ITP Media Group, Visa and Safran have joined Emirates Nature-WWF‘s ‘Leaders of Change‘ programme, together pledging over 700 new members who will spend the coming year training, ideating, and acting in nature for people and the planet.
The programme enables government and corporate entities, individuals and students in the UAE to maximise their impact and transform the world. Members undertake on-ground training and development to co-create solutions with like-minded peers and realise worthy ideas with the support of incubation programmes and the Leaders of Change network.
Their participation and annual membership fees contribute to on-the-ground projects that help achieve the UAE’s net-zero and nature positive agenda.
The announcement follows Emirates Nature-WWF’s recent collaboration with Carrefour – which is owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim in the UAE – to create a new range of reusable bags to mitigate excessive plastic consumption and conserve natural resources.
“Visa will continue to maintain carbon neutrality through efficiency, renewable energy and limited offsets across our operations,” said Visa’s group country manager and senior vice president for the GCC region, Dr. Saeeda Jaffar.
“The Emirates Nature-WWF Leaders of Change programme provides us with an important platform to engage youth in the UAE to do something remarkable for the environment.”
Elsewhere, the Chicago-based mortgage lending and digital financial services provider Guaranteed Rate Companies has announced that its end-to-end digital fintech tool FlashClose, which was launched in 2019 and enables homebuyers to sign documents and close on their loans remotely, has helped to protect the environment from 17 million sheets of paper.
Since it was launched, FlashClose has been used by Guaranteed Rate Companies to reportedly close more than 335,000 loans for a total loan volume of more than $100billion.
“We are incredibly proud that our industry-leading, end-to-end digital FlashClose℠ tool has had such a positive benefit on the environment,” says Guaranteed Rate’s chief product and technology officer, Ramesh Sarukkai. “It is just one example of the ways our tech team is creating fast, simple and innovative fintech tools to enhance the lives of our customers.”
Also in the US, Ogallala Life and AcreNFT are launching their second round of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) today to raise funds to save the Ogallala aquifer; America’s largest groundwater aquifer that, through over-production, has lost 10 trillion gallons of water over the past 40 years.
If the aquifer dries completely, geologists estimate that it could take more than six thousand years to replenish.
The duo’s first launch of NFTs managed to raise US$200,000 for the project, with which the company is building check dams along stream channels to capture and prevent mass evaporation of rainwater. It has also installed direct borehole groundwater recharge zones to replenish the aquifer.
The project is carefully monitored with grid system technology to measure many different hydrological parameters, as well as to consistently record localised water levels.
