Sponsored Projects

Unchain was a non-profit committed to eradicating modern-day slavery and was incubated at Grace Farms Foundation, an organization which aspires to advance good in the world, providing a peaceful respite and porous platform to experience nature, encounter the arts, pursue justice, foster community, and explore faith.

Project: In October 2018, the country and Prime Minister of Georgia signed an MOU with Unchain and Grace Farms Foundation to define, measure, and implement clean supply chains as part of the country’s effort to establish a model of what he deemed a “green economy”, the first country to make such a commitment. Unchain wanted to not only create a standard for clean supply chains, but also specify the process for auditing and reviewing companies in Georgia (and beyond) to ensure they were adhering to those standards over time. The SGE Immersion team developed a recommendation for a clean supply chain standard that could be applied to agricultural, textile, mineral, forest products, and electronic supply chains in Georgia. You can read more about this project here.

Subway is a privately held quick service restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads.

Project: Subway was been in the process of a major brand transformation which included the incorporation of a global sustainability agenda. Waste management was a key focus area, but the franchise-based business model created a challenging scenario for implementation. The SGE Immersion team developed recommendations for how Subway might best implement a landfill diversion strategy (both guest-facing and back-of-the-house) – which included practices from recycling to composting – across the company’s ~20,000 US restaurants (all of which were franchise-owned and utilized different waste hauling providers and contracts). You can read more about this project here.

Seneca Women is a leadership platform centered on the principle that advancing women and girls will hasten progress to a more equitable and prosperous world.

Project: The Seneca Women App connects women to each other and to opportunities to promote women and girls by providing a directory of audio content from the Seneca Women Podcast Network and by showcasing women-owned businesses, impactful nonprofits, curated events, research and news. Seneca Women was developing a Women’s Marketplace meant to showcase products and services provided by women entrepreneurs for users who will be able to browse the offerings and purchase products. The SGE Immersion team developed a marketing strategy for the Marketplace aimed at both entrepreneurs and shoppers. The strategy was designed to help inform a larger marketing strategy for Seneca Connect.

Second Nature is a non-profit committed to accelerating climate action in, and through, higher education by mobilizing a diverse array of higher education institutions to act on bold climate commitments, scale campus climate initiatives, and create innovative climate solutions.

Project: Hundreds of educational institutions had made an organizational commitment to carbon neutrality that was driving operational changes on campuses. However, much of those changes relied on deployment of technologies that were well established in the market rather than novel solutions from newer companies. Focusing on higher education institutions in New York State, the SGE Immersion team worked to understand and uncover barriers in procurement policies that prevented new cleantech companies from deploying solutions within the sector.

Resonance is a consulting firm that seeks to catalyze market-based solutions to solve the world’s toughest challenges in frontier markets. The company specializes in the design of action-based strategies, forging strategic partnerships, and executing across sector boundaries. Resonance works with companies, NGOs, and development agencies on four key services: corporate sustainability, impact investing, unlocking frontier markets, and global development.

Project: As Resonance grew and looked to diversify its client base, it was looking to differentiate itself from competitors and to find new ways to add value for clients. The SGE Immersion team evaluated whether or not there were opportunities for the company to generate value from knowledge resources garnered from 10 years of experience in partnerships in emerging markets, what form (business model) that would take, and what steps the company should pursue that would support new revenue streams.

GE is a global conglomerate focused on aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing and venture capital and finance. GE Global Research (GEGR) works to devlop the company’s next generation technologies and innovations.

Project: GEGR was exploring ways to interact with more non-GE commercial entities on collaborative research endeavors and to foster an internal start-up culture that would allow high-potential developments to be spun out as standalone companies. To structure these efforts, the group was developing several themes that would allow it to identify strategic partners, start-up opportunities, as well as key research areas. The SGE Immersion developed recommendations for a strategy and business model around the theme of “Accelerating the Transition to 100% Renewables” that would guide this new, externally-facing innovation and technology commercialization approach for research, product development, and business growth.

Emerson is a global industrial firm comprised of two business segments: Automation Solutions and Commercial & Residential Solutions. Emerson Automation Solutions is a leader in helping process and discrete manufacturers automate and optimize production processes through best-in-class technologies and industry expertise. The company serves a broad range of industries through its wide portfolio and extensive expertise to provide solutions that help its customers to increase productivity, reduce emissions and energy consumption, and improve safety.

Project: Emerson Automation Solutions is heavily dependent on oil companies, which are the biggest source of the business’ revenue. To reduce risk and expand markets, the company was looking at diversification strategies into other industries. The SGE Immersion team developed a go-to-market and marketing strategy for Emerson in the renewable energy industry in Latin America.

Cargill, the largest privately held company in the United States, specializes in food, agriculture, nutrition, and risk management. The company trades grains and other agricultural commodities, energy, steel and transport; raises livestock and produces feed; and produces food ingredients for application in processed foods and industrial applications. Cargill’s financial services business manages financial risks in the company’s commodity markets.

Project: As concerns about climate change increase, there is increasing public scrutiny related to the carbon footprint of beef as a protein source. Cargill and others are innovating new feed additives and nutrition solutions that reduce enteric emissions in cattle, one of the biggest contributors to the carbon footprint of beef. The SGE Immersion team analyzed the market opportunity for enteric-related solutions and developed recommendations for a strategy to address dairy and beef cattle-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company based in Hartford, CT that designs, manufactures and services aircraft engines and auxiliary power units.

Project: Pratt & Whitney had sustainability goals concerning environmental regulations and meeting all compliance requirements and was an involved member in local communities. While these were key components to corporate social responsibility, the efforts were often fragmented and disjointed. The company wanted to take a systems view of their current practices and explore ways that it could be more strategic and intentional. The SGE Immersion team conducted a baseline analysis of current company efforts that included environmental metrics and scorecards, corporate philanthropy, community outreach, internal culture, recruitment and external communications; benchmarked best‐in‐class examples of how companies leverage sustainability efforts as a true differentiator that creates short- and long-term value for a variety of stakeholders; and developed a strategy and plan to help guide the company’s efforts around sustainability to serve as a competitive advantage in the global aerospace industry.

Karner Blue Capital is a boutique investment adviser that seeks to identify and invest in those companies that behave sustainably, responsibly and ethically.

Project: A newly launched company, Karner Blue Capital (KBC) planned to offer a series of thematic and discrete investment strategies designed to address specific environmental, social and governance issues. Through KBC’s fund offerings, investors would be able to target specific areas of interest that align with their goals, such as animal welfare, sustainable agriculture, marine ecology and labor rights. It had launched its first fund, focused on animal welfare, in 2018. To help construct the company’s next fund in sustainable agriculture, the SGE Immersion team analyzed an investable ‘universe’ of companies, determined relevant sustainability criteria and metrics, and screened companies in order to build an optimized portfolio for investment.