The Smappee energy monitor just won the CES 2018 Innovation Awards but will Smappee also lead customers to conserve energy? It can be hard to change habits. 

What does materiality mean for an airline? JetBlue is one of the first companies — and the first airline — to report according to SASB’s standards, and to assess the materiality of climate risk. Check out the interview of Sophia Mendelsohn, JetBlue’s Head of Sustainability, and Jet Blue Sustainability Report. 

What Would You Invest In?

Last week we talked about TRI and KLD, however this week we are adding onto those findings by utilizing information from the formally known Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). This UK based nonprofit provides investors with information related to carbon emissions. This allows investors to make more informed decisions with regards to the environmental performance of specific companies. An article published by the Environmental Leader discusses the increase in companies disclosing their environmental risk factors, including emissions. In the article it says that, according to CDP, there has been an eight-fold increase in the companies that quantify their emissions in terms of economic value. This all comes about from a desire of investors to know the environmental performance of companies and the desire of companies to provide information and reduce emissions. In the current political climate, cutting back on emissions is not a priority, and companies can seemingly get away with more than in the past. However, companies are still going forth with reductions, and it will be interesting to see whether this deregulation or investors carries more weight.

Article: https://www.environmentalleader.com/2017/10/174571/

Group members: Hogan Fenster, Zoe Robertson, Destiny Tafoya, Grant Sugimura, Vitor Takasu

Big-Tech Can’t Let Go of Dirty Energy

Our presentation focused on corporate environmental ratings. We analyzed the benefits of using TRI and KLD. However, other companies and non-profits publish their own ratings. Recently, Greenpeace released their environmental “grades” for big tech companies. Surprisingly, many tech companies have not reduced their greenhouse gas emissions and their toxic releases. A spokesperson from Greenpeace chided tech companies for claiming to lead the world in innovation but yet are still employing dirty energy. Greenpeace has a history of nudging tech companies to switch to renewable energy, and some have listened, but others are still holding on to fossil fuels. Also, these big tech companies are not using as much recycled material in their products as they should be. Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone producer, got a letter grade of D in renewable energy, which only accounts for 1% of its energy use. Amazon got an F in its overall environmental performance, partly due to its refusal to release its greenhouse gas emissions data. Greenpeace claims that if big tech companies do not make the switch to renewable energy, it will be difficult for the rest of the world to.

Article: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/greenpeace-faults-tech-giants-environment-impact-50524718

By: Mikyla Reta, Taylor Ely, and Arman Tahmazyan

Can you Start Impact Investing With Just $50 And Five Minutes? Here is an article that describes this possibility through swellinvesting. Of course, we know that this is not that simple, but being able to choose from a portfolio of stocks that align with your values, is becoming so much easier.