Tag Archives: Sustainable

GOODFOLIO Partners with Tumelo to Give its Users a Voice on Corporate ESG Issues

GOODFOLIO, a simple, transparent and customisable platform for impact-driven investors, has launched a new partnership with Tumelo to give its users a voice on key environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues within companies where their money is being invested in.

By incorporating the Tumelo Voting API (application programming interface), GOODFOLIO users are given a voice on the defining issues of our time. Users can express their vote preferences to their fund managers to influence global companies on a range of issues including: gender equality, climate change, inclusion, and human rights. Users receive access to recommendations for and against proposals before a vote and data on the outcome of their engagement.

GOODFOLIO is an innovative solution which aims to empower impact-minded investors to overcome the unreasonable difficulties in making and implementing values-driven investment decisions. This includes avoiding greenwashing, achieving transparency, and having sustainability data available at the point of use. Having developed tools for users to efficiently scan and scrutinise investments for more effective alignment with values and preferences, GOODFOLIO is targeting the global ESG and impact funds market forecast to reach $55 trillion in value by 2025 (source), growing at 40% per year in Europe (source).

The London-based company behind the platform is currently crowdfunding and has raised nearly £300K, double its initial target. This additional investment will go towards bolstering GOODFOLIO’s team and supporting further product development, marketing and customer acquisition.

GOODFOLIO was founded by its CEO Omid Pakseresht, an Oxford-educated entrepreneur with a successful track record in finance and technology product commercialisation, and his brother and Chief Technical Officer, Nima Pakseresht, a computer science technology leader with more than 15 years of experience in big data, AI and ML.

The senior management team also includes Harvard-educated social entrepreneur Farahnaz Karim, with experience in the UN and World Bank, who serves as GOODFOLIO’s Chief Impact Officer.

CEO Omid Pakseresht comments: “We are delighted to partner with Tumelo and aim to become one of the first investment platforms to bring the Voting API function to market. This will enable impact-driven investors who use our platform to directly express their views to their fund managers about what kind of change they would like to see in the corporate world. Our community views this as an important component in the equation of creating impact through investment.”

“The partnership with Tumelo marks the beginning of a journey to empower our users to create more impact through collective action.

“The success of our current crowdfunding campaign is also a significant development for GOODFOLIO. This additional investment will enable the business to further develop its unique position, better serve its community, and reach out to a larger audience of impact-driven investors.”

Georgia Stewart, CEO of Tumelo, said: “We are very excited about the partnership with GOODFOLIO, a company as passionate about providing investors with a voice as we are. Tumelo’s Voting API functionality is ideal for GOODFOLIO’s ESG-focused platform as it enables users to closely interact with companies within their investment portfolio through their fund managers, giving them a voice on the hottest issues of our time. This progressive and positive step forward empowers investors to balance financial returns and ensure their investments align with their values.”

More details on GOODFOLIO’s crowdfunding round on Seedrs can be found here.

New Platform Address ‘Intention-Action’ Gap for Impact-Driven ESG Investors

GOODFOLIO launches 2nd crowdfund targeting investors in $55tr global ESG-Impact funds market

A simple, transparent, and customised investment platform which enables DIY investors to back companies and industries that share their ethical values has launched today.

Inspired by the thought of overcoming the unreasonable difficulty of making values-driven investment decisions and implementing these, GOODFOLIO was conceived to help investors manage this challenge. Having developed in-house tools to efficiently scan and scrutinise investments for more effective alignment with values and preferences, GOODFOLIO is now onboarding clients.

Global ESG and impact funds are forecast to reach $55 trillion in value by 2025 (source), growing at 40% per year in Europe (source). However, while a UK study revealed that 77% of people with over £25K in investable assets would choose sustainable investments, only 13% have actually done so (source).

GOODFOLIO was created to help overcome this intention-action gap and increase the flow of capital into impactful investments. It does this by providing values-driven investors with essential data, including categorised lists of ESG funds with meaningful insights and an ability to search and compare different offerings. GOODFOLIO enables users to channel their assets into funds that are aligned with their values, focusing on core areas that matter to them such as gender, climate, health, and water. This targeting of impactful capital can send a powerful signal to businesses to change their behaviour for attracting capital.

With regulatory permissions secured, GOODFOLIO empowers investors to build and manage Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliant and impact-driven investment portfolios that work for the benefit of people, planet, and prosperity.

Another benefit GOODFOLIO users enjoy is the low and transparent pricing structure where they are charged an all-in fee of 0.45% for the first £50,000 invested through the platform and 0.35% for anything above. Compared with IFA, or legacy investment platforms like Hargreaves Lansdown that charge per transaction, it can be significantly more cost-effective.

The London-based company behind the platform raised £160K in pre-seed funding last year and since that time has built a high-valued waiting list with around £30m of investable assets. While catering to the UK B2C investment market and increasing its impact-driven financial products and tools, the long-term vision of GOODFOLIO is to target pension providers and investment managers within the B2B market.

The company is now seeking to raise a further six figure sum through crowdfunding and is also planning an institutional investment round in 2023.

GOODFOLIO was founded by its CEO Omid Pakseresht, an Oxford-educated entrepreneur with a successful track record in finance and technology product commercialisation, and his brother and Chief Technical Officer, Nima Pakseresht, a computer science technology leader with more than 15 years of experience in big data, AI and ML. The senior management team includes Harvard-educated social entrepreneur Farahnaz Karim, who serves as GOODFOLIO’s Chief Impact Officer.

Among the company’s board of advisors are Bob Noyen, an institutional investment expert whose long career in Finance includes taking a boutique UK based asset management firm through to IPO and making the firm one of the first in Finance to become Carbon Neutral, and Steven Hamblin, an angel investor and technology leader who built one of the first AI teams at Babylon Health.

CEO Omid Pakseresht comments: ‘After extensive work in developing our platform and crossing the regulatory milestone, we are now delighted to launch GOODFOLIO to support the UK’s growing, engaged and vibrant community of values-driven investors who want more control over what their capital does.

A majority of UK investors want to consider ESG factors but there is currently no effective investment platform to present clear and concise data at the point of decision making and provide tools for how investments can be aligned to values. With GOODFOLIO, we address that issue by making it easy for users to invest, as well as manage and monitor the social and environmental impact of their portfolio via intuitive reports and tools.

Led by demand from investors, and the sheer need to build a better world, we believe that impact-driven investments will eventually become the norm. GOODFOLIO is doing its part to get us there, and we are doing this with a fairer, transparent and cost-effective fee structure.

Through our crowdfunding round we aim to grow GOODFOLIO’s presence in the UK market by bolstering our team and investing in further product development, marketing and customer acquisition.’

To join GOODFOLIO’s growing community or learn more, visit www.goodfolio.com. For more details on the GOODFOLIO crowdfunding campaign, click here https://www.seedrs.com/goodfolio1/coming-soon  

Sun Strategy partners with Amdaris to provide sustainable branding solutions at scale

  • Digital transformation expert will help Sun Strategy scale sustainable solutions to meet increased customer demand since the pandemic

Bristol, UK; 13 July 2022: Software development specialist Amdaris has partnered with sustainable branding experts Sun Strategy to transform the value of businesses through environmentally-conscious packaging. As digital partner, Amdaris will help accelerate the delivery of Sun Strategy’s sustainable and efficiency-driven technology solutions.

Sun Strategy is a packaging consultancy that works with brands to deliver innovative, sustainable, and measurable solutions for leading global clients, including some of the world’s largest online and offline retailers. Sustainability has significantly moved up on the consumer agenda in recent years, with Gen Z customers favouring environmentally-friendly brands and packaging. This new partnership with Amdaris will advance the services of Sun Strategy to meet the influx of sustainability-conscious customers.

Amdaris will work closely with the team at Sun Strategy to amplify and enhance the technology element of Sun Strategy’s solutions. Through its industry expertise in digital transformation and outsourcing, Amdaris will provide Sun Strategy with the ability to scale at speed and to bring in additional resources that will help meet growing demands. Amdaris will also take an active role in delivering Sun Strategy’s technology ecosystem and integrated automation solutions.

“We have seen a huge influx of clients asking for new branding software solutions since the pandemic. However, the market for developers is extremely competitive, so it’s challenging to recruit enough employees on a long-term basis in order to keep up with the growing customer demand,” commented Robert Quigley, Technical Director at Sun Strategy. “We were not just looking for a provider but a long-term partner. We selected Amdaris due to the company’s excellent industry reputation and experience in agile processes. This long-term partnership with Amdaris will help us meet our objectives and scale up when consumer demands require us to. It’s strategically very important to us.”

Andy Rogers, co-CEO of Amdaris, commented, “Sustainability is one of Amdaris’ key company values so we see a lot of synergies between us and Sun Strategy. We are excited to partner with Sun Strategy and help scale the company’s sustainability technology solutions. We look forward to helping the company take its solutions out to a wider market faster, through our agile approach to software development.”

“Unprecedented shifts in retail trends – such as the exponential rise of e-commerce and omnichannel, changing consumer behaviour, and growing supply chain complexity – have left many of our clients reeling. At Sun Strategy we have been busy developing original technology to offer solutions that help our clients not only survive but go on to thrive. We are looking forward to partnering with Amdaris to help achieve this at a greater scale,” commented Greg Lawson, Group Commercial Director of Sun Strategy.

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

The sustainable advantages of cloud-native solutions are overlooked by businesses

London, UK, 31 May 2022 – While many businesses are looking to cloud native solutions to improve efficiency, save money and to provide better experiences to their customers, the environmental benefits of operating in the cloud can often be overlooked, according to Zoosh’s Chief Revenue Officer, Souvik Dutta.

Mr Dutta said: “Post-pandemic, many businesses will be focusing on digitalisation but that doesn’t mean the quest for sustainability needs to be pushed to the side. In fact, being cloud native automatically brings with it a host of environmental and social benefits that some companies are not recognising or quantifying”.

All businesses are now falling subject to sustainability targets, with many showing their sustainability campaigns publicly, as a result of the growing pressure to ‘play their part’. However, this responsibility doesn’t have to be a burden, but a blessing. According to the HSBC Navigator: the voice of business 2021 report, 78% of businesses say that a more sustainability-driven business model would have a positive impact on overall growth.

As a physical storage solution, data centres require upkeep and maintenance which results in downtime. Cloud native offers businesses an efficient and clean way to scale and adapt, meaning less maintenance and parts, which harm the environment and the business.

Cloud native solutions create a more scalable, and adaptable solution, lowering infrastructure and maintenance costs in the long term, but will also provide a more flexible working environment for employees in the new work-from-home era. This solution has proved invaluable for businesses looking for a secure solution for their new working environment, but businesses need to also focus on the sustainable benefits that cloud-native solutions have to offer, in order to realise its full potential and stay ahead of their competition in their sustainability and business goals.

Measuring a company’s success in sustainability will depend on how proactively it can adapt and invest in technology, as digital transformation continues to be at the forefront for many businesses. Many companies aren’t aware of the sustainability benefits of going cloud-native, instead they are fixated on the business benefits (cost savings, efficiencies, customer experience etc. Companies should look at the sustainable benefits, and use them as a competitive advantage.

Dutta went on to outline how it is essential for businesses to start considering cloud native now, to stay ahead of the curve for sustainability targets and prepare for future business growth. On-site and off-site data centres can be extremely costly to manage, maintain and upgrade, so by investing in cloud native solutions now, businesses will save money in the long term, as well as playing their part in saving the planet.

“It is well-known that data centres play a core part in carbon emissions, globally. Businesses need to not only think about their travel, waste, materials and energy, they need to think about how they are storing all of their data. Cloud native solutions are a sustainable, secure and future-ready opportunity for businesses to reach their goals.

Production at revolutionary £20m net-zero dairy to begin this summer

THE opening of a revolutionary £20m cheese factory will have a major impact on the Welsh dairy industry for generations to come.

Lesley Griffiths MS, Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd paid a visit to Mona Island Dairy on Anglesey and was delighted to see progress made ahead of its unveiling in the coming weeks.

With recruitment for 15 key staff underway and senior management in place, the 25,000 sq ft development is approaching completion and will be capable of producing 7,000 tons of Welsh and continental cheeses every year.

The Minister praised Managing Director Ronald Akkerman and the team for their commitment to building the most innovative and ground-breaking cheese facility in Europe on Welsh soil, supported by a £3m grant from Welsh Government.

She added: “It’s been great to visit Mona Dairy, there is real potential for it to boost our dairy industry.

“As the first zero carbon emissions cheese plant in Europe it is a cutting-edge development with Wales’s food and drink industry once again a leading light.

“I’m delighted the Welsh Government supported this development and we all look forward to its opening this Spring.”

Based on Mona Industrial Park, the net-zero dairy will be powered by renewable energy and raise standards by implementing traditional and cutting-edge methods to manufacture Edam, Gouda, Cheddar, and a range of artisan cheeses using milk from local farms.

Ms Griffiths was joined on a tour of the factory by Mr Akkerman, Chairman David Wynne-Finch, and Dr Graham Jackson.

Production is expected to begin in June, and milk will be sourced from more than 40 Welsh dairy farmers within the first year of opening.

“It was a pleasure to have the Minister with us today and the opportunity to showcase these incredible facilities,” said Mr Akkerman.

“We are on course to open later this Spring as planned and are currently advertising to fill 15 operational roles in the weeks ahead, with a further eight this summer.

“By 2023 we will have a workforce of 100 or more people in place delivering new and innovative methods never seen before in cheese processing.”

He added: “We are already receiving positive feedback and there has been a lot of interest around the opening of Mona Island Dairy from prospective customers, potential job candidates and the food and drink sector, here in the UK and internationally.

“The foundations have been laid and now it’s just a matter of applying the finishing touches and ensuring we have the right people in place, so everything is ready for launch.

“We can’t wait to get started and thank everyone for their support, especially the rural community here on Anglesey.”

For a full list of job vacancies and more information on Mona Island Dairy, visit the website: www.monadairy.com.

Governments and public sector organizations spend millions globally each year destroying data storage devices despite sustainable alternatives

New Blancco report sparks conversations on SSD policy reform, revealing financial and environmental costs as well as security concerns for public sector organizations

AUSTIN and LONDON – March 9, 2022—New research launched today by Blancco Technology Group (LON: BLTG), the industry standard in data erasure and mobile lifecycle solutions, reveals current practices and policies for device sanitization within the public sector. For Blancco’s study, The Price of Destruction: Exploring the Financial & Environmental Costs of Public Sector Device Sanitization, researchers spoke to 596 government IT leaders across nine countries. The survey revealed that the governments and public sector organizations represented spend as much as USD$17M annually on the physical destruction of solid-state drives (SSDs), a data storage device widely used both independently and within laptops, desktops, and servers.

Additionally, replacement costs added another $40M, bringing expenses up to $57M for destroying public sector technology that is often still usable. For 70 organizations surveyed in each country, the costs for SSD destruction and replacement reached between $6.9M and $7.3M for the U.S. and between $6.4M and $6.9M for the U.K.

Environmental Costs

With global electronic (e-waste) called the “world’s fastest growing domestic waste stream,” the study also explores the environmental costs of physical destruction and the public sector’s current engagement with sustainable alternatives. Unnecessary destruction increases IT operations and materials costs for fiscally constrained public sector organizations. It also fosters increased e-waste creation during a global call for more prudent environmental stewardship.

Despite 54% of respondents agreeing that reuse of SSDs is better for the environment than physical destruction and almost all respondents (93%) saying their organization had defined plans to reduce the environmental impact caused by destroying IT equipment, less than a quarter (21%) are actively implementing those plans.

Security Concerns

For security reasons, physical destruction is still mandated if decommissioned drives were used to store classified or secret data. For unclassified data-bearing assets, other data sanitization solutions are available.

On the whole, respondents were well informed of their country’s or region’s respective data protection laws. However, some respondents’ processes for carrying out compliant SSD sanitization are concerning. For example, 78% of respondents globally said they reformat drives to sanitize them. Unfortunately, formatting alone can still leave drives vulnerable during transport or storage, and much of the data can be recovered with forensics tools easily available online.

“Governments and public sector organizations are responsible for handling some of the most sensitive information in the world. But several factors, including accelerated digital transformation, rising numbers of public sector data breaches and global sustainability initiatives, are changing the data management landscape,” said Alan Bentley, President of Global Strategy, Blancco. “With growing environmental and funding pressures, there is a need for these public sector operations to be more sustainable and efficient while maintaining robust security. Public sector organizations must explore SSD sanitization alternatives to demonstrate prudent use of agency funds and a greater contribution to national and international sustainability efforts.”

“We’ve seen several public sector departments benefit from moving away from destroying data bearing assets to reusing them or building up the circular economy. Our study highlights that there are significant opportunities for policy reform surrounding SSD data protection as national policymakers seek to steward financial, environmental, and data resources entrusted to their care,” added Bentley.

As the report concludes, governments and public sector organizations are committing to sustainability improvements, but very few have pushed forward with their implementation. This is resulting in a high cost of SSD destruction and replacement.

With overnments and public sector organizations under the spotlight when it comes to spending, it is increasingly urgent that they consider sustainable alternatives that extend device life, maintain lock-tight data security on end-of-life SSDs and, ultimately, save public services millions of dollars.

According to Blancco’s global study of 596 public sector respondents:

  • 41% of respondents say physical destruction is mandated by law to physically destroy SSDs that contain classified data, so they destroy all SSDs “just in case.”
  • Almost a quarter (22%) are unaware of alternative methods of sanitization.
  • Between 23% to 52% of organizations within a country believed that physical destruction was cheaper than other sanitization solutions, including those that would facilitate reuse and longer device life.
  • 35% believe there is no certified or approved vendor or solution that provides another option for them.
  • Between 37% and 45% of our respondents’ devices, or the drives alone, are sent offsite for physical destruction.
  • 37% of respondents are “aware of only” the NIST SP 800-88 r1 and do not know guideline details.

For full analysis, read the report here: http://www.blancco.com/the-price-of-destruction.

 

Child Friendly Cleaning Brand Welcomes Justin King as an Investor and Advisor

 Justin King CBE has joined London-based sustainable cleaning products producer Nimble. The former Sainsbury’s CEO, who has invested in the company, will become an advisor to the business and a mentor to its founder, Von Sy.

Mr Sy, a Philippines native and a qualified chemist who moved to London and worked in R&D for multinational consumer goods company Unilever, founded Nimble in 2015. After becoming an uncle for the first time, he was shocked at the amount of chemicals used in many cleaning products and decided to create an effective alternative which was suitable for families with babies and young children.

Six years on, Von is now father to three young children of his own and Nimble has launched a range of six non-toxic, plant-based products for laundry, bottle-cleaning, surface cleaning and hand sanitising. These are currently available online and at over 900 sites in the UK, stocked by a range of retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

Justin King was initially introduced to the business at an online pitching event last year where he was highly impressed with the brand, its management team and the scientific rigour behind its products.

His appointment comes as Nimble is seeking to raise £200K through Crowdcube to scale up the business and invest in further product development supporting ambitious growth plans in both online and retail.

The global baby cleaning products market is anticipated to exceed (USD)$5bn per annum* by 2026 with eco cleaning products growing more than 5 times faster** than regular brands.

Nimble founder Von Sy said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Justin King, a former head of a multibillion-pound retailer and respected industry thought-leader, joining our emerging business. In the short time we’ve known each other he’s given us a number of valuable insights and has been a real pleasure to work with.

“His appointment coincides with our crowdfunding campaign, another exciting step in our journey which began with the aim of making life easier for parents of young children by producing effective and sustainable cleaning products that are safe to use. As a father, I understand the anxiety that many parents feel about using potentially harmful household products and the growing desire to find sustainable, plant-based cleaning solutions which are kind to our planet.”

Justin King CBE said: “Von has impressed me with his energy and enthusiasm and he has developed unique products which have built a loyal following. I’m excited to be able to help him and his team build a unique and valuable business.”

100 North West jobs to be created by Gasqet.com following regional expansion

Gasqet.com, a marketplace for DIY and building supplies looks set to rapidly expand its workforce after establishing itself in the North West of England.

Founded during the pandemic, Gasqet.com provides construction firms and home improvement enthusiasts with a stronger, more sustainable alternative to traditional rubber washers.

Gasqet.com will create 100 jobs over the next three years across its sales, field service engineering and technology teams that it hopes will help it expand its hosting into more DIY brands, servicing and petrol stations.

A spokesperson for the company said the workforce expansion “reflected the trust the people of the North West had shown in the brand and the strong PropTech and ethical commitments in the region.”

The office jobs are set to be created within Gasqet’s Manchester headquarters, housing sales and digital technology departments.

It will also be the base for mobile field service engineers who service Gasqet’s fleet, who will be located across the North West including Liverpool, Manchester and Warrington.

Gasqet is also looking to recruit fleet engineers in Stockport, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Salford Quays.

The company, backed by well-known technology groups, is riding a wave of ethical production that is a core part of the UK’s Green Recovery.

Its AI technology helps select the most appropriate seals for a job and 3D prints it on-site or at the nearest DIY store.

The company aims to help solve the current shortage of supplies that has hit the construction industry and provide householders with sustainable parts that do not leave them vulnerable to hefty plumbing bills.

Rigorous testing has found that the washers are significantly more durable and have greater longevity than traditional washers, as well as being fully recyclable.

For further information visit https://gasqet.com/