Energy & Infrastructure

The Arbor Day Foundation has announced today that Team Willamette of Oregon has been awarded the Foundation’s Headwaters Award. This award celebrates innovative programs — in rural or urban areas — that support the improvement of water quality and quantity through forestry activities.

The market for corporate renewable energy is maturing. As it does, it introduces new considerations for companies to weigh as part of their overall energy procurement strategy. New providers, new products, and new opportunities mean more complexity and potential risk—even for experienced buyers.

Year after year, Panalpina’s quality, health, safety and environment (QHSE) team has demonstrated the hard work and dedication needed to deliver high-quality service to its customers, while building a culture of quality, safety, sustainability and caring. 2018 was one of the most successful years ever, with a 72 percent reduction in injuries to staff since 2013 and a wide range of activities dedicated to improving local communities.

We recently reviewed the ESG coverage status for the 8,686 companies in the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index). The ACWI is a popular benchmark for many investors, because it includes approximately 85% of the global opportunities for equity investment. We felt it would be useful to see how much ESG information is currently available on the companies on this type of broad index.

Bridgestone Americas, Inc., a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tire and rubber company, today announced that its Aiken County Off Road Tire Plant (Aiken ORR), located in Trenton, S.C., has been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED recognizes buildings that are designed, constructed, and operated for improved energy, environmental, and human health performance. LEED is the world’s most widely used green building program with more than 94,000 registered and certified projects in 167 countries and territories.

Innovations in agriculture could feed a growing, hungry world without destroying the planet, a top official of the largest maker of seeds and pesticides told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.

Practices such as cultivating plants that benefit the soil during the off season and leaving land untilled could store carbon-dioxide (CO2) in the ground, said Liam Condon, head of the crop science division for German conglomerate Bayer.

Lamar University has reached a $20 million energy savings milestone as a result of its energy efficiency project with Schneider Electric. Lamar University achieved this milestone after a 15-year partnership with Schneider Electric. To date, the project has reduced campus-wide utility consumption by 43 percent, saving on average $1.63 million in annual utility costs. Additionally, this project has generated $21,276,086 million in energy savings.

Local officials will join Overbrook School for the Blind (OSB) students, staff, and Board of Trustees, for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the M. Christine Murphy Horticulture and Education Center - a LEED-Silver certified and planned Net Zero Energy greenhouse - on Friday, May 10 at 10 a.m.

The new INGAA Foundation Inc. flagship report finds that natural gas will retain its critical role in the U.S. power sector for at least the next 20 years even as renewable energy grabs a bigger share of the nation’s electricity market. This trend, coupled with growing global demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, underscores the need for the gas industry’s continued investment in infrastructure to support these growing needs, according to Black & Veatch, the author of the report.

Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, today announced it has awarded 50 grants to Keep America Beautiful community-based affiliates and partner organizations for its 2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program® (CLPP), designed to help communities combat the most commonly littered item in America.