Now, a new global partnership between BlueGreen Water Technologies and Winrock International seeks to confront this escalating crisis head-on.

Announced in June 2025, the collaboration combines the BlueGreen groundbreaking water treatment technologies with Winrock strengths in community engagement and watershed expertise. The two organizations will pilot HAB mitigation projects in vulnerable water bodies worldwide, blending cutting-edge science with boots-on-the-ground collaboration.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs)are more than an environmental nuisance. When algae proliferate unchecked, they often release cyanotoxins, compounds linked to liver damage, neurological disease, and cancer. The danger is especially acute in communities with limited access to clean water infrastructure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, exposure to HABs has been associated with severe illness in humans and animals alike, and outbreaks have increased significantly in frequency and intensity over the last two decades.

“These blooms undermine the fundamental right to clean, safe water,” says Eyal Harel, CEO and co-founder of BlueGreen Water Technologies. “They endanger health, food supplies, biodiversity, and climate stability.”

Based in Houston with global reach, BlueGreen Water Technologies has emerged as a global leader in treating HABs. Its signature product, Lake Guard®, utilizes controlled-release hydrogen peroxide granules to target toxic algae directly, restoring ecological balance without harming aquatic life.

What sets the technology apart is its speed and scalability. Many affected water bodies rebound in just days after application. Moreover, by collapsing algal blooms rather than rupturing cells, Lake Guard helps prevent toxin release and accelerates the natural sinking of biomass, contributing to measurable carbon sequestration. In Utah’s Mantua Reservoir, BlueGreen intervention captured nearly 13,000 metric tons of CO₂-equivalent, verified by third-party environmental assessors.

While its carbon market potential has attracted investor interest, the BlueGreen mission remains rooted in planetary and public health.

Winrock International, a global nonprofit, brings decades of experience in environmental sustainability, agricultural development, and clean water access. The organization has a reputation for working alongside local communities and government agencies to implement nature-based solutions that balance ecological and social needs.

Aaron Sundsmo, Winrock Associate VP of Agriculture and Water, emphasizes that addressing HABs isn’t just about treating symptoms—it requires upstream solutions. “Community engagement, stakeholder trust, and long-term strategies to reduce nutrient pollution are essential. That’s where our strengths align with BlueGreen’s vision.”

By partnering with Winrock, BlueGreen gains an experienced ally in building locally responsive frameworks. Together, the two will integrate chemical treatment with watershed restoration, sustainable agriculture, and environmental education.

The partnership will launch its first pilots in high-risk regions identified through water quality data, community needs, and ecological urgency. These initiatives will pair BlueGreen’s precision treatments with Winrock-led efforts in stakeholder coordination, regulatory navigation, and long-term land use planning.

The collaboration also aims to generate actionable environmental data to inform policy and attract sustainable investment. With HABs projected to intensify globally, scalable, science-backed, and socially grounded models like this will be vital.

BlueGreen is also in active trials with marine research partners, including Florida’s Mote Marine Laboratory, to adapt its technology to fight ocean-based HABs like red tide, which devastate marine biodiversity and coastal economies.

This partnership reflects a growing recognition that health and environmental outcomes are interlinked. Climate change, industrial agriculture, and pollution are not isolated crises—they converge in ways that challenge traditional silos of action.

“Solving water contamination issues requires more than a technological fix,” says Harel. “It demands a unified approach—combining innovation, policy, and people.”

In a world where over 2 billion people already lack safely managed drinking water, solutions that restore water health while building resilience and equity are more than innovations—they are imperatives.

The BlueGreen-Winrock alliance represents a forward-looking strategy for a world in ecological flux. It’s a model that others in the global health, sustainability, and climate tech sectors would do well to follow: technology married to trust, environmental impact driven by community inclusion.

Water is life. Safeguarding it—from HABs or any threat—must be a shared priority. This new partnership is a promising start.

The post Turning the Tide: BlueGreen and Winrock Team Up to Fight Global Water Crisis appeared first on Medika Life.

This is especially true for companies with brick-and-mortar footprints.

What’s the first thing you think of when you see an empty mall, the JCPenney and Best Buy branding still visible on the exterior? What about an empty Pier 1 Imports that transforms into a Spirit Halloween every October?

An abandoned storefront, with its broken signage and grimy or boarded-up windows, does more to erode public goodwill than any charitable donation can repair. In the eyes of the community, these empty spaces symbolize failure, not just of a business, but of its commitment to the neighborhood it once served. No amount of behind-the-scenes philanthropy will change that perception.

The solution?

A radical rethinking of how companies engage with their physical spaces and the communities they inhabit. It is time to turn these liabilities into assets, not just for the companies, but for society as a whole.

From Empty Storefronts to Community Hubs

Imagine walking past a former big-box store, its parking lot now overgrown with weeds and its facade a canvas for graffiti. The windows are broken. Shopping carts, bent and broken, litter the landscape.

Now, picture that same building, instead transformed into a vibrant mixed-use development: affordable homes on the upper floors, a market, day care center, and gym on the ground level. You can see through some of the windows greenery thriving in vertical farming installations inside. Solar panels cover the roof and gardens surround the structure. The building hums with human activity — people coming and going, talking, laughing and living.

Instead of a glaring symbol of corporate abandonment, it becomes a beacon of hope and renewal.

Brick-and-mortar locations offer untapped potential for such transformations. Retailers, banks, and other companies often own sprawling properties that, once vacated, sit idle for years. These empty spaces do not just drain resources — companies still have to pay taxes, keep the water connected, and keep the power on, after all — they actively harm a brand’s reputation: remember the Pier 1 that turns into a Spirit Halloween?

By converting these spaces into sustainable, mixed-use developments, companies can directly address critical societal issues like the housing crisis while revitalizing communities. The benefits are numerous and substantial:

1. Community Revitalization: Vacant properties drag down property values and discourage investment. Transforming these spaces into functional, attractive developments breathes new life into neighborhoods, attracting residents and businesses alike.
2. Environmental Impact: Adaptive reuse is far more sustainable than demolition and new construction. By repurposing existing structures, companies can significantly reduce waste and lower their carbon footprint.
3. Brand Reputation and Revenue Generation: Nothing says “we care” like visible, meaningful action. These projects demonstrate a company’s commitment to the community in a way that is impossible to ignore.
4. Economic Opportunity: Mixed-use developments create jobs, from construction to ongoing operations. They also stimulate local economies by attracting foot traffic and supporting small businesses. And for the company, critics might argue that such projects are costly or impractical, but the reality is quite the opposite. Adaptive reuse is a cost-effective strategy, often more affordable than building from scratch and certainly a better option than hoping for the best and putting a blighted property on the market for sale or auction. By leveraging public-private partnerships, tax incentives, and grants for sustainable development, companies can offset initial costs and turn a profit.

Doing Good, Making Money

The idea that purpose and profit are mutually exclusive is a false dichotomy. In fact, doing good can be a powerful driver of business success. Consumers increasingly want to support brands that align with their values. A company that invests in community-focused projects can strengthen its relationship with customers, leading to increased loyalty and advocacy.

Proactive community engagement reduces the risk of backlash or boycotts, which can arise when companies are perceived as neglectful or exploitative. By investing in communities, companies create conditions for sustainable growth. Thriving neighborhoods mean more customers, healthier economies, and stronger local partnerships.

Consider the trend of turning vacant shopping malls into mixed-use developments. Across the United States, developers are repurposing these once-bustling retail hubs into spaces that combine housing, office space, entertainment, and public amenities. Projects like these not only address pressing social needs but also generate new revenue streams for property owners.

Brands shouldn’t let developers be the only ones doing these kinds of conversions.

Time to Change the CSR Paradigm

The days of superficial CSR are over. Companies can no longer rely on checkbook philanthropy or flashy ad campaigns to convince the public they are doing good. Real impact requires bold, innovative thinking and a willingness to put skin in the game.

For businesses with brick-and-mortar locations, the path forward is clear. Every vacant storefront is an opportunity to rewrite the narrative, to transform a symbol of failure into one of possibility. By investing in sustainable, community-focused projects, companies can not only restore their reputations but also contribute to solving some of society’s most pressing challenges.

Cullen Burnell is Chief Integration & People Officer at Urbana Systems

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This year’s Climate Week theme is, “It’s Time.” It’s time for the leading designers of climate policy, the most creative innovators, and the top financial houses to push for rapid implementation at the scale of the solutions to our unprecedented environmental challenges. Climate Week NYC, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), will be the focal point for global leaders, entrepreneurs, corporations, NGOs and activist communities committed to driving climate action.

Just as Fashion Week dictates what we’ll be wearing, Climate Week will shape the future of our planet. Here’s a sneak peek at the five key “looks” we can expect to roll out on the Climate Week runway.

1. Sustainable Finance: The New Power Suit

In the world of climate action, sustainable finance is emerging as the “power suit” of the future. Expect to see discussions centered on how financial institutions, governments, and businesses can direct capital flows toward sustainable investments. Additionally, private-public sector collaborations combined with creative financing vehicles may offer an opportunity to advance implementations of new solutions to key environmental challenges at scale.

Sustainable finance will take center stage with new frameworks and regulations being unveiled.

2. Decarbonization: Minimalism with Maximum Impact

Minimalism is a timeless trend in fashion, and this year, it’s making waves in climate policy. Decarbonization will be the mantra of Climate Week, with a focus on achieving net-zero emissions.

Look for commitments from corporations and governments alike, with strategies ranging from renewable energy adoption to nature-based solutions to protect and reinvigorate biodiversity, improve water quality, and efficiently capture carbon through nature’s most powerful carbon sinks.

The message is clear: less carbon, more impact.

3. Resilience: The Weatherproof Wardrobe

Just as fashion adapts to the changing seasons, climate action must adapt to a warming world. Extreme weather events and the enduring impacts of climate change are increasingly affecting individuals, businesses, economies, and infrastructure on a broad scale.

As such, resilience and climate adaptation are set to be a major theme, with discussions on how to protect communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. Key approaches, including reforestation, greening urban environments, and developing climate-resistant crops may enter the conversation. We’ll be on the lookout for new innovations in this space, but one thing is certain: expect resilience to be the “weatherproof wardrobe” essential for the future.

4. Social Equity: Inclusivity on the Runway

Fashion is increasingly embracing inclusivity, and Climate Week will reflect this trend through a focus on social equity. Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities, and this year’s agenda will spotlight the need for just and equitable solutions, including ensuring healthcare access, strengthening health systems to face emerging climate-related health issues, and creating new economic opportunities in underserved communities.

Whether it’s in policymaking, funding, or innovation, inclusivity will ensure that no one is left behind in the transition to a sustainable future.

5. Innovation: The High-Tech Fabric of the Future

Innovation has always been the fabric that drives fashion forward, and it’s no different in the climate action space. Expect to see groundbreaking technologies and solutions showcased, from clean energy advancements and discussions on the emerging hydrogen economy to zero-emissions vehicles, green cement, sustainable and scalable alternatives to plastics, and AI-driven environmental measurement tools to ensure climate action is effectively measured.

Like a high-tech fabric on the runway, innovation will weave through every conversation, setting the stage for the next generation of climate solutions.

As Climate Week NYC approaches, the world will be watching New York again — not for the latest fashion trends but for the visionary ideas and bold commitments shaping our planet’s future. Just as Fashion Week defines the trends that influence what we wear, Climate Week will define the trends that influence how we live.

This is a crucial moment for stakeholders interested and invested in climate action to listen and observe where the conversation is going. For companies working on new solutions to an array of climate challenges, it’s an important time to assess if you are supporting and building on the trends, or if you have a new approach that has not yet been considered. If the latter, this is the time to start mapping out a strategy to ensure these ideas get on next year’s agenda.

So, as we prepare for the unveiling of these “collections” of ideas and actions, let’s remember that what happens in New York this September will ripple across the globe, influencing the future of our climate for years to come.

The post Climate Week NYC 2024: The Runway of Global Climate Action appeared first on Medika Life.

She didn’t know how to answer but said something like, “Trees can become very old, and they carry a lot of wisdom.”

I suppose as a 3 or 4-year-old, I found that to be a satisfactory answer.

When I think about that question now — which seems like a pretty deep question for a 3- or 4-year-old — I still don’t know the answer. But what my mom said back then remains true. Trees have a lot of wisdom to share.

What Trees Teach Us About Climate Change

Many of us learned in grade school that you could know a tree’s age by counting its rings. In fact, these rings tell us a lot more about the environment over time than just a tree’s age. NOAA Climate.gov is home to the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB), which includes ring-width data from forests globally. The data bank has information from over 4,600 locations across six continents!

Climate scientists use these tree growth records, statistically matching the data with local weather records to estimate past temperatures or precipitation. This provides valuable climate histories that extend back hundreds or even thousands of years! More importantly, these insights help us understand natural climate variability over time and can help us create a baseline to assess human-induced climate change.

But Wait, There’s More: The Roots of Sustainable Development

Trees are nature’s record keepers. But, they are also an important resource that has driven the development of societies. Our use of this natural resource marks the birth of sustainable development as a concept.

The earliest notions of sustainability reach back over 300 years. In 1713, the German mining director Carl von Carlowitz wrote Sylvicultura Oeconomica, an essay on forestry, in which he called for sustained use of the forest to feed industry. However, Carlowitz stipulated that the use of trees should be limited to “only as many trees as would allow a continuous replenishment of an equivalent number of mature trees…allowing the forest to be maintained and managed over the long term.” In short, we can use trees, but only as quickly as we can replenish forests for sustained use.

3 Sustainability Principles We Can Learn from Trees

1. Resilience and Adaptation

Trees are masters of resilience and adaptation. They endure harsh climates, pests, and human interference, constantly evolving to survive and thrive. Some species, like the bristlecone pine, can live for thousands of years, adapting to changes in their environment over millennia and building resilience to harsh weather and bad soil.

Resilience and adaptation are also key focus areas in developing sustainability strategies on a global scale. Technology will help societies adapt to more arid climates, drought, desertification, and other impacts.

Desalination, drip irrigation and atmospheric water generation are helping to ensure water security for human consumption and agricultural and industrial needs. Agronomists are developing more robust fruit and vegetable varietals that can withstand climate changes and developing innovations to support desert farming, and the food tech industry continues to develop more efficient methods for alternative protein cultivation to ensure our future food security.

2. Resource Efficiency

Trees are remarkably efficient in their use of resources. They optimize water and nutrient absorption through complex root systems, the efficiency of which can inspire sustainable practices in human systems. For instance, adopting water conservation techniques in agriculture, including wastewater cleaning technologies to ensure we maximize use of every drop, optimizing energy use in buildings, and creating more efficient transportation systems can all contribute to a more sustainable future in which we maximize use of all our resources.

Moreover, trees rely on an almost limitless energy resource — the sun — to manage energy through photosynthesis. It’s not a new idea that we must extend our use of renewable resources as much as possible — solar, wind, hydrogen and even waves can serve as renewable energy sources. We must, however, ensure that the economic case also make sense for these energy sources if we are to phase out the use of oil and gas.

3. Models for Circular Economy

Trees embody the principles of a circular economy. They recycle nutrients through leaf litter, support diverse ecosystems, and create habitats for countless species. In a circular economy, waste is minimized, and materials are reused and recycled, much like how trees operate within their ecosystems.

So too, circular solutions can come in the form of materials we use — and ensuring everything is designed from the start for reuse. Companies are doing this by creating a new life for household waste, textile waste, and agricultural waste. The circular economy must go beyond this.

John Elkington, the grandfather of sustainable business uses a fish-and-water metaphor. We may clean up individual fish — finding ways to reuse waste, clothing and agricultural waste — yet, if the ocean is dirty, these fish will not be able to thrive. Our markets must also heed circular economic principles.

By embracing these principles, we can develop systems that reduce our environmental impact and foster sustainability.

So, Do Trees Have Souls?

While I’m still not certain trees have souls, what I do know is that trees have inspired humanity for millennia, from the Garden of Eden’s Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life to Newton’s apple tree to the beauty of Japan’s cherry blossom trees and the wonder of the great Sequoia trees in California.

Let’s ensure we continue to learn from their wisdom and keep our planet healthy enough for them to thrive.

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The global healthcare industry is responsible for two gigatons of carbon dioxide each year, which amounts to 4.4% of net emissions worldwide. Hospitals generate about five million tons of medical waste annually from everyday trash such as medical packaging and food to regulated medical waste, surgical gowns, gloves, syringes, IV bags and more.

The recent panel discussion, “Sustainability + Health Systems,” facilitated by mHealth Israel, brought together an impressive roster to discuss this issue. Panelists included:

• Dr. Reed Omary, MD, MS, is the Carol D. & Henry P. Pendergrass Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) with over 25 years as a practicing interventional radiologist. Dr. Omary stepped down from his position as Chair of Radiology to make a full career pivot towards sustainable healthcare to motivate US healthcare to decarbonize their operations and adopt sustainable practices. You can follow Dr. Omary’s blog on making healthcare more sustainable: The Green Leap
• Dr. Elizabeth Morris, MD, is the Chair of the Department of Radiology at UC Davis Health, an institution with a history of commitment to sustainability. Dr. Morris approaches sustainability through the academic lens, exploring how to think holistically about planetary health within our healthcare system.
• Bert Hartog, Interim VP of Sustainability & Transformation at The Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), a professional society for the digital medicine community that focuses on driving scientific progress and broad acceptance of digital medicine to enhance public health.
• Philip Guster, Director of System Sustainability at Henry Ford Health. Philip previously worked at DTE Energy, which partnered with Henry Ford in 2021 to help the health system reduce its greenhouse gas emissions through DTE’s voluntary renewable energy program with the purchase of wind and solar energy at increasing rates over the years.

Below is a selection of insights to questions raised during the webinar. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. You can view the full panel discussion here:

https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FBjCpeI45wfc&display_name=YouTube&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DBjCpeI45wfc&image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FBjCpeI45wfc%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtubeSustainability + Health Systems: U.S. and EU Perspectives Webinar

What made you decide to turn your focus towards sustainability in healthcare? And what do you see as the greatest challenges facing healthcare when it comes to sustainability?

Bert Hartog, DiMe: I’ve spent my career in clinical research, looking at clinical trials and ways to make them not only scientifically robust but also very attractive for participants to take part in, and part of that is convenience for the participants. That’s where digital health technologies can make a huge difference.

The light bulb moment for me was when I realized that many digital health solutions come from digital health devices produced for single use. At the beginning of the 2020s, 100 million devices were newly issued into the global market. I realized this is a mountain of electronic waste that nobody has given much thought to.

Everybody acknowledged that this is an underserved part of the digital health transition we see happening. It’s something that warrants attention.

Dr. Morris, UC Davis Health: When I took the job at UC Davis, I found myself in an environment highly geared towards sustainability. UC Davis is number one in the country for sustainability, and being in that environment made me start looking around at our department. As chair of radiology, which is one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in healthcare, I realized we need to figure out how to make our machines work more sustainably.

I am also interested in AI research, which, as Bert pointed out, is a double-edged sword. AI can help us achieve greater sustainability, but these storage systems can consume significant energy.

Sustainability is our number one problem. We need to start talking about it, communicating, and working together. It’s crucial to collaborate with industry partners to get this right. The biggest challenge is that doctors tend to be conservative. New technology often takes 16 to 20 years to gain traction, but we cannot wait that long. This issue is imminent, and we need to be nimble and act fast.

Dr. Omary, VUMC: I used to think about being green in my personal life, but I didn’t consider how to bring that mindset to my work as a physician. It felt like I was living two separate lives. The pandemic made me realize that as healthcare professionals, we have not just an opportunity, but a responsibility to step out of our medical centers and benefit our communities and nations.

During the pandemic, we saw how events in one part of the world could impact another, seemingly unconnected part. This realization hit me during lockdown — I wanted to do everything I could to help during the pandemic and take on the larger, more complex challenge of climate change.

The more I read about it, the more I realized that climate change, like COVID, disproportionately affects those who can least tolerate it. This led me to pivot my career towards generating the most impact. In healthcare, we think about our patients, but with climate change, we suddenly have 8 billion patients to consider, including future generations.

Philip Guster, Henry Ford Health: Midway through my career, I was working for the largest utility in Michigan, one of the largest in the country. My background is in manufacturing, and then I moved to utilities, working there for 13 years. My expertise is in engineering, energy efficiency, and systems. Healthcare has large systems behind the scenes that are crucial to patient care.

At Henry Ford Health, I’ve seen the crucial role we play as a safety net hospital in Detroit’s revitalization. Our hospital has been here for over 100 years, and we’re building a new 21-story tower that will anchor Midtown Detroit. This project will change the skyline and address the health and poverty challenges in our population. Our patients expect us to lead the way in sustainability and healthcare innovation. I’m excited to be part of a team with a culture of inclusion and collaboration, and our success will depend on our partnerships.

Clinicians have a lot on their minds — patients, improving outcomes, integrating new technologies, dealing with burnout, and staying up to date with the latest research. How does sustainability even have space in your mind as a clinician?

Dr. Morris, UC Davis Health: Sustainability shouldn’t be an additional burden. It needs to be pervasive in all aspects of our work. Sustainability can make a clinician’s day better by improving efficiencies. For example, in my area, we can improve patient protocols to make them shorter and more efficient. Small initiatives like installing motion detector lights can collectively make a significant impact across the system. These small steps create a better working environment and improve patient care.

Dr. Omary, VUMC: Dr. Morris is right. We don’t want sustainability to be seen as separate from our other duties. There’s a massive staffing crisis in healthcare — two-thirds of nurses are burnt out, and roughly half of physicians, depending on their specialty, are burnt out too. One-quarter of physicians in the US are clinically depressed. If we think about these statistics, it’s clear we need to improve our work environment.

When we care for the planet, we care for our patients. For example, telehealth reduces the need for patients to travel and deal with parking, which can be stressful. Telehealth is a sustainable intervention that benefits both the environment and patient care. Measuring the carbon cost of our care algorithms is a great opportunity for research and innovation. Sustainable practices can save money, enhance workforce satisfaction, and benefit our patients.

Philip Guster, Henry Ford Health: This is my first time working with clinicians, but we’re all focused on continuous improvement. The key is making sustainability visible and part of our daily operations. Accurate data is crucial for this. For example, we’ve been working on our energy data for three years to ensure it’s accurate. This visibility can engage hospital presidents, clinicians, and staff.

We’ve made significant strides, such as reducing the use of harmful anesthetics like desflurane. From 2019 to 2023, we reduced its usage from 25 down to one. This data-driven approach can prevent greenwashing and help us track our progress accurately.

We need to continue working on reducing single-use plastics and other waste, but having concrete data like this helps keep everyone motivated and aligned with our goals.

Policy and regulation are crucial for ensuring that our efforts in sustainability and innovation have the intended impact. How is policy either helping or hindering the advancement of sustainability initiatives in health systems? And who’s learning from whom here? Is it the US learning from the EU, the EU learning from the US, or is it a little bit of both?

Bert Hartog, DiMe: The short answer is, the US is learning from Europe, Europe is learning from the US, and we’re both looking at the rest of the world for further inspiration.

The difficulty is scale. We need to transition from point solutions, proof of concept pilots, individual clinics, individual hospitals, and individual networks doing their own thing, which is good and should continue. But we need to move up to the network level where we start addressing issues at state level, country level, and region level to really have the impact we’re looking for. Every little bit helps, but we need to start transitioning from innovation into scaling. That is important, and that’s where policy can make a difference.

One example in Europe is the electronic waste resulting from digital health devices. This was the beginning of a consortium with academics, hospitals, business schools, pharma, med tech, and startups, funded by the European Commission to work on designing these technologies for recycling — be it reuse, repurpose, or any of the “Rs.” We look at incentives for people to return these devices after use, considering a behavioral science component. Downstream, we work with waste management companies so they are equipped to handle this medical waste properly, allowing for recycling and recovering rare earth materials and precious metals when the product has reached its end of life.

Dr. Morris, UC Davis Health: In my area, radiology, we have very big machines like MRI and CT machines. So there’s a lot of effort or thought put around refurbishing these machines so that we’re not just recycling them but making them better. This requires a huge amount of effort and connecting people who normally weren’t connected in the past, and creating new regulations and guidelines.

In the medical space, societies can be very strong in this area, putting out suggested guidelines for machines, for example. There’s the Energy Star program here in the US, which could impact regulations and guidelines. Building these relationships is crucial, and normally, I would never have talked to an Energy Star person until several years ago. But this is critical because we need to speak the same language and get guidelines that are used not just in the US but globally.

We look to Europe because they are usually ahead in environmental policies and ideas. For instance, in MRI, we use gadolinium, a contrast agent that gets excreted into the water. Europe is very concerned about rising levels of gadolinium, which we weren’t even measuring in the US. Now that Europe has highlighted this, we’re starting to think about it too. We can learn a lot from Europe as they often lead in these areas, and I tip my hat to them.

What is the role of innovation in accelerating the sustainability transformation? And what’s the business opportunity in it?

Dr. Omary, VUMC: There’s a lot of money being left on the table when sustainability isn’t considered. Proper sustainability practices save money by reducing waste, and those savings can be reinvested into new growth areas. Entrepreneurs have a crucial role here. They bring a finance lens that can lead to faster adoption of sustainable practices.

If we pitch sustainability as an economic benefit, we meet the needs of the audience better. Entrepreneurs also teach us how to scale and grow quickly, which is essential for expanding sustainability initiatives.

Philip Guster, Henry Ford Health: As we’re building our new campus, sustainability is a priority. At Henry Ford, we’re implementing sustainability upfront in the contracting phase. When we seek partners through RFPs, we hold them accountable for sustainability. This approach ensures that sustainability isn’t an afterthought but a core part of our projects.

We understand there are incremental costs, but having the option to choose sustainable solutions and holding vendors accountable for innovation is crucial. It’s about integrating sustainability into every phase, from contracting to the materials we use in construction.

Bert Hartog, DiMe: In clinical research, which is the prelude to clinical care, we have an opportunity to scale sustainability benefits exponentially. We’ve started quantifying the environmental impact of clinical trials to establish a baseline and identify what good looks like. By understanding these metrics, we can address logistics, utilities, and packaging without compromising patient safety or scientific integrity.

For example, remote monitoring in clinical trials can reduce carbon footprints by 20%. If we multiply this impact across millions of instances, the benefits are substantial. Offering remote options for assessments and trials can significantly reduce environmental impact. More companies are becoming interested in this approach as they see the data proving its effectiveness.

How do we ensure these efforts and technologies are accessible and equitable to all communities, marginalized populations, and developing countries? How do we address these disparities?

Dr. Morris, UC Davis Health: It’s only recently that healthcare systems have started to address inequities and systemic racist policies. It’s crucial that we factor in these disparities completely to ensure we don’t leave behind marginalized communities.

As we scale up initiatives globally, particularly in lower and middle-income countries, we have the opportunity to improve healthcare access. For example, in our area, we’re investing in vans to reach remote communities, utilizing telehealth for primary care, and establishing clinics in rural areas. Shared best practices and collaboration are essential to make healthcare accessible for everyone, although I don’t have a perfect solution yet.

Bert Hartog, DiMe: Sustainability can be a byproduct of changing practices. Initiatives like hospital-at-home and telehealth not only improve access to care but also contribute to sustainability. Equity means reaching those populations who currently lack routine access to healthcare due to various barriers. By embedding sustainability in different practices, we can address both access and environmental concerns simultaneously.

Dr. Omary, VUMC: The transition to green technologies allows us to redesign systems with an equity lens. Sustainability and equity can go hand in hand, offering win-win solutions.

What gives you hope for healthcare’s ability to make the needed changes?

Dr. Omary, VUMC: What gives me hope is knowing that younger generations prioritize climate change, making it a top issue facing humanity. This mindset shift will lead to a workforce that’s committed to sustainability. When healthcare professionals see themselves as part of climate solutions, it gives me hope.

Bert Hartog, DiMe: What gives me hope is the blurring of traditional boundaries and the interconnectedness of the world. With knowledge sharing and collective efforts, we can address systemic issues and scale up solutions globally.

Philip Guster, Henry Ford Health: From a Henry Ford perspective, executive support for sustainability initiatives is encouraging. Top-level commitment ensures that sustainability is integrated into our practices from the ground up. It’s a significant shift from when production was the sole focus, and it gives me hope for our future.

Dr. Morris, UC Davis Health: Leadership plays a vital role, and I’m hopeful to see leaders across industries prioritize sustainability. There’s a growing market for green initiatives, which further drives change. It’s reassuring to know that sustainability is becoming a best business practice.

A Hopeful Future for Sustainable Health Systems

Following this conversation, three points stood out to me.

First, everyone has a role to play in making healthcare more sustainable. Clinicians can ensure their areas of health are optimizing resources to ensure their most efficient use (and reuse). Making practice more sustainable can bring an economic benefit. Optimizing costs means funds can be reinvested in other areas of care.

Second, professionals from other industries — the energy sector, materials industry, or waste management — can also “work in healthcare,” enabling the sustainable transformation of healthcare systems.

Finally, often what is good for patients can also be good for the environment. Remote care and telehealth can make care more accessible, equitable and convenient to patients while having an impact on emissions reduction related to transportation to and from healthcare institutions.

As health leaders continue to drive the integration of sustainability into every aspect of healthcare, from clinical practices to large-scale infrastructure projects, we begin to reveal a hopeful future for the global healthcare industry. Leveraging technology, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, and prioritizing equity will enable healthcare systems to address climate change and improve health outcomes globally.

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This year is no exception. Thought leaders, innovators, philanthropists, and community activists from around the globe, united in their quest for solutions, will meet in Chicago on June 4-5^th. An impressive roster of C-Suite and policy leaders are delivering keynotes and moderate roundtables, including Dr. Chelsea Clinton, vice-chair of the Clinton Foundation, and Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, both well-known for their longstanding commitment to social impact efforts.

Landmark Ventures follows a unique model combining business development services, investment banking, and special events, also hosts the CIO Summit, which convenes business, technology, venture capital, and innovation leaders. These two gatherings enable Landmark to bring diverse voices together to advance needed change.

Spirit of Collaboration

The Summit’s true power lies in assembling participants from diverse sectors, each bringing their perspectives and expertise. Entrepreneurs with groundbreaking ideas, non-profit leaders with deep community insights, corporate executives bringing resources and economic clout to the table, and policymakers able to effect change converge, contributing to a tapestry of perspectives and complementary skills. The resultant cross-pollination of ideas leads to innovative solutions that would likely not emerge in more homogenous settings.

Beyond buzzwords, inclusivity and diversity are the essence of the Summit’s ethos. The complex, multifaceted problems our world faces require input from a broad range of stakeholders, and those who attend believe that every voice, regardless of its size, matters and contributes to the collective impact the gathering seeks. 

Fostering Innovation and Driving Impact

Innovative ideas that lead to action are the lifeblood of the Social Innovation Summit. The event serves as an incubator, providing a platform to present ideas in motion and receive feedback from a policy- and business-savvy audience. This supportive environment can help refine concepts into viable, effective solutions.

The Innovation Showcase, a Summit highlight, offers startups and social enterprises an opportunity to pitch their projects to a receptive panel of judges and an audience of interested investors and potential partners. The showcase provides high-level exposure, valuable feedback, and a chance to secure funding essential for scaling solutions.

Social Innovation Summit impacts reverberate well beyond the event itself. Discussions and connections often lead to collaborative projects that effect change, from local community initiatives to global movements. This is the Summit’s greatest strength. Collaborations that took root at the Summit have led to education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability initiatives, benefiting underserved communities worldwide.

According to Barb Short, senior director, Corporate Social Responsibility at Sanofi, who is attending her third Summit and speaking at a Day One Roundtable titled HEALTH EQUITY & ACCESS: “The Social Innovation Summit has always been my go-to to learn from changemakers who are not only bold, but also are sleeves-rolled, connecting across sectors to understand nuance and innovate new collaborative methods toward meaningful movement.”

Models for Success and Agents of Change

The Summit also spotlights successful social innovation models, providing practical examples for others to follow. These case studies demonstrate how meaningful change is achieved, providing a roadmap for replicating or adapting successful strategies in other communities.

A notable success story: a not-for-profit social enterprise that developed a low-cost water purification system for use in developing countries attracted investors and partners during the Summit, leading to partnerships that drove broad adoption of its technology. Today, millions have access to clean drinking water thanks to conversations and connections made during the two-day meeting.

Empowerment is also a key theme at the Summit. Participants gain the skills and confidence to drive community change through workshops, mentoring sessions, and networking opportunities. This is vital for young leaders and emerging social entrepreneurs, who often face significant barriers to achieving their goals.

The Leadership Lab, one of the Summit’s standout sessions, provides intensive training and mentorship to these emerging leaders. Participants learn about project management and social impact strategies, which equip them with the tools to lead successful initiatives. Many alum have gone on to create successful projects in their communities, underscoring the Summit’s lasting influence.

Systemic Challenges

While celebrating individual innovations, the Summit recognizes the need to tackle systemic challenges, such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. It provides a forum for discussing these broader issues and developing strategies for effectively tackling them.

The Summit facilitates dialogue between different sectors that must be involved in addressing systemic change. For example, a panel might bring together policymakers, business leaders, and activists to discuss strategies for reducing income inequality. By fostering these cross-sector dialogues, the summit helps build the coalitions needed to address challenges of the greatest possible scope.

Is it a Meeting or a Movement?

Finally, the Social Innovation Summit serves as a powerful platform for advocacy. The summit shapes public discourse and influences policy by spotlighting critical social issues, exploring innovative, collaborative solutions, and—critically—building the foundation for empowered advocacy. Many speakers use their platform to serve as agents for change, raising awareness and mobilizing support for worthy causes addressing the most important issues of our time.

For example, a recent Summit speaker used their platform to call for criminal justice reform, highlighting the need for systemic changes to more comprehensively address the challenges of mass incarceration. This speech raised awareness and inspired participants to advocate for change, demonstrating the Summit’s ripple effect.

The Social Innovation Summit in Chicago is more than an event; it’s a movement driving societal change. By uniting diverse participants, fostering innovation, and addressing systemic challenges, the Summit’s impacts reverberate. Its emphasis on inclusivity, collaboration, and empowerment ensures that a wide range of voices are heard and that innovative solutions receive the support they need to succeed.

As the Summit continues to grow and evolve, its influence will only increase, inspiring more individuals and organizations to join the movement to work toward social good. In a world that faces complex, interconnected challenges, the Social Innovation Summit stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in creating a better future for all.

Attending the Summit with a story to share on how this gathering has influenced your purpose and social impact efforts – reach out!

[Special thanks to John Bianchi for his review of this preview piece and to the Landmark Ventures team for inviting Medika Life to attend this inspiring gathering of changemakers.]

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Around the nation, there is a partisan swirl around ESG. The concern of being targeted for boycotts or protests has made it more important for organizations to thoughtfully plan and implement a strategy that moves key priorities forward without creating unnecessary churn in public policy, news, and investment communities.

Setting the Baseline

With the substantial debate surrounding ESG priorities, it’s helpful to remind ourselves what ESG priorities actually are and what they seek to achieve. At its core, ESG is a relatively straightforward concept: ESG includes varied criteria companies use to evaluate performance beyond traditional financial metrics. For instance, environmental factors consider a company’s impact on nature, including its carbon footprint, resource usage, and pollution levels. Social factors assess a company’s relationships with its employees, communities, and broader society, covering labor practices, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement. Governance factors focus on a company’s internal governance structures, including its board composition, executive pay, and transparency.

Though it’s evolved into a political hot-button issue in recent years, ESG priorities, though perhaps itemized as separate workflows, have been a consideration in boardrooms and c-suites for decades. There’s nothing particularly new about the individual components, just how they’re grouped and classified.

The Evolution of ESG Priorities

Initially, ESG priorities were driven by compliance and risk management concerns. Companies focused on meeting regulatory requirements and mitigating potential risks, such as environmental fines or reputational damage. However, as the understanding of sustainability deepened and climate concerns became more acute and amplified, ESG priorities shifted toward mindful value creation. Companies started to see ESG as a set of rules to follow and as a way to create long-term value for their stakeholders and society at the same time — a win-win scenario.

Today, regardless of how public-facing their efforts are or aren’t, leading companies consider ESG a priority rather than a compliance checkbox. They recognize the potential for ESG initiatives to encourage innovation, enhance brand reputation, attract talent, and strengthen stakeholder relationships. Consequently, ESG priorities have expanded to include innovation for sustainability, supply chain resilience, human rights protection, and ethical leadership.

While adopting ESG principles gained momentum in the business world, it has not been without strife, especially against political turmoil. The intersection of ESG with politics sparked debates on various fronts, including the role of businesses in social and environmental issues, the impact of government policies on sustainability efforts, and the polarization of ESG discourse.

ESG Nomenclature

Alongside the evolution of ESG priorities, the terminology surrounding ESG has changed. Initially, terms like “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) and “sustainable development” were commonly used to describe efforts to address social and environmental issues. However, these terms often lacked specificity and failed to capture the holistic nature of ESG.

In recent years, the term “ESG” emerged as a more comprehensive framework for addressing sustainability issues within the business context. Unlike CSR, which often focuses on reputation, philanthropy, and corporate donations, ESG includes broader considerations, including governance practices, diversity of the workforce, and financial performance. This shift in terminology reflects a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between environmental, social, and governance factors and their impact on business outcomes.

Then, ESG became a flashpoint for controversy owing to varied factors, with the term becoming toxic for some organizations. There are many reasons why that toxicity grew pervasive:

1. Political Polarization

Political polarization has entered the discourse surrounding ESG in many parts of the world. Ideological differences often shape perceptions of sustainability initiatives, with some viewing them as essential steps toward addressing pressing global challenges. In contrast, others see them as burdensome regulations that stifle economic growth.

This polarization can manifest in various ways, from debates over climate change policy to disagreements on social justice issues. For example, in the United States, the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the rollback of environmental regulations under past administrations fueled tensions between proponents and opponents of sustainability measures, putting corporations in an uncomfortable position straddling public policy on both sides.

2. Regulatory Uncertainty

Political turmoil can also contribute to regulatory uncertainty, complicating business ESG implementation. Shifts in government leadership or policy priorities may lead to changes in regulations and standards, creating challenges for companies trying to navigate complex and evolving compliance landscapes.

Even simple regional variances in regulatory frameworks can pose significant compliance risks and operational challenges for multinational corporations operating in multiple jurisdictions. Furthermore, regulatory uncertainty may deter investment in sustainable initiatives as companies weigh long-term sustainability investments’ potential risks and rewards against short-term political uncertainties.

3. Stakeholder Activism

Political turmoil often fuels grassroots activism and social movements, influencing ESG agendas and priorities. Stakeholder activism, ranging from consumer boycotts to shareholder resolutions, has become a powerful force driving corporate action on sustainability issues.

However, the alignment of stakeholder activism with political ideologies can sometimes increase tension within ESG discourse. For example, debates over corporate social responsibility have, at times, become entangled with broader political debates over the role of government in addressing social and environmental issues.

The question then becomes whether businesses should take up leadership positions on these issues and if so, to what extent.

4. Globalization and Geopolitical Risks

In an interconnected world, geopolitical risks and global events can have profound practical implications for ESG priorities and practices. Trade tensions, geopolitical conflicts, and geopolitical instability can disrupt supply chains, exacerbate environmental degradation, and impact social stability, posing challenges for companies seeking to uphold ESG standards.

For example, geopolitical conflicts in regions rich in natural resources may raise concerns about ethical sourcing and human rights violations in supply chains. Similarly, trade disputes between significant economies can disrupt the flow of goods and services, affecting businesses’ ability to meet sustainability commitments and deliver on ESG goals.

5. Ethical Dilemmas

Political turmoil can also give rise to ethical dilemmas for businesses navigating ESG issues. Companies may face pressure to take a stance on politically sensitive issues, such as human rights abuses, corruption, or discrimination, especially in authoritarian regimes or conflict-affected regions.

Balancing business interests with ethical considerations can be challenging, particularly when governments impose conflicting demands or restrictions on companies operating within their jurisdictions. In such cases, companies may find torn between upholding their ESG principles and complying with local laws or regulations, raising questions about the limits of corporate responsibility in politically charged environments.

The Role of Stakeholder Engagement

One key driver behind the evolution of ESG priorities is increased stakeholder engagement. With growing pressure from investors, customers, employees, and communities to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, these stakeholders demand transparency, accountability, and tangible action on ESG issues, pushing companies to elevate their priorities beyond mere rhetoric.

Investors mainly play a crucial role in shaping ESG priorities. The rise of sustainable investing and impact investing has prompted companies to integrate ESG considerations into their financial decision-making processes. As a result, ESG performance has become a significant factor in investment decisions, influencing capital allocation and valuation.

Emerging Trends in ESG

As ESG continues to evolve, several emerging trends are shaping the future of sustainable business. One such trend is the emphasis on impact measurement and reporting. Companies are increasingly adopting standardized frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) to assess and communicate their ESG performance. This trend enhances transparency and facilitates comparability and benchmarking across industries.

Another emerging trend is the integration of ESG considerations into corporate strategy and decision-making. Instead of treating ESG as a standalone function, companies embed sustainability principles into their core business operations, from product design to supply chain management. This integrated approach ensures that ESG considerations are aligned with overall business objectives and drive value creation across the organization.

Challenges and Opportunities

While the evolution of ESG priorities and metrics represents a positive step toward sustainable business, several challenges remain. One challenge is the lack of globally standardized metrics and reporting requirements, which can hinder comparability and credibility in ESG disclosure. Addressing this challenge requires collaboration among stakeholders to develop consistent and transparent reporting frameworks.

Another challenge is the need for greater accountability and oversight in ESG practices. As companies increasingly tout their sustainability commitments, there is a risk of greenwashing — the practice of making misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of products or practices. To combat greenwashing, regulators, investors, and civil society organizations must hold companies accountable for their ESG claims and ensure transparency in reporting.

Despite these and other challenges, the evolving landscape of ESG presents significant opportunities for businesses to drive positive change and create long-term value. By embracing sustainability as a strategic priority, companies can enhance their resilience, competitiveness, and relevance in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

What’s Next?

The evolution of ESG priorities and terminology reflects a broader shift toward sustainable business practices in the global landscape. As companies recognize the importance of addressing environmental, social, and governance factors, ESG is no longer viewed as a peripheral issue but a strategic imperative for long-term success. By aligning ESG priorities with meaningful outcomes and embracing transparency and accountability, businesses can contribute to a more sustainable — and potentially lucrative — future for all stakeholders.

However, the controversy surrounding ESG amid political turmoil underscores the complexity of sustainability challenges in a rapidly changing world. While ESG offers a framework for addressing environmental, social, and governance issues, it is only that — a framework. Its implementation is often intertwined with political dynamics that shape regulatory environments, stakeholder expectations, and business strategies, all of which can be open to interpretation on a national or regional level.

Yes, ESG is often a minefield for business leaders. Yet regulatory realities and the pressure from a public with increasing levels of climate anxiety require the conversation to take center stage — an uncomfortable position for C-Suite leaders to find themselves in.

Navigating these complexities calls upon companies to remain vigilant, adaptable, and conscientious in their approach to ESG. Businesses can navigate social turbulence by engaging with stakeholders, advocating for supportive policies, and upholding ethical standards while advancing meaningful progress toward sustainability goals. Ultimately, regardless of what the process is called, ESG remains a powerful tool for driving positive change in the face of political uncertainty, reinforcing the importance of sustainability as a shared global priority.

Finding a reasonable and impactful path forward is not easy, but not finding any path at all is no longer an option.

The post Whether You Like the Name or Not, ESG is Here to Stay appeared first on Medika Life.

The statistics lay bare recycling’s inability to stem the tide of plastics clogging our ecosystems. Of the staggering 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic the world has produced since its debut in the 1950s, a minuscule 9% has been recycled. The remaining 91% ends up charring the landscape of landfills, fouling our forests and polluting our priceless oceans — a vile legacy we are bequeathing to future generations.

And who, you might ask, is primarily responsible for this ecologically criminal status quo? The very companies that fear-mongered decades ago about a mythical recycling solution even as they carpet-bombed the world with cheap, disposable plastic packaging destined to become noxious, virtually immortal refuse.

This sordid tale of corporate deception dates back to the 1970s. As public outcry grew over the scourge of visible plastic pollution, shadowy alliances of petrochemical profiteers like Big Oil and plastics manufacturers joined forces with consumer product giants like Coca-Cola. Rather than explore sustainable alternatives, they initiated an insidious public relations blitz to divert responsibility.

The concept of recycling was central to this greenwashing campaign. Coca-Cola began funding some of the earliest municipal recycling facilities in New York City. The plastics lobby created front groups with benign-sounding names like the “Council for Solid Waste Solutions” to proselytise the fake gospel of recycling as a societal panacea. They promised Americans that we could recycle 25% of our plastic bottle waste by 1995 just by following their lead.

Meanwhile, these same corporations were executing a silent coup as cash-strapped cities and towns rushed to spend millions on exorbitant blue bin programs and processing equipment. They rapidly phased out older, reusable and refillable packaging formats with sturdy glass bottles that had achieved a robust, sustainable 96% return rate nationwide. By the late 1970s, refillable container return rates were bled down to an anaemic 5% as disposable plastic became ubiquitous.

Laws and public policies aimed at mitigating the plastics crisis were systematically stymied through lobbying might. When New York State proposed a pioneering tax on disposable bottles in 1971, industry pressure killed the plan. When Congress debated a legislative ban on all non-returnable containers in 1973, the plastics lobby began to bury it. Even unilateral bans enacted by states, like Hawaii’s 1977 restriction on plastic bottles, were swiftly torpedoed after industry backlash.

Fast forward a half-century, and the plastic peddlers and their multi-national corporate enablers show zero signs of relenting in their recycling confidence game. Last year, ExxonMobil fought to defeat a proposed plastic pollution fee in Maine. The oil colossus remains a top funder of lobbying juggernauts like the American Chemistry Council and the deceptively branded Alliance to End Plastic Waste — groups fervently protecting the status quo at all costs.

The hard truth is that even under utterly optimal conditions, recycling has severe limitations in resolving the plastic crisis. Due to thermal realities, most of what we put in those blue bins isn’t recycled. And the recycling process itself is highly energy-intensive, burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases while yielding plastic of degraded quality.

Serious historians will look back on pro-recycling propaganda as one of the most egregious cases of mass greenwashing the world has ever witnessed. Armed with bottomless profits and mercenary lobbyists, plastic pushers hid behind a shibboleth of Environmental Responsibility to protect their cash cows. They diverted the public’s attention from their pollution nightmare while making taxpayers shoulder the crushing costs.

Society truly needs a revolutionary new approach to sustainable packaging — one centred on reducing overall plastics production, aggressively transitioning to reusable material formats, mandating corporate responsibility for the full lifecycle impacts of disposables, and universally banning unnecessary single-use packaging.

The plastics crisis was a corporate-made catastrophe borne of unchecked greed and willful deception. They can never recycle their way out of this gargantuan mess of their own making. Our planet’s ecological survival hinges on dismantling the recycling myth and apportioning accountability to the calloUs captains of these industries who betrayed the Earth in pursuit of profit.

The post The Recycling Lie – How Corporations Duped Us Into Drowning in Plastic appeared first on Medika Life.

In the quest to combat climate change, innovative solutions are not only desirable but essential. From clean energy to sustainable agriculture, there are myriad opportunities to mitigate the impacts of climate change while simultaneously fostering a healthier planet and population. However, as we navigate this landscape of climate innovation, it’s crucial to remain vigilant against potential pitfalls, particularly within the realm of carbon markets.

A recent article in The Guardian shed light on the overestimation of carbon reduction benefits associated with clean cookstove projects. Indeed the “non-carbon” benefits have always been the goal of initiatives like the Clean Cooking Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves). However, progress in Africa has been slow as population growth outpaces the roll-out of clean cooking programs.

However, in more recent times, and specifically in trying to build a business case around clean cookstove initiatives, some of these programs have morphed into something far different from the initial idea of implementing clean cooking in rural communities in Africa to engender sustainable development.

Clean Cookstoves Role in Sustainable Development

Clean cookstoves offer tangible benefits that extend far beyond carbon reduction. They improve air quality, mitigate the chronic respiratory illnesses associated with open cookstoves, and alleviate the burden on women and girls who traditionally bear the responsibility of gathering firewood. This task often takes hours every day — so a lack of clean cooking prevents many women and girls from accessing education, earning a wage or starting a business that would deliver financial autonomy.

Beyond the health, education and economic benefits offered by clean cookstove programs, making this shift preserves forests and woodlands and contributes to biodiversity conservation and climate resilience. However, clean cookstove initiatives need to be genuinely community-driven initiatives, not a top-down imposition.

While the transition to clean cookstoves holds immense promise for improving human health, reducing deforestation, and empowering communities, the incorporation of these initiatives into carbon markets raises significant concerns. There needs to be a clear recognition that the primary benefit of clean cookstoves is people’s health, not carbon reduction. A lack of clean cooking contributes to 3.7 million premature deaths every year, mostly women and children.

When these initiatives are commodified within carbon markets, their focus can shift from genuine impact to profit-driven ventures. The discrepancy highlighted in The Guardian article of what are called “ghost credits” or “phantom carbon credits” underscores the potential for misuse and misrepresentation within the carbon offsetting industry.

While the intention may be to incentivize positive change, there is a risk of prioritizing profit over impact. Indeed, this is why many believe that carbon credits should stay within the community that generate them.

Maintaining the Balance of People, Planet and Profit

The principles of sustainable business, People, Planet, Profit, should remain in balance for any project geared at improving planetary health. True sustainability ventures must prioritize the well-being of communities and ecosystems while also considering economic viability, striking a balance between innovation and accountability. Private sector involvement can drive innovation and scale solutions, but it must be guided by a commitment to genuine impact and the involvement of the communities in which they work.

In the case of carbon markets, transparency and accountability are essential, ensuring that such projects deliver on their promises and prioritize the well-being of communities and ecosystems, and importantly, do not simply take advantage of developing nations to gain profits.

Transparency and Accountability

The journey towards sustainability is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It requires collaboration, innovation, and a deep understanding of the complex interplay between human societies and the natural world.

This does not mean that there is no place for business within climate innovation. On the contrary, private sector involvement can catalyze innovation and scale solutions more rapidly. To achieve this, transparency and accountability are paramount. Robust monitoring and verification mechanisms must be in place to ensure that carbon offset projects deliver on their promises. Additionally, stakeholders should ensure community engagement and empowerment are part of the planning process for these projects, ensuring that the benefits of climate initiatives are equitably distributed.

As we confront the challenges of climate change, we have a collective responsibility to pursue solutions that make a meaningful difference. Clean cookstoves represent just one piece of the puzzle, but their potential to improve lives and safeguard the environment is undeniable. If we can move forward, guided by transparency and accountability and ensuring the benefits and opportunities created by these programs remain in communities, clean cookstoves still offer the potential to drive genuine, lasting change for the well-being of future generations.

Nicole Kaufman Grubner is a Partner at FINN Partner, heading the organization’s Environmental Innovation Group from its Israel-based office. Working with innovators across health and sustainability, Nicole communicates on behalf of world-impacting companies working towards healthier people and planet.

James Snodgrass is an expert with over 20 years’ experience in policy and advocacy issues related to global health and the environment. He has worked with a wide range of clients including multilaterals, bilaterals, philanthropies and the private sector on improving health outcomes in lower income countries. He helped launch the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in 2010.

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Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s special climate envoy, insists cooperation, not confrontation, is vital. As CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, he argues that fossil-fuel expertise can enable change, stating, “We cannot simply unplug the current energy system.”

Other voices strongly disagree. “The fossil fuel industry has been actively aggravating the climate crisis and blocking progress for decades,” said Harjeet Singh of Climate Action Network International. With COP28 now being steered by a fossil-fuel giant, activists warn of an intractable conflict of interest.

So what steps are oil and gas companies taking as scrutiny mounts? Many tout emissions reductions, carbon offsets and token renewable investments to polish their image. But as the UN and activists highlight, expanding hydrocarbon energy production utterly contradicts climate goals.

But how committed is the industry beyond superficial greenwashing?

The Proof is in the Projects

In 2021 alone, fossil fuel companies allocated over $100 billion to new upstream projects, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. This continues a long-term trend of channelling billions into extracting yet more oil, gas and coal — the prime driver of climate change.

Meanwhile, renewable energy investments pale in comparison. The largest fossil fuel corporations each spend 100 times more on extraction than on fledgling green energy projects.

Bottom lines still dominate boardroom strategy, reflecting an industry clinging to business as usual amid the climate storm. This underscores the limited sway of voluntary measures lacking regulatory teeth.

The UN Secretary-General recently declared, “New funding for fossil fuel exploration and production is delusional.” Until investment flows fundamentally shift, fossil fuel companies ‘net zero commitments seem more PR than progress.

Pressuring a Powerful Lobby

Dwarfed by Big Oil’s muscle, progressive policymakers face intense headwinds driving change. In the US alone, fossil fuel companies spent over $100 million lobbying Congress in 2022.

Their obstructionism also reared its head in the EU, where leaked documents revealed ExxonMobil and Shell lobbying fiercely against stronger climate policy. Such political influence impedes urgently needed frameworks to wind down coal, oil and gas.

With COP28 now chaired by an oil major CEO, activists caution that commercial interests could again overpower climate imperatives. “Fossil fuel producers should not be close to the climate negotiating table,” said Chiara Martinelli of Climate Action Network Europe.

So, how do we counter their outsized clout? Grassroots pressure and sinking clean energy costs help, but putting health over profit remains difficult. “The fossil fuel industry’s invisible hand is still writing our future,” laments Greenpeace EU climate campaigner Silvia Pastorelli.

Vision for a Just Transition

Beyond highlighting obstructionism, civil society groups say constructive ideas are vital in spurring change. We must consider transitional support in a fossil-fuel phase-out for workers and communities, including low-income countries dependent on oil and gas revenue.

A well-managed transition can bring significant benefits to public health, the environment and society. But it hinges on unprecedented cooperation among governments, corporations and citizens.

The Poor Peoples’ Campaign, a US social justice movement, promotes a vision for change centred on equity and care for marginalised groups. Alongside fossil fuel reductions, their platform calls for renewable energy access, green jobs, climate finance, and adaptation support for vulnerable nations.

With vast renewable potential worldwide, an inclusive transition can improve lives while replacing polluting infrastructure. But political will is vital to steer change and ensure its benefits are justly distributed.

Seeds of a Sustainable Future

From Australia to Nigeria, inspiring examples demonstrate what grassroots climate solutions can achieve. In the coal-reliant Australian state of Victoria, citizen groups helped push the state to enshrine a renewable energy target of 50% by 2030 in law. Nigeria’s vibrant off-grid solar market leapfrogged inadequate national electricity access, with small firms providing clean power to millions.

People-centred initiatives like these offer hope of a better future free from fossil fuel dependence. But they urgently need the support of climate policy and investment at scale. As global emissions continue to rise, replicating these successes remains a race against time.

With COP28 now on the horizon, the crossroads is clear. On one hand, further climate inaction raises dire threats to human security and ecological stability. On the other, a new chapter remains possible — one where clean energy and social equity triumph over the grip of fossil fuels.

Far more unites than divides us in forging this future. Protecting lives and livelihoods is a universal aim. The tools to achieve it exist. But at COP28 and beyond, we face a moment of truth demanding courage, care and perseverance like never before. The stakes could not be higher.

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