Sat.Feb 08, 2020 - Fri.Feb 14, 2020

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Conserving and restoring forests won’t be cheap and easy after all

GreenBiz

The corporate world has fallen for trees. But to be effective, the cost of offsetting CO2 emissions with the sequestration power of forests will have to go up. Are companies willing to pay?

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Cash is hot: Investors find new options to put deposits to work for community development

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, February 12 – Denver-based and Native-owned Native American National Bank serves Native communities, governments and enterprises across the U.S. To boost the bank’s lending power, RSF Social Finance, Candide Group’s Olamina fund and other impact investors have created deposit accounts and CDs at the bank. “The best way to support our bank is through.

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Still in the dark about targets? Observers respond to the UK government’s Environment Bill

Envirotec Magazine

Following the announcement of the government’s Environment Bill on 30 January , many observers in the environmental arena reflected on the ambition and likely efficacy of the legislation, while highlighting areas of concern and suggested improvement. Envirotec reports. Intended to fill the policy vacuum emerging from the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January, the Environment Bill has been eagerly anticipated, and seemingly gives government the power to set legally binding targets on all aspec

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5 reasons why your warmer winter is so alarming

Sense and Sustainability

This article was first published by the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization focusing on creating economical policies to support clean air and water; abundant fish and wildlife; and a stable climate. The article was authored by Ilissa Ocko and originally appeared here. While you might enjoy warmer winter days that feel more like spring, those breaks from cooler temperatures are no reason to celebrate.

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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 low price of freed parking

GreenBiz

The 270 million vehicles in the United States are parked over 90 percent of the time. There are far more parking spaces than vehicles. How many spaces? The data is imprecise. There could be 500 million parking lot spaces and 1 billion spaces on streets. Add parking in home garages, carports and driveways, and another estimate is 2 billion parking spaces.

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Investors called to account for fintech lending practices as debt-traps emerge

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, Feb. 13 – “Proceed with caution” in fintech investing was the conclusion of our lookahead at impact investing trends to watch in emerging markets in 2020. “In Kenya, for example, a proliferation of alternative credit-scoring services are providing first-time borrowers with near-instant access to mobile credit – at the same time usage of gambling.

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416 PPM: Carbon in atmosphere hits new record high and no one is talking about it

Good.is: Planet

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit a record high Monday, a reading from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that elicited fresh calls from climate activists and scientists for the international community to end planet-heating emissions from fossil fuels and deforestation. According to NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory, an atmospheric baseline station in Hawaii, the daily average of CO2 levels on Feb. 10 was 416.08 parts per million.

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Salesforce: Why corporate sustainability must change

GreenBiz

This article originally appeared on the Salesforce corporate blog. 2019 was another year in which natural disasters occurred with unnatural (or at least unprecedented) force and frequency.

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Ecosystem Investment Partners closes fourth conservation fund at $455 million

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, February 10 – Private equity firm Ecosystem Investment Partners has been helping investors profit off of ecological restoration and conservation projects since 2007. EIP has raised nearly $1 billion from investors through three institutional funds, including $454.5 million for its latest fund, Ecosystem Investment Partners IV. EIP’s investment approach is to set up “mitigation.

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Water trade association pledges to improve gender equality

Envirotec Magazine

The Board of British Water in February 2020. • Trade association calls for “a sector where everyone can succeed” • Pledge made to ensure equality within its own workforce. • Commitment to bring more women onto the board. British Water says it has committed to increasing the number of women on its non-executive board and has urged the rest of the industry to follow its lead.

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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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Using Technology to Empower Indian Mothers

Sense and Sustainability

Editor’s note: This article was first published on the Global Solutions Foundation blog. It has been republished here with the author’s permission. According to UNICEF , it is estimated that 44,000 women die due to preventable pregnancy-related causes in India each year while one in five deaths globally is likely to be an Indian lady. Aditya Kulkarni , a 2017 Young Global Changer , and the organisation he co-founded are working to change this.

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How big data and AI can make supply chains better for consumers and the planet

GreenBiz

Mining information about what people want and what they buy (as well as when and why they buy) can lead to surprising innovations that can have far-reaching effects.

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KKR raises $1.3 billion for Global Impact Fund

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, February 13 – Private equity giant KKR launched its Global Impact Fund just under two years ago as an early entrant into the club of private equity firms seeking to raise 10-figure impact funds (see, “For private equity giants, $1 billion is table stakes for entry into impact investing”). KKR hit the billion-dollar mark. The post KKR raises $1.3 billion for Global Impact Fund appeared first on ImpactAlpha.

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Repairing Scotland’s peatlands: Volunteer “Bog Squad” celebrates six years of progress

Envirotec Magazine

Bog Squad volunteers blocking ditches (Photo credit: David Hill). Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation is celebrating six years of its “Bog Squad” initiative this March. Begun in 2014, this group of volunteers is carrying out rehabilitation works on damaged peat bogs across the Scottish Lowlands. As the charity puts it, “These volunteers are working on the front lines in the battle against the climate crisis.” Scotland’s bogs are vast stores of carbon laid down by slow

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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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Famous brands ‘turning blind eye’ to deforestation caused by demand for soy, beef and other commodities

Eco-Business

Fashion brands and soy sauce makers are among the major companies that still have not made commitments to end deforestation in their supply chains, environmental group Global Canopy said.

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How China and the U.S. can innovate on plastic waste

GreenBiz

The world's two biggest producers and consumers of stuff stand to play a pivotal role in creating a circular economy, but they'll both have to get out of their own way.

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Louisville’s Access Ventures debuts $15 million Render Capital fund for local entrepreneurs

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – Render Capital, a new new fund from Louisville impact investing firm Access Ventures, will provide early stage equity, debt and revenue-based financing of up to $250,000 to entrepreneurs in Louisville and southern Indiana. An annual Render Competition will award up to $100,000 each to eight startups working in advanced manufacturing, health innovation, The post Louisville’s Access Ventures debuts $15 million Render Capital fund for local entrepreneurs appeared first on Imp

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Air pollution holding back next generation of GB sports stars: Link to long term sporting performance analysed for first time, says group

Envirotec Magazine

More than a quarter (28%) of children’s sports grounds analysed in five UK cities have dangerous air pollution. 92% of sports grounds analysed in London breach World Health Organization limits. 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham venue heavily polluted as well as University of Salford ground in Greater Manchester. Medical professionals warn for the first time that air pollution is likely to impact on children’s “potential to train” for sport.

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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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Sustainability One on One: Palm oil proponent Simon Lord in conversation with apparel futurist Pamela Mar

Eco-Business

In the first in our video series of sustainability executives interviewing each other about the challenges they face, Simon Lord of palm oil giant Sime Darby Plantation went head to head with Pamela Mar of supply chain manager Fung Group.

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New Jersey sets its sights on a decarbonized economy

GreenBiz

The state is planning comprehensively for economy-wide decarbonization, and putting meaningful, near-term policies in place to affordably reduce emissions.

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Three questions for JPMorgan’s new development finance institution

Impact Alpha

The announcement by JPMorgan Chase & Co. last month that it would be setting up a new development finance institution to expand its development-oriented investment banking activities is an important step forward for development finance. The investment bank’s leadership is very welcome. And the challenge is huge. As is often quoted, the financing gap to.

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Tens of thousands of city trees to be planted in first round of Urban Tree Challenge Fund

Envirotec Magazine

(Photo credit: Forestry Commission). · First round of successful bidders to the Urban Tree Challenge Fund announced. · Projects across England have been awarded funding for new trees in towns and cities. · Urban trees vital in fight against climate change and connecting us with nature to boost health and wellbeing. Thirteen projects in urban communities across England have been awarded a share of the £10 million in the first round of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

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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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Food and beverage industry: no plans to totally discard plastic

Eco-Business

Plastic restrictions are sweeping Asia, but the sustainability chief of a regional food and beverage trade association says such measures are not the most effective solution. The industry cannot do without packaging, says Edwin Seah.

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This company is turning food waste into a cleaning spray

GreenBiz

97 percent of the cleaning product is made from the water, acids and alcohol from the food waste.

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Net-zero pledges by BP’s new chief raise the stakes for oil majors

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, Feb. 13 – New CEO Bernard Looney kicked off his tenure with bold promises to remake the oil giant for a low-carbon future. Climate change, he said, will require “reimagining energy,” the company’s new mission. “The world does have a carbon budget, it is finite, and we need a rapid transition to net zero,”. The post Net-zero pledges by BP’s new chief raise the stakes for oil majors appeared first on ImpactAlpha.

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First “Low Plastic Zone” launches in London: Initiative aims to encourage businesses to cut single-use plastic

Envirotec Magazine

A new initiative from North London Waste Authority (NLWA) – working in partnership with the seven north London boroughs – aims to reduce the amount of single-use plastic appearing on the high street. So far, seemingly over three quarters of businesses* in the Cowcross Street area of Islington have signed up – and have “successfully, and permanently, reduced the single-use plastic they give to their customers”, with many having seemingly pledged to go further than th

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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.

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Can hardline activists Sea Shepherd have an impact in Southeast Asia?

Eco-Business

The NGO made famous by docu-drama Whale Wars is docked in Singapore's waters. Given the restrictions on hardline environmentalists in Southeast Asia, what sort of impact could the group have in safeguarding the region's marine life?

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VERGE 19: Welcoming Remarks

GreenBiz

GreenBiz Vice President and VERGE Executive Director, Shana Rappaport, welcomes VERGE 19 participants to the event with a clean economy call to action and surprise performance by The Seastars. “This isn’t just about avoiding an ecological and economic crisis,” Rappaport says. “It’s about helping a future unfold that has the potential to be more prosperous for all people and all life than it’s ever been.”.

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Gates Foundation to focus on climate change and gender equality

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – Bill Gates has been investing for years in breakthrough technology to help thwart climate change, from solar upstart Heliogen to alternative protein maker Impossible Foods to the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund. Partly for that reason, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stayed away from climate as a program area. Now, the.

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European plastics recycling trade show announces March conference programme

Envirotec Magazine

The forthcoming Plastics Recycling Show Europe includes a free-to-attend conference taking place at the RAI Amsterdam on 25 and 26 March 2020. The organisers say the conference will provide “a holistic view of the whole plastic recycling value chain”, with contributions from political leaders, major brands, recyclers and the plastics recycling and manufacturing industry.

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How Will Virgo Season Impact Your ESG Communication?

3BL’s in-house experts merge the celestial wisdom of astrology with current environmental, social, governance (ESG) communication trends to offer a unique perspective and practical advice on sharing your company’s commitments effectively. 3BL’s new “Navigating ESG Comms through the Cosmos” series begins with Virgo season! In this edition, we delve into: How businesses have responded to environmental disasters over the past few months and why you can expect a continued focus on the climate crisis