, only 12 percent of brands have “top of mind” social issue associations with consumers. Findings like these indicate that communicating to consumers that you are sustainability-minded and conscious of your wider social impact is easier said than done. 

How to communicate ESG performance

First things first: Companies need a strong ESG strategy, complete with attainable goals and a commitment to measure progress, or they’ll have little to communicate. As companies get started, they’d be wise to focus on transparency and authenticity, first and foremost. No matter if the results are good, bad or ugly, staying transparent and authentic is the name of the game. It’s not only the easiest course of action to maintain, but also the best way to build trust among stakeholders. 

Being transparent means showing where your business is on its ESG journey, as well as where it plans to go in the future. This should be complete with intermediary goals and a commitment to keep stakeholders in the loop about progress. Authenticity includes balancing attainable short-term goals with more aggressive science-based targets that provide a realistic path forward. Any business can say it wants to be net zero by 2050, but having a concrete plan to get there is what it is all about.

Allowing consumers and investors to have an unobstructed view of all things ESG, whether good or bad, will build trust, demonstrate commitment and motivate your internal team to strive for continual improvement.

Telling an ESG story

While transparency is important, and indeed it’s increasingly required by investors and regulators, dumping data on consumers isn’t likely to be effective. For ESG data to resonate strongly, it has to be presented in a relatable way.

This is where the importance of ESG storytelling comes into play — some method of relaying your goals, intentions and progress in a way that speaks to consumers. 

When telling an ESG story, the subject of the story should be the impact, not the program. Rather than spouting numbers on how much money is being donated where, or new hiring policies that favor traditionally underserved communities, bring the people those initiatives are affecting to the front and center.

Consumers can relate to one person’s story. Piles of stats and data are valuable, but they can be difficult to strike a chord with your audience.

Where to communicate ESG performance

In today’s technological wonderland, it isn’t easy to know where to focus your messaging. Do you go for earned news coverage or paid advertising in print or TV? And what about other ways to reach your desired audiences? 

According to data from Glow, consumers in particular receive the majority of their ESG information from news coverage, advertising and social media. When asked where they would like to receive ESG information, consumers brought another preferred medium into the mix: product packaging.  

Depending on what your company sells, it can be difficult to tell your entire ESG story on a package. But combining different media while focusing on the same story or campaign will help consumers and other stakeholders begin to associate your brand with your chosen cause. Narrow your focus to something that your customers will relate with, and spread that message.

What does effective ESG communication look like?

Dove, a giant in the hair and skin care industry, has advocated for body positivity for nearly 20 years — and that hard work and consistent focus is paying off with consumers. 

In a 2019 survey from DoSomething Strategic, respondents were asked to associate brands with a specific cause, and 53 percent of respondents associated Dove with body positivity, the highest association with a single cause of all brands surveyed.

Dove’s focus on a story and social cause that resonated with customers has made it a consistent favorite among conscious consumers. Glow’s ESG brand tracking data shows that Dove is performing significantly above average for grocery brands in the U.S. driven by recognition for its body positivity campaigning as seen in open-ended comments about Dove such as, “they promote body positivity,” “they support women’s issues” and “they have a girl's positive self-esteem program.”

Dove’s leadership clearly understands their market and builds the brand’s story around a social cause that is relevant to their products. Dove's ESG initiatives also extend to other areas such as forest restoration and reducing plastic use in packaging, but the brand narrowed most of its consumer communication to the body positivity cause — and it has resonated strongly with consumers.

The bottom line

Communicating and storytelling is a vital part of ESG, but it is nothing without a strong ESG strategy. Committing to transparency and authenticity in all aspects of your company’s ESG journey, and finding a story to tell that will resonate with your consumers, is the recipe to building positive public perception.

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

Image credit: Parradee/Adobe Stock

There’s no shortage of “vegan” shoes on the market, but one design house is determined to make vegan footwear the norm, not simply an alternative to leather. Løci is achieving more than reinventing how shoes are made — the brand is blurring the lines between “sneaker” and “shoe.” Celebs and their fans are taking notice: One of the designs, the Løci Nine, has sold out eight times since it made its recent debut.

To start, Løci says it’s determined to stop the use of any animal products within the fashion industry, and it seeks to stem the flow of plastic into the world’s oceans. That pledge is both seen and felt in the uppers of all Løci shoes: they don’t appear to be leather, but they don’t look like your run-of-the-mill canvas or polyester-based sneakers, either. The shoes offer a strength, and a sheen, that together tempt its owners to wear them with jeans — or even with a suit.

Then, there are the shoe’s insoles, and again Løci stands out. The brand uses cork, which under the feet feel sturdy yet soft, secure yet lightweight. Løci says it also uses cork as it is hypoallergenic and allows the foot to mold itself comfortably within the shoe.

Under the insole, Løci says it only uses natural rubber for its shoes’ soles. Bamboo and recycled nylon comprise the lining of the sneakers. Even the eyelets, through which the shoes are laced, have sustainability street cred: They’re made from recycled brass.

Beyond the design of the shoes, Løci seeks out stylists that share the brand’s sustainability mindset. Designers Ilaria Urbinati and Laura Sophie Cox, for example, have recently released an ecologically-focused unisex shoe collection — and more collabs will roll out over the next several months.

So far, the company says it’s prevented 1 million plastic bottles from ending up in the world’s oceans; each pair of shoes contains the equivalent of 20 PET bottles. Løci also donates 10 percent of the profits from all shoes sold online to various wildlife and environmental nonprofits. 

Løci and other disruptors in the fashion sector are confronting many uphill battles. According to the brand, 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into the world’s oceans daily; more than a billion animals are killed annually to satisfy the world’s demand for leather; in turn, cattle ranching is the largest cause of deforestation and the loss of animal habitat. But considering the A-listers who are snapping up these shoes, Løci could succeed at rounding up some voices who can amplify how the fashion industry is wreaking havoc on the planet — and show how better products can help curb these disturbing trends.

Image credit: Leon Kaye

Last week, TriplePundit profiled the backstory of Colombia’s “Lost City,” Ciudad Perdida, an archeological site that’s important culturally and spiritally to local Indigenous communities. Dating back to 800 CD (AD), Ciudad Perdida predates world-reknowned Machu Picchu by more than 600 years. Today, the 80-acre site that is part of a national park is difficult to visit, and that’s by design. Ciudad Perdida’s remoteness and its serene grounds, when compared to easy access of its counterpart in Perú, have led some to call it the “Anti-Machu Picchu.”

The archeological wonders and setting within the lush green jungles that cover Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains make Ciudad Perdida well worthy of a visit. But the 1,200-year-old site also stands out as it offers a compelling case study of what occurs when local Indigenous communities are finally allowed to manage their ancestral lands without any outside interference.

For the Indigenous people who live in the area surrounding Ciudad Perdida — the Arhuaco (or Ijka), Kankuamo, Kogi and Wiwa — tourism's results have been promising, with schools and infrastructure improvements among the successes. Though, as with any case when a large influx of money starts to roll in, there are some pitfalls as well.

Management of Ciudad Perdida is by and for local communities 

Though several tour operators can book trips to Ciudad Perdida, they are limited as to what kind of itineraries they can offer and how long visitors can take to complete the 17-mile (as far as the crow flies) hike into the ancient site. Stays are limited to three or four nights, and the price is the same for everyone: Last month, the price was 1.4 million Colombian pesos (just under $300). Visitors are divided into groups of 10 to 12 people, with few exceptions.

Do the math, and one can see how the revenues can quickly add up. But it’s not only about money being funneled into a local bank account: Everyone who works across the operations that keep the trails to Ciudad Perdida busy are Indigenous people from the area or, as often the case with a trekking group’s translator, they are from Santa Marta or nearby towns. In addition to the guides, locals also work as cooks, 4x4 or motorcycle drivers, mule drivers, porters or clerks at the kiosks alongside the trails. The work may not be as remunerative as it was when other commodities were the backbone (and bane) of the local economy in decades past. Nevertheless, based on the number of gringos traipsing to and from Ciudad Perdida, clearly guiding and supplying visitors has created steady work.

Investing in local communities

For someone who is hiking toward Ciudad Perdida during the rainy season — as was 3p’s timing when we visited last month — the muddy trails and surroundings will lead to an assumption that investments aren’t unfolding within local communities too quickly. But such thinking overlooks the town growing out of El Mamey, the local community where surface roads from northern Colombia’s National Route 90 end; in addition, the town serves as the trailhead where the hike to the archeological site begins. Judging by all the 4x4s, motorcycles, storefronts and occasional wireless internet, visitors’ money is being put to use.

Further, while organizations and NGOs such as the Global Heritage Fund offer support and can advise as to what kinds of improvements could be made in the region, in the end how the money is spent is up to the local communities.

For now, the focus is on building schools. Trekkers making their way to Ciudad Perdida will pass one community school, at which students not only learn a standard education curriculum, but are also taught about their history and heritage. Another school far removed from the sites trails is for young men who are believed to have potential as serving as a mamo, the spiritual leader who is tasked with overseeing and protecting Ciudad Perdida.

Future challenges: Building wealth, ensuring social impact and mitigating environmental risk

Certainly, future investments could thrive across the communities surrounding Ciudad Perdida. For example, plastic trash exacts its own tolls on the local environment. Just as all supplies have to be hauled into the area by mules, the same goes for anything that needs to be removed — and that includes plastic bottles. Though the fee to trek into Ciudad Perdida includes “rehydration,” the reality is that sometimes the water filters at the park’s base camps didn’t work: The need to hydrate constantly, even during the rainy season, left visitors little choice but to purchase bottled water or other drinks. Though it was apparent that the mules departing Ciudad Perdida were carrying sacks almost as large as the ones entering, not all trash makes it out; a fair share of plastic bottles could be seen strewn on the sides of the trails. An investment in a closed-loop recycling system would be a branding dream for any clean tech startup, but that will not occur unless locals give the green light.

The same goes for any systems that could help minimize all environmental impacts on Ciudad Perdida. Microgrids that could keep the base camps’ lights on at night, or water filtration systems that could decrease demand for bottled water, would also show promise. Sustainable farming practices could also thrive in the mountains and hills surrounding Ciudad Perdida. But for now, such ideas come up against centuries of mistrust and disruptions that for too long got in the way of these local communities’ ability to carry on, live their lives and mind their own business without any outsiders’ meddling in their affairs. 

Today, the rush of visitors to Ciudad Perdida keeps generating economic opportunities, which for the most part have proven to be both steady and sustainable. But one point about which our guides constantly reminded us was one result of the region’s tourism boom: drinking, and day drinking, are now a common pastime. As one of our guides told us, “You’ll see these guys day drinking daily, and that’s what happens when there’s always money around.”

Of course, the Indigenous in Colombia are hardly the first people to treat themselves when economic times are good: Just look at what occurred in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era or today in the Permian basin, and both of those examples illustrate debauchery in comparison to what is going on now in Colombia’s Sierra Nevadas.

Bottom line: The results for now show that having control over who visits Ciudad Perdida has been a net positive for local communities. Beyond the feeling of empowerment and economic benefits, locals are allowed to continue their traditions while sharing them with their visitors; sustainable development is the norm instead of chaotic boom-and-bust cycles; and opportunities in education that were nonexistent at the turn of this century are increasing.

Meanwhile, other Indigenous peoples in Colombia are feeling empowered and are telling the powers-that-be to shove it. For example, earlier this year, the Indigenous-owned company behind a brand of beer, Coca Pola, received threats of legal action from Coca-Cola over trademark infringement. Representatives of two Indigenous groups, the Nasa and Embera, who both live where the Coca Pola beer is made in western Colombia, clapped back and told the soft drink giant that in return they would ban sales of Coca-Cola products within their territories.

Image credits via Leon Kaye

Careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) increasingly offer employees stability, pay and opportunities that outpace other industries and occupations. Unfortunately, these positions and their benefits are also notoriously inequitable. Winnie Karanja, founder and CEO of the media company Represented Collective, is working to change these conditions and inspire more BIPOC women and girls to enter the field.

While women make up roughly half of the total workforce (48 percent), they comprise a mere 34 percent of employees in STEM-related fields. And even then, their ratios are skewed toward the medical field and the social and life sciences — away from engineering and the computer and physical sciences. Black, Latina and Indigenous women are even more severely underrepresented than the average — together they make up fewer than 10 percent of STEM workers. 

Karanja — who made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2020 after founding another STEM initiative, Madym — explained to TriplePundit what motivated her to go beyond just working in the field to working to transform it: “I was inspired to help others get into the field from an experience that I had talking with a former elementary school principal around getting her students to learn how to code," she said. "It was really this place of seeing the need to have more people who look like me get into the field, but also to have the support structures in order to do that.”

Inequity in any industry ultimately hurts BIPOC women as well as their families and communities. But it is especially damaging when the jobs in question are among the fastest growing and best paying — with a median annual salary that was $22,000 higher than non-STEM wages in 2019. Unemployment was also half for those who were in STEM positions at the time versus those who weren’t, with the same pattern continuing into the pandemic, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). These jobs are also expected to grow at twice the rate of all other industries combined through 2029.

“The STEM field offers a lot as far as economic opportunities that then ripple into other sorts of structures," Karanja explained. "If you’re able to have high-wage employment, you’re able to have access to better healthcare, housing, education opportunities and all sorts of different areas." She described how her work with Represented Collective inspires her to ensure healthy work environments. “No one wants to go into an environment where their contributions aren’t going to be welcomed. And we want to create an environment where people can grow and can continue to grow. STEM offers so many opportunities in terms of high-wage employment and that’s still an area where, for women of color, they’re getting paid less than their white non-Hispanic male counterparts are.”

Karanja encourages employers to review their processes to ensure that everyone is measured by the same standards and given the same opportunities. “Again, exploring the bias that tends to take place within that space but also how are we ensuring that there is upward movement of Women of Color, of People of Color, within the company? And are we ensuring that there is management training? And different forms of support structures and upward mobility that is often offered to white men, that that’s offered to Women of Color, to People of Color, as well?”

Of course, recruiting and retaining BIPOC women goes beyond just paying a fair wage and offering advancement opportunities. As Karanja so astutely pointed out — “No one wants to go into an environment where their contributions aren’t going to be welcomed.” And yet, workers in the field report higher rates of gender bias and racial discrimination from both their co-workers and management. While this illustrates why STEM continues to be a boys’ club, she offered leaders a remedy to turn it around, by, in her words, “Really ensuring that we’re listening to different voices, that we are valuing the contributions that women and people of color are bringing and that we’re creating an environment that cultivates collaboration, that cultivates bringing of new ideas as well.”

Recruitment and retention issues in STEM begin before employees even walk through the door, however. According to the American Associate of University Women (AAUW) girls and young women are “systematically tracked” out of science and math throughout their educational careers. Karanja and the Represented Collective are working to change this dynamic through products, expert panels and curated experiences. One of these products is the organization's Legendary card collection, which tells the story of women from around the world like Alice Ball — a Black chemist whose painstaking dedication to developing a cure for leprosy was nearly forgotten by history. Like the other women featured on the cards whose scientific innovations and contributions have been forgotten or ignored, Ball’s work was originally credited to a man instead. 

“The Legendary card collection is all about telling these nuanced stories of women, primarily women of color, and the innovations that they’ve had in this field and really taking that and saying let’s celebrate their achievements. And alongside celebrating their achievements let's have this nuanced take on their life. Let’s explore and showcase their intersectionality.” Karanja related how by delving into issues of racism, sexism, ageism, identity and positionality that they experienced, these historical figures are not only humanized to inspire girls and women but also, she said, “to make sure that people realize that those challenges are very much our reality right now.”

Image credit: Christina Morillo via Pexels

The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry has a significant impact on global forests. The industry relies heavily upon key commodities such as soy, palm oil and paper. Despite best efforts, many standard practices in the production of these commodities also play a role in deforestation, a pressing issue in the fight against climate change and natural resource degradation around the world. 

To tackle this issue, the Consumer Goods Forum, a group of the world’s largest CPG companies, launched the Forest Positive Coalition of Action in 2020. The 19 founding corporate members committed to bolster supply chain collaboration, investment in production landscapes, stakeholder and government engagement, and transparency and accountability in order to root out deforestation from their supply chains. 

After introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) in its inaugural Annual Report last year, with a particular focus on industry collaboration and supply chain transparency, the Coalition recently released a second update — highlighting progress and establishing a framework for the future.

How it’s going: The Forest Positive Coalition of Action encourages disclosure and stakeholder partnerships to tackle deforestation

The Coalition — which now includes 22 member companies with a market value of over $2 trillion, led by steering committee leader Mondelēz International — has made collective improvements in industry transparency and disclosure, according to the new report. The Coalition is collectively reporting on 62 percent of its performance metrics, a 6 percent increase in collective disclosure rates from the previous year. 

Collective action is not limited to within the Coalition, however. The report highlights work with more than 200 stakeholders and relevant organizations across a wide range of interests and impacts — including smallholder farmers, governments, local communities and suppliers. 

Not only has this multi-stakeholder approach helped establish the necessary disclosure and transparency KPIs and frameworks, but it has also served as a means of establishing measurable and actionable commitments for suppliers within the value chain. 

“Our work with stakeholders sets the scene for much more specific action around what we mean by transparency,” said Christine Montenegro McGrath, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for Mondelēz International. "We’re also looking at the performance of the suppliers. These KPIs going forward give us an understanding of how suppliers are actually doing and who's making progress, and maybe who's not.”

Fighting deforestation across key commodity supply chains

The Coalition publishes commodity-specific roadmaps to guide members in their efforts to remove deforestation from their supply chains. Recognizing the ongoing impacts of beef production, the Coalition launched a Beef Roadmap earlier this year, joining other commodity roadmaps for palm oil, soy, and paper and pulp. 

These guidelines are developed extensively with stakeholders, particularly NGOs, and the Beef Roadmap is no exception. The new guidance came out of the Coalition’s multi-stakeholder approach through dialogue with Brazilian meatpackers, civil society organizations, and Coalition members themselves, with 52 percent of members already reporting on these new KPIs for beef production. 

Looking ahead to a “forest positive” future

While all of these achievements help the Coalition establish the framework needed to achieve collective action in the fight against deforestation, they ultimately point toward the ultimate goal of forest positivity. Based on other industry terms like “climate positive,” forest positivity refers to moving beyond eliminating deforestation and conversion of natural ecosystems from supply chains and toward having a net positive impact on commodity sourcing areas and the people who call them home. 

The Coalition recently launched a number of pilot programs aimed at transforming production landscapes into forest positive ecosystems through significant financial investments. Members are required to invest in these reforestation and community development initiatives, with the ultimate goal to transform an area the size of the Coalition’s collective production footprint by 2030. 

Looking toward the future, the Coalition aims to leverage these improvements in transparency, disclosure, and stakeholder engagement to push a shift across the entire CPG industry. 

“Originally, deforestation was maybe talked about in some meetings, but there wasn't a roadmap, an action plan or any tangible accountability,” McGrath said. “That’s what we mean by a Coalition of Action. It’s about collective action and impact at scale: Can we get to scale, beyond the current 22 members? Our ultimate ambition is sector transformation, within and beyond the Coalition.”

The achievements detailed in the 2022 report indicate that Mondelēz International and other companies are well on their way to achieving their collective goal of removing deforestation, forest degradation, and forest conversion from industry supply chains. With these recent achievements in establishing industry transparency, marking significant progress on KPIs, and making proactive financial investment in reforestation, the Coalition has made some notable improvements on the road to a more responsible CPG industry and a forest positive future. 

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

Image credit: Vlad Hilitanu/Unsplash

The world’s wealthiest, most polluting nations have yet to fulfill their 2009 commitment to finance climate adaptation and mitigation funds for developing nations. Leaders of the 55 countries most vulnerable to climate change, known as the V20, are getting creative ahead of the U.N. COP27 climate talks next month.

Finance ministers from the V20 are considering a plan to stop payment on a combined $685 billion in debt until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank address climate change the way their nations see fit. Their goal is to create a plan to swap some of their debt for climate adaptation and conservation projects.

This announcement comes at a precarious time for climate finance, as world leaders prepare for COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Negotiations to settle which countries should pay for climate disasters are set to be at the heart of this year’s climate conference, as vulnerable countries that have historically emitted the least amount of greenhouse gases are dealing with catastrophic climate-related disasters. The United States, Europe, and other high-polluting, wealthy countries are expected to push back against requests to fund climate adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries at COP27. 

Though the wealthy countries that were historically the largest emitters of greenhouse gases agreed to finance $100 billion per year in climate adaptation and mitigation projects for developing countries at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, they never followed through on their promise. Now, many of the same countries oppose creating a fund to finance the damages caused by climate disasters because they do not want to be held liable for the costs. At the same time, developing island countries vulnerable to climate hazards spend at least 18 times more on debt servicing than they receive in climate finance. 

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said she is open to the idea of a debt-for-climate swap for V20 countries. “We have to find a way to link two problems with one solution, and the problems are climate and debt. The solution: debt for climate swaps,” she said at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank this week. Georgieva committed to work with the World Bank to advance a debt swap plan at COP27 in November. 

While the IMF director is committed to working with the V20 to create climate finance solutions, the World Bank president has been conspicuously absent from V20 talks. In September, World Bank President David Malpass made public remarks doubting the effect human activity and fossil fuel consumption has on global warming and climate change. The U.S. and European countries responded to Malpass’s comments with swift condemnation and a call to increase the scale and speed of climate finance. 

Research from the V20 indicates that climate shocks, caused largely by carbon emissions from developed nations, have wiped out 20 percent of vulnerable countries’ wealth over the last 20 years. “V20 economies would be 20 percent wealthier today had we not been suffering the daily toll of climate loss and damage. In aggregate dollar terms, this is half a trillion in losses," said Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives and current ambassador for the V20. "For the most at-risk V20 economies, the loss exceeds total growth. We are experiencing losses and damages from the climate emergency every day, and yet we have contributed the least to emissions.”

The V20 is calling on wealthy nations to make good on their promise of $100 billion per year to finance climate adaptation and mitigation, and it is also asking international financial institutions to implement a debt-for-climate swap in order to free up capital for adaptation and mitigation projects. Ken Ofori-Atta, finance minister of Ghana and current V20 chair said: “As economic managers, it has long been clear to us that climate change is not a distant challenge. It has set ablaze not only many of the world’s forests, but also our fragile national budgets. Climate change is simply compounding existing and increasingly acute fiscal stress.”

In addition, the V20 has asked the World Bank and IMF to officially recognize the group as an official constituency. Finally, the group is also asking for developed countries to present an implementation plan for their 2021 commitments made at COP26 and to double their collective international climate finance funds. 

Image credit: Seiji Seiji via Unsplash