April, 2023

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Record wind and solar deliver lower prices, loosen coal and gas dominance over grid

Renew Economy

Record wind and solar generation helped loosen the vice like grip of fossil fuels over the grid and send prices down and emissions to new lows. The post Record wind and solar deliver lower prices, loosen coal and gas dominance over grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Podcast: Why is the smart home still so terrible?

Stacey Higginbotham

This week’s show is full of both good news and bad news, starting with Google apparently dropping software update support for third-party smart displays. We question Google’s commitment to the smart home, even though the good news from Google is that it has released more capabilities to control new device types — a bit of good news. Then we review Nanoleaf’s Matter-enabled Essentials light bulbs and strips and are a bit worried about what it means for Matter.

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Agroforestry is the regenerative technique getting overlooked in the US

GreenBiz

Propagate is one of the only startups in the U.S. working to combine agriculture and forestry to create productive and sustainable land use practices.

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G20 countries fail to match climate pledges with action

Corporate Knights

The world’s 20 largest economies are still not pulling their collective weight when it comes to slashing greenhouse gas emissions. That was one of the central conclusions of Corporate Knights’ latest Earth Index * analysis, which found that G20 countries as a whole were not on track to meet their stated reduction targets from 2020 to 2021. The Earth Index revealed that the G20 actually saw emissions rise during this period by 23% of the reduction needed to meet their stated climate goals – a gla

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Manufacturing Sustainability Surge: Your Guide to Data-Driven Energy Optimization & Decarbonization

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets.

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Over 70% of Businesses View ESG as a Revenue Enabler: IBM Study

ESG Today

The argument that ESG harms profitability is “more than a myth—it’s misinformation that leads to poor business decision-making,” according to a new study released by IBM, which found that more than 70% of executives view ESG as a revenue enabler, and that consumers increasingly focus on companies’ sustainability performance when making purchasing and employment decisions.

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Cybersecurity for the IoT: How trust can unlock value

McKinsey Sustainabilty

For today’s fragmented Internet of Things (IoT) to reach its potential as a fully interconnected ecosystem, the answer may lie in the convergence of cybersecurity and the IoT.

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Why TinyML is still so hard to get excited about

Stacey Higginbotham

This week, I went to the tinyML Summit in Burlingame, Calif. TinyML, or running small machine learning models on constrained devices, is one of the most exciting technologies I’ve encountered. But it’s also the one most likely to put people to sleep when I talk about it. Using local computing to handle object or even limited face detection, wake word detection, anomaly detection, and more holds the promise of bringing more privacy to the IoT and more sensors to the world, and to give every

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Oregon's data center-focused emissions bill squashed by Amazon

GreenBiz

Amazon wielded its considerable lobbying power and killed legislation that would have cut industry emissions to zero by 2040. The question is, why?

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Are governments doing enough to end obstacles for women entrepreneurs?

Corporate Knights

Lack of role models. Unequal access to financing. Stereotypes about women in business. Caregiving challenges. Long wait times for health services. These were always obstacles for women who run their own businesses, long before COVID-19, especially women with small businesses and the self-employed. But the pandemic exacerbated them. A recent survey of 147 women entrepreneurs in Ontario by the non-profit PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise shows that the pandemic added to the burden on women en

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Hong Kong Exchange to Require Climate Reporting from All Issuers Beginning 2024

ESG Today

All issuers listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong will be required to provide climate-related disclosures aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) upcoming Climate Standard , according to a new proposal released by the exchange, with the new rules anticipated to take effect for financial periods beginning January 1, 2024.

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Are Your Impact Comms Resonating With Stakeholders?

Whether your organization is at the start of its sustainability and impact journey or years into it, many brands share a common concern: the uncertainty of whether they are sending stakeholders mixed messages. Creating content that speaks to your audience's “love language” can be a tricky dance. But, worry not! 3BL has put together tips to ensure that your content not only finds its rhythm but also resonates with your target audiences.

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The next frontier in risk efficiency

McKinsey Sustainabilty

As global risks increase and economic uncertainty persists, the risk functions within the financial services industry must continue to evolve talent to ensure organizational resiliency.

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Hazelwood battery charges up for first time at site of former coal generator

Renew Economy

Hazelwood battery charges up for first time at site of former brown coal generator in the Latrobe Valley. The post Hazelwood battery charges up for first time at site of former coal generator appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Bipartisan group of US senators proposes legislation to advance nuclear power

Utiliity Dive

The industry and policymakers are working on several fronts to build out nuclear energy — particularly advanced reactors and small modular reactors, SMRs — to meet increasingly stringent zero-carbon goals.

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Native Americans get the $720 million for climate they deserve

GreenBiz

The Inflation Reduction Act directs unprecedented funding to tribes and Native communities for climate resilience and solutions.

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Mastering Supply Chain Sustainability: Where Does ESG Fit In?

Speaker: Hortense Grouvel

In this new webinar, you will learn firsthand how to set up a sustainable supply chain program that will help meet increasing ESG requirements stemming from regulators, customers, consumers, and investors alike. Hortense Grouvel, ESG expert at IntegrityNext, and Sean Whelan, Global Senior Manager at Halliburton, will look at how ensuring compliance will also help you increase sustainability performance, resilience, and innovation, allowing you to unlock the full potential of your supply chain op

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How the garment industry has (and hasn’t) changed 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster

Corporate Knights

A decade on, we remember Rana Plaza through a series of indelible images. Drone shots captured from across Dhaka’s Aricha Highway render eight factory floors to a concrete smash cake; workers crushed in the grim grey layers of industrial machinery. Survivors, bereft, swarming ground zero, desperate to recover their loved ones alive among the rebar, cement and fulminated fabric bolts.

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EU Lawmakers Approve New Carbon Tax, Tougher Emissions Trading System

ESG Today

The European Council announced today that it adopted a series of new laws aimed at enabling the EU to hit its climate targets, including the establishment of a carbon tax on imported goods, and an update to the EU emissions trading system aimed at helping to reduce emissions from several sectors of the economy. The announcement marks the last major step in passing into law several of the key elements of the European Commission’s “Fit for 55” roadmap – the EU’s proposed strategy to cut greenhouse

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Exploring opportunities in the generative AI value chain

McKinsey Sustainabilty

Generative AI is giving rise to an entire ecosystem, from hardware providers to application builders, that will help bring its potential for business to fruition.

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Solar is a runaway global success, and Australia is showing the way forward

Renew Economy

The current growth rates of solar alone will see the global energy sector decarbonised by mid-century. The post Solar is a runaway global success, and Australia is showing the way forward appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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What Regulations Will Impact Sustainability Comms in 2024?

Navigating the waters of sustainability reporting disclosures and regulations can be intimidating, to say the least. With various measures set in motion in 2023 to keep companies accountable, there is a lot in store for brands’ impact communication in the upcoming year. 3BL is kicking off this January with our Navigating ESG Comms Through the Cosmos - Capricorn Edition by highlighting the impact of: The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Climate disclosure rules The European Commission

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How Organizations Can Prepare Their ESG Data for Sustainability Reporting

Environment + Energy Leader

When data types like electricity, water, waste, gas, supplier data, performance KPIs, and more exist in many siloed systems, the question is: Where do you even start? The post How Organizations Can Prepare Their ESG Data for Sustainability Reporting appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Scottish seaweed sparks idea to boost electric vehicle batteries

Envirotec Magazine

Materials from Scottish-grown seaweed could help to improve the life-span and charge time of lithium-ion batteries used for the likes of electric vehicles, with a new first-of-its-kind prototype already being tested by expert researchers. The team from Marine Biopolymers and The University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry recently received funding from the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) to explore the use of tailored alginates – a naturally-occurring material found in brown

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With its PRO 2023 release, Zigbee tries to stay relevant

Stacey Higginbotham

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has released a new version of the Zigbee standard called Zigbee PRO 2023 with a stated focus on security. But looking deeper at the proposed changes to the low-power wireless mesh, I see an effort to keep Zigbee relevant by giving it a longer range, beefier security, and a roundabout way to allow Zigbee devices to connect with phones for onboarding and control.

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ESG Tied to Stronger Growth and Profitability, Bain and EcoVadis Study Finds

ESG Today

ESG activities correlate positively with stronger financial performance, according to a new study released by global management consultancy Bain & Company and sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis, with apparent benefits including faster revenue growth and stronger margins. For the study, “Do ESG Efforts Create Value?,” assessed the impact of ESG activities on 100,000 companies tracked by EcoVadis, examining how activities such as setting ESG targets, tracking results, embedding sustainab

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What Questions Are Brands Asking About Their ESG Initiatives Ahead of 2024?

Temperatures are rising (and not just metaphorically) as key stakeholders anxiously anticipate the outcomes of COP28. While companies reconsider their 2024 environmental sustainability strategies, there is another aspect of ESG that deserves exploring, the social sector. In the latest edition of "Navigating ESG Comms Through the Cosmos - Sagittarius Edition", 3BL hones in on this sign’s bold quality of asking questions others are burning to know the answers to.

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Economic conditions outlook during turbulent times, March 2023

McKinsey Sustainabilty

Executives’ enthusiasm for the economy rose—and then came back to earth. Meanwhile, concerns about financial-market volatility as a risk to growth have increased.

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Gas can’t compete with wind, solar and storage, even in world’s biggest market

Renew Economy

Latest cost assessment from Lazard shows that wind, solar and storage win against gas in every metric - including firming - in world's biggest market. The post Gas can’t compete with wind, solar and storage, even in world’s biggest market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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The Corporate World Can’t Reach Net Zero If The Grid Doesn’t Grow

Environment + Energy Leader

Building energy infrastructure is a tricky business. Private entities have limited resources, and the payoff is often too distant. But there’s pressure on companies to meet their net-zero goals — requiring more grid space or grid miles. The post The Corporate World Can’t Reach Net Zero If The Grid Doesn’t Grow appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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Why AI is incredibly smart -- and shockingly stupid | Yejin Choi

TEDxInnovations

Computer scientist Yejin Choi is here to demystify the current state of massive artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, highlighting three key problems with cutting-edge large language models (including some funny instances of them failing at basic commonsense reasoning.) She welcomes us into a new era in which AI is becoming almost like a new intellectual species -- and identifies the benefits of building smaller AI systems trained on human norms and values.

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The Silver Lining to Corporate DEI Challenges

In our latest edition of Navigating ESG Comms Through the Cosmos - Scorpio Edition, 3BL embraces the perspective of one of the zodiac's most misunderstood signs: Scorpio. While this sign often has a darker view of the world, they do not shy away from shining a light on controversial topics. This month we take a deep dive into corporate pullback of DEI and how companies can utilize astrological advice to reinvent its social impact communication.

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Shoreline IoT has built a programmable industrial sensor

Stacey Higginbotham

Building sensors for enterprise or industrial IoT deployments is tough. But an 8-year-old startup thinks it has found the keys to successfully doing so by rethinking business models, identifying the true technical challenges, and taking advantage of the cloud. Kishore Manghnani and Mark Stubbs are the co-founders of Shoreline IoT, a company that makes ruggedized sensors that gather data, send that data to the cloud for analysis, and then provide a SaaS service.

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EU Regulators Propose Changes to Sustainable Finance Disclosure Rules

ESG Today

Europe’s three primary financial regulatory agencies, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), announced on Wednesday a series of proposed amendments aimed at extending and simplifying the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Proposals include the addition of information regarding the decarbonization targets of financial products, and the inclusion of a dashboard providing information about products’ sustainable and taxonomy-aligned investment.

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Helping banks think like tech companies

McKinsey Sustainabilty

Mambu co-founder Eugene Danilkis talks about how banks can approach core technology transformation and keep up with the fast pace of change, then offers his take on the future of human interaction.

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Rooftop solar eats everyone’s lunch and sends grid demand to record lows

Renew Economy

Rooftop solar ate everyone's lunch on a mild Easter holiday, sending grid demand to record lows but also causing unheard of levels of renewable curtailment. The post Rooftop solar eats everyone’s lunch and sends grid demand to record lows appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Supercharge Your ESG Content This Libra Season

Throughout Climate Week, a feeling of urgency on tackling the climate crisis was palpable. Yet, questions continue to linger about corporate progress. Are we truly moving the needle or are we stuck in a cycle of empty statements and a flood of reports and guidelines? In the latest edition of Navigating ESG Comms Through the Cosmos - Libra Edition , we use Climate Week outcomes to explore how brands can communicate progress credibly.