Umbrex is pleased to welcome Yann Parer with YP Consult. Yann is a consultant with 4 years’ experience working with McKinsey and Australian boutique firm PQ Partners with extensive experience in mining, technology M&A, business transformation, strategy, and sustainability. Yann serves companies across Australia in projects ranging from group strategy and value chain optimisation to valuing intangibles and making the business case for nature stewardship. He has also led acquisitions and partnerships in the mining technology sphere. Prior to completing…

Jennifer Hartz shares a post and raises the alert on the problem of greenwashing in waste management.   Fun Facts Waste Management is the largest operator of solid and chemical waste disposal in the US. Bill Gates and Cascade Investment owns 34% of the company. Waste Management earned  profits of $17.4B in 2021, and the stock is up 25% year-to-date. 2/3 to 3/4 of all household waste is recyclable. My Experience For years, I have been leaving a Coke for our…

As news of California’s increasing water shortages, Jessica Graf shares an article on water supply systems in Nepal and how to build better, more sustainable services. In Nepal, community-based management of water systems through local water user committees is very common. While the approach has been widely promoted in the past, the results are below expectations: Currently, around 75% of the water systems are not fully functional. Oxfam decided to tackle this problem and partnered with LeFil Consulting to develop…

Corporations are beginning to change their operations and strategies to become more sustainable. This can seem like a huge undertaking for a company that is already long established, but some Umbrex and Veritux consultants are focusing on helping client companies become more environmentally sustainable. Nidhi Chadda, Founder and CEO of Enzo Advisors, says it’s often hard to know where to begin. “When we guide companies and investors in thinking about sustainability and how it impacts their respective businesses, we always…

Ushma Pandya shares a post from her company’s blog on what NYC schools are doing to move towards zero waste and what businesses can learn from them. Tens of thousands of people representing many industries and sectors gathered for COP26 in Glasgow this fall 2021 to determine what it would take to accelerate climate action. While discussions and debates take place on global stages, other steps are being taken on a local level, including but not limited to grassroots environmental…

Umbrex is pleased to welcome Nidhi Chadda with Enzo Advisors. Nidhi is a generalist growth investor and advisor across public and private markets. She is currently the Founder and CEO of Enzo Advisors, a global sustainability consulting firm focused on helping companies build best-in-class sustainable business models within an ESG construct and works closely with institutional investors to integrate ESG policies and frameworks across their investment processes. Prior to launching Enzo Advisors, Nidhi was a portfolio manager at RBC Global…

Umbrex is pleased to welcome Brent Packer with synthesize.consulting. Brent is a former Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. During his 5+ years at the Firm, he worked with Fortune 500, public sector, and nonprofit clients while specializing in digital/analytics/product and sustainability (recognized as 1 of 16 manager-level experts globally). He has also worked with multiple startups and founded two social ventures, including an open-source zero-electricity structure that filters, cools, and dispenses water to help eliminate plastic waste. Brent now has…

  Ushma Pandya shares a blog post from his company’s website that highlights key statistics on the use and recycling of plastic and how a new act will affect your life.  In March of 2021, a new version of the 2020 Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act was reintroduced into Congress. The federal bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA) will be the most extensive set of policy solutions to the plastic pollution…

Umbrex is pleased to welcome Matthew James with Materia Consultancy Ltd.  Matt was an Engagement Manager the McKinsey London office from ’98 to ’02 before joining the Mining & Metal industry in Australia, growing Lynas Corporation from a start-up to a $3 billion market cap ASX 100 company. In 2014 Matt returned to the UK and started Materia Consultancy Limited and worked as a freelance consultant, with a focus on industrial growth strategy projects, programme management and due diligence studies. In…

  Keeping the resolution to be healthier, fitter, and more environmentally conscious is made easy in Supriya Prakash Sen’s vision for cities of the future. Strap up your boots and take a leap of faith towards a brighter future. Walkability can be a financially savvy strategy! Research has shown that designing a city for Walkability yields benefits in terms of the environment, social cohesiveness, health benefits for an ageing society- but what is new is that it can also be…

  Supriya Prakash Sen takes a look ahead at one industry that is growing fast in the face of a heating planet, and how we can address and reconcile the needs of both the consumer and the environment.  Last week, I wrote this article about the worrying prospects if governments, policy makers, corporations and the public at large, fail to prioritize the climate in the hurry to get things “back to normal”. Except that this is a new normal –…

  Natalie Ceeney provides a grim view, but a much needed voice, calling on business to take on the challenge of climate change. Whether prompted by the flurry of recent announcements from government and Bank of England or by the rise in protests, it’s hard to avoid the climate change debate. Whatever our personal beliefs, its impact on the business agenda is becoming increasingly clear.  This is no longer a ‘tomorrow’ issue. Last year, California experienced its worst wildfires in…