Sustainability Roundtable, Inc.

Through Sustainability Roundtable, Inc.’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB), seven world-leading companies have signed an aggregated virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Southern Company for the renewable energy credits produced by the 180 MW Phase II portion of the Millers Branch Solar Facility in Haskell County, Texas. This long-term procurement enables the financing and development of the 180 MW solar project owned by SPC, and the project is expected to achieve commercial operation in the second quarter of 2026. Cisco, Juniper Networks, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Cadence Design Systems, IDEXX, PTC, and a large healthcare company joined this agreement, which democratizes access to the commercial and environmental benefits of utility-scale renewable energy by making procurement accessible to a broader range of enterprises. This aggregation is one of the largest peer-buyer organized aggregations to date globally. Today's announcement reflects the fact that the NZCB has achieved 86% of its goal of causing a gigawatt of new renewable energy capacity before 2025. Reaching NZCB’s gigawatt goal would generate enough energy to meet the annual average electricity needs of more than 200,000 U.S. homes while helping mitigate commercial Scope 2 emissions across the business operations of corporate buyers. This transaction demonstrates how the NZCB offers a breakthrough model for commercial collaboration in causing utility-scale renewables, beginning in North America and Europe. 

CEO & Founder James Boyle, CFO & Senior Advisor David Osborn, and Director of Research & Advisory Services Jeff Meltzer are in San Jose this week for VERGE24. As longtime supporters of the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), our team especially looks forward to engaging with fellow CEBA members on accelerating effective, attainable corporate renewable energy procurement. Topics top of mind for our team at the conference include: 🌟Why we must center Purchaser-Caused Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) to protect the credibility of the global EAC market 🌟How VPPA 2.0 provides a new climate finance mechanism for companies with modest, dispersed energy loads to cause new renewable energy capacity, feasibly 🌟 Why we’re celebrating the Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB)’s tremendous progress toward its goal to cause 1 GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2025, which we're delivering under budget and ahead of schedule Care to join this evening's celebration of the NZCB's momentous 1 GW milestone? Sustainability executives and those responsible for decarbonization at operating companies are invited to request an invitation: https://lu.ma/f06i9xfh #VERGE24 #CEBA #VPPA2

This week, SR Inc Member-Clients EMD Electronics and Biogen, members of the Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB), attended the ribbon cutting of Liberty Solar near Houston. Robert Hoffman, Head of Sourcing, Site Operations, and Logistics at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany attended to celebrate EMD Electronics' 40-MW offtake of the MISO Texas solar development. Michael Cheney, Head of Engineering and Facilities, and Kathleen Woodward, Director of EHS and Interim Sustainability Lead at Biogen, attended to celebrate their 20-megawatt offtake. Liberty Solar is the latest of NZCB’s Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) 2.0 procurements to reach commercialization. Its 100-MW capacity, fully contracted by the NZCB, will bring renewable energy to a grid where solar currently composes a low proportion of the resource mix. Our congratulations to Autodesk, Biogen, EMD Electronics, Wayfair, and other buyers for causing new utility-scale renewable energy. We’re proud to facilitate your decarbonization leadership as you center purchaser causation in your clean energy procurement. Thanks to Recurrent Energy bringing this project online ahead of schedule! Learn more about the project in the transaction’s original press release from 2023. #CleanEnergy #VPPA2.0 #PurchaserCausedEAC #RenewableEnergy #EnergyTransition

Can we center human dignity in response to climate breakdown? Faith Taylor, SVP of Sustainability, ESG, & Impact at Kyndryl, will address this question as the keynote speaker of our Sustainable Business and Enterprise Roundtable (SBER)’s Summit for Sustainable Business VIII: Decarbonizing Corporate Global Operations. In her talk, “Dignity First Leadership: Developing and Driving a World Class Sustainability Strategy,” Faith will discuss: 💡Her leadership journey 💡Kyndryl’s sustainability advancements 💡How SBER Member Executives and the Member-Client companies they represent might dare to provide the Dignity-First Leadership that the Fourth Industrial Revolution demands Returning to the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C., Summit VIII is the premiere executive summit for decarbonizing corporate global operations across Scopes 1, 2, & 3. What makes it different? Summit VIII focuses on collaboration. Invitation-only and vendor-free, it sets the corporate decarbonization agenda for 2025 and beyond. On December 5 & 6, participants will receive and discuss SBER Executive Guidance & Tools on decarbonization and preparation for global mandatory reporting globally. Actionable and proven, these insights are available nowhere else, at any price. SBER Summit VIII is for SBER Member Executives. However, executives at operating companies responsible for decarbonizing corporate global operations are encouraged to request an invitation. https://lnkd.in/eMAVJzeY #SBERSummitVIII2024 #DecarbCorpOps #CSRDCompliance24

Join SR Inc and our Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB) at the world’s largest gathering of renewable energy buyers! CEO & Chairman James Boyle, CFO & Senior Advisor David Osborn, and Manager of Research & Advisory Services Julia Rothfield are in Amsterdam this week for RE-Source Platform's #RESource2024. They’re excited to represent NZCB, a confidential renewable energy buyers’ community that enables enterprises to chart a profitable path to Net Zero emissions globally. SR Inc Members have made NZCB the leading transaction platform for corporate aggregated procurement of utility-scale renewable energy in North America and Europe. Reach out to Jim, David, or Julia to learn more about: 🌟VPPA 2.0, SR Inc’s new climate finance mechanism that democratizes utility-scale renewable energy 🌟Purchaser-caused energy attribute certificates ( PC EACs), which protect the credibility of the global EAC market by distinguishing energy procurements that actually cause new renewable energy capacity 🌟SR Inc’s Gigawatt Party next week at #VERGE24, where NZCB will celebrate its tremendous progress towards its goal of causing 1 GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2025 We hope to see you there! Meanwhile, learn more about PC EACs: https://lnkd.in/ef5Y_tyG #RESource2024 #VPPA2.0 #VPPAs

What an insightful three days at the ESG in Life Sciences conference! It was great to catch up with SR Inc Member-Clients Biogen, Sonic Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Takeda and to speak with decarbonization leaders from across the Life Sciences field. What did SR Inc hear most discussed at the conference? According to Sebastian Weir, Manager of Membership Development, trends included: 1. Health equity, particularly the affordability and accessibility of care, is the foremost material topic for all ESG programs in the Life Sciences sectors. 2. Despite frequent C-Suite support, many executives feel Life Sciences is behind on progress compared to other industries. While some of that difficulty may be variable between subsectors (for example, MedTech or Healthcare may struggle more than BioTech or Pharma), one challenge prompting that slower-than-desired acceleration may be the search for decarbonization solutions that deliver the impact needed with the resources available. 3. Thanks to their massively complex, often overlapping supply chains, collaboration is crucial for Life Sciences decarbonization. By joining forces, suppliers and customers can coordinate their outreach efforts to meet their shared decarbonization goals -- reducing customer and supplier emissions to abate Scope 3 emissions without frittering limited time and resources on duplicative efforts. James Boyle, CEO and Chairman, took the stage to explain VPPA 2.0, SR Inc’s new climate finance mechanism. VPPA 2.0 enables companies to band together to cause new renewable energy capacity with better terms, lower risk, and higher feasibility than any could manage alone. Whether undertaken in collaboration with enterprises in other industries or in partnership with customers and suppliers within the Life Sciences, VPPA 2.0 offers the attainable emissions mitigation that sustainability programs need. Many thanks to the organizers for this constructive event! And many thanks to the Member Executives and selected guests who joined us at Le Petit Robert, the classic South End bistro, for an invigorating post-event discussion that warded off the autumn chill. #LifeSciences #Sustainability #CleanEnergy #VPPA2

We’re excited to celebrate the tremendous progress made by SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers towards its ambitious goal of enabling SR Inc Member-Clients to cause a gigawatt of new renewable energy capacity by 2025. Next week at Verge 24, SR Inc Member-Clients will gather at San Jose Hilton’s al fresco Secco Patio for a vivacious evening of valuable networking, hearty passed hors d’oeuvres and complimentary beverage service. NZCB democratizes utility-scale clean energy, enabling buyers to cause new renewable energy capacity through our aggregated, auditable, reverse-auction procurement process. In San Jose, we’ll celebrate the remarkable efforts of SR Inc Member-Clients including Akamai Technologies, Biogen, Cisco, Intuit, MilliporeSigma, Synopsys Inc, Teradyne, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Uber, Wayfair, and more than a dozen others. We are proud to work with such impressive decarbonization leaders! This event is invite-only. To learn more about SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers and our VPPA 2.0 model, please contact Sebastian Weir at Sebastian.Weir@sustainround.com. #CleanEnergy #VERGE24 #VPPAs #VPPA2.0

Kimberly Warner-Cohen’s article in Solar Industry Magazine explains how VPPA 2.0 democratizes utility-scale clean energy procurement for companies like Akamai Technologies. SR Inc congratulates Akamai on their 30-MW offtake, part of the 135-MW clean energy procurement coordinated through SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB). By amalgamating the clean energy needs of companies like Akamai Technologies, Teradyne, and Wayfair, the NZCB extends the accessibility of this gold-standard decarbonization strategy through our new transaction, VPPA 2.0. “Akamai has led the way in innovative renewable energy projects since 2018, when we were a part of the United States’ first corporate aggregated VPPA – a game-changing approach for smaller renewable energy buyers. Today we are proud to continue that legacy by participating in this solar aggregation located in a very carbon-intensive grid,” said Mike Mattera, Akamai’s Director of Sustainability. Read more on Solar Industry 📰

We’re excited to attend the Sustainable Brands flagship this year, where innovation meets sustainability. SR Inc has spent over 15 years partnering with Fortune 500 and global growth companies to help leaders set ambitious sustainability goals, drive progress, and deliver results. At the conference, we look forward to exploring the latest innovations across technology, materials science, supply chain management, and more. We’re committed to investigating how these advancements can fuel sustainable business growth, enhance brand value, and create lasting environmental and social impact. Will you be attending #SB24SanDiego? Please reach out to Anna Whitney to connect at the event. #Sustainability #InnovativeSolutions #BreakthroughInnovation

We're thrilled to welcome Brianna Jefferson as our newest Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable Analyst! Brianna joins with abundant sustainability experience. Academically, she earned her Master’s in Environment and Sustainability Management from Georgetown and her Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies with distinction from Yale, where she minored in Energy and French. (She also furthers the SR Inc athletic roster, having captained the Varsity Squash team!) Professionally, she served as a Capstone Consultant at Flow Environmental Systems, where she assisted with their total addressable market analysis and conducted research on the health and environmental impacts of PFAS. She also interned in investment banking and sustainable agriculture, focusing on global food systems. She’s excited to apply her academic and professional sustainability experience to her role as a Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable Analyst. Brianna will support Member-Clients with decarbonization roadmaps, renewable energy strategies, sustainability reporting, and other outsourced program assistance while contributing to SBER’s best practice guidance and tools with the Research & Content function. Welcome, Brianna! We’re glad you’re here and can’t wait to work together. #Sustainability #Team #SBER