Energy efficiency is a crucial component of cost savings and sustainability for businesses. The first step in optimizing energy use is tracking consumption. Understanding how much energy your facility uses, whether you operate a single site or multiple locations, provides a baseline for comparison and improvement.
Maximizing Profit Through Waste Reduction in Your Facilities
Life Cycle Assessment vs Carbon Accounting: What’s the Difference and Why it Matters
Understanding the difference between Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Carbon Accounting is crucial for organizations looking to make data-driven decisions, reduce emissions, and improve financial performance. By leveraging these tools, businesses can stay ahead of evolving regulations while enhancing operational efficiency and brand reputation.
Women Accelerating Action in Sustainability
Celebrating Women’s Leadership
Understanding the Latest Regulations: California SB 253 and 261, AB 1305, and SEC Climate Disclosure Rules with Tanya Nesbitt from Thompson Hine
In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Tanya Nesbitt, Partner at Thompson Hine, to discuss the evolving landscape of climate regulations and litigation; specifically California Senate Bills 253 and 261, Assembly Bill 1305, and the SEC Climate Disclosure Rules. Tanya explains the rise in climate-related lawsuits, the growing scrutiny around voluntary carbon offset disclosures, and the complexities of corporate sustainability reporting. Tune in to learn how these emerging legal challenges could impact your organization’s sustainability initiatives and reporting practices.
Sourcing and Procurement Team Training: A Critical Element of Your Company's Scope 3 Program
When developing your company’s Scope 3 program, it is critical to train and educate your sourcing and procurement teams. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss the key role your sourcing and procurement teams play in your Scope 3 program, how to bring these teams up to speed on sustainability and Scope 3, how to empower your sourcing and procurement teams to optimize your supplier engagement program with the goal of gathering primary data, and more.
Tackling Difficult-to-Manage Waste Streams with Hannah Julian from G2 Revolution
Difficult-to-manage waste streams are a hurdle for corporations to overcome in their pursuit of reducing waste. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Hannah Julian, Environmental Project Coordinator at g2 revolution, to discuss g2's work with managing materials that are traditionally difficult to recycle, managing pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, working with retailers and manufacturers to establish recycling programs for their materials, giving materials a second life through their Second Life® Solutions, working with small businesses in the beauty sector through their brand GLO™, the drivers behind pursuing and achieving GreenCircle certification, and more.
Science-Based Targets: How to Meet Supplier GHG Requirements
New regulations as well as commitments and requirements from large companies are pushing suppliers to set science-based targets. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss an overview of science-based targets, the new regulations and what they mean for companies, the growing number of companies that are beginning to require their suppliers to set science-based targets by 2025, how suppliers can start taking inventory of their GHG emissions, the importance of training your sourcing and procurement teams, the benefits of measuring and reducing your Scope 3 emissions, the number of team members you will need internally to gather the data necessary for setting science-based targets, and how to know when to outsource and ask for help.
Scope 3 Emissions: How to Help Your Suppliers Reduce Their Carbon Footprint
Many companies have started to think about measuring and reducing their Scope 3 emissions. The truth is most companies often feel overwhelmed by the scale of this effort and don’t know where to start. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss what Scope 3 emissions are, the top Scope 3 category for most companies, how to help your suppliers reduce their carbon emissions, and how to start estimating your company’s Scope 3 emissions from your suppliers.
Textile Waste Innovations for Achieving a Circular Economy with Raymond Randall from WM
Textile waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the United States. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Raymond Randall, Sr. Manager of Textile Recycling at WM, to discuss what WM is doing to drive circularity with textile waste, why textile waste is such a big problem for both the environment and for business, how fast fashion plays a role in textile waste, the textile recycling program at WM, and more.
Deep Dive into LCA, EPD, and PCF with LCA Experts Nicole Meyer and Marquis Miller from Sustainable Solutions Corporation
Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), and Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) are essential to reducing your company’s carbon footprint, but many companies have unanswered questions about the process for completing them. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with LCA experts Nicole Meyer and Marquis Miller from Sustainable Solutions Corporation to answer some of the most frequently asked questions they receive about LCA, EPD, and PCF. They discuss the data collection process, timelines, what to include in your LCA, relevant standards and frameworks, Product Category Rules, functional units, how LCA, EPD, and PCF relate to carbon footprint, and more.
Consumer Perception: How to Craft a Credible Sustainability Message in a Complex Marketing with Suzanne Shelton from Shelton Group
A good marketing plan should include communication about your company’s sustainability efforts. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Suzanne Shelton, CEO of Shelton Group, an ERM Group Company, to discuss the consumer research studies Shelton Group has been conducting for the past 17 years, the results of their recently published report The Buzz on Buzzwords: Seven Years Later, the biggest challenges companies have in marketing their sustainability efforts, best practices for communicating sustainability goals and achievements such as third-party certified products and facilities, how companies should handle not hitting a goal, and more.
An Overview of Carbon Offsets: Are They Right For Your Company?
Many companies have been purchasing carbon offsets to achieve their Net Zero goals. Are carbon offsets right for you and your company? Are carbon offsets actually effective and how should they be used? In this episode, Tad and Julianna answer these questions and discuss decarbonization, science-based targets, and the steps in the decarbonization roadmap. Tad also explains what carbon offsets are, the standards and requirements for carbon offsets, and what the future could look like for carbon offsets.
Incorporating the Circular Economy Mindset into Product Packaging with Kelly McBee from As You Sow
Optimizing product packaging is essential for reducing waste and driving the circular economy. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Kelly McBee, Circular Economy Sr. Coordinator at As You Sow, to discuss the mission of As You Sow, the Corporate Plastic Pollution Scorecard they developed to rank companies on their progress toward plastic goals, how companies can get better scores in the future, why third-party certifications are so important to the achievement of corporate plastic reduction goals, and what’s next for As You Sow.
Using Sustainable Operations Assessments to Set Your Decarbonization Strategy with Lora Urbaniak from SSC
Setting a decarbonization strategy requires an understanding of your operations. Sustainable Solutions Corporation (SSC) conducts Sustainable Operations Assessments (SOA) to help companies understand how to reduce their energy, water and waste. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Lora Urbaniak, Senior Project Manager at SSC, to discuss what an SOA is, how SSC uses SOA to help companies set their decarbonization strategy, the cost savings and benefits of an SOA, areas where SSC usually finds the biggest potential for dollar savings, and how SOA can help a company meet their sustainability goals or science-based targets.
Battery Recycling: The Key to Achieving Electrification Goals with Joe Day from Li-Cycle
Recycling lithium-ion batteries is the key to achieving electrification goals. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Joe Day, Commercial Manager – Midwest and Northeast Regions at Li-Cycle, to discuss how Li-Cycle manages batteries at the end of their life, the type of batteries they take at their facilities, how much lithium, nickel, and cobalt are able to be recovered and integrated back into new batteries, how the battery recycling process works, and how Li-Cycle collects their batteries. We also answer an audience question at the end of the episode about extended producer responsibility.
Infinitely Recyclable: How Aluminum is Contributing to the Circular Economy with Suzanne Lindsay-Walker from Novelis
Aluminum is an infinitely recyclable material and an important part of the circular economy. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Suzanne Lindsay-Walker Vice President, Sustainability, for Novelis Inc., to discuss the type of products that Novelis’s aluminum ends up in, the life cycle benefits of aluminum versus other materials, how aluminum is contributing to the circular economy, Novelis’s closed loop system with Ford Motor Company and Ball, the key focus areas in Novelis’s sustainability strategy, the value of their GreenCircle Recycled Content certifications, and how Novelis empowers their employees to embrace sustainability.
Developing a Circular Economy Plan for Building Materials with Dennis Wilson from CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain
As Earth’s population grows, building construction and maintenance will continue to increase. Building products present one of our greatest opportunities for circularity. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Dennis Wilson, VP, ESG & Managing Director, Saint-Gobain Circular Economy Solutions NA, to discuss his priorities in his new role as Managing Director of Circular Economy Solutions, the key focus areas for CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain’s sustainability activities, how they’re reducing their company’s carbon footprint and minimizing the embodied carbon in their products, and the path toward circularity for building materials.
How to Revolutionize Your New Product Development Process with Sustainable Product Innovation
Sustainable Product Innovation (SPI) is the key to driving new product development teams toward developing more sustainable products. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss an overview of the new product development process that most companies go through, explain how SPI works, the steps companies need to take to integrate SPI into their new product development process, and examples of companies that have had success with SPI.