Tag Archives: ESG

ESG Investments, ESG/CSR, Finance and Banking, News

ESG Causes Activist Campaigns to Heighten

ESG: The Bellwether of Future Financial Performance Causes Activist Campaigns to be Heightened

  • According to New Shareholder Activism in Europe 2022 Report by Insightia, a Diligent brand
  • With a near 10% YOY increase in the number of UK companies subjected to activist demands since 2021 (with a major increase at large-cap UK firms)
  • Shows a 400% YOY increase in activist campaigns aimed at UK consumer defensive companies
  • UK management teams are more likely to settle with activists than European counterparts.
  • More than half of UK engagements for board seats concluded in settlements (2021)

ESG has totally altered the investor equation.  It is now seen as a bellwether of future financial performance, according to a new Shareholder Activism in Europe 2022 report launched by Insightia, a Diligent brand and provider of shareholder activism, shareholder voting, and corporate governance data. It shows activist investors focusing heavily on ESG as a core measurement of valuation.

The data shows an almost 10% YOY increase in the number of activist campaigns at UK companies year-to-date, compared to the same period in 2021. Of the 25 campaigns, 10 were at large-cap companies – twice as many as in the same period in 2021.  Diligent has also found a 400% YOY increase in activist campaigns aimed at UK consumer defensive companies during that same period (Jan – May 2022). It is clear the rise of ESG performance as a driver of a company’s broader value and good financial standing, is now more under the microscope than ever before, especially for investor prospects.

Interestingly, UK management teams are more likely to settle with their activists than their European counterparts and in 2021, more than half of UK engagements for board seats concluded in settlements. In comparison, in continental Europe, just around a quarter reached amicable resolutions, although this was an improvement over previous years. With the pandemic accelerating awareness of human capital management and supply chain issues, the report found climate change and a diverse array of social issues are now front of mind.  As European deal making ramped up in 2021, so has activist opposition to deals deemed detrimental to minority investors.

ESG/CSR, News

Sedex drives better ESG risk assessment with 340,000+ data points

Sedex’s leading risk assessment tool – Radar – offers the latest insights across countries, sectors and issues

London, 7th June – Sedex, the trusted partner for environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable data, has released an update to its industry-leading risk assessment technology. The Radar tool provides businesses with more than 340,000 risk scores to identify and compare supply chain risks globally.

Companies face increasing demands from customers, investors and regulators to manage sustainability risks. This can place significant pressure on business resources – but equipped with Radar’s data, insights, and analysis features, companies can manage these risks effectively across supply chains spanning continents and industries.

Sedex has updated the data in the proprietary risk tool to ensure Radar remains at the forefront of risk analysis technology, empowering businesses to efficiently assess, benchmark and report on social and environmental risk across commodities and sectors.

Radar’s risk scores cover 14 issue areas for 248 countries* and 99 industries, across risks such as forced labour, business ethics, and environmental issues. The higher the score, the higher the risk. The tool also incorporates data on the thousands of people and work sites in a company’s supply chain where this is available, providing increased insight with a unique risk score for every site.

The scores are calculated by a custom algorithm that draws on the latest data from authoritative sources on social and environmental risks. These include the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, and the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index. A new source for 2022 ensures Radar’s health and safety scores reflect the increasing risk to workers’ health from climate change [1].

Sedex member Waitrose & Partners says, “Responsible sourcing is at the heart of Waitrose & Partners, as we are a co-owned business that prides itself on ensuring the lives of all workers is respected. We are able to champion responsible sourcing through ethical supply chain due diligence by using Radar, as it allows us to analyse site-level risks to ascertain where there are risks and how salient they are. We then use this information to determine audit frequency for the next stage of our ethical compliance programme.”

Radar enables businesses to assess different suppliers, products and sectors at scale, saving time and money. Its in-depth insights support companies to make data-driven decisions, focus their resources on the highest-priority risks, and take action to drive meaningful, sustainable impact.

“Supply chains are long and complex, with businesses often unaware of the risks they face. The right technology and data is critical for a company to build visibility of all their suppliers and understand where the greatest risks are, to respond accordingly. We provide businesses with a scalable, manageable way to do this, so they can prioritise their efforts and ultimately run more transparent, sustainable operations,” says Jon Hancock, CEO at Sedex.

Sedex member Remy Cointreau says, “Radar is an integral part of our supplier risk assessment and management process. We use the tool to build visibility of suppliers’ risk levels across nearly two hundred work sites, and can monitor these at scale. We create a criticality grid using the risk scores to help us focus our risk management activities. If suppliers are in a high-risk zone, we conduct corporate social responsibility (CSR) audits and develop action plans to reduce the level of risk at work sites.”

Sedex member Agrial Fresh Produce says, “Radar has been an integral tool in the creation of Agrial Fresh Produce’s supplier ethical risk assessment. Its intuitive user interface, coupled with the deep insight that the data provided, was invaluable in our journey to mapping the ethical composition of our entire worldwide supply base – enabling us to implement strategies to minimise our exposure to high-risk suppliers.”

[1] The ND-GAIN Country Index from the University of Notre Dame, which summarises a country’s vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges in combination with its readiness to improve resilience.

Notes

*includes some overseas territories, e.g. French Polynesia

ESG/CSR, News

Zeidler Group expands ESG Services Division with the launch of new SFDR disclosures tool and EET solution

London, 19 May 2022 – The technology-driven law firm and compliance provider, Zeidler Group, announced today the launch of its SFDR disclosures tool and EET solution as part of its ESG Services Division. Developed to ease the challenge of keeping pace with sustainable finance requirements asset managers continuously face, the digital solutions help to streamline and simplify ESG obligations.

Spearheaded by Elisa Forletta-Fehrenberg, Zeidler Group’s ESG Services Division enables asset management firms to take an integrated approach to ESG matters with innovative solutions specifically configured to meet asset managers’ various legal, compliance, reporting and data requirements and ensure swift and future-proofed results with practical advice and rigorous oversight.

Both the EET solution and SFDR disclosures tool leverage and combine Zeidler Group’s existing ESG legal advisory services which includes research-driven legal guidance and award-winning digital platform with digital workflows and AI capabilities to automate processes to ensure disclosure requirements and reporting obligations are met and delivered.

Key features of the SFDR disclosures tool include:

  • Production and management of all SFDR pre-contractual and periodic disclosures from production, translation, and distribution
  • Robust legal, regulatory and compliance oversight
  • Dedicated support with practical and easy to understand legal guidance.

Key features of the EET solution include:

  • Production and validation of EETs
  • Enhanced dissemination of EETs to data vendors, distributors or any other destinations via email, S(FTP), API etc., with a full audit trail
  • Additional support available for bespoke requirements.

Elisa Forletta-Fehrenberg, Head of ESG Services Division at Zeidler Group, said:

“ESG is driving real and actionable change within the asset management industry. It is critical that asset managers have access to tools and resources that support and facilitate a target-driven sustainable finance strategy. We are excited to further expand our ESG Service Division with digitally advanced tools and data capabilities to facilitate the reporting and disclosures requirements for our clients. Our research-driven digital solutions ensure asset managers can achieve their sustainable finance disclosure requirements seamlessly.”

 

Arne Zeidler, Founder and CEO of Zeidler Group, added:

“ESG reporting and sustainable finance metrics are an increasingly key requirement for end investors. The SFDR disclosures tool and EET solution are a natural evolution to our existing legal, regulatory, reporting and software engineering capabilities and illustrate our commitment to continuous product innovation. Our ESG solutions ensure a true end-to-end and superior long-term value for our asset management clients.”

News

Grant Thornton leads sale of EB Charging to listed US group

Grant Thornton UK LLP’s Corporate Finance team has led the sale of fast-growing Electric Vehicle (EV) charging specialists EB Charging to US-based Blink Charging.

The deal, for up to $23.4m (£19.4m)., represents Blink Charging’s first step in the UK market. The Florida-based group, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock market, said the transaction would add 1,150 EV chargers to its global footprint, which now spans 18 countries.

Founded in 2015, St Albans-based Electric Blue Ltd, known widely as EB Charging, has grown rapidly, servicing over 80 customers, principally local authorities, NHS healthcare trusts, universities and fleets.

EB Charging’s diverse suite of Level 2 and DC fast products have been installed in over 40 towns and cities across the UK. Like Blink, EB Charging offers an owner-operator model, providing customers and partners with flexible, personalised and strategic business opportunities to achieve customer goals whether they want to own, partner with, or host their charging infrastructure.

Michael Farkas, Founder and CEO of Blink Charging said, “EB Charging is an established and well-known EV charging company with a proven track record of success. Blink will expand EB Charging’s product offerings to include new commercial and home chargers, new global network services and apps, and new EV fleet management tools. The acquisition will further solidify Blink’s goal of creating a seamless global experience for all EV charging customers.”

“Blink and EB Charging have a shared mission to advance EV charging through strategic owner-operator models that provide for greater flexibility and better outcomes. With the recent government incentives, EB Charging is the ideal business to integrate into the Blink umbrella.

“We’re excited to have a significant presence in an important market through this acquisition and play an integral role in helping the UK to achieve its electrification goals,” said Mr. Farkas.

The acquisition of EB Charging will allow Blink to tap into the opportunities for growth in this market and increase its footprint across Europe.

EB Charging Managing Director Alex Calnan said: “Blink’s experience, supply chain, and investment will enable us to install more charge ports, more quickly, serve more EV driving customers, and deliver on our commitment to customer excellence and innovation. Working with Blink, we can quickly and efficiently serve our current £12 million order book, significantly growing the EV charger footprint in the UK. Blink is a substantial business in the US and will continue to add tremendous value to its international acquisitions and partners. We are delighted to become part of the Blink family.”

Grant Thornton Corporate Partner Mike Tillson, who led the team said: “EB Charging is an outstanding entrepreneurial success story. Founded just seven years ago, it has developed fantastic IP and market position and is now well-placed to scale with the resources of a larger international; group behind it.

“Alex is a highly impressive individual and I thrilled for him in reaching this milestone in EB’s journey.

“At Grant Thornton we have a large automotive advisory team and are passionate about the move to net zero. We are immensely proud to have advised on this landmark deal in the UK market and wish Alex and his team every success in the future.

“We expect to see a lot more M&A and investment activity in this sector going forward, both in relation to companies that own EV charging infrastructure, but also the service providers who support them.”

The Grant Thornton team also included Doug Bentley, George Harvey and Andreas Caicedo.

Acquisitions & Partnerships, News

3BL Media Acquires RealWire, Expands ESG News Distribution in UK and Europe

Lincolnshire, England, company is eighth acquisition for 3BL Media

NORTHAMPTON, Mass., April 27th /3BL Media/ — 3BL Media, Inc., the leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) content distribution and analytics platform for purpose-driven companies, announced today the acquisition of RealWire Limited, the online press release distribution service, expanding audience and reach in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The acquisition is the eighth for 3BL Media since 2009. Terms were not disclosed.

“Companies worldwide are committing themselves to ESG performance and transparency, and the combination of RealWire with 3BL Media will provide greater reach to stakeholders including online news outlets, journalists and investors,” said Dave Armon, CEO of 3BL Media, adding that previous UK acquisitions included Ethical Performance and ReportAlert.

Based in Lincoln, in England’s East Midlands region, since launching in 2000, RealWire specialises in increasing the online impact of press releases while cultivating positive relationships with business and trade journalists. RealWire’s editorial and client services team, led by Managing Director Emily Gosling, will enhance 3BL Media’s distribution network by providing concierge service to the growing journalist corps covering climate and sustainability topics.

“Historically, RealWire has been an important B2B communications platform for technology, telecoms and healthcare businesses,” said Gosling. “We have seen ESG rise on our clients’ agenda, so joining 3BL Media will enable us to reach new audiences immediately on a global scale while we apply our unique model for micro-targeting to B2B journalists who opt into our distribution network.”

“Of the more than 8,000 reports and stories on ESG topics that 3BL Media distributed last year, environmental topics generated the most volume and audience interest”, said Armon. “Diversity, equity and inclusion was the top content category in the first quarter of 2022”.

Climate-related disclosure will be mandatory for publicly traded American companies under a proposal announced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March. Regulators across the globe are strengthening reporting requirements as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports “it’s now or never” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Cleaning & Facilities Management, News

Building connections: why Facility Managers should be seen as stewards of corporate culture

Written by Pierre Guelen, CEO, Planon

The pandemic has irrevocably changed the way we work. Once considered a place simply to do business, the office is fast becoming a ‘lifestyle choice’ among young people who value more than just a desk. Instead, they want an engaging, healthy, and resilient working environment where they can socialise, make friends, and build connections to help their career and wellbeing thrive.

In fact, an EY study found that 90% of Generation-Z value the human connection in the workplace above salary when it comes to their at-work communication. A recent Gallup survey even found a tangible link between having a best friend at work and productivity: those who have a best friend in the office are twice as likely to be engaged in their role and company.

Business leaders now realise that if they want to hire and retain top talent in the hybrid working future, they must invest in a workplace where people feel motivated and connected, not just to their work friends, but to their role, their team and their community. Only by building a collaborative, team-friendly work environment can organisations leverage skills and harness the potential of talented individuals to solve the problems of the future.

 

Facility Managers: the unsung heroes of corporate culture

In that more collaborative world, global businesses are seeking pathways to a better environment for their teams by creating workplaces that encourage a sense of belonging and social connections. That is putting corporate buildings and workplaces and the teams who manage them into the spotlight.

And it is Facility Managers who will have to deliver on these goals. Facility Managers have long been the unsung heroes of a business, working quietly behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operation, service and maintenance of the built environment. However, the demands of ensuring the health and safety of employees during the pandemic have lifted the role to prominence.

Gone are the days of the invisible Facility Manager whose only focus was to ensure the cost-effective running of building management and the associated processes. The new breed of forward-thinking, tech-savvy facilities leaders must now adapt their workplace management process to meet the brave new world of flexible and hybrid working models.

It’s time for Facility Managers to step out of the shadows to become the new leaders of corporate culture. Today the role is blurring the lines with human resources to play a pivotal role in encouraging people back into the office with sustainable, productive and attractive workplace environments.

 

Battling the challenges of the modern Facility Manager

COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the multi-faceted role of the modern-day Facility Manager and the positive impact their work can have on employees’ work lives, as well as the planet.

Their tasks have become even more complex and challenging as Facility Managers must balance key responsibilities, such as cost-saving and process optimisation, with people-centricity, innovation, and sustainability. That has led to a redefining of the role to help create a better work-life experience for workers, improve collaboration and productivity and drive sustainability goals – all while still being able to contain and even reduce operational expenditures.

The big question is how does the Facility Manager balance the need for outsourced service provisions such as maintenance, cleaning, catering, security, waste management and front-of-house, as well as manage utilities such as electricity, water and gas within an ever-changing work pattern?

Environmental, social, and governance standards (ESG) programs have added another layer of complication for Facility Managers as businesses face pressure from all directions to align their strategy with ESG. They must also comply with new legislation to meet net-zero targets and reduce their company’s carbon footprint.

The pandemic has increased demand for occupancy analytics, space utilization, indoor air quality monitoring, hygiene standards, etc., and to protect the hybrid workplace, as well as control remote management tools and contactless solutions which offer a means for Facility Managers to better understand changing behaviours and patterns of utilisation.

But how can the Facility Manager deliver on these new and changing demands?

 

Building connections with smart technology

Smart, sustainable building management software is the answer for Facility Managers who need to deliver compliance with ESG, CO2, and workplace productivity goals. It helps provide flexibility and contingency readiness to ensure the safety and resilience of the building to become a place where people meet and connect in a hybrid work set-up.

By eliminating data silos and aligning solutions into one single-pane of glass platform, innovative technology provides all building stakeholders with the actionable and meaningful insights they need to transform the future of the workplace and build better connections.

The return to a post-pandemic new normal will not happen overnight. But building connections between people, workspaces and processes with smart building technology will empower Facility Managers to create engaging, safe, healthy and resilient places for people to work, live, learn and thrive.

News

Diligent Community to Transform Governance Solutions for Mission-Driven Organisations

Diligent, the global leader in modern governance providing SaaS solutions across governance, risk, compliance and ESG, has announced Diligent Community, a next-generation governance and civic engagement solution for public organisations that simplifies the end-to-end agenda and meeting management process. Representing significant updates to the company’s platform, Diligent Community enables organisations to easily manage complex governance tasks in any environment and significantly reduce meeting preparation overhead efforts, freeing up time to focus on the organisation’s mission.

The landscape for public boards has changed significantly over the last several years, and technology will play an important role in driving security, engagement and trust in the future. Diligent Community improves the process of agenda and meeting management while ensuring accessibility, increasing transparency and boosting community engagement by utilising a fully secure and streamlined process.

At its core, Diligent Community enables state and local governments, special districts, school districts, libraries and community colleges to better serve their communities through more effective governance. The new solution:

  • Improves engagement: The Public Request to Speak feature empowers board administrators and leaders to advocate for their mission while addressing critical community issues

  • Increases efficiency: Users can customise workflows for meeting preparation, including adding content for approval, sharing agenda packets via one-click publishing and republishing last-minute agenda items; meeting minutes can be captured in real time, with automatic video timestamping

  • Expands access and fosters collaboration: The Library Document Center supports sharing documents and marking content for public consumption

  • Promotes inclusivity: Its out-of-the-box solution is ADA and WCAG 2.1 AA compliant and follows Open Meeting Law guidelines, so information is accessible on any device, enabling leaders to connect with their entire community anytime

“ISBA has long partnered with Diligent to supply our members with solutions to successfully manage their board governance responsibilities,” said Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association (ISBA). “We’re excited to bring Diligent Community to our membership and pleased that we can offer our members preferred pricing for this powerful new platform.”

“We recognise that digital transformation poses a number of challenges to public organisations that have limited resources and expertise,” said MarKeith Allen, senior vice president and managing director of Mission-Driven Organisations at Diligent. “With Diligent Community, we are delivering on our commitment to provide solutions that will simplify processes and management so that public organisations and their leaders can get back to focusing on their purpose and mission.”

Diligent Community, the next innovation to join Diligent’s BoardDocs and iCompass solutions, offers a governance platform that expands on Diligent’s existing footprint in boards and councils in public education and in local government.

Learn more about Diligent Community here.

News, Sustainability

Emex hires former KPMG and WSP sustainability veteran as investment in senior team continues

Award-winning sustainable development professional, Daniel Gribbin, joins ESG technology provider, Emex, to help businesses more effectively measure and manage their ongoing sustainability and ESG practices.

7th March 2022, Dubai – Leading ESG technology provider Emex has appointed Daniel Gribbin to its global leadership team as VP Sustainability and ESG.

Emex’s ongoing investment in senior talent is part of its ambitious plans to expand global market presence and offer more innovative solutions to key business decision makers.

Reporting to Chief Executive Officer Richard Wall, Gribbin will lead Emex’s global sustainability team – from Dubai – in a bid to create a more innovative, customer focused and automated sustainability and ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting system for businesses.

Gribbin’s role is to help businesses across the globe navigate their individual regions and align their practices with their governments’ requirements and increasing shareholder demand for better ESG information. He also aims to provide a more holistic overview about what the impacts mean for a business and how to quantify these impacts into tangible metrics that allow them to make and create meaningful change in the societies and communities in which they operate.

A corporate sustainability stalwart, Daniel Gribbin previously worked in the climate change and sustainability team at KPMG Australia, before later moving on to lead the corporate sustainability advisory team at KPMG and WSP in the Middle East.

He brings 13 years of expertise across the Middle East, Australia, the Netherlands and Chile. In 2021, Daniel was ranked as one of the Top 20 sustainable MENA real estate professionals in the Middle East by City Scape Mena and has been a keynote speaker at several significant global events. This includes the recent world expo held in Dubai, Expo 2020, as part of the World Majlis series.

With a goal to make businesses more socially conscious, Gribbin said: “The chance to do something impactful in the tech-space is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the way that the world is moving with a push for increased transparency in the ESG space cannot be undersold.

“The opportunity to work for Emex, where we enable companies to measure their ESG, HSE and sustainability performance and help them to make tangible change over time was one which I could not pass up.

“The increased number of reporting frameworks and demands from the GRI to the Sustainability Account Standards Board (SASB) through to the TCFN and the TCND and even onto individual stock market disclosure requirements are making this topic seem increasingly daunting when it should be getting easier. That is the problem we at Emex are trying to solve so that customers can focus on what they do best, run their business.

“We help businesses analyse their sustainable impacts to support targeted stakeholder and investor needs, while having a positive impact on the world around us. Being able to measure it, is the first step in being able to appropriately manage it.”

Richard Wall, CEO at Emex, said: “The only way to achieve true change is to ensure we’re measuring the right things and then that we’re measuring them accurately. We have a mission to make ESG and sustainability reporting less fluffy. Using technology in the right ways can help create the winning formula for a net positive impact and enhance customer, stakeholder and investor engagement.

“Daniel’s wealth of experience will help our customers and consulting partners to attain a more robust account of their sustainability performance. By ensuring that the right metrics are measured and the appropriate frameworks are leveraged, the Emex platform is at the forefront of global developments and evolving customer needs in this rapidly changing sustainability landscape.”

Daniel Gribbin’s appointment follows a string of new global hires as part of Emex’s ambitious expansion plans – including VP Engineering Michael Lazor, APAC & MENA CEO Sarah Saha, CRO Rich Waller, and CMO Hugh Allspaugh. Emex plans to grow its global team by more than 150 people by the end 2022.

Logistics, News

Hermes Announces Ambitious Ethics and Sustainability Programme

Hermes, the UK’s largest dedicated parcel delivery company, has announced an ambitious ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) programme designed to reduce its impact on the planet, promote equality and fairness and increase transparency about its operations.

Nancy Hobhouse, who recently joined Hermes as Head of ESG from John Lewis where she was Senior Sustainability Manager, will steer the strategy, building on Hermes’ current position as the home delivery company with the lowest carbon footprint in the market across every part of its operations*.  Hermes has also now signed the Climate Pledge, which is a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040 or sooner. Over 200 companies are committed.

Hermes has completed its Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon assessment and has just expanded its fleet of low carbon Bio-CNG trucks to 160, the largest of its kind in the UK. 30% of Hermes’ van fleet serving its Parcel Shops and Lockers is now electric (EVs), making its Out-of-home collection and drop-off offering one of the most sustainable in the market.

In addition, all its operations use 100% certified renewable electricity and will be the first dedicated parcel company to trial an electric HGV. Future targets include becoming net zero by 2035 for direct and indirect emissions.

Nancy said: “We will continue to reduce carbon emissions across our operations by focusing on our vehicles, infrastructure, and innovative products and services. We are firmly on the road to net zero and proud we are the lowest carbon per parcel of any dedicated parcel company. However, we know that there’s more to do, and we will continue to innovate and drive this agenda forward.”

Building on the company’s commitment to promoting equality and fairness will underpin the company’s Social element of its ethics and sustainability vision. This includes updating its industry leading Code of Conduct and introducing Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting in addition to its Gender Pay Gap reporting. Hermes will also double its charitable giving investment.

Transparency is central to any ESG programme and Hermes will sign up to the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) by 2022. In addition, all senior leadership will have ESG in their objectives from 2022 and all employees and contractors will receive mandatory ESG training.

Fash Sawyerr, Chief Transformation Officer at Hermes, added: “As a responsible carrier, we recognise our impact on the environment and we are pushing sustainability and ethics to the forefront of our operating model. We are committed to delivering a better future for the planet including our people, our customers and retail partners, and wider communities.”

 

 

News

Five UK start-ups shortlisted for inaugural TTI Global Impact Awards

Awards ceremony featuring top DJs takes place 17 August 2021

Five innovative UK start-ups have been shortlisted for the Top Tier Impact (TTI) Group’s inaugural Global Impact Awards, celebrating entrepreneurs around the world at the cutting edge of sustainability and positive impact.

The UK Shortlisted companies are:

  • Wefarm – a small scale farmer-to-farmer community
  • Library of Things – the items and tools renting platform
  • Recycleye – AI and automation to close the loop on waste
  • BFB Labs – digital therapeutics to improve children’s mental health
  • Beam – empowerment, retraining and career matching for homeless people

The first awards of their kind globally, the TTI Global Impact Awards recognise the most innovative companies delivering sustainability for net-zero emissions and equality across eight categories: agriculture and food, consumer and retail, financial services, education and media, energy and environment, healthcare and wellbeing, sustainable cities and real estate, diversity and inclusion.

The awards are now open for public voting until 4 August 2021. The award ceremony will take place in an immersive virtual environment featuring rooftops and personal avatars on 17 August 2021. It will include special guest speakers, curated networking and performances by Burning Man DJ Goldcap and electro house DJ Sander Kleinenberg. Tickets are available on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The public’s favourite three sustainability trendsetters in each category will go forward to the expert panel of judges, which includes Billy Zane, impact investor and Hollywood actor, Melchior de Muralt, microfinance pioneer and founder of the multibillion dollar asset manager BlueOrchard, Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist named one of Time’s 100 most influential people, and Arizona Muse, model and sustainability consultant.

Alessa Berg, TTI Founder and CEO, said: “From producing energy from thin air, empowering labour, turning waste into resources, detecting wildfires and improving youth mental health, it’s been incredible to see the talented entrepreneurs working tirelessly to reset the path of our planet.

“We received hundreds of entries from 45 countries, all dedicated to building a sustainable and fair paradigm across economic sectors. Our ceremony will bring together world-leading impact investors and famous personalities with global impact start-ups for an evening of celebration. These are the companies that are going to address the most important and pressing environmental and social issues of our time.”

The awards are supported by family offices such as Swedish Formica Capital, along with companies such as sustainable data centre developer TerraScale and Singapore property pioneer CDL.

With partners including the World Economic Forum and United Nations, Top Tier Impact is a global ecosystem of investors, entrepreneurs and professionals focused on solving the most critical issues of our time. With over 500 members across 40 countries, its mission is to accelerate the adoption of best practices in impact and sustainability in the running of companies.