June 1, 2024 Comments are off kellen
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GEMI Announces Creation of “Building a Scope 3 Program, A GEMI Quick Guide”

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2024, The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI), an organization that has for over 30 years provided a forum for cross-sector companies and associations to work collaboratively and effectively to address Environment, Health & Safety and Sustainability management solutions, announced today the development of “Building a Scope 3 Program, A GEMI Quick Guide.”

“The decarbonization of business operations is a major focus of companies committed to environmental sustainability, and in order to meet objectives that have been set by responsible companies, you can’t meet those goals without addressing the carbon emissions of suppliers within our value chains,” said Becky Hensley, GEMI Co-Chair, and Senior Manager, Sustainability, CSX.  She continued: “This quick guide is intended as a guidance and solutions document, it is not prescriptive on what or how a company should address Scope 3 issues, but it outlines a Framework for a Scope 3 Program, addresses key governance issues, and empowers and supports companies, wherever they are in their sustainability journey.”

Brooke Wynn, GEMI Co-Chair, and Senior Director, Sustainability, Smithfield Foods, added, “The GEMI Scope 3 Quick Guide outlines a Nine Step process that can help companies create their own Scope 3 decarbonization program.”  She continued, “Addressing carbon reductions strategies within a company’s supply chain and value chain is hard work, but we recognize the importance of disclosing, reducing, and be transparent about carbon emissions.”  “This tool, and the insights, case studies and reference materials, including GEMI’s Scope 3 Engagement Matrix located in Appendix A, and Progress Through Action – Decarbonizing the Value Chain in Appendix B, recognize the important role that collaborations, both internal and external, play in a successful Scope 3 decarbonization strategies,” she added.

“I want to recognize and thank the members of GEMI’s Scope 3 Work Group that developed this GEMI Quick Guide, and the case studies, and to acknowledge and thank Natalie Pryde, Founder and CEO, PrydESGroup, for the expertise, leadership and guidance that she provided in the development of this new tool,” said Steve Hellem, Executive Director, GEMI.  He continued, “GEMI has always been an organization committed to EH&S and Environmental Sustainability leadership and supporting companies and organizations as they work collaboratively to develop and implement solutions to the challenges faced by our member companies and organizations. This new Quick Guide adds to the library of Tools and Quick Guides that have been developed since GEMI’s founding in 1992.”

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For over 30 years, GEMI has captured the vision and experience of corporate EH&S and environmental sustainability leaders through the development of a wide range of tools and deliverables designed to help companies improve the environment and provide business value. Present members of GEMI and its Work Groups include: American Chemistry Council; Bristow Group Inc.; ConocoPhillips; CSX; FedEx; FMI – The Food Industry Association; Gannett Fleming; Nexus Circular; Plastics Industry Association; SEE; SLB; Smithfield Foods; The Fertilizer Institute; Tyson Foods; Verdesian; and, Woodard & Curran.

For more information about GEMI please visit GEMI’s website at www.gemi.org

May 9, 2024 Comments are off kellen
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GEMI Elects New Board of Director Members and Co-Chairs

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI), an organization that has for over 30 years provided a forum for cross-sector companies and associations to work collaboratively and effectively to address Environment, Health & Safety and Sustainability management solutions, announced today the election of new members of the GEMI Board of Directors, and the election of Co-Chairs for 2024.

GEMI’s new members of the Board of Directors include Rebecca (Becky) Hensley, Senior Manager, Sustainability, CSX Corporation; Brooke Wynn, Senior Director, Sustainability, Smithfield Foods; and, Tanis Marquette, Senior Vice-President and Sustainability & ESG Practice Leader, Woodard & Curran who join Myra Hughes Foster, Vice President, Sustainability, Innovation & Strategy, SEE on the Board. In addition, Becky Hensley and Brooke Wynn have been elected as Co-Chairs of GEMI.

“I am very pleased to welcome the new members of the GEMI Board, and the two Co-Chairs of GEMI,” said Mark Johnson Senior Vice President Director — Private Sector Services, Gannett Fleming, Inc. He continued, “I have been pleased to Chair GEMI since 2020, and am delighted that Becky and Brooke, will become Co-Chairs, and will be joined by Myra and Tanis on the GEMI Board of Directors.”

In a joint statement, Becky Hensley and Brooke Wynn expressed how pleased they were to become the Co-Chairs of GEMI and thanked Mark Johnson for his many years of serving on the Board of Directors, and his leadership as GEMI Chair, for four years, and wished him well on his retirement. “GEMI’s member companies and associations are global leaders in developing insights and creating effective collaborative sustainability solutions for business. GEMI members have always been committed to environmental and economic progress, and that commitment continues in GEMI’s Four Current Work Groups that include: Environmental Sustainability Leadership; Scope 3; Contaminated Plastics; and, the Trade Association Sustainability Forum,” said Hensley and Wynn.

They continued, “GEMI has always been an organization committed to EH&S and Environmental Sustainability leadership and supporting companies and organizations as they work collaboratively to develop and implement solutions to the challenges faced by our member companies and organizations.”

“On behalf of the members of GEMI, I want to thank Mark Johnson for his leadership and support of GEMI. It has been a pleasure to work with him as a Board Member and Chair,” said Steve Hellem, GEMI’s Executive Director.

For over 30 years, GEMI has captured the vision and experience of corporate EH&S and environmental sustainability leaders through the development of a wide range of tools and deliverables designed to help companies improve the environment and provide business value. Present members of GEMI and its Work Groups include: American Chemistry Council; Bristow Group Inc.; ConocoPhillips; CSX; FedEx; FMI — The Food Industry Association; Gannett Fleming; Nexus Circular; Plastics Industry Association; SEE; SLB; Smithfield Foods; The Fertilizer Institute; Tyson Foods; Verdesian; and, Woodard & Curran.

March 18, 2021 Comments are off kellen
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GEMI Announces Mark Johnson as Chair of Board of Directors for 2021

Washington, DC. The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) has announced Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President and Director Private Sector Services, Gannett Fleming, Inc., as the Chair of GEMI’s Board of Directors for 2021.

Mark Johnson

“I am honored to serve as GEMI’s Chair in 2021” said Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President and Director Private Sector Services, Gannett Fleming, Inc.  “GEMI provides a unique forum for corporate sustainability leaders to work together to develop actionable solutions to current and emerging business challenges.  I am looking forward to working together with the leaders of this organization to advance the future of sustainable business, and help other businesses to prepare and lead their sustainability programs through an increasingly complex and disruptive future.“

In recent years, GEMI worked with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) to explore various external drivers of change that are likely to challenge companies as they strive to meet their business and sustainability goals over the next decade and beyond, culminating in the publication of the GEMI Future Forces That Will Disrupt Sustainable Business report in March 2020. 

Over the next year, GEMI will be working to advance action on key insights gained through that process through a new Sustainable Disruption Project, while continuing its work to identify new solutions for recycling of food contaminated plastics through a Contaminated Plastics project, as well as its long-term mission of developing tools and resources to help companies improve the environment, their operations and add business value.

“Building on the learnings of last year’s Future Forces report, GEMI looks forward to working with Mark Johnson to bring corporate sustainability leaders from across sectors together to identify, understand and develop strategies to prepare for a wide range of possible future global disruptions that may challenge short to mid-term business sustainability goals, while creating new opportunities for leading organizations to position themselves for greater resiliency and success in the long-term,” said Steve Hellem, GEMI’s Executive Director.

Gannett Fleming has been a collaborator of GEMI since the early 2000s and joined GEMI as a full member in 2015. Mark Johnson was first elected to GEMI’s Board in 2016 as Communications Chair before being elevated to the role of Vice-Chair in 2018, and Chair in 2021.

As a partner to GEMI’s Water Sustainability Work Group in the 2000s, Mark Johnson and his team at Gannett Fleming lead the development of GEMI’s Collecting the Drops: A Water Sustainability Planner tool. The web-based tool is tailored for facility managers or owners and guides them through the process of assessing water use and impacts from their operations. 

In 2016 GEMI again partnered with Mark’s team at Gannett Fleming on the development of an ISO 14001:2015 Self-Assessment Checklist, which has become one of the organization’s most highly downloaded tools in the years since.  The Excel checklist is designed to improve facility managers’ understanding of the requirements and elements of the environmental management system outlined in the ISO 14001:2015 international standard.

“Mark and his team at Gannett Fleming have partnered with GEMI on a range of environmental sustainability projects over the past two decades, and we look forward to continuing to work together in advancing collaborative solutions to the range of new sustainability challenges and opportunities that will be impacting business over the years to come”, said Steve Hellem.

About GEMI 

GEMI (www.gemi.org) is a global leader in developing insights, networking, and creating collaborative sustainability solutions for business. For over 25 years, GEMI has captured the vision and experience of global corporate environmental, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability leaders from diverse business sectors through the development of a wide range of publicly-available, solutions-based tools designed to help companies improve the environment, their operations and add business value.   GEMI member companies and project supporters include organizations such as, ConocoPhillips, The Davey Tree Expert Company, Dell, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, FedEx Corp, FMI – The Food Industry Association, Gannett Fleming, JBS USA, Sealed Air Corporation, Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, Waste Management and Winpak.

January 15, 2019 Comments are off kellen
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GEMI Launches New Project to Look Ten Years Ahead at External Future Forces That Will Disrupt the Business of Sustainability

The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) today announced the launch of a new project focused on External Future Forces That Will Disrupt the Business of Sustainability, in collaboration with the Institute for the Future (IFTF).

In 2007, GEMI worked with IFTF to create a 10-year custom forecast focused on external future forces likely to disrupt sustainability. The forecast was quite accurate and it gave GEMI project members unusual foresight that contributed to their business strategy.

Now, GEMI and IFTF are partnering again to look another ten years ahead at a very different future in a very different world. In this world, it is too late to have just a sustainability strategy. Now, companies must have a strategy that melds sustainability and business. The project will focus on this research question: ‘Over the next ten years, what four or five external future forces are most likely to disrupt the business of sustainability for companies, the industry, and society at large?’

“Through this project, GEMI and IFTF have committed to work together to develop a new custom forecast that will point a ten-year lens on external future forces—including both threats and opportunities—that will disrupt sustainability, with a focus on business choices and business strategy,” said Bill Gill, AVP Sustainability, Smithfield Foods, and GEMI’s Chair.

“Our goal for the project is to use foresight to awaken, engage, and drive change in the present. Urgent future disruptions are looming and this project will provide the grounding to engage with and win through the most important external future forces,” said Bob Johansen, Distinguished Fellow, IFTF.

Current GEMI member companies and project participants committed to participate in this project include: American Forest & Paper Association, Carnival Corp & plc, CBRE, ConocoPhillips, Dell, The Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil Chemical, FedEx Corp, Gannett Fleming, Ingersoll Rand, Lockheed Martin, SABIC, Schlumberger, Sealed Air, Smithfield Foods and Waste Management.

To learn more about this GEMI project and opportunities for participation as either a GEMI member or non-member project participant, please contact Kellen Mahoney.

About GEMI 

GEMI (www.gemi.org) is a global leader in developing insights, networking, and creating collaborative sustainability solutions for business. For 25 years, GEMI has captured the vision and experience of global corporate environmental, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability leaders from diverse business sectors through the development of a wide range of publicly-available, solutions-based tools designed to help companies improve the environment, their operations and add business value.

About Institute for the Future 

Institute for the Future is the world’s leading futures thinking organization. For over 50 years, businesses, governments, and social impact organizations have depended upon IFTF global forecasts, custom research, and foresight training to navigate complex change and develop world-ready strategies. IFTF methodologies and toolsets yield coherent views of transformative possibilities across all sectors that together support a more sustainable future. Institute for the Future is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.