Corporate Social Responsibility

Duke Energy received a perfect score of 100 percent in Human Rights Campaign's national benchmarking study that annually ranks companies on LGBT-friendly corporate practices and policies. The perfect score earned Duke Energy the distinction of "Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality."

Duke Energy recently accelerated its targets for more diverse representation, and new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Joni Davis is leading the effort. Davis started her job six months ago, with a goal to not only increase diversity at the company but to strengthen a culture that supports it.

When a colleague told Keith Gifford about Duke Energy’s employee resource group for LGBTQ individuals and straight allies, Gifford didn’t hesitate to join. For him, being an ally comes from a personal place.

The numbers tell the story: 2,300 volunteers, 14,000-plus hours served, 267 projects completed, 3,500 hurricane kits packed and 1,286 teddy bears stuffed. These are just a few of the numbers that showcase the impact of Duke Energy In Action Month.

Nearly 100 members of Arrow Electronics’ Young Professionals Group teamed with Wish for Wheels to build 40 bikes for low-income children in Denver. This marks the third year that Arrow employees in the company’s Centennial, Colo. headquarters have worked with Wish for Wheels to expand healthy living opportunities in low-income communities.

In recent weeks, Comcast NBCUniversal and Sky employees gathered their friends, family members, nonprofit partners, and community leaders to participate in Comcast Cares Day 2019, one of the largest corporate days of service globally, and a celebration of our company’s year-round dedication to giving back.

We are excited to share the latest edition of ICYMI! A Magazine for Business Sustainability Professionals. In each edition of ICYMI!, we share the latest research, teaching and engagement from the Erb Institute. Our cover story for this edition is by Erb faculty member, Sara Soderstrom. She shares how she’s working to bring awareness to gender issues in academia.

Annie’s started looking at the market for recycled materials, and learned a major source of recycled HDPE plastic came from old milk jugs. Then the idea almost formed itself: Annie’s saw an opportunity to close a loop in consumers’ minds, and turn milk jugs into the packaging for cereal that people pour milk over in the morning.

Today, Harris operates his farm as an ecosystem, grazing cattle, sheep and poultry in rotations, using the Savory Institute’s holistic planned grazing model. Through holistic planned grazing, animals are frequently moved between paddocks with time between grazings built in for plant recovery. This process aims to mimic the way that wild herds of ruminants move across grasslands. As herds graze, dung, urine and old plant matter are trampled into the ground where they can decompose and enrich the soil’s network of microbial life. Dung beetles and other beneficial insects aerate the soil and move resources into the soil.

Fair Trade USA announced today that it will increase its minimum price and premium for cocoa by 20 percent as of October 1, 2019 to move farmers closer to a living income and reduce the extreme poverty and child labor that is prevalent in West Africa’s cocoa fields.