Scott Tew - Center for Energy Efficiency & Sustainability at Trane Technologies
Release Date: 09/26/2023
Allison Berg - North America Sustainability Manager, Paper & Packaging at DS Smith
Sustainable Nation
Allison Berg is sustainability manager for DS Smith North America, where she manages the delivery of the company’s Now & Next Sustainability Strategy, which focuses on closing the sustainability loop through better design, protecting natural resources by making the most of every fiber, reducing waste and pollution through circular solutions and equipping people to lead the transition to a circular economy. Allison is passionate about bringing positive change to communities who are underserved and are directly impacted by climate change. Allison Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: ...
info_outline
Lisen Wirén and Pia Heidenmark Cook - Embedding Sustainability
Sustainable Nation
Lisen Wirén is a sustainable business leader with over 15 years of industry experience. Her extensive background includes tackling labour migration and human rights issues in South East Asia and advancing sustainability in product design and working with social entrepreneurship. Her leadership led IKEA to win the most sustainable retailer award and a nomination for Wirén for the prestigious Sustainability Manager of the Year award in the Netherlands. Key to her approach is the seamless integration of sustainability into every function and team to reach the set organizational goals. She is...
info_outline
Mary Jane Melendez - Chief Sustainability and Global Impact Officer at General Mills
Sustainable Nation
Mary Jane currently serves as Chief Sustainability and Global Impact Officer at General Mills. She has reshaped global sustainability and philanthropy strategies unlocking unique value for multiple stakeholders. She was instrumental in the development of an innovative governance structure, establishing a new global impact corporate function, and building a long-range investment/accountability strategy to drive business and planetary impact. She engages deeply with the investor community and provides strategic updates to the Board and C-Suite. Mary Jane’s accomplishments have been featured in...
info_outline
Erik Distler - VP, Head of Sustainability at AEG
Sustainable Nation
Erik Distler is responsible for overseeing AEG Sustainability, the organization’s corporate sustainability program. In this capacity, he focuses on global strategies and tactics that address operational impacts and capture and measure data across key environmental metrics, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and waste reduction. He also supports AEG’s global business units in the implementation and execution of sustainability initiatives, manages external partnerships related to sustainability, facilitates the sharing of best practices, and ensures that sustainability is a...
info_outline
Ellen Jackowski - Chief Sustainability Officer and EVP at Mastercard
Sustainable Nation
Ellen is spearheading the integration of Mastercard's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy into the organization. As part of this work, she is driving climate leadership for Mastercard-wide programs and commitments, such as reaching net-zero emissions by 2040, and helping accelerate the company’s impact in climate action initiatives like Priceless Planet Coalition. Mastercard’s ESG efforts, established more than a decade ago, are rooted in a belief of doing well by doing good in order to have true impact and enable both people and the planet to thrive. Previously, Ellen...
info_outline
Jonah Smith - Vice President, Environmental Social Governance Strategy and Programs at IBM
Sustainable Nation
Jonah Smith joined IBM in 2023 as Vice President, Environmental Social Governance Strategy and Programs. In addition to leading global ESG strategy, goals, stakeholder engagement, reporting and governance, Jonah’s responsibilities also entail the development and implementation of environmental social innovation programs such as the IBM Sustainability Accelerator. Prior to IBM, Jonah led ESG at Kraft Heinz as its Global Head of Environmental Social Governance & President of the Kraft Heinz Foundation. Prior to Kraft Heinz Jonah held similar roles at Grainger and...
info_outline
Allison Jordan - Executive Director at California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Vice President, Environmental Affairs at Wine Institute
Sustainable Nation
Allison Jordan joined Wine Institute and the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) in 2003, shortly after the publication of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing. Since 2007, she has served as the Executive Director of the Alliance and Vice President, Environmental Affairs for Wine Institute. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at SureHarvest and Vice President and Executive Director of Resource Renewal Institute. Jordan holds a master of Public Policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley and a Psychology bachelor's degree from Allegheny College, a Certificate in...
info_outline
Marissa McInnis - Senior Director, Global Sustainability at Verizon
Sustainable Nation
Marissa is responsible for overseeing the continued evolution and implementation of Verizon’s Sustainability Strategy as well as its enterprise wide relationships across its sustainability portfolio. She focuses on operationalizing Verizon’s internal and external commitments while tracking its progress across the enterprise to ensure holistic management in the areas of sustainability and driving profitable growth. Prior to joining Verizon, Marissa was with the Department of Defense in Washington DC, leading Climate Policy and Interagency engagement. She served as the climate policy...
info_outline
Todd Brady - Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President of Community Relations and Sustainable Operations at Intel
Sustainable Nation
Todd Brady is the Chief Sustainability Officer for Intel Corporation, and Vice President of Community Relations & Sustainable Operations. As Chief Sustainability Officer, he leads Intel’s global sustainability initiatives including climate, energy, water, green buildings and circular economy. Currently, Todd’s organization is focused on achieving Intel’s ambitious 2030 sustainability goals and commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Intel’s global operations by 2040. Todd’s Community Relations teams oversee local stakeholder engagement, community relations,...
info_outline
Erin Hiatt - Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility at RILA
Sustainable Nation
Erin is the lead for RILA’s ESG and corporate responsibility portfolio, encompassing its Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Sustainability, and Responsible Sourcing Committees, and ESG engagement activities. She organizes educational content and convenes and facilitates benchmarking discussions, resource development, and stakeholder engagement for corporate retail issue leads in each of these areas. Erin has been with RILA since 2012, serving in a variety of roles supporting and leading the association’s CSR communities. Erin serves on the International Sustainable Standards Board’s...
info_outlineScott Tew is the leader of the Center for Energy Efficiency & Sustainability at Trane Technologies (CEES) and is responsible for forward-looking sustainability initiatives aimed at transitioning to more efficient and climate-friendly solutions and minimizing resource use within company facilities. He serves as a thought leader in linking public policy, economic impacts and a value-stream approach to sustainability. His efforts have led to the development of world-class initiatives, including introduction of the company’s comprehensive 2030 Sustainability Commitments with the largest customer-facing corporate commitment to combat climate change with the Gigaton Challenge; and as a pioneer in integrated reporting.
Scott holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in environmental science and ecology from Livingston University. He serves on the Advisory Council of the Corporate Eco Forum; as the board chair of the World Environment Center; and as the chair of the US Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD).
Scott Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:
- The scope of work at Trane Technologies
- Untapped opportunities to reduce emissions though the built environment and food systems
- Smart buildings and using technology to improve efficiencies
- Trane Technologies value stream-focused 2030 commitments
- Working with external advisors on science-based targets
- Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals
Scott’s Final Five Questions Responses:
What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?
The power of commitments and the power of public goals; I can never underestimate the power of that. Helping leadership get behind a public commitment is a huge game changer. If you're with a company where that hasn't happened yet, that needs to be the front and center of your focus.
What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?
I believe we're about to move into a new era of regenerative thinking. I think attaching sustainability to a company's purpose like we did at Trane Technologies was what was needed to get us to where we are today. There are some great companies out there thinking “how do we actually have a regenerative mantra so that we actually can redo anything bad from the past and think very differently about solutions in the future?” That means that we are more open to innovation and partnerships than ever before, so that has me very excited.
What is one book you'd recommend sustainability professionals read?
I have to be selfish on this one; After Cooling is one by Eric Dean Wilson. That is a really interesting one because it talks about the cost of comfort to the world, which is exactly the problem that my company is trying to solve. In a world where we have an increasing number of heat waves and heat domes, it might be time for us all to step back and think about how cooling is delivered and what we should do differently in the future.
What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?
There are a few outside organizations that I get a lot of value out of hearing from other practitioners. For your listeners out there, I think you really should explore groups where you can be amongst your peers to find out how they're accomplishing whatever they're accomplishing. I get a lot of value from chatting either one-on-one or hearing a presentation of practitioners of how something worked in their company. Those are the things that I bring back to apply within my company, and I can point to lots of examples of that through the years.
Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at Trane Technologies?
You can go to tranetechnologies.com and the opening page will have a link to our sustainability progress. My group is featured with its own section of the website including my email address. I’m always happy to engage with anyone who might have questions or want to follow up.