Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • November 2, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com As storms become more frequent, CT grocers want battery incentives G rocery stores are a crucial resource for people before and after major storms, but customers of numerous Connecti- cut food retailers found themselves out of luck in the wake of Hurricane Sandy eight years ago. The storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Connecticut alone, and caused nearly $75 billion worth of damage to the eastern United States, according to fed- eral estimates. "We had one retail member with 91 stores but nine genera- tors," Connecticut Food Association President Wayne Pesce recalled dur- ing a panel discussion at the recent virtual Connecticut Climate Action Business Summit. "Anyone who wanted groceries for six to eight days was going to have a problem." The experience was a wake-up call for the importance of storm resil- iency, which promises to be a bigger focus moving forward, since climate change is expected to produce in- creasingly frequent storm events. Pesce said many stores have invested in emergency generators since Sandy. Green biz strategist: Businesses, gov't both crucial to averting climate disaster I n September, the Business Roundtable, a powerful group of 200-plus CEOs from major U.S. companies, including some of Connecticut's biggest corporations, made waves when it endorsed put- ting a price on carbon emissions as a way to combat climate change. A carbon pricing policy, if enacted at the federal level, would certainly cost some of its member companies money. The pivot by the Roundtable, whose members include the likes of Raytheon Technologies Corp., CVS Health, Travelers Cos., Cigna and Stanley Black & Decker, was the latest example of a growing move- ment in corporate America to ac- knowledge and commit to tak- ing action on climate change, and it followed a 2019 com- mitment from Roundtable CEOs to move away from the group's long- held principle of "shareholder primacy" and toward one that aims to benefit a broader group of stakeholders, such as customers, employees and communities. Seeing companies feel compelled to address their role in society, and state their principles publicly, is a promising sign, but there's still far more progress to be made, said By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com T he Connecticut Sustainable Busi- ness Council has grown up a bit since it was founded four years ago, and honed its focus of late. The not-for-profit group, known by its acronym CTSBC, launched in Oct. 2016 as a vehicle for connecting Con- Green Commitment Sustainable biz council carving out niche in climate change collaboration The Connecticut Sustainable Business Council launched in 2016. Pictured here at that Stamford launch event is council CEO Heather Burns (left) watching Stephen Freedman, then the head of sustainable investing solutions at UBS Global Wealth Management, address the crowd. FOCUS: ENERGY Combating Climate Change Wayne Pesce, President, Connecticut Food Association Andrew Winston, Author and Sustainability Advisor PHOTO | HBJ FILE An aerial view of some of the damage Hurricane Sandy brought to Connecticut's shoreline in 2012. The resulting power outages have spurred grocery stores and other businesses to place a higher focus on resiliency planning. Continued on facing page >> PHOTO | FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

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