Innovation funds and labs have long been in practice. Private companies have used various vehicles to spark innovation and incubate new products or services for decades. Today we’re watching as environmental challenges become more severe, urgent and prolific. Pressure is on to find solutions and deploy them more quickly than ever before. We must take […]

The godmother of the environmental justice movement speaks out

This year, financial institutions must make a significant leap forward on climate – from pledges to progress. Even amidst a global pandemic, 2020 proved that climate finance and ESG are more than passing fads, with net-zero financed emissions commitments from Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and a group of 30 international asset managers – Net Zero […]

Why environmental justice is crucial for today's climate careers

How to land a sustainability J-O-B!

Why employees are key for a hopeful future

Great reads and listens: Inspiration from the Degrees team

In the earliest weeks of the pandemic, I, like millions of others, struggled with feelings of dread, powerlessness, and anxiety. I’ve been working in the corporate sustainability space for nearly 25 years, and during that fateful week of March 9th, 2020 (when the world as we know it forever changed), I couldn’t help but worry […]

From nutritional value, how and where food is produced, to the harmful chemicals that could be lurking within — consumers today are increasingly concerned about their food. Despite some encouraging progress on transparency and labeling, toxic chemicals are still getting into our food, primarily from food contact materials such as packaging and handling equipment. Fortunately, […]

Even in this unprecedented and challenging landscape, companies are setting ambitious net zero climate goals. That’s because they increasingly realize the risks posed by climate change and the need for – and business benefits of – bold and immediate action.  At the same time, stakeholder pressure to lead on climate is surging. Yet despite this encouraging […]

Boma Brown West is leading the charge to make the food we eat and the products we buy safer, healthier and free of toxic chemicals.

Note: this is the second installment of a dialogue Q&A series with private equity investors following a methane summit EDF recently hosted for portfolio companies of EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG) and Quantum Energy Partners. In his comments at EDF’s recent Private Equity Methane Summit, EIG President Randy Wade said, “We as an industry and […]

Cynthia Shih is the climate change activist and Director of Knowledge at mckinsey.org who's helping to redefine what recycling means for the 21st century.

Jeff Kirschner is the founder and CEO of Litterati, the crowdsourcing app that has helped people all over the world clean up more than 6 million pieces of litter to date.

Companies have long been labeling products with terms like natural or clean that call their attention to greener and safer choices. But what do these claims actually mean? Unless verified certifications are used, attempts by brands to help shoppers find sustainable products can often make it more confusing. Personally, I want to go into a […]

I consider myself “one of the lucky ones,” because my career is aligned with my personal values. I get to go to work (or to my living room, for the time being) and spend my days trying to make the world a better place. Millennials, myself included, and Gen Zers are more concerned about climate […]

Chris Castro joined the City of Orlando as the Director of Sustainability and Resilience in 2016, but his title doesn’t even begin to capture Chris’s drive to fight climate change and environmental injustice. In just a few years, he’s helped start solar co-ops. He’s increased electric vehicle adoption. And he’s helped low-income residents invest in […]

Steph Speirs is right in the middle of one of the most critical challenges of our time: the quest to move our energy economy away from fossil fuels and into systems that are clean, equitable, and renewable. Steph is the CEO and co-founder of Solstice, a dynamic startup that is bringing solar energy to the […]

EDF recently hosted a virtual summit for private equity firms Quantum Energy Partners and EIG Global Energy Partners to engage their portfolio companies, which include more than 50 producer and midstream companies on the business importance of methane mitigation. Wil VanLoh, CEO of Quantum, a firm with over $17 billion in capital, explained that environmental […]

This year we witnessed a flurry of ambitious corporate climate pledges. Included in the mix, were a handful of nature-based climate solutions, like reducing deforestation and investing in forest restoration, which are gaining traction as ways for companies to meet climate goals. Growing private sector climate and deforestation commitments show that the ambition is there. […]