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TriplePundit has reported on the intersection of people, planet and profit since 2005 — and over the years we've seen conversations about sustainable and socially responsible business move from the fringes into the mainstream. As the sustainability and social impact spaces continue to evolve, we're thinking about how we can best leverage our voice to inform and empower readers in the pivotal years ahead. 

As a valued member of the TriplePundit community, we'd like you to be a part of developing our next step. What kind of stories pique your interest, and what would you like to see us cover more in 2023 and beyond? We want to hear from you!

Click here to take a three-question survey about what stories you find most interesting and what you see as the biggest issues facing business in 2023. If you have another 30 seconds to spare, answering these four questions about who you are and how you work will help us to better frame our coverage around what's relevant for you, while these three questions will help us to reach you better. All totaled, it will take less than three minutes. 

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Image credit: charlesdeluvio/Unsplash

We in the advertising industry talk a lot about equity and inclusion. We design a lovely showroom that celebrates our apparent commitment to diversity in all its forms. Sadly, this is all superficial. Peel back the curtain and we see ... nothing. We continue to ignore blatant racism and injustice and fail to take even the most basic steps that can drive real change.

For all the pledges we saw from agencies in 2020 to finally address systemic racism, over two years later we've seen little real action. Even while they complain of a "war for talent," agencies aren't doing enough to change how they recruit and promote talent and are struggling to make a meaningful cultural impact.

Racism and exclusion persist in the workplace, with higher turnover rates and lower promotion rates among people of color. For years, we've known there's a clear business case for prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion at work beyond lip service. A McKinsey study found that the most diverse companies were 36 percent more profitable in 2019 than their least diverse counterparts.

While companies may sometimes have good intentions in coming forward with commitments after a big cultural moment, the impact falls short every time. After George Floyd's death in 2020, company after company promised to recruit and retain more diverse talent and pledged to put cash toward DEI. But there was little accountability. Companies often don't report their demographics, and it's even more rare that they disclose information about spending.

A number of agencies are recruiting more diverse talent, and some are willing to share their data, with varying degrees of detail and frequency, but there is a lot more work to be done — particularly when it comes to instigating change at the top. This is where agencies can move beyond anti-bias and anti-racism training to provide things like committed executive sponsorship and mentorship of young diverse talent.

It can be difficult to hold organizations accountable when it comes to all aspects of DEI, particularly when looking beyond financial commitments and assessing what data is important when considering DEI progress.

We need to think bigger If we're going to make meaningful change. The best DEI strategies target all parts of companies, and that starts by going beyond recruiting. Recruiting a diverse workforce is one part of DEI, but it should be viewed as a first step, not a comprehensive solution. It takes holding leaders accountable for change, something agencies haven't seemed willing to take on. This may include difficult decisions around current leadership and has to encompass taking the impact on talent and agency culture into account when filling new leadership roles. Managers who create or enable a workplace environment that makes people of color uncomfortable should never be shoo-ins for new leadership roles.

It also means asking questions about who we work with, the kind of work we want to create, and the stories we want to share with the world. Companies often make the biggest difference when they change something within their spheres of influence. In this industry, our sphere of influence is narrative.

The creative industry has served as an arbiter of ideas and a reflection of a society's failing or burgeoning health. Creatives have had a powerful hand in building either massive propaganda machines or culture-changing art and movements. The question about which side we'll fall in this dichotomy can be answered by choosing to be conscious of our resources and of our responsibilities.

It is our responsibility in the creative industry to question what ideas and values we are disseminating, what stereotypes or biases we are introducing, and to whom we are giving platforms through our work. But it's not enough just to avoid making the mistakes of the past. This industry has a responsibility to create new narratives that help tear down the biases and stereotypes it has previously helped perpetuate.

If agencies really want to make a difference in connecting with people of color, they can start by working on the issues and causes that impact and shape our lives. There is no shortage of partners in need of help addressing issues like justice reform, education and healthcare equity. Find out who you can work with to make an impact, and get to work. Talent (and prospective talent) will notice.

Make 2023 the year that your agency was truly an ally in the fight for diversity.

The aviation industry, under increasing pressure to curb its fast-growing carbon emissions, is placing huge bets on both sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and electric aviation to meet its net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2050.

But while some predictions are optimistic, including that the aviation industry will be 25 percent electric or hybrid by 2025, a more likely scenario is that the first fully electric flights will be limited to a few regional or short-haul trips. Yet with an estimated half of all global flights totaling under 500 miles, that's a lot of potential for cutting GHG emissions.

In 2021, aviation was responsible for over 2 percent of global energy-related carbon emissions, having grown faster in recent decades than road, rail or shipping. Despite a temporary decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions from the sector are expected to surpass their 2019 level over the next few years.

First all-electric planes take flight

It's no surprise, then, that Alice — the world's first all-electric passenger commuter aircraft made by Washington state-based Eviation Aircraft — made headlines for its test flight in September. Some major players like United Airlines are setting their sights on having electric aircraft flying regional routes by 2030.

Another new kid on the block for electric aircraft is Swedish hybrid electric airplane maker Heart Aerospace, and major airlines like Air Canada, Saab, United, Icelandair, SAS and others have been snapping up sizable investments in its hybrid-electric planes.

Show me the money

But while fully electric airplanes capture the imagination, the reality of sustainable aviation can look different on the ground. More research is needed to make the technology available for larger commercial flights. And, not least, there needs to be sufficient capital investment in the transformation of aviation toward more sustainable solutions. One recent report estimated that achieving net-zero aviation will cost $175 billion per year until 2050.

For Niklas Lund, CEO of Stockholm-based Rockton, a company focused on sustainable and climate-change mitigating aviation investments and assets, the answer is clear. Rockton has signed a letter of intent for 40 of Heart Aerospace aircraft and champions the technology breakthroughs among companies. However, Lund warns that sufficient investment has got to be part of the solution.

"We're going to need a massive investment of capital," Lund says. "And the question is: Can the aviation industry carry that capital investment by themselves? And my view is no, they won't be able to do that. They need external capital to help them or to facilitate it."

Governments help bridge the supply gap for sustainable aviation fuel 

One big hurdle is sufficient supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which Lund predicts airlines will need for some time to meet their carbon goals. The competition for SAF also comes from other industries clamoring for renewable feedstocks to meet their climate commitments.

For that reason, the industry was delighted when the 2022 U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included a tax credit for SAF. This means that along with multi-year agreements already in place for millions of gallons of SAF airlines have recently purchased, the blenders' tax credit boosts renewable fuel producers' ability to raise the billions of dollars of financing required to build planned biorefineries.

The European Commission has proposed legislation that increases the uptake of SAF by airlines, the EU ReFuelEU Aviation Initiative, part of the EU's goal to reduce emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

And in response to the U.S. IRA, the EU is proposing the new Net-Zero Industry Act, which includes, among other steps, an ambition to speed up permits processes for clean-tech production sites and more financial support for clean-tech development.

Lund expects the new EU legislation to include "sizable and long-term financial incentives for clean technologies, including support for aviation."

Customers pledge to boost supply

The SAF supply challenge matters to airlines' corporate customers, too, as they pledge their own ambitious climate goals. Bank of America, for instance, aims to support the production and use of 1 billion gallons of SAF by 2030 to help meet its 2050 net-zero goal.

"With the government support that we're seeing and the push from the corporate market to make their own investments in sustainable aviation, we're beginning to see the kind of commitment to the transformation we need for sustainable aviation to really take off," Lund says.

Image credit: Ross Parmly/Unsplash 

Intensified extreme weather events from climate change, including more frequent wildfires, are threatening native plants and ecosystems. Burned and damaged landscapes require restoration with native seeds, but according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the U.S. is running out. Native plant communities are necessary for healthy, biodiverse ecosystems that support wildlife habitat and provide beneficial environmental services.

“We have never had enough seeds for restoration, and the demand is increasing," said Dr. Kayri Havens, a senior scientist and director of plant science and conservation at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

"As we see more and more natural disasters related to climate change — in particular wildfires in the west, as well as hurricanes and mudslides — the need for restoration continues to grow," continued Havens, who has a background in restoration ecology, conservation biology, and seed-sourcing for restoration. "Add that to the threats our native communities already faced from invasive species, pests and pathogens. A lot of our public land is degraded and would benefit from restoration.”

Why is the U.S. short on seeds, and why does it matter?

Seed economics is tricky. The demand for native seeds fluctuates each year, largely correlating with the number of wildfires the U.S. experienced. “How much seed you’ll need in a year is not predictable, and it may be five times more in bad wildfire years," Havens explained. "This episodic nature of restoration needs after natural disasters means that the demand for native seeds has never been clear and consistent. When we have a bad fire year and a big need for seed, there is not enough native seed — let alone native seed sourced regionally — to put down on the land after fire degrades it.”

However, there are ways to improve the native seed supply. Proactive restoration, or putting down native seeds before a land parcel is completely degraded, helps keep demand consistent. Federal agencies can also refuse to accept substitutions for regionally-sourced native species, which creates more of an incentive for seed suppliers to diversify their offerings, Havens said.

Federal agencies can help increase and stabilize the seed markets by proactively preparing for degradation. “Many of our public lands are considered multiple-use and are managed by multiple agencies," Havens told us. "In addition to being managed for conservation and recreation, they are also managed for extractive uses, including logging and oil and gas development. With extractive uses, we often see a need for restoration." 

But activities like logging and mining aren't the only threat to biodiversity on U.S. public lands. "Even in areas that have not been impacted by extractive use, non-native species are constantly a problem," she continued. "Particularly in the western U.S., we are seeing cheap grass run rampant over federal lands. When the land is dominated by a non-native species, it is also ripe for restoration. There are hundreds of thousands of acres that fall into this category.”

The land restoration process is decentralized, and each managing agency makes seed requests as parcels of land become flagged for restoration — which can carry its own challenges. “As agencies make requests, seeds may or may not be available," she explained. "If the agencies accept substitutions, then they reduce the incentives for the seed industry to change what it offers.”

From the federal government down to individuals, everyone has a role in safeguarding native seeds

Havens acknowledged why seed producers may not be eager to diversify their offerings, as seed production is a financially risky line of work. “It’s a risk to develop a new species and takes many years," she said. "We are looking at contracts that share that risk. Can these agencies contract in advance for seeds and share some of the financial risk with the producers in case that seed fails? It’s something to consider.”

Further, proactively restoring federal lands can reduce market fluctuations and uncertainties. “We think the buying power of the federal government can affect needed change,” Havens told us. 

While the report outlines 10 recommendations for the federal government to create a more robust, secure seed industry, there are measures that individuals can also take. “The more people who are asking for native plants to use in any context, whether you are a land manager or a homeowner wanting to plant in your backyard, that demand will translate to a more robust supply of native seed." 

Image credit: Joshua Lanzarini/Unsplash

Water in the American West is making the news once again. This time, in a nail-biter of a deadline for water cuts from the highly stressed Colorado River, six states agreed to reduce their withdrawals. California, which uses the most water from the river, followed up with its own plan a day later. But in light of the multi-year drought and recent torrential rains and atmospheric rivers in the state, water remains a constant stressor.

Despite the 32 trillion gallons of water the recent storms dumped on the state, California remains in drought — albeit a much less severe one compared to a few months ago. But it's a temporary reprieve at best. The state will continue to need to cut its water consumption and demand given the impacts of climate change. Further, the intensity of the rainfall indicates another instance of the severity of climate impacts on the state: wetter wet periods and drier dry spells.

Infrastructure woes compound California's water troubles

On top of the climate impacts, California's water infrastructure is dire need of an upgrade. This matters for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that the state is the leader in agricultural output. It's that sector which will likely get hit the hardest with conservation measures when they come.

Lake Mead and Lake Powell, fed by the Colorado River and the two largest reservoirs in the U.S., are reaching dead pool status, meaning water levels become too low to flow downstream. About 75 percent of the reservoir's water goes to agriculture, with the rest going toward residential and commercial uses, including power generation. 

California researchers offer solutions to boost water infrastructure in the state

A recent report from the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan economic think tank based in Santa Monica, offers some potential solutions to California's challenges around water infrastructure. 

"On top of mounting drought-related challenges, lack of governance collaboration, project acceleration and financial solutions threatens vital systems reliant on California's water infrastructure, like the state's $50 billion agriculture economy," Matt Horton, director at the Milken Institute's Center for Regional Economics, told TriplePundit.

All of this has added up to stalled infrastructure investments and inadequate ability to respond to extreme water events. While California remains one of the leaders in tackling climate mitigation challenges through its cap-and-trade program and renewable energy investments, the equivalent investment in resilience and adaptation has not materialized to the degree needed.

The report, entitled Sharing the Cost: Accelerating Water Resilience Through Infrastructure Finance in California, aims to address that gap with a number of targeted recommendations. Those include improved coordination at the state and federal levels, as well as at the regional level across the Central Valley, where the bulk of the agricultural sector is centered, particularly  around the urban/rural divide when it comes to water demand and consumption.

Researchers also note that addressing the financial imbalance related to water investments can help. "California spends about $37 billion on its water system annually with most funding (84 percent) coming from local utilities, followed by state (13 percent) and federal (3 percent) contributions," Horton said.

This imbalance goes right to the heart of the title of the report, and researchers note that collaboration between well-funded and underfunded water districts could help equalize the water stresses. One of the ways they recommend coordination is through a Water Excellence Center, which could act as both a data clearinghouse for funding gaps as well as a centralized tool to accelerate financing and technical assistance.

While much of the recommendations center on improving public investment in water infrastructure, the private sector remains a key player. Public money will never be enough to address the state's water needs, so some mechanism for improving the options for public-private partnerships remains vital. When it comes to water, engaging the private sector can sometimes cause alarm. Water is, after all, an essential public good. Because of the pressure placed on water sources, however, private investment must factor into the solutions. Further, more companies are seeing their own risks related to water demand and consumption and starting to look at watershed health and water stewardship more seriously in their sustainability plans.

"A whole state approach"

Water is often very local, but that is more complicated in California. The northern part of the state is much wetter than the southern part, and water must be delivered — at high energy and water costs. The system is set up according to needs many decades ago. A state rich in natural resources, diverse in economies and populations, and feeling the hard impacts of climate change must look how it balances the whole. Horton and the Milken Institute see the answer in a "whole state approach."

He quoted from the state's 1957 water plan: "California is presently faced with problems of a highly critical nature — the need for further control, protection, conservation and distribution of her most vital resource, water. … Unless correct action is taken -and taken immediately – the consequences may be disastrous."

And he takes that warning, made long before anyone understood climate change, as "a good reminder that we are going to have to collectively marshal the style of governance, coordination and political will that was harnessed in the past in order to build a water infrastructure system to meet the needs of the 21st century — one that is prepared for drier dries and wetter wets."

The bottom line

California's water challenges do not exist in isolation. The recent deadline for Lake Powell and Lake Mead was just the reminder that California is part of a larger water ecosystem. But the state also has an outsized impact on demand and must consider how to do things differently if it is to be able to provide safe, reliable water for all its residents and sectors.

Image credit: Silvia Fang/Unsplash

Coal is like America's first car — it's not much to look at, but it got us where we needed to go. It took awhile for us to warm up to it, but coal helped create some of America's best memories and achievements. Yet every first car eventually reaches a point when the cost of upkeep becomes greater than the cost of something new. 

Likewise, coal is totaled.

A new report from the climate think tank Energy Innovation found the cost of maintaining an existing coal plant is greater than the cost of constructing a new wind or solar farm. But is the U.S. ready to let go?

Trouble in coal kingdom

West Virginia is the seat of power for the U.S. coal industry. Though the state of Wyoming produces more coal, West Virginia's culture is more coal-centric in its production and consumption.

Folks on every rung of West Virginia's social ladder have intimate connections to coal, from miners to plant operators to corporate CEOs. Though coal has steadily lost national support, and even lost the support of some West Virginia coal miners, the fossil fuel maintains a chokehold around the state's economy and culture.

Indeed, even West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, is essentially a modern day coal baron with the equivalent of an ultimate veto power on all national energy legislation. Manchin's unabashed conflicts of interests are, at least, transparent. As the owner of multiple private coal companies, the senator has a clear vested interest in prolonging the coal industry for as long as possible. Although Sen. Manchin may be the nation's de facto Coal King, his kingdom is in fast decline.

As the appeal of renewable energy grows, coal can't keep the lights on 

While West Virginia houses some of the most stubborn of coal supporters, it also hosts the best arguments for transitioning away from coal and toward renewable energy. The state of 1.8 million people employs fewer coal miners each year, from over 23,000 in 2011 to 11,500 in 2021. This is a far cry from the state's purported "peak coal employment" in 1940, when 130,457 men worked the mines of the mountain state, accounting for about 7 percent of the total population. Nowadays, less than 1 percent of West Virginians are employed as coal miners.

The state may not rely on coal jobs for support anymore, but it overwhelmingly relies on coal for energy. As the rest of the U.S. began to transition away from coal, West Virginia doubled down on its cash crop. In the state most dependent on coal-fired energy, some residents pay more for their energy bill than their mortgage. Essentially, coal jobs no longer support the economy, and coal power doesn't support its residents. 

Coal crusaders have long been able to fall back on economic arguments in favor of coal, emphasizing the sunk costs of existing coal mines and casting doubt on the potential gains of renewable energy. Left without a leg to stand on, industry leaders and coal-allied politicians now make their last-ditch final effort to thwart progress: desperate appeals to nostalgia in coal country.

Clinging to cultural coal-stalgia?

It could be argued that Americans are always resistant to change. When the government announced in 2020 its plan to phase out the penny — which costs two cents to manufacture, on top of its environmental harm — Americans formed the "Save the Penny" movement, which argued that the $72 million spent each year on manufacturing pennies is worth it because the penny is nostalgic and historic.

West Virginian leaders recognize the same sentimentality toward coal, and their pro-coal rhetoric has likewise shifted from economic arguments relying on statistics to emotional arguments relying on stories.

These are the death throes of the stubborn survivors of a bygone era; these are the exasperations of a candle salesman who has just seen a light bulb.

But coal stakeholders can delay, not prevent, the inevitable, and the winds of change have begun to blow even into the deepest coal mines in West Virginia. Renewable energy investments, like a developing solar grid built on old mine lands and plans for a new iron-air battery factory, have repositioned the Mountain State from trailer to trailblazer.

Image credit: Yaroslav Maltsev/Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons