Wednesday’s plenary session highlighted a range of innovators and organizations
driving on-the-ground impacts in a host of environmental and social issues
critical to solving the climate crisis.
Clearloop CEO and co-founder Laura
Zapata kicked things off by
challenging attendees to acknowledge that the clean energy transition needs to
put equity and access front and center — she asserted that “net zero” will be a
fallacy without ensuring that under-resourced communities around the world have
access to clean energy. Marking the 23rd anniversary of her family’s immigration
to the United States, she highlighted Clearloop’s work partnering with companies
of all sizes that want to offset their carbon emissions by building new solar
projects — helping to ‘green the grid’ and expand clean energy access,
especially in underprivileged communities such as the company’s initial project
in Jackson, Tennessee; and newer projects in the Mississippi Delta, one
of the country’s poorer regions where over 80 percent of energy is created from
fossil fuels.
“As we’re thinking about this big planetary problem, ensure that this transition
looks and feels like our community,” she said, “so more of us see us in this
transition.”
Next, John Hanselman,
founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Vanguard Renewables, explained another
avenue of carbon removal — through repurposing food and farm waste. He noted
that most waste in the US hasn’t evolved in terms of handling in generations.
Through the Farm Powered Strategic
Alliance,
Vanguard is working with a range of brands to expand supply of natural gas
produced from organic waste.
Next, Steven Stanley, Chief
Commercial Officer at LanzaTech, continued the carbon-capture conversation —
which his company considers all the way through the stream of use. He
highlighted examples such as the recent partnership with Swiss shoe company
On to repurpose captured carbon into shoe
soles.
He also stressed the value of partnerships and a culture of innovation in
creating long-lasting transparency and emphasizing communication up and down the
value chain.
Shifting to the kitchen, Tara Helms — Electrolux’s
director of sustainability, North America — presented the company’s GRO
platform,
which takes into account a person’s dietary and shopping habits to help reframe
how the average person uses their kitchen, on a path to improving nutrition and
eliminating food waste. “This is not to show one product, but a better future,”
she noted. The platform will also look to highlight new ways of consuming
protein, produce and more.
Lisa Dyson
Speaking of protein, Air Protein founder & CEO
Lisa Dyson — whose company has created
a carbon-negative process for literally producing protein from
air — used a technology lens to
shift perspectives on the impact of bovine agriculture, breaking down how her
company’s proprietary “air fermentation” process has exponentially less impact
than the raising and processing of the standard cow.
The conversation then moved to biodiversity, where leaders from Procter & Gamble
and McCormick & Company highlighted large-scale efforts to improve environmental
and social conditions through responsible sourcing.
Michael Okoroafor
“People only really care about the impact of what we do,” said Michael
Okoroafor,
McCormick’s Chief Sustainability Officer. He used an example of smallholder
farms and how investing in responsible ways of supporting these small
producers
creates tangible impact up the value chain.
Alex Keith, CEO of P&G Beauty,
echoed much of this sentiment — but added insights from an intricate software
platform the beauty giant uses to track and analyze sourcing data for its
Herbal Essences brand in an effort to increase transparency in support of
broader impact goals.
From big beauty to major retail, Amanda
Nusz and Stephanie
Grotta from Target
held an informal discussion about the brand’s Target
Forward
initiative — aiming to provide solid business growth through an equitable and
regenerative lens. Both spoke about unlocking purpose and tracking that progress
in meaningful ways; one example is through a sustainable cotton partnership with
Bridgeforth Farms — one of the US’ only
Black-owned cotton farms.
The most powerful conversation of the morning was a candid discussion about
mental health at two brands with significant cultural relevance.
L-R: Taryn Bird, Elyse Cohen and Tramaine EL-Amin
“The evolution of the mental health conversation is obvious, based on us being
here on this stage,” said Elyse
Cohen, VP social impact & inclusion
at vegan makeup brand Rare Beauty. Joined by
Taryn Bird, Senior Director of social impact at Kate Spade, the duo spoke
about the challenges of meeting the moment as a brand trying to navigate and
support the increased awareness and tough conversations around mental health.
Tramaine EL-Amin — Chief Experience Officer for Mental Health First Aid at
the National Council for Mental Wellbeing — moderated the mini-session and
helped illustrate how important the moment is for companies attempting to
improve their own support systems around mental well-being.
“There are huge gaps in funding for women’s-specific mental health issues,” Bird
noted, calling on the importance of philanthropic and corporate partnerships to
fill in the gaps when creating viable solutions and support systems.
Cohen added how investing in mental health was a “no-brainer,” especially
considering founder Selena Gomez’s public struggles with bipolar disorder.
Her perspective was unique in that Cohen was involved in crafting the brand’s
mission from the start, allowing Rare Beauty to take an intrinsic focus on
supporting mental health.
All three speakers urged that we’re at a critical moment not only of
collaboration, but also of promise in mental health.
“We’re starting to embrace the perfectly imperfect,” Bird said. “Mental health
experiences can be challenging and brutal … but we have to make a commitment to
destigmatize — and as a collective,find ways to live with resilience that’s real.”
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Geoff is a freelance journalist and copywriter focused on making the world a better place through compelling copy. He covers everything from apparel to travel while helping brands worldwide craft their messaging. In addition to Sustainable Brands, he's currently a contributor at Penta, AskMen.com, Field Mag and many others. You can check out more of his work at geoffnudelman.com.
Published Oct 21, 2022 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST