Impact & Sustainability News From Leading Brands

Keep up with the latest news from 3BL’s clients.

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Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Sodexo Encourages College Students to Support Vermont’s Local Food Economy

Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company committed to Quality of Life, organized and hosted the first-ever Taking Root Student Symposium to demonstrate the organization’s commitment to buying locally-sourced products in Vermont and to teach college students in the state what it means to chart a career in food.

Green Infrastructure

Sustainable Design: Advanced Planning Is Essential to Resilience in Hawaiʻi

Increased climate variability and surging population growth are placing greater demands on limited resources such as water, energy, and physical space. Our teams are considering how buildings and infrastructure can be designed to more effectively cope with these stresses and perform well into the future. Facilities need to be built not only to operate in greater harmony with nature but also to withstand the forces it may unleash.

Events, Media & Communications

RBSEU 2019 – First-look Agenda and Speaker Line-up Now Available

I’m excited to announce that we have just released the agenda for Ethical Corporation’s 18th Responsible Business Summit Europe (10-12 June 2019). Download your newly released brochure here: http://1.ethicalcorp.com/LP=21639

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

New Health Leaders Awards Announced for 2019

Recognizing leadership in places and spaces that advance people’s health and well-being is the goal of a new awards program for 2019 announced today at Greenbuild in Chicago.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

PNC Financial Services Group Recognized Among Working Mother’s 2018 Best Companies for Dads

Working Mother’s first annual Best Companies for Dads recognizes the companies that help dads succeed at home and work, with paternity leave, adoption leave, surrogacy and fertility benefits, phase-back-to-work programs, childcare options and employee-resource groups for men.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Pro Bono as a People Strategy in Action: Prudential

A look at Prudential's approach to tying social impact into key HR goals through their range of PruBono programs. Read the full case study in Taproot Foundation's new resource for the CSR field: Pro Bono as a People Strategy.

Innovation & Technology

Lockheed Martin Opens “AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge” to Applicants

Lockheed Martin is now accepting applications for its “AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge” through February 28, 2019 on the HeroX platform. Lockheed Martin launched the challenge in September in partnership with The Drone Racing League (DRL), the global professional circuit for drone racing.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation Announce a Commitment of $500,000 for California Wildfire Relief

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have made a commitment to provide support through cash and product donations of $500,000 to organizations in response to the severe wildfires that are impacting California. As part of this commitment, Walmart is working closely with local officials and governmental entities to help meet the needs of those affected.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Holiday Food Bank Is Back for 2018

Wells Fargo is doubling as a food bank this holiday season in a joint effort with Feeding America to fight hunger. The Wells Fargo Holiday Food Bank program, now in its second year, allows people to donate both food and money to local food banks nationwide through Wells Fargo. Visit Wells Fargo Stories (https://stories.wf.com/holiday-food-bank-is-back-for-2018) to watch the video.

Research, Reports & Publications

P&G Tackles Clean Water, Gender Equality and Plastic Waste in 2018 CSR Report

P&G issued its 2018 Citizenship Report, which highlights the Company's progress in its Citizenship priority areas of Community Impact, Diversity & Inclusion, Gender Equality and Environmental Sustainability, all of which are based in a foundation of Ethics and Corporate Responsibility.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

AHRI Honors Trane’s Darryl Denton and Stephen Lind With 2018 Richard C. Schulze Award

Product certification expert Darryl Denton and Acoustics expert Stephen Lind took home the 2018 Richard C. Schulze Award at the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) leadership forum in Tucson, AZ, yesterday. Both seasoned engineers have made a mark on their respective fields, and both work for Trane®, a brand of Ingersoll Rand.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

With Winter on the Way, Consumers Energy Provides $2 Million to Help Michigan Families Stay Safe and Warm

As Michigan gears up for winter, Consumers Energy announced today that it is contributing $2 million to help Michigan residents stay safe and warm. The $2 million contribution will help as many as 2,500 households in Consumers Energy’s CARE program.

Health & Healthcare

Behind the Scenes VIDEO | Healthy Environments Flooring Collection for Healthcare Interiors

Mohawk Group's award-winning Healthy Environments collection is inspired by the alluring, soothing colors and textures of species native to the desert Southwest. In addition to their natural beauty, the innate hardiness of these plants provides a paradigm for perseverance through difficult challenges and environments. Drawing inspiration from these plants and biophilic design, the Healthy Environments collection was created to advance healing and productivity in healthcare interiors.

Mohawk Group believes healthy environments nurture the positive connections that allow patients and care providers to thrive, and we are committed to innovating flooring solutions for optimum health and wellness.

Media & Communications

How Viral Engagement is Revolutionizing CSR

The millennial generation is quickly becoming the dominant group in our workforce, and they’re turning traditional corporate philanthropy upside down. They care deeply about their own causes, and top-down directives from the corner offices alone won’t move them to action. In fact, millennials care more about the opinions of their peers than those of their bosses. Is this workforce shift an obstacle? On the contrary – it is actually a tremendous opportunity for you to drive deeper engagement with your company’s giving and volunteer programs.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

KeyBank Expands Capabilities to Support CDLI Growth

KeyBank Community Development Lending & Investment (CDLI) announced today that it has hired five new underwriters to support work across its growing business. The CDLI platform brings together balance sheet, equity and permanent loan offerings to finance the preservation and development of affordable housing and other community development projects. Keven Ruf, Stephanie Curtis, Laura Janosko, Derek Reed and Michelle Kennedy bring expertise in community development, real estate development and tax credit financing from public and private sector experience.

Diversity & Inclusion

3 Lessons We Learned Building a Veteran-Friendly Culture at Nestlé

For those who have served in the military, it can be a challenge finding a civilian workplace which respects and builds upon the skills learned in service. At Nestlé in the U.S. we want to overcome this challenge, fostering an inclusive working culture that allows our veteran employees and their families to thrive long term.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

eBay Employees Loan $450k to Kiva Entrepreneurs

The eBay Foundation provides every eBay employee with an annual $25 Kiva loan credit to create economic opportunity for small and micro entrepreneurs around the world. Since 2017, over 23,000 Kiva entrepreneurs have benefitted from more than $600,000 in loans made by eBay employees.

Energy

Lidl Finland Microgrid Enables Carbon-Neutral Distribution

Schneider Electric has partnered with grocery store chain, Lidl, to deliver Finland’s largest industrial microgrid and an advanced IoT-enabled building automation system for Lidl’s new distribution center in Järvenpää, Finland.

The unique distribution center that will cover a surface of 60,000 m2, the largest in Finland and equivalent to 10 football fields in size, will serve Southern Finland’s grocery stores and fully start operations at the beginning of 2019.

With Schneider Electric’s microgrid offer, Lidl's distribution center will reach a high level of energy efficiency based on 100% renewable energy.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

U.S. Department of Energy Honors Ingersoll Rand With Better Practice Award for Cutting Energy Use by 50 Percent

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Ingersoll Rand® a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments, a 2018 Better Practice award for energy management initiatives that reduced energy consumption by 50 percent at its Trane® HVAC manufacturing plant in Waco.

Energy

Energy & Environmental Solutions

Republic is a leading provider and trusted partner in the energy and environmental services industry. We deliver a variety of solutions for our manufacturing, industrial and energy customers — from field services at the point of drilling to the refinery and industrial services within the plants. Our advanced technologies and integrated solutions are meeting our customer’s evolving needs while enabling them to reduce their environmental footprint.

Diversity & Inclusion

Air cXc: Standing Tall and Proud at Whirlpool Corporation

In 2016, Whirlpool Corporation launched its Air cXc program in Florida in an effort to find skilled and talented military and military family members to support its Whirlpool Customer eXperience Centers (cXc). Since then, the program has expanded across nine states.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

PNC: Decorated Veteran Receives Keys to Mortgage-Free Home

Two F-15 jets from nearby Seymour Johnson Air Force base streaked across the sky, creating a fitting start to a ceremony honoring a wounded Army veteran, who received keys to a mortgage-free home.

Research, Reports & Publications

Leading Sustainability Reporting Bodies Launch Two-Year Project for Better Alignment

Launched simultaneously at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in London and in Sydney, during the World Congress of Accountants 2018, Corporate Reporting Dialogue participants committed to driving better alignment of sustainability reporting frameworks, as well as with frameworks that promote further integration between non-financial and financial reporting.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

The Biggest Blessing Was Hearing Them Call Us Mom and Dad for the First Time

“We knew during our first meeting with them that we needed them as much as they needed us,” said Wendy and Joseph Garren about the day they met their four children, Morgan, Logan, Trevor and Tiffany.

Research, Reports & Publications

Albertsons Goes All in on Sustainability

Albertsons last week released its 2018 Sustainability Update, highlighting its efforts in waste reduction, expansion of organic products, seafood sustainability and cleaner transportation.

Latest Campaigns

  1. KeyBank's Community Investment
    In states where Key has a presence, there are approximately 1.7 million low- to moderate-income (LMI) households. Many LMI individuals don’t have bank...
  2. PNC: Commitment to Early Childhood Education
    We're focusing on early learning to help children succeed. Research has shown that the first five years of a child's life is critical to long-term...
  3. AEG Celebrates Inclusion
    At AEG, we embrace inclusion and strive to create a workplace where our employees feel welcomed, valued and respected for the viewpoints, ideas...
  4. Cascale Events
    Cascale organizes and participates in a series of events, leveraging its position as a global convener of close to half the sector to bring together...
  5. Sustainability
    Leading the logistics sector towards a more sustainable future by investing in innovative green technologies, enhancing operational efficiency, and...
  6. ESG Voices: Short Podcasts Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges of ESG
    This podcast series takes a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges of ESG and what it means for businesses and communities through interviews...
  7. Local Communities
    The principals of living and working in synergy with the communities in which we operate, as well as collaborating on projects that benefit those...
  8. KeyBank's Community Investment
    In states where Key has a presence, there are approximately 1.7 million low- to moderate-income (LMI) households. Many LMI individuals don’t have bank...
  9. Healthy Spaces Podcast: Season 5
    Welcome to Season 5 of Healthy Spaces by Trane Technologies, the podcast where experts and disruptors explore how climate technology and innovation...
  10. Biomimicry and Ray of Hope Accelerator
    The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has partnered with the Biomimicry Institute to create the Ray of Hope Accelerator, designed to bring commercially...
  11. Drive for MPC
    At Marathon Petroleum, our professional truck drivers share one common vision: no accidents, no injuries, and no harm to the environment. We’re proud...
  12. Goals That Inspire: Environmental Stewardship
    Through our Goals That Inspire we have established aggressive commitments with targeted and measurable metrics which will require innovation...
  13. License to Operate
    Corporate governance, risk management, operational integrity, and regulatory compliance are demanding challenges that companies face in today’s ever...
  14. Social Impact at Mastercard
    At Mastercard, we’re powering economies and empowering people, building a sustainable economy where everyone prospers.
  15. Growth Through Sustainability
    Trane Technologies is a global climate innovator with a clear purpose to boldly challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world. See how embedding...