Employee Stakeholders & Sustainability Training
Index
CEF Resources
Employee Engagement in Sustainability Reference Book, Vol.4
Notable News
Employee Engagement on Environmental Issues
Employee Engagement on Social Issues
Employee Sustainability Groups (i.e. ERGs)
Research
Remote/Home Working & Sustainability
Resources & Tools
Engaging Employees in Sustainability & ESG
Collaboration & Initiatives
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Notable News
DANONE — Launched a new global training program, DanSkills, aiming to upskill 100,000 employees and attract new talent. The program, with a budget of €100 million ($108 million) between 2024 and 2030, will be deployed in 55 countries and will reallocate 1 million training hours a year to “jobs of the future.” It is also designed to expand to Danone’s key external partners, with a focus on the digital, environmental, and food transitions. (March 2024)
DELOITTE — Announced collaborations with academic institutions, including MIT Sloan School of Management and Arizona State University, to expand its sustainability, climate, and equity upskilling program for its more than 150,000 professionals in the U.S. across its Consulting, Risk & Financial Advisory, Tax and Audit & Assurance businesses. (Dec 2023)
VOLKSWAGEN — Announced it would launch a retraining program to train and develop production employees in e-mobility, and convert its factory in Wolfsburg, Germany into an electric vehicle factory. This is the third factory in Germany to be retooled for EVs, with €460 million ($486 million) being invested through early 2025 (which includes a portion for retraining). 1,200 employees are expected to have been trained by this summer. (Feb 2023)
MCKINSEY — Launched a new Sustainability Academy to help client organizations better train their personnel for the net zero transition. The academy currently includes two programs, an Executive Masterclass for senior executives to gain the skills needed to achieve their sustainability agendas, and a Sustainability Transformation Essentials, which helps clients develop enterprise-wide awareness of core sustainability concepts. (Oct 2022)
Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Academy — UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Chartered Banker Institute, and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) have announced the launch of the PRB Academy to train bankers about the climate emergency and sustainability. Over the next 5 years, the 300+ PRB signatories will make the Academy available to their several million employees. (Oct 2022)
DELOITTE — Launched its new Sustainability & Climate learning program to increase the sustainability and climate knowledge, skills, and capabilities of its approximately 415,000 employees, as well as clients and its supplier network. This program aims to enable Deloitte professionals to confidently address sustainability and climate topics while advising clients and other stakeholders—creating one of the largest networks of sustainability specialists. (Oct 2022)
NATWEST GROUP — The UK bank announced a 3-year, $1.9 million partnership with The University of Edinburgh Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability to deliver climate education programming to over 16,000 employees by the end of 2024. The deal includes sector-specific climate training programs relevant to commercial real estate, retail and leisure, and manufacturing. (April 2022)
DELOITTE — Began to roll out a new climate learning program for its entire staff of 330,000. The program was developed in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund. (Aug 2021)
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CUMMINS — Unveiled its PLANET 2050 Influencer initiative to engage employees as advocates for the company’s 2030 environmental goals and commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. (July 2021)
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HP, Inc. launched a new employee performance initiative that encourages all 55,000 global employees to set sustainable impact goals as part of their 2021 personal goal-setting process. The initiative “emboldens every employee worldwide to have a personal stake in the success of our sustainable impact strategy regardless of their role or title.” (January 2021)
CARLYLE —Will
award a total of $2 million to over 50 employees who have driven diversity, equity, and inclusion in the company.
The employees were chosen out of nearly 200 people nominated by colleagues. (Aug 2021)
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LINKEDIN — Announced plans to begin paying $10,000 a year to the global co-chairs of its employee resource groups (ERGs). Globally, it has 10 ERGs with 20 co-chairs and over 5,000 employee-members. It also
plans to recognize over 500 leaders within the company through a new non-financial rewards system.
(June 2021)
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Business Action: Benefits and Compensation
Return to Top Index
theSKIMM — Mission-driven media company theSkimm created a public-facing database featuring voluntarily-shared leave policies of more than 480 companies, in an effort to increase transparency and provide accessible information from a wide range of employers to help empower workers and improve policies. The database builds on theSkimm’s viral #ShowUsYourLeave initiative (launched in 2021) and presents market research as well as specific company benefits and policies. Among the companies that shared their policies are CEF members Bank of America, Boeing, Cisco, General Motors, and Morgan Stanley. (April 2022)
AMAZON — Announced it is expanding its Career Choice program to provide fully funded college tuition for its 750,000 hourly US employees, shorten the eligibility window to 90 days, and allow employees to participate every year they work at the company. Amazon is partnering with over 140 universities to provide fully funded college tuition and is teaming up with others to give employees access to free high school completion and GED preparation, English language training, and college preparation courses. (March 2022)
MACY’S —
Committed to
investing approximately $35 million over the next 4 years to deliver debt-free education for all US-based regular, salaried, and hourly workers.
Developed in partnership with Denver startup
Guild Education, the program will cover 100% of tuition, fees, and books for associate and bachelor’s degrees, and other programs. Macy’s
also committed to raising its minimum pay rate to $15 per hour nationally by May 2022.
(Nov 2021)
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AMAZON —
Committed to
fully funding college education, as well as high school diplomas, GEDs, and English as a Second Language certifications,
for its more than 750,000 US operations employees, as part of a
new investment of $1.2 billion in education and skills training by 2025. The company will also add
3 new skills-training programs to help employees transition into careers in IT, data center management, and user experience design. (Sept 2021)
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TARGET —
Committed to
investing $200 million over the next 4 years to deliver education assistance for its workers. In partnership with Denver startup
Guild Education, the program will offer
free undergraduate and associate degree programs, free business certificates, and free textbooks to
340,000 of Target’s U.S.-based workers.
(Aug 2021)
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WALMART —
Announced plans to invest nearly $1 billion in employee career training and development,
which includes
paying 100% of employees’ college tuition and book costs starting August 16.
(Aug 2021)
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CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL — Announced it has begun to offer debt-free degrees in Agriculture, Culinary, and Hospitality to eligible employees in partnership with Guild Education, an education and upskilling company. After 120 days of employment, employees are eligible to pursue degrees from 10 nonprofit, accredited universities. (April 2021)
MICHELIN — Announced its “All Sustainable” strategy for 2030, including the following commitments to people and the planet (April 2021):
- Achieve an employee engagement rate of more than 85%
- Increase the percentage of women in management positions to 35%
- Reduce Scope 1, 2, and transportation-related Scope 3 emissions by 50% (2010 baseline), and achieve carbon neutrality in these scopes by 2050
- Increase sustainable raw materials contained in all products to 40% by 2030, in line with a target of 100% by 2050
Business Action: Employee Wellness
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SALESFORCE — Announced it
will help Texas-based employees and their immediate family relocate if they are concerned about access to reproductive health care,
following the new Texas abortion law that recently went into effect. (Sept 2021)
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NIKE — Closed its corporate offices to give employees a
weeklong mental health break. (Sept 2021)
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Employee Activism
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ClimateVoice launched the “1 in $5 for 1.5 °C” campaign urging employees of Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft to demand their companies commit 1 in 5 of their lobbying dollars in 2021 for climate policy that keeps global warming below 1.5 °C. (April 2021)
A group of more than 300 Amazon employees contributed to a blog post calling on the company to adopt stronger policies to tackle climate change. The group of employees contributed individual quotes to the blog post describing why they believe Amazon needs to adopt stronger climate policies and listed their name under each individual quote, defying the company’s external communications policy. (Feb 2020)
A group of more than 6,000 Amazon employees have signed an open letter calling on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the company’s Board of Directors to “adopt the climate plan shareholder resolution and release a company-wide climate plan that incorporates the principles outlined in this letter.” (2019)
Microsoft employees released a letter protesting the company’s work with oil companies, saying they have been made “complicit” in contributing to climate change. (2019)
Google employees published an open letter calling on Google to commit to and release a climate plan that sets the company on course to achieve zero emissions by 2030, eliminate contracts that enable or accelerate the extraction of fossil fuels, eliminate funding for climate-denying or -delaying think tanks, lobbyists, and politicians, and halt collaborations with entities enabling incarceration, surveillance, displacement, or oppression of refugees or frontline communities.
Research
Employee Engagement
Return to Top Index
96% of 138 professionals surveyed say their ERGs are “very effective” or “somewhat effective” in advancing DEI and/or employee engagement objectives, according to a Salesforce and Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals study. (Dec 2021)
The Best of the Best in Employee Engagement (Benevity Impact Labs)
— Identifies the “most powerful” drivers of employee engagement: choice, convenience, incentives, leadership and communication, and matching employee donations.
The drivers are based on data from 400 North American companies representing 9.7 million employees. (Nov 2021)
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Employee resource groups (ERGs) are on the rise at U.S. companies, according to an article from Wall Street Journal. Spotlights the usefulness of ERGs in the area of social justice in particular, as nearly half of 140 organizations with at least 1,000 employees were taking or planned to seek ERGs’ assistance in drafting racial-inequity action plans as of June 2020. (Oct 2021)
Industry Review: Employee Engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility (Blackbaud) — Analyzes key learnings and trends regarding employees’ philanthropic behavior and engagement with company CSR programs in 2020. Out of 284 companies, those with fewer than 1,000 employees—the smallest size in the report—had the highest giving and volunteering engagement rate overall, the highest average employee donation amount ($2,414), and the highest average number of volunteer hours per volunteer (18 hours). Though engagement rates were down in most cases compared with 2019, the median employee donation amount increased $447, and the top 10% of those who donated gave an additional $1,667. (July 2021)
Benefits and Compensation
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A Guide for Corporate Leaders on Paid-Leave Policies (JUST Capital) — Offers an overview of paid leave policies across Russell 1000 companies, featuring best practices of major companies. Analysis highlights (Sept 2024):
- Roughly half disclose the length of paid parental leave, with 26% providing at least 12 weeks of leave to primary caretakers (typically mothers) and 13% providing leave to secondary caretakers (typically fathers).
- Companies offer an average of 10.9 weeks of paid leave to primary caretakers and 7.9 weeks to secondary caretakers.
- Parity in parental leave between primary and secondary caretakers is rising, from 11.5% of firms in 2020 to 30.4% in 2023.
- Unlimited leave policies are rare but increasing.
- 32% offer some form of dependent care policy.
LEGO GROUP — Announced that it will tie a portion of bonuses for all salaried employees to emissions reduction goals. Carbon emissions from the company’s factories, stores, and offices, along with employees’ business travel emissions, will be tallied and compared to Lego’s production of blocks to produce a carbon-intensity metric that will help determine bonuses. (May 2024)
The Results Are In: The UK’s Four-Day Week Pilot (Autonomy) — Found that a four-day workweek improved worker wellbeing, with 39% of employees reporting less stress and 71% reporting reduced levels of burnout at the end of the trial. The pilot program consisted of around 2,900 workers at 61 companies, from June to December 2022, adopting a variety of methods to average 32 hours of work a week at 100% pay. The results showed that more than half of employees found it easier to balance work with other commitments (household jobs: 54%; care responsibilities: 60%; and social life: 62%). The time men spent caring for children more than doubled the increase of women (27% to 13%), suggesting a narrowing of the gender equality gap in care work. Company revenues rose 1.4% during the period, and were 35% greater than a similar period from previous years. Staff turnover also declined 57% during the trial. 92% of participating companies said they would continue with the four-day week. (Feb 2023)
Frontline Worker Well-Being in a Time of Crisis (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, with support from the Ford Foundation) — Explores how US food, beverage, and consumer staples companies have supported their frontline workers during the pandemic and recommends best practices for companies to better protect, attract, retain, and upskill their frontline workers. It analyzes how the crisis and the corporate response has impacted workers’ outlook on well-being, “worker voice,” and diversity, equity, and inclusion—particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) workers. (Feb 2022)
32 companies that have prioritized their workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
(e.g., by establishing safety practices, disclosing demographic details to drive racial equity, worker benefits)
have outperformed companies on the Russell 1000 by 8.6%, according to a JUST Capital
ranking of companies “leading for their workers” by industry. CEF members
BlackRock, Chevron, Comcast, Dow, Ford, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lockheed Martin, McKesson,
and Procter & Gamble are among the 32 companies featured. (Sept 2021)
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2021 Future of Benefits Study (The Hartford) — Analyzes
how the pandemic shifted attitudes around workplace culture, worker benefits, and mental health. Offers
potential future trends for employee benefits. (Aug 2021)
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The gender pay gap in the U.S. remained relatively stable in 2020 as it has over the past 15 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of full- and part-time workers.
In 2020, women earned 84% of what their male counterparts earned and would have to work an extra 42 days a year to make up the difference. (May 2021)
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Clean Jobs America 2021: After Hard Year, Promise of Unparalleled Jobs Growth (E2) — An annual review of clean energy occupation trends across the construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transmission and distribution, and professional services sectors. While the number of clean energy jobs in America fell for the first time in 2020 since 2015, clean energy remains the biggest job creator across America’s energy sector—employing nearly 3 times as many workers as fossil fuel extraction and generation.Median hourly wages for clean energy jobs are about 25% higher than the national median wage and pay better than most fossil fuel extraction jobs. (April 2021)
Wages, Benefits, and Change (NASEO, BW Research Partnership, and Energy Futures Initiative) — Reviews wages and benefits of US energy jobs as a supplemental report to the Annual U.S. Energy and Employment Report.
Finds 5 major energy technology sectors—Electric Power Generation, Fuels, Energy Efficiency, Motor Vehicles, and Transmission, Distribution, and Storage—employ more than 8.27 million workers, accounting for 5.4% of jobs in the United States.
Coal fuels sector employment declined by 18%, petroleum and natural gas fuels employment grew by almost 9%, and solar and wind power generation employment grew by 22%. (April 2021)
Employee Attitudes and Trends
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63% of respondents thought their employers were not doing enough to address climate change and sustainability, according to a Deloitte survey of 20,000 people across 20 countries. 39% said they would like their employers to speak publicly on climate change and environmental issues and 21% said they have considered switching jobs to work for a more sustainable company. 67% of respondents also said they believe that climate change is an emergency, and of those, 72% said they have changed their personal activities or purchase behaviors to help address climate change. (Jan 2025)
64% of finance leaders say their teams should play an important role in addressing ESG issues, up from 60% in 2023, according to a survey of over 2,000 senior finance leaders by U.S. Bank. More finance leaders also agree they are clear on the role the finance function can play in addressing ESG issues, growing from 51% in 2023 to 58% in 2024. 24% also reported that climate change risk is a top-three business risk, compared to 19% two years ago. (May 2024)
2023 Gen Z and Millennial Survey (Deloitte) — Surveys over 22,000 Gen Zs and Millennials across 44 countries on a variety of issues (financial concerns, work/life balance, mental health, and climate action). Key climate action findings include (May 2023):
- Climate change is a major concern for Gen Zs and Millennials, with 60% and 57%, respectively, saying they felt anxious about the environment over the past month;
- 69% of Gen Zs and 73% of Millennials report actively trying to minimize environmental impact;
- 50% of Gen Zs and 46% of Millennials say they and their colleagues are pressuring businesses to take action on climate change, up slightly from last year;
- 55% of Gen Zs and 54% of Millennials report researching brands’ environmental impacts before accepting a job and 42% of Gen Zs and 39% of Millennials report having changed jobs or industry due to climate concerns or plan to in the future;
- 15% of Gen Zs and 16% of Millennials report feeling able to influence their organizations’ sustainability efforts.
61% of respondents in the UK, and 73% of those under 30, say sustainability is an important factor in their choice of employer, with 19% of those under 30 saying it is even a top priority, according to the newest annual European Investment Bank Climate Survey. 54% of UK respondents also said they would be in favor of an annual carbon budget, constraining goods with big carbon footprints. (March 2023)
2023 Net Positive Employee Barometer (Paul Polman) — 66% of employees in the UK and 76% in the U.S. want to work for a company that has a positive impact on the world, according to a new survey of 4,000 workers in the U.S. and UK. Three-quarters of employees say companies should take responsibility for their impacts not just on employees and stakeholders but on the wider world. While employees are aware that companies are taking steps to address environmental and social problems, about two-thirds (68% in UK, 62% in U.S.) say current efforts do not go far enough. About half said they would consider resigning from their job if the values of the company did not align with their own values, and 35% in both countries said they have already resigned from a position for this reason, a number that rises significantly with Millennials and Gen Z (48% UK, 44% US). (Feb 2023)
The Planet Is Suffering: 82% of Global Workers Ready to Help, So What’s Stopping Them? (Salesforce) — More than 8 in 10 global workers want to help their company operate sustainably, and two-thirds want to integrate sustainability into their current role, finds a new survey of over 1,200 workers across 11 countries conducted by Salesforce. (Sept 2022)
- 3 in 5 employees doubt their companies will reach their sustainability goals in time.
- Workers also have little knowledge about these goals, with 53% unaware whether their company operates net zero.
- More workers desire better sustainability training, with 88% saying there’s too little investment in sustainability training, 67% saying they wish they had more sustainability-related qualifications
- 94% saying training existing employees would help build trust in companies’ sustainability commitments.
Special Report: Trust in the Workplace (Edelman) — This report, which surveyed 7,000 employees in 7 markets, found that while trust in NGOs, governments, and the media is declining, trust in business has declined the least (3%) and remains a robust 66% (compared to 58, 52, and 51% respectively). Trust for one’s own employer is particularly high, reaching 78% globally in September 2022. Within the workplace, trust is highest for co-workers (79%) and one’s manager (77%) and lower for the head of HR and CEO (69% each). Employer trust is highest in India (94%) and China (92%) and lowest in Japan (60%). (Sept 2022)
US energy workers believe energy companies are not walking the talk of their sustainability efforts, according to
The State of the U.S. Energy Industry Report by Axios, The Harris Poll, and Cognite.
68% believe their companies are not taking the proper steps to support their sustainability initiatives, and
85% desire more industry transparency around the challenges it is facing and the resources required to develop sustainable solutions. (May 2021)
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2021 Work Trend Index (Microsoft) — Examines trends shaping the future of a hybrid work world, based on a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries and an analysis of trillions of productivity and labor signals across Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn. Key findings (March 2021):
- Flexible work is here to stay
- Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call
- High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce
- Gen Z is at risk and will need to be re-energized
- Shrinking networks are endangering innovation
- Authenticity will spur productivity and wellbeing
- Talent is everywhere in a hybrid work world
Nearly 30% of workers do not feel safe and protected from COVID-19 at their workplace, according to a survey by JUST Capital and The Harris Poll, with support from the Ford Foundation. Workers were twice as likely to say management is only doing the minimum requirements to keep workers healthy and safe compared to employers (32% of workers vs. 14% of employers) and that workers’ health and safety were often set aside for the sake of profits (37% of workers vs. 19% of employers). (March 2021)
“2021 State of Employee Engagement” (WeSpire) finds employees are 50% less likely to leave their job if they feel their company is making a significant impact in the world. The report reviews employee experiences and opinions regarding the impact of the pandemic, racial justice and equity concerns, political divisions, and employer engagement. (March 2021)
“HP Workforce Sustainability Survey” (HP Inc., 2019) highlights the impact that sustainable business practices have on recruiting, hiring, and retaining top talent. Key findings included the following:
- 61% of survey participants believe business sustainability is mandatory.
- 58% said environmentally conscious practices are key to engaging future workforce.
- 46% said they would only work for companies with sustainable business practices.
- 56% believe that ignoring environmental impact in the workplace is as bad as ignoring diversity and inclusion.
Remote/Home Working & Sustainability
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Climate mitigation potentials of teleworking are sensitive to changes in lifestyle and workplace rather than ICT usage (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)) — Assesses the greenhouse gas emissions of remote work, including impacts from information and communication technology, commuting, noncommute travel, and office and residential energy use. The research, utilizing employee data from CEF member Microsoft, finds that, in the U.S., switching to working from home can reduce up to 58% of work’s carbon footprint, primarily through reduced office energy use. It also finds the impacts of IT usage are negligible, while commute and noncommute travel impacts are important. Partially working from home (2-4 days) can reduce emissions by 11-29%. However, working only 1 day/week at home reduces emissions by just 2%, due to offsetting factors such as increased noncommute travel. (Sept 2023)
Resources & Tools
Engaging Employees in Sustainability & ESG
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Climate Solutions at Work: Job Function Action Guides (Project Drawdown) — Provides guidance to help employees in common corporate roles take climate action in the workplace. These ten job-specific guides describe why specific skills are needed to address climate change, suggest actions to make a job a climate job and offer resources to get started. New guides include a Product Management Action Guide, a Product Design Action Guide, and an Engineering Action Guide. (Dec 2023)
Introduction to Sustainability in Business (WBCSD, Anthesis Group, and ERM)) — This online course provides learners with an understanding of sustainability and its scientific foundations, and how to effectively communicate sustainability’s importance within their organizations and communities. The course provides case studies, tools, and recommendations to support organizations’ sustainability efforts. (Dec 2023)
Green Skills Passport (EY and Microsoft) — This free online program helps learners aged 16 and over develop skills to find green jobs and pursue opportunities in the green economy. The 10-hour virtual course teaches participants about key topics, including sustainability, entrepreneurship, and skills for employment. On completion, participants get a certificate and access to a database of websites and resources to search for green jobs. (Oct 2023)
KPMG — In collaboration with Microsoft, KPMG launched the KPMG ESG Academy, aimed at delivering learning to businesses on a wide range of ESG topics and disciplines. Courses include content and lectures developed by ESG specialists from leading universities and institutions, in collaboration with KPMG sustainability subject matter professionals. (Sept 2023)
Blueprint for Climate Activism Policy (Business Declares) — Provides a blueprint for employers to create a policy for non-violent direct action climate protest for their employees, where employees undertake climate protest in an individual (not a company) capacity. This policy blueprint includes guidance on supporting employees with paid leave, bail support, and assurance that arrest will not affect employment status. (May 2023)
Climate literacy training for every budget — Trish Kenlon, Founder of Sustainable Career Pathways reviews a range of climate literacy courses and bootcamps, including by (1) cost, (2) time to complete, (3 training type), and (4) topics covered. (April 2023)
Net Zero School (AXA Climate) — As part of its Climate School, AXA Climate has launched a new digital decarbonization training course targeting professional service companies working with companies in emissions-intensive sectors. The course will help the professionals understand the carbon footprints, climate risks, and needs of the industries they work with, and provide actionable decarbonization levers. (Jan 2023)
Supply Chain Net Zero Academy (Boston Consulting Group) — This program addresses the skills and training gaps in reducing Scope 3 emissions and accelerating supply chain decarbonization. Courses are designed to upskill both suppliers and internal procurement teams on topics from climate fundamentals to deep decarbonization levers. (Jan 2023)
Climate Finance Course (CFA Institute and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) — This new digital course, designed to support business, finance and accounting professionals, provides an introduction to climate change and its related economic and environmental impacts, covering key concepts such as carbon pricing, climate risk and opportunities, and investment analysis. (Nov 2022)
Drawdown Labs Job Function Action Guides — Project Drawdown released seven Job Function Action Guides highlighting specific, high-impact climate actions employees in common corporate professions can take at work.
These include:
finance; government relations and public policy; human resources and operations; legal; marketing; procurement; and sales and client-facing roles. Each guide includes why these roles are needed in addressing climate change; tangible actions that can be taken within these roles; and key considerations and resources to help take action. (Oct 2022)
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Eight Principles for Effective and Inviting Climate Communication (Rare, with contributions from Behavioral Insights Team and Potential Energy Coalition) — Provides behavioral science-based guidance for talking or writing about climate action in ways that will resonate with a wide audience. (July 2022)
- Make it about people. Connect climate-related issues to tangible effects on people’s lives.
- Use accessible, conversational language and creative framing.
- Focus on solutions to leave people feeling empowered.
- Meet people where they are in terms of making action requests feel achievable and impactful.
- Make it collective, emphasizing that solving the climate crisis is an all-hands-on deck challenge, that everyone has a meaningful role to play.
- Reinforce the idea that climate action is normal and popular. Most people feel more comfortable joining established, socially accepted movements.
- Feature movement leaders that are highly relatable to the audience—“normal” people enthused about the work. Using celebrities, academics, and other luminaries can create the impression of a high bar for making a difference.
- Focus on commonly shared understandings and implications of climate issues rather than potentially divisive elements. Take a “big tent” approach.
Employee Carbon Management Solution
(WeSpire) — A new suite of tools
developed in conjunction with Cox Enterprises and South Pole
to
help companies measure, lower, and report on employee carbon emissions at home as well as the office. The suite offers “prescribed steps” so employees can “make continual, progressive carbon emission reductions over time through curated actions, based in behavioral science, rather than immediately go to offsetting.” South Pole’s carbon-offsetting capability is also embedded in the solution. (Jan 2022)
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Drawdown Labs—Project Drawdown’s private-sector consortium for scaling net-zero solutions—released a
new guide to
help all “climate-concerned employees” apply their skills to the climate crisis and hold their company accountable for climate action.
“Climate Solutions at Work: Unleashing your employee power”
highlights
job functions with “untapped potential to drive climate action” and opportunities for employees to push their company “beyond net zero.” The Drawdown Labs consortium includes CEF members
Google and
Trane Technologies. (Oct 2021)
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“Words That Work: Effective Language In Sustainability” (Radley Yeldar) identifies what doesn’t work in communicating on sustainability and offers practical principles for improving sustainability writing. The report was informed through interviews with sustainability professionals (from brands that include Unilever, Daimler, and Innocent) and academics in the field and in-depth quantitative analysis of Forbes 50 Most Valuable Brands’ sustainability communications. (March 2021)
Project InsideOut (Dr. Renée Lertzman) —
Offers tools, processes and experiences to help sustainability practitioners think differently about the work they we do and to evolve the way stakeholders are guided to take action. The resource hub is led by climate psychologist, researcher, and strategist Dr. Renée Lertzman.
GreenBiz article for more info.
Sustainability at Home (Salesforce) —
Provides suggestions to make working from home more sustainable, covering various topical areas, including: energy, water, food, waste, nature, and productivity and wellbeing.
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CEF Member Spotlight
- CEF video interview with founder and lead of Microsoft's global employee-led sustainability network, Drew Wilkinson. Password (case sensitive): CEF2021. You may share this with colleagues internally, but please do not post anywhere publicly. (April 2021)
- Blog post: Make Sustainability Part of Everybody's Job by Drew Wilkinson (February 2022)
Member recommended climate/sustainability education programs and platforms:
- The Climate Reality Project’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps. This activist-inspired community, founded by Al Gore, provides live broadcasts, panel workshops, networking meetups, and skill-building sessions – all taking place online and led by renowned experts, scientists, and activists.
- ClimateFresk. This 3hr workshop teaches the fundamental science behind climate change.
- Climatebase Fellowship. CBF is a selective climate career accelerator for professionals looking to acquire practical, industry-relevant knowledge across a range of critical climate sectors: Energy, Nature-Based Solutions, Food & Ag, Carbon Removal, Transportation, and beyond. Cohorts learn from domain experts through interactive speaking sessions and panels, group discussions, and hands-on project-based work. Upon graduation, Fellows showcase their talent and knowledge by presenting their capstone projects and products on Demo Day to an audience of employers and investors.
- Climate Club. Online platform to drive sustainability and Net Zero outcomes across every employee, team and department. Includes role-relevant plans tailored to every employee, 24/7 real-time visibility into sustainability performance, and Integrated data for compliance and reporting.
- Coursera learnings. Offers training and development programs developed by top universities and companies.
- Drawdown 101. The free course, presented in video units and in-depth conversations, combines Project Drawdown’s trusted resources with the expertise of several inspiring voices from around the world. Focused solely on climate solutions.
- Drawdown Labs Job Function Action Guides. Seven Job Function Action Guides highlighting specific, high-impact climate actions employees in common corporate professions can take at work. These include: finance; government relations and public policy; human resources and operations; legal; marketing; procurement; and sales and client-facing roles. Each guide includes why these roles are needed in addressing climate change; tangible actions that can be taken within these roles; and key considerations and resources to help take action
- Earth 51. This certification course follows a self-paced format giving individuals the freedom to complete the course in their own time. One tree is planted for every hour spent learning.
- GreenBiz, Leading the Sustainability Transformation Professional Certificate Program. A simulation-based program that allows participants to learn in a realistic environment alongside teammates worldwide. “Geared towards middle management.”
- Kite Insights’ Climate School. A sustainability education program that equips employees with the knowledge, motivation and tools to transform organizations for a climate-friendly future. Includes a range of complementary live and virtual workshops, webinars and masterclasses.
- LinkedIn Learning. Expert-led courses on Sustainability
- SustHub. They supply targeted masterclass sessions geared towards senior management, executive leadership, and board members.
- UN Global Compact Academy. All employees of companies participating in the UN Global Compact have unlimited access to the Academy.
Podcasts: Climate Report, ESG Insider, Net Zero Podcast, and Planet Money.
Skill Building
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The Corporate Role in Inclusive STEM Education Opportunities (Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC)) — This white paper, sponsored by CEF member BASF, explores how companies can prepare the next generation of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals by developing inclusive learning opportunities based around conservation concepts and utilizing corporate conservation projects as sites of learning (such as forest and prairie habitats and pollinator gardens). The paper explores several case studies of initiatives led by ten companies, including CEF members General Motors and WM. (Feb 2023)
Algorithmic Bias Safeguards for Workforce (the Data & Trust Alliance) — A new set of criteria and educational resources to help companies in the alliance “mitigate data and algorithmic bias” in HR and workforce decisions, and evaluate vendors’ “commitment to algorithmic safety.” 13 companies in the alliance will adopt the Safeguards, including CEF members General Motors, Mastercard, and Meta. (Dec 2021)
Just Skills Hub (SkillLab, UN High-Level Champions for Global Climate Action)
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A new hub that will “collect worker-generated data to develop pathways for workers in declining jobs and equip workers with the skills for a green economy.” The creators also aim to inform businesses and policymakers with the skills pathways so they can support the transition. (Nov 2021)
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Behavior Change
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"How Google Got Its Employees to Eat Their Vegetables"
(Medium, Feb 2020)
Employee Health and Wellbeing
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Healthy People, Healthy Business (WBCSD) — This new report, developed with 23 WBCSD member companies, shows how businesses worldwide can pragmatically build health and wellbeing into their everyday operations across functions and geographies. This includes enabling a culture of health and wellbeing in the workplace; enabling healthy consumer lifestyles; building resilient and accessible healthcare systems, and accelerating action on climate, nature, and equity. The report includes examples of member companies making changes across these intervention points. (Nov 2022)
"Healthy People, Healthy Business: Embedding a culture of employee health and wellbeing" (WBCSD, Deloitte) — A new, first-of-its-kind resource to help businesses “implement programs that ensure the highest standards” of employee health, safety, and well-being. It outlines priority actions and a five-step process for implementation, including performance evaluation and identifying key levers to drive change. (Jan 2022)
Collaboration & Initiatives
Count Us In Employee Challenge — Nine companies with over 480,000 employees, including CEF member Bloomberg, joined the challenge and committed to encouraging their employees “to commit to meaningful, personal actions that work towards global net-zero goals.” The challenge aims to engage 100 million employees by 2025. (Dec 2021)
Care Economy Business Council — A new coalition of over 200 businesses advocating for comprehensive US care infrastructure and workplace policies to help people, particularly women, reenter the workforce. Led by advocacy organization Time’s Up, companies engaged include JPMorgan Chase and McDonald’s. (May 2021)
Second Chance Business Coalition — A cross-sector coalition of 29 large US employers committed to expanding second chance hiring and advancement practices for people with criminal records. Co-chaired by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Eaton CEO Craig Arnold, members include Bank of America, Cisco, GM, JPMorgan & Chase, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Microsoft, P&G, PepsiCo, and Visa. (May 2021)