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An exciting project with a cool new partner

8/11/2016

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Republished from the Equitable Origin blog.

Energy infrastructure can have a significant environmental and social footprint and lead to landscape-level impacts, even while serving as a necessary development pathway. Voluntary standards and rating systems are recognized as some of the most effective tools to drive innovation in sustainable development. The proliferation of quality programs provides an opportunity for systems to work together, democratizing access and streamlining implementation and verification, for even greater impact. In a new collaboration that brings together Equitable Origin’s EO100™ Standard and the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) SITES® and PEER™ rating systems, Equitable Origin (EO) and USGBC hope to drive increased adoption, streamline implementation, and improve outcomes for users of their systems.

SITES is a rating system for developing sustainable landscapes, and EO addresses the social and environmental performance of energy development sites. Given the potential for landscape-level impacts from energy development, there was a natural opportunity for the two systems to join forces. Last month, the groups collaborated on an initial benchmarking exercise which demonstrated that the SITES criteria have extensive overlap with EO100 Principle 5: Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environment. Meanwhile, EO100 principles describing social Performance Targets complement and enhance those requirements in the SITES system. EO and SITES program staff plan to pursue the project further, with the hope that each will eventually be able to reference the other in implementation guidance and recognize performance on certain criteria and provisions as equivalent.

PEER is a dynamic, adaptive rating process designed to measure and improve sustainable power system performance; the PEER system serves as a tool to accelerate transformation of the power sector. PEER’s scope complements EO’s by tackling the reliability and resiliency of microgrids that deliver responsibly produced energy to users. The two systems plan to reference each other in public guidance material as examples of good practice throughout the energy value chain, providing energy purchasers with a way to ensure their energy sourcing is in line with their responsible procurement commitments.

Harmonization is a key concept for innovation in voluntary sustainability standards that creates efficiencies in implementation, assurance, and reporting. This adds value for companies adopting those standards and for systems that wish to broaden their reach and demonstrate impact to stakeholders. EO and USGBC are excited about their joint effort in this space, and will publish further outcomes as they emerge.

About EO

EO leverages the EO100 Standard to drive responsible energy development by fostering stakeholder dialogue, delivering training and building capacity, and helping companies benchmark and improve their performance.

About USGBC

USGBC transforms the built environment through its portfolio of green rating systems, including its flagship standard, LEED, making it a key driving force in the sustainable building sector. With Green Business Certification Inc., USGBC develops and maintains the PEER and SITES rating systems.

About PEER

Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal™ (PEER) is a rating system and certification program for defining, assessing and verifying the overall sustainable performance of electricity delivery system design and operations. Modeled after LEED, PEER is the driving force behind the U.S. Green Building Council’s vision to transform the way power systems are designed, operated and evaluated.

About SITES
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The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) is the most comprehensive program for developing sustainable landscapes and is used by landscape architects, engineers, architects, developers and policymakers to align land development and management with innovative sustainable design. The SITES rating system defines with a sustainable site is and, ultimately, elevates the value of landscapes in the built environment. The rating system can be applied to development projects located on sites with or without buildings—ranging from national parks to corporate campuses, from streetscapes to gardens and much more.


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Updates from WindPower 2016

7/17/2016

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Republished from the Equitable Origin blog.​
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Sarah speaking at the WindPower 2016 Thought Leader Theater
EO made its renewable energy debut this spring at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) conference. The annual event, held May 23 - 26 this year in New Orleans, provides an opportunity for wind project developers, financiers, service providers, and advocates to meet, discuss the state of the wind power market, and address challenges confronting the industry. EO executives Soledad Mills and Sarah Coulter had an active week, participating in a pre-conference community relations workshop, cementing new relationships in side meetings, exhibiting on the conference floor, and delivering a Thought Leader talk on the final day of the event.

Given the extension of the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit last December and favorable market conditions for wind at the moment, the mood in New Orleans was buoyant. Challenges remain, however, especially with respect to community relations. In the pre-conference workshop on that topic, one attendee went so far as to explicitly call out the need for best practice standards in stakeholder engagement.

Throughout the week, the EO team had a chance to talk to leaders in the wind industry about this and other barriers to the growth of wind power. Those conversations echoed several of the critical issues identified by the Business and Human Rights Resource Center’s recently published research on responsible renewable energy:
  1. Local community rights
  2. Land rights
  3. Community health and safety
  4. Labor rights
  5. Indigenous rights​
These issues coincide with several key content areas of the EO100™ Standard, and EO plans to begin drafting a Technical Addendum for application to wind projects later this year. In their Thought Leader talk on Thursday, Soledad and Sarah highlighted EO’s expertise on these key areas and our experience in grassroots stakeholder engagement. The talk was warmly received, with several attendees expressing their interest in applying EO’s framework in their own organizations.
EO is proud to be an AWEA member and looks forward to further engaging our peers to advance responsible renewables development for a clean, safe, and prosperous future.
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EO is hiring!

12/15/2015

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EO is looking for a driven and dedicated Development Manger to add to its team in New York City! It's a great opportunity to work in all aspects of nonprofit fundraising for an innovative and dynamic organization.

For more information about the position, read the job description here.

To be considered for the role, please send a CV and cover letter to careers@equitableorigin.org with the subject "Development Manager."
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Season Recap!

12/15/2015

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Despite the 65-degree weather, year-end is upon us, and I don't know where the time has gone! Summer brought lots of changes at EO, with a reorganization, scope expansion, and new leadership team taking the helm. It's an exciting time to be working in sustainable development, and particularly in the energy sector!

Fall took me to the AASHE Conference in Minneapolis, where I spoke about accounting for oil and gas use in higher ed. Then it was off to London for ISEAL Member Week and a short course on impact evaluation put on by LIDC. It was a great, intense deep dive into research methodologies for development programs, and a wonderful opportunity to make new connections with smart, mission-oriented research practitioners.

I closed out November with a reprise of May's ISEAL Conference panel in a webinar on EO's "Pathway to Credibility" and represented EO at a screening of Oil and Water hosted by Viridian Energy in Norwalk, Connecticut.

December has been a time to catch my breath, catch up, and make plans for 2016. Happy Holidays!
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Raised Bed-building Workshop in Sunset Park

4/28/2015

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This past Saturday, I represented my community garden at a  raised bed-building workshop put on by Green Thumb & Grow to Learn.  It was great to meet the teachers and staff who make up the wellness committee at PS1, The Bergen School, in Sunset Park. They are starting a school garden, so our skill-building workshop was put to use assembling four raised beds for the school. As a benefit of attending, our garden will be eligible for free lumber to repair and replace our own raised beds. Here's hoping the kids and teachers at PS 1 have a successful first growing season in those new beds! 


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Innovations in Sustainable Purchasing

4/23/2015

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Next month, I'll be heading to Seattle to meet with sustainable purchasing leaders at the annual SPLC Summit. I'm excited for the chance to discuss and learn about trends and innovations in supply-chain sustainability with purchasers, suppliers, and peer standards & certification systems. I'm also looking forward to participating in a panel workshop on sustainable transportation purchasing:

New Strategies in Purchasing Transportation
Learn how leading organizations are addressing the impacts of their shipping, fleet, and oil and gas purchases. It’s not all what you might expect! The workshop will begin with a training on SPLC’s guidance related to transportation and fuels, followed by several thought-provoking presentations about new practices and tools available to purchasers, and conclude with peer-to-peer dialogue and problem solving.

If you ever wanted to learn more about how supply chain managers can integrate sustainability metrics into their purchasing decisions, come meet me and my industry colleagues at the Summit!



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Sustainability Standards take Berlin!

4/23/2015

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I'm packing my bags! This May, I'll be representing my organization at the Global Sustainability Standards Conference in Berlin. While there, I'll be participating in ISEAL's Monitoring and Evaluation working group, meeting with peer sustainability standards, and speaking on Community Day about how early-stage standards can build credibility through robust standard-setting, assurance, and impact evaluation systems. 

Hope to see you there!
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background photo credit Annie Spratt on Unsplash; headshot by City Headshots