The
Sustainability
Blog
Recent news, research, and insights

We are thrilled to announce we've been selected as one of The Understory's 2021 Startup Spotlight Award winners!

80% of top companies now report on sustainability. While this is great news, that number is misleading when it comes to conveying efficacy. The main problem: companies often report very different metrics in very different ways. Compared to financial reporting, in which all companies follow SEC guidance and utilize the same disclosure methods, the variety of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting types complicates the comparison of different companies’ impact and creates room for businesses to only report their best metrics. And as the climate crisis worsens, reliable sustainability reporting is more important than ever.

The climate has been a major focus of environmental advocates for years. As a result, the terminology has evolved over time, with each successive term demonstrating a more complete understanding of rising global temperatures. This blog will walk through notable climate terminology over time, define each term, and examine the evolution of climate change discourse as the situation becomes more dire.

On its most basic level, CSR is a manifestation of a business’ recognition of a duty to the world and the potential to be a power for good.

Carbon offsets are a cost-effective way for a company to reduce its emissions by paying to invest in green projects such as methane capture, reforestation, and green energy initiatives, which gives them carbon credits to “offset” the emissions they produce.

According to the 2017 Carbon Majors Report, over half of global industrial emissions since 1988 are attributable to a collection of just 25 corporations or state-owned businesses. While climate activism is often focused on government policy and reform, this statistic makes it clear that businesses should be an increasing concern for environmentalists given their mammoth carbon footprints.

Start to make a difference with your business for the environment with one simple and profitable action: switching to the cloud.

Walking into any retail store nowadays, odds are you will be bombarded by a storm of environmentally-charged buzzwords on all sides.

This past month, we celebrated Black History Month by sharing content from Black voices in the environmental movement. While February is over, our commitment to showing the intersectionality of environmental and equity issues is not. We saw how our commitment could go past sharing content to becoming a core capability of our product. In the coming months, we will be working on the inclusion of social and governance metrics to our API for recommendations to our clients. To truly gauge a company’s efforts towards sustainability, we must measure how the business affects people.

E-waste is becoming an increasingly dire problem in the tech industry as many consumers rely upon electronic equipment to keep their lives and businesses running.

This alarming calculation from NASA scientists is only one data point on a trend of global warming. To prevent continued warming and increase bottom lines, businesses should incorporate environmentally friendly practices into their models.

Environmental, social, and governance metrics are essential for businesses to understand societal impact and their bottom line. ESG is a business practice that attracts investors, increases profit margins, and creates a sustainable economy.

Here are five simple, quick tips to decrease your digital footprint!

Most companies only focus on their bottom line, when they should really be focusing on their impact on their social and environmental impact or triple bottom line.

Business models must address greenhouse gas reduction for their business and the planet’s future.