The ARDA Newsletter     April 2023
 
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Sustainability, ESG, and TCFD: What Do These Letters Mean and How Do They Affect Me?
 
Dava Kaitala 
Jacobs Solutions
Environmental Section Feature
 
I recently had the video call version of someone plopping down in a chair in my office, slightly exasperated, asking, “What the heck is ESG?  Like I kind of know what it is, but why doesn’t anyone ever say what it stands for?” And I had to laugh because we in Environmental really do love our acronyms, don’t we? So, let’s start there: ESG.  Environmental, Social, and Governance.  It’s a way for investors to judge companies on risk and whether a company has a good program in place to limit risk around things like:
 
  • environmental issues including carbon emissions, water usage, waste, and the impact of its products on the world,
  • social issues like child labor in factories and their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI, another acronym!), and
  • governance issues to determine if their leadership really has a handle on what’s going on and if there are processes in place to ensure employees are following a company’s rules and guidance on these issues.
               In the rail industry, you can see why ESG would be important.  The carbon footprint of rail and its significant carbon reduction over long-haul trucks is more and more an integral part of why shippers are choosing rail.  Being the environmentally preferred mode of transportation is important to railroads’ bottom line. If railroads were not diligent in reporting their carbon numbers-in other words, they did not have good governance structure in place to check that their numbers were accurate- that could have an impact on business.  It would be less likely that shippers would trust that rail would help them limit their own Tier 2 emissions from transport and would therefore be less likely to ship by rail.  So, you can see why someone investing in a railroad would care. Likewise, the recent labor talks showed the impacts the “Social” piece can have on a business. When workers do not feel valued, that can impact a company’s bottom line and an investor’s investment decisions. ESG matters in a real way in the real world for publicly traded companies and private companies who rely on borrowing money from institutions.

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ARDA Scholarship Candidates 
ARDA is currently accepting applications for the 2023 Scholarship Program. As part of the program, current ARDA members have the opportunity to nominate one candidate to receive the $2,500 President's scholarship.
 
Scholarship Eligibility:
To be eligible for consideration, an applicant must:   
 
1. Be sponsored by a current Active or Honorary ARDA member. ARDA members are permitted to sponsor one applicant per sponsorship year.   
 
2. Be enrolled as either:  
   - A full-time college student at an accredited two-year or four- year college or university,
     pursuing an associate, bachelor, or graduate-level degree.    
 
   - A high school student expecting to graduate and have confirmed your enrollment at an
    accredited two-year or four- year college or university.
 
For more information on the ARDA scholarship please visit 
 
Application Deadline: 
April 15, 2023

 
2023 ANNUAL MEETING REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
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We are excited to announce the 2023 ARDA Annual Meeting registration is now open! The Annual Meeting will kick off at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Sunday evening, July 9th, with a welcome reception and end on Wednesday, July 12th, with a private morning tour of Amtrak’s Union Station.
 
Click the link below to register today and take advantage of early bird pricing! 
 
We are excited to see you there!
ARDA Leadership
 

 
Renew Your ARDA Membership or Join Now

If you have not yet renewed your ARDA membership for 2022-2023, please visit our website at www.amraildev.com and log-in at the top right corner of the page. 

Your renewed membership allows ARDA to continue fostering the industrial, real estate, natural resources, market development activities and environmental concerns of the North American railroads through the advancement of ideas and education of its members.

If you are not an ARDA member and would like to join, please visit our registration page.
 

 

American Railway Development Association | PO Box 1092, Tallahassee, FL 32302

 

The  American Railway Development Association (ARDA) is a not-for-profit educational trade association founded in 1906 to promote Economic Development, Real Estate Development, Technology, and Environmental Activities of the North American Railroads.   The objectives of the Association are to foster the industrial, real estate, natural resources, market development activities and environmental concerns of the North American railroads; and through the advancement of ideas and education of its members, further promote the effectiveness of railway development and related work. For more information, visit the ARDA website at http://amraildev.com