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TITAN Group was Recognized as one of the World's Most Sustainable Companies by TIME magazine for the Second Consecutive Year

TITAN Group was Recognized as one of the World's Most Sustainable Companies by TIME magazine for the Second Consecutive Year

Business Wire3 days ago

TITAN Group (Brussels:TITC) has been named by TIME magazine as one of the world's most sustainable companies for the second consecutive year, rising 158 positions to reach the 150th position in the 2025 ranking of 500 companies. Notably, TITAN stands out as the highest-ranked company among the very few building materials companies to make the list, reinforcing its leadership and commitment to sustainability on a global scale.
Leonidas Canellopoulos, Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer of TITAN Group, said: "Being named one of the world's most sustainable companies by TIME for the second year in a row is a powerful endorsement of our growth strategy in action. Sustainability is woven into every decision we make - from bold innovation in new products and decarbonized processes to transparent execution. Guided by our purpose to make the world around us a safe, sustainable, and enjoyable place to live, we are accelerating our progress and actively contributing to a more innovative and sustainable industry."
TITAN has set science-based targets aligned with the 1.5°C climate scenario and was recognized as a climate leader by both the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) and the Financial Times. The company continues to make strong progress towards its CO₂ reduction goals and broader ESG targets for 2025 and beyond. Its adherence to the UN Global Compact and participation in the UNFCCC Race to Zero also played a significant role, as did TITAN's strong commitment to sustainability and long-term value creation for customers, local communities, employees, and other stakeholders across all its regions.
TIME and data firm Statista have developed a rigorous methodology to measure the world's most sustainable companies for 2025. Their sustainability evaluation assessed companies based on external ratings, commitments, and various environmental and social Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) disclosed in externally assured reports, in compliance with the CSRD and international reporting standards such as GRI, SASB, and TCFD. These KPIs include emission intensity, emission reduction rates, energy intensity, the proportion of renewable energy used, diversity on boards and in leadership, gender pay gap, work safety, and employee turnover rate.
The final list features the 500 highest-performing companies across 35 countries and 21 industries. You may view the full 2025 ranking by TIME magazine here: time.com/collection/worlds-most-sustainable-companies-2025
TITAN Group is a leading international business in the building and infrastructure materials industry, with passionate teams committed to providing innovative solutions for a better world. With most of its activity in the developed markets, the Group employs more than 6,000 people and is present in over 25 countries, holding prominent positions in the US, Europe, including Greece, the Balkans, and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Group also has joint ventures in Brazil and India. With a 120-year history, TITAN has always fostered a family-and entrepreneurial-oriented culture for its employees and works tirelessly with its customers to meet the modern needs of society while promoting sustainable growth with responsibility and integrity. TITAN has set a net-zero goal for 2050 and has its CO₂ reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The parent company is listed on Euronext and the Athens Exchange. For more information, visit our website at www.titanmaterials.com.

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New Development Could Improve Small Business Owners' Credit
New Development Could Improve Small Business Owners' Credit

Time​ Magazine

time18 hours ago

  • Time​ Magazine

New Development Could Improve Small Business Owners' Credit

This article is published by a partner of TIME. By Levi King I've spent my life in the trenches of American small business—fixing signs in the Idaho cold, sweating payroll in manufacturing, and later, building fintech platforms to help entrepreneurs like me navigate the labyrinth of credit. So when I read the news that FICO is launching credit scores that finally incorporate Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) data, I felt a jolt of hope and a twinge of caution. This is a watershed moment for credit history in America, and it's going to ripple through every Main Street and startup hub in the country. What This Means for Small Business Owners' Personal Credit Let me break down what this means specifically for small business owners, why it matters for your personal credit, and what you should take away from this announcement. For years, BNPL has been the wild child of consumer finance—ubiquitous, easy to use, but invisible to the credit bureaus. That's always struck me as a disconnect, especially for small business owners who often rely on every available tool to manage cash flow. Millions of entrepreneurs have used BNPL to bridge gaps, buy inventory, or simply keep the lights on. Yet, until now, their responsible use (or misuse) of these products didn't show up on their personal credit reports. FICO's move to include BNPL data in their new Score 10 BNPL and Score 10 T BNPL models is a long-overdue correction. As someone who's seen firsthand how invisible credit behaviors can torpedo a business loan application, I can't overstate how important this is for small business owners' personal credit. Lenders will finally get a more complete, nuanced picture of your financial life—not just the traditional credit cards and loans, but also the BNPL plans you may rely on to run your business. One of my lifelong missions has been to expand access to capital for the underdog—the entrepreneur with grit but no generational wealth, the immigrant starting a food truck, the single mom launching an Etsy shop. Historically, if your first credit experience was with BNPL, you were invisible to lenders. Now, FICO's new models promise to help small business owners build a legitimate personal credit history from day one. This is more than a technical tweak; it's a step toward leveling the playing field. If you pay your BNPL bills on time, that positive behavior will finally count for something. For small business owners who bootstrap with every tool available, this could be the difference between a 'yes' and a 'no' from the bank. One of the biggest risks with adding BNPL to credit scores was always the potential for unfair penalties. If each BNPL plan was treated as a separate loan, someone using BNPL for multiple purchases could look overleveraged—even if they were managing it responsibly. FICO's solution? Aggregate the loans, so the model sees the big picture, not just the raw number of accounts. That's smart. It means the system recognizes patterns and context, not just raw data. I've seen too many business owners get dinged for technicalities or misunderstood behaviors. This approach is a win for fairness and accuracy, especially for entrepreneurs juggling multiple short-term obligations. There's always anxiety when a new scoring model rolls out. But FICO's research shows that for more than 85% of BNPL users, the impact on their credit score will be about 10 points—and for most, it will be positive or neutral. That's huge. It means responsible BNPL use can actually help your personal credit, not hurt it. For small business owners who rely on every point to qualify for loans or better rates, this matters. Of course, missed payments will hurt you. That's always been true, and it's a necessary guardrail. But the days of being penalized just for using BNPL are over. I've been on both sides of the lending desk. When lenders can't see the full scope of a borrower's obligations, they either overreact (decline or price too high) or underreact (approve risky loans). Both outcomes are bad for small businesses. Now, with BNPL data in the mix, lenders can make smarter, more informed decisions. That means more approvals for deserving borrowers and fewer surprises down the road. For business owners, this also means you can finally see how all your credit behaviors—traditional and BNPL—affect your personal score. Transparency is power. This change is a wake-up call for everyone, especially small business owners who often mix personal and business finances (sometimes out of necessity; sometimes out of confusion). If you use BNPL, those habits are now part of your personal credit story. It's time to get educated: understand your payment schedules, avoid overextending, and monitor your credit reports like a hawk. Knowledge is your first line of defense. If you're not sure how BNPL is showing up on your credit, ask. If you're using it to manage cash flow, make sure you're not setting yourself up for a surprise down the road. Here's the bottom line: this is an opportunity. If you're a small business owner who uses BNPL to buy inventory, manage expenses, or smooth out cash flow, you can now build personal credit with those transactions—if you do it wisely. Pay on time, don't overextend, and keep records. This could help you qualify for better financing, lower rates, and more favorable terms. But beware: BNPL is not free money. Overspending or missing payments will hurt your score and your business. The same discipline you bring to your business books, you should bring to your BNPL accounts. A Call for Business Credit Bureaus to Step Up I started my first business in a world where credit was a black box. I learned the hard way that what you don't know can kill your dreams. FICO's inclusion of BNPL data is a long-awaited leap toward a more accurate, inclusive, and transparent credit system, especially for small business owners' personal credit. But let's not stop here. I hope the business credit bureaus are paying attention and will follow FICO's lead by updating their scoring models to include SMB BNPL data as well. Small business owners deserve the same recognition for responsible borrowing on their business credit profiles as they are starting to get on their personal credit reports. This is how we build a stronger, fairer financial future for Main Street—together. About the Author: Levi King is CEO, co-founder, and chairman of A lifelong entrepreneur and small business advocate, Levi has dedicated over ten years of his professional career to increasing business credit transparency for small businesses. After starting and selling several successful companies, he founded Nav both to help small business owners build their credit health and to provide them with powerful tools to make their financing dreams a reality.

What's Holding Back Sustainable Business? The Challenges That Matter Most
What's Holding Back Sustainable Business? The Challenges That Matter Most

Forbes

time21 hours ago

  • Forbes

What's Holding Back Sustainable Business? The Challenges That Matter Most

The race to a sustainable future is on In the next five years, an entire generation of 2030 sustainability goals will finally come due. ESG reports and shareholder letters alike are soon going to face their biggest reckoning yet: will all the lofty promises translate into real progress? Early signs suggest the answer will be sobering. While ambition has soared, actual outcomes have continued to lag stubbornly behind. The reality is not that business leaders lack the will, rather, it's that the pathways to sustainability are far murkier, slower, and more difficult than anyone knew, or perhaps wanted to admit. For many organizations, the past few years have revealed a brutal truth: good intentions alone are not enough. Across industries, leaders are confronting the growing reality that sustainable business challenges run deeper than public promises and ESG reports might suggest. Without the right goals, infrastructure, and incentives, sustainability efforts either stall or end up serving more as marketing than meaning. The subtle forces working against sustainability are often invisible at first: misaligned incentives, fragile infrastructure, and underpriced risk. It's time we look at them more clearly if we want to build companies that can genuinely claim to have moved the world forward. The Importance of Aligning Goals With Real-World Sustainability Execution At the heart of any real change is leadership that understands both the limits of today and the possibilities of tomorrow. Kenn Ricci, founder of Flexjet, is an executive who strives to embody both while also running a business in one of the more challenging industries to be sustainable in, aviation. As he explains it, Ricci's sustainability philosophy doesn't fall into the trap of setting goals that look good but collapse under operational scrutiny. Instead, he focuses on what could become possible with enough pressure and patience, and then works to build the conditions to achieve it, whether it is to further sustainability across his fleet of jets or simply managing the day-to-day operations at the back office. 'When you lead people, you can't just say, 'This is where we're going,'' Ricci explains. 'You have to build a path under their feet, step by step, that makes it believable and doable. Otherwise, it's just a dream. Worse yet, it might be just your dream, and never become theirs.' At Flexjet, Ricci has consistently pursued operational improvements that align with larger sustainability aims, but without forcing the business to lurch into goals it cannot yet support. He argues that trust, not slogans, is what sustains long-term change. 'Sustainability isn't a checkbox even if some still treat it as such,' Ricci continues. 'It's an ongoing negotiation between ambition and reality. The leaders who win are the ones who never let go of either side.' His pragmatic optimism stands in stark contrast to much of the corporate world, where sustainability targets are often designed by communications departments rather than operational leaders. And herein lies the first reason why we haven't seen as much progress on ESG goals as we would have wanted. For far too many companies, sustainability has not been a metric that they have actively led with themselves. Ricci puts it bluntly: 'Sustainability has to be a steering wheel, not a rearview mirror. If you're just reporting it, you're already too late. And the leaders have to be the ones with both hands on it, not just the sustainability or comms team.' He's also keenly aware that true leadership requires putting real capital behind sustainable change, not just political or reputational capital, but operational resources that can withstand market cycles. 'Anyone can make promises when the sun is shining,' Ricci says. 'The question is what you stick to when the headwinds come. That's where real commitment shows.' Why Sustainability Depends on Infrastructure: Lessons From Aviation and Energy If setting the right goals is the first battle, building the right infrastructure is the war. Kennedy Ricci, CEO of 4AIR and son of Kenn Ricci, has spent his career focusing precisely on this frontier. His company offers a certification program for aviation's environmental impact, not by promising zero emissions tomorrow, but by helping aviation stakeholders take verifiable, incremental steps today. 'A lot of people get paralyzed because they think the only good goal is net-zero tomorrow,' Kennedy Ricci explains. 'But if you can measure, track, and improve a little bit every day, that's how you actually get there.' 4AIR's approach doesn't pretend aviation can become clean overnight. Instead, it recognizes that building credibility today through offset programs, sustainable aviation fuels, and transparent reporting lays the groundwork for deeper decarbonization later. The company's rise is testament to the power of pragmatic ambition anchored by real-world execution. Kenn Ricci reflects on his son's growing success: 'Building an empire is one thing. Building a legacy that adapts to the future is something else entirely. I'm proud that Kennedy's taking on the harder challenge.' He continues, "We've always believed that real leadership isn't about announcing goals, it's about laying bricks, patiently, and getting others to walk the road with you. 4AIR is doing just that." Meanwhile, infrastructure challenges aren't limited to aviation. The broader energy ecosystem faces its own existential bottlenecks that a handful of companies are doing their best to break open for the rest of us. Deóis Ua Cearnaigh, CTO at Aeon Blue, a company specializing in energy transition technologies and sustainable fuel, emphasizes that sustainability isn't about simply adding more renewables into the grid. It's about fundamentally rethinking how the grid operates. 'It's wonderful that we have more wind and solar now,' says Cearnaigh. 'But you still need a spinning reserve for when the wind dies and the sun sets. If that reserve is fossil-powered, your emissions story isn't as clean as it looks.' Their bigger point is this: you can't just add renewables on top of a fragile or misaligned system and expect magic. Without reengineering grid storage, reserve capacity, and distribution models, the true sustainability gains remain elusive​. Cearnaigh believes that while renewables will dominate the next twenty years, nuclear energy will inevitably rise as the long-term backbone for sustainable baseload power. 'The zeitgeist today is wind, solar, and geothermal,' he reflects. 'But it does also seem that nuclear is one inevitable destination as well.' Without grappling with these infrastructural realities, sustainability risks becoming a story we tell ourselves, not a future we actually live. This mindset mirrors the thinking of Brett Bouchy, CEO of Freedom Forever, a company deadset on revolutionizing residential solar. 'The solar revolution doesn't happen because people feel good about the environment,' Bouchy points out. 'It happens when saving money on your electricity bill is cheaper and easier than sticking to the grid.'​ Bouchy's laser focus on efficiency is another reminder that for sustainability to scale, it must compete not just morally, but economically. As Bouchy frames it, "We don't succeed by selling dreams. We succeed by selling better economics. And better economics drive real environmental change." He's blunt about the reality check the green economy still needs: "Nobody switches to solar because you guilt them into it. They switch because it's cheaper, easier, and works better. That's how you win hearts, wallets, and the future. And for that, you need the infrastructure to be in place, management to know what goals to drive towards, and an audience that is ready to trust what you are selling." Bouchy also sees a deeper, long-term opportunity that transcends energy bills: "Every home we upgrade is a client win, sure. But it's another node in a smarter, decentralized energy system. Sustainability isn't a utopian idea. It's the byproduct of millions of small, self-interested decisions that add up to a revolution." If only revolutions were easy, which is exactly why stories like the above are worthy of retelling. Companies that rise up to the challenge of sustainability cannot be taken for granted, simply because of how rare they still remain. That is particularly true for investments, which is the third missing pillar that is making 2030 feel further away than it should. Why Long-Term Investment Is the Missing Piece in Sustainability Strategy If setting the right goals is the first battle, and building the right infrastructure is the war, then making the right investments is the long campaign, often fought without fanfare, headlines, or even immediate returns. And it's here where sustainable business faces one of its most persistent barriers: the cruel mismatch between moral urgency and financial immediacy. Capital, by its nature, seeks returns. It rewards speed, liquidity, and demonstrable gains. But sustainability often demands patience, long arcs of investment, and a willingness to fund seeds that may only bear fruit decades from now. It asks us to invest in forests we may never personally walk through. Doing good, it turns out, is relatively easy. But doing good money, investments that compete at par with traditional, short-horizon opportunities, remains the real Everest to climb. This doesn't mean that the private sector is full of villains twirling their overgrown mustaches. It's simply important to recognize the system we've built and how it operates. Until the returns of sustainability become structurally competitive, whether through market shifts, regulatory frameworks, or pure innovation, capital will continue to flow where it always has: toward the short, the sure, the profitable and the now. The uncomfortable truth is that economics, not ethics, will be the final arbiter of the transition's speed, even if ethics gets to set the goal. And yet, there are signs of things shifting. Signs that smart leaders know: a world where customers demand sustainable products is fast approaching. A world where supply chains simply cannot function without green tech is not far behind. Companies who wait until the economics are easy will find that the customers, the talent, and the licenses to operate have already gone elsewhere. Which brings us to the handful of players quietly laying the groundwork. ENEOS, Japan's largest energy group, offers one instructive case. They are investing heavily in hydrogen transportation, synthetic fuels, battery recycling, and carbon capture, not because it makes perfect financial sense today, but because they know what survival will require tomorrow. 'There's no question the world needs cleaner energy,' an ENEOS representative explained in an interview. 'But if you exit fossil fuels too quickly, you leave markets in chaos, and ironically, you can make the transition slower, not faster.' The trick, as they frame it, is not to burn the bridges while crossing the river. Real transition demands continuity, not collapse. "You can't dismantle today's infrastructure before tomorrow's infrastructure is ready," added another ENEOS representative noted. 'The world is too interconnected for idealism alone. You need to build pathways people can actually walk.' This recognition, that reality, not rhetoric, is the substrate upon which change must be built, permeates the thinking of those who are keen to see sustainability truly take root today. Brett Bouchy, CEO of Freedom Forever, who is busy scaling residential solar across America, frames it in plain terms: 'You don't win by selling dreams. You win by selling better economics. If going solar isn't easier and cheaper than sticking with the grid, the revolution doesn't happen. Period.' It's a bracing, necessary reminder that narratives alone don't move markets. Incentives do. And this brings us full circle to the real challenge ahead: building an economy where sustainability isn't a premium add-on for the wealthy or the virtuous, it's the baseline expectation for everyone. In that future, "green" won't be a differentiator. Instead, it will simply be the cost of doing business. Those who invest today with that reality in mind, patient, practical, sometimes lonely, will be the ones best positioned when the forest finally blooms. And those who don't may find themselves, too late, standing outside the gates of a new economy that has no room left for yesterday's math.

Beyond the ESG Label: From Metrics to Meaning
Beyond the ESG Label: From Metrics to Meaning

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Beyond the ESG Label: From Metrics to Meaning

As ESG scrutiny intensifies, Marco Carlizzi, Partner Lawyer at RSM Italy, explores the challenges and opportunities ahead, from tightening regulations to measurable impact, and why integration is now the real differentiator. The ESG landscape is undergoing a quiet transformation. While headlines focus on regulation or greenwashing scandals, many firms are recalibrating their environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies to move beyond compliance and toward credibility. The partner lawyer at RSM Italy, shares how investors and institutions are responding to this shift, and where the next wave of ESG innovation lies. The pressure to quantify ESG is now coming from multiple angles, regulators, stakeholders, and internal leadership. 'While regulatory expectations around ESG metrics continue to grow, the picture on investor demand is more nuanced,' Carlizzi explains. 'Compared to a year ago, we've seen a degree of hesitation among some investors – particularly in response to the political and international situation (tariffs battles and war). In that sense, demand isn't rising uniformly; in some areas, it's stabilising or becoming more cautious.' Nonetheless, environmental indicators remain front and centre. 'The push for measurability remains strong, particularly from regulators and supervisory authorities. Environmental metrics are still the most widely adopted, especially carbon emissions, energy use and water consumption, because they are more easily quantified.' In parallel, sustainability-linked KPIs are gaining ground inside organisations themselves. 'Increasingly, firms are also using sustainability-linked KPIs to align leadership incentives with environmental outcomes including Managing Directors. So even in a more restrained climate, the emphasis on rigour and transparency is very much here to stay.' But turning ESG intentions into metrics isn't easy, especially for small and mid-sized companies. 'The core issue is data – not just the collection of ESG data, but its quality and reliability,' Carlizzi says. 'Many small and middle market businesses are unable to provide the detailed data that banks or asset managers request.' Even on the institutional side, accuracy can be elusive. 'Investors typically depend on a small number of ESG ratings agencies and data providers – such as MSCI, Sustainalytics, or ISS – to assess thousands of companies across global markets. Because so many asset managers use the same sources, there's a risk of overreliance on standardised, and sometimes inconsistent, datasets.' The consequence? 'It's difficult to benchmark performance accurately or uncover meaningful distinctions between companies, especially when methodologies lack transparency or comparability.' In Europe, ESG regulation is quickly catching up with industry practices. 'Regulatory scrutiny around ESG labelling has intensified in Europe,' Carlizzi notes. 'The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently issued guidance on how terms like 'green,' 'sustainable,' or 'impact' can be used in product naming. While not yet law, the guidance is already prompting changes in how firms describe their products.' The implications for private banks and asset managers are significant. 'Many asset managers are re-evaluating product labels and marketing language. We've seen clients having to rename certain products to remain aligned with new expectations – not because the strategies changed, but because the language needed to be clearer and more defensible. This shows just how seriously the market is taking the risk of overstatement.' As scrutiny increases, so too does the spotlight on greenwashing. Carlizzi believes credibility must be built from within. 'Avoiding greenwashing starts with building internal credibility. That means ESG strategy can't be delegated to a single board member or compliance officer. It must be understood across leadership – just like finance, marketing, or corporate governance.' He recommends concrete, preventative steps: 'Practical steps include regular board education, external legal review of ESG claims, and ensuring that communications reflect actual outcomes, not just intentions. The simplest advice is often the most important: be transparent, be cautious with language, and only promise what you can prove.' When it comes to impact investing, performance and transparency are no longer optional. 'There's been a clear shift toward measurability and accountability in impact investing,' Carlizzi says. 'It's no longer enough to talk about positive intentions – investors now expect evidence of tangible outcomes.' This has implications for both institutional and private clients. 'Both are asking tougher, more technical questions: How is impact defined? How is it measured? And how does it relate to financial performance?' This shift is reengineering product design. 'Managers need to integrate impact into the structure of the investment strategy, not just the marketing,' he explains. 'Increasingly, this includes setting portfolio-wide targets – such as emissions reductions or social outcomes – and linking them to financial mechanisms like hurdle rates, carried interest, or sustainability-linked fees. In the current environment, impact must be treated not just as a value, but as a measurable, reportable obligation tied to both returns and accountability.' Looking ahead, Carlizzi points to two EU policy developments that will reshape reporting obligations across the corporate landscape: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). 'Both will increase the depth and scope of required ESG disclosures in Europe. Even businesses not directly affected will see expectations rise through their commercial relationships.' And while AI is emerging as a tool to handle complex data, he urges caution. 'There is also growing attention on how AI will be used to support ESG – particularly in data analysis and risk screening. But it's essential to remember that AI must support, not replace, professional judgement. As I often say to my clients: artificial intelligence may be fast, but legal responsibility remains human.' Finally, Carlizzi sees innovation blooming where ESG is embedded into strategy, not tacked on. 'Innovation is happening across all three – but the most exciting developments are in integration,' he says. 'For example, sustainability-linked loans and ESG covenants in financing structures are becoming more sophisticated.' On the reporting front, technological advances are starting to bite. 'The use of AI and blockchain to trace data through complex supply chains could significantly improve transparency.' Ultimately, success will depend on mindset. 'The firms that will lead in ESG are those who treat it as a core strategy – not as a compliance exercise,' Carlizzi concludes. 'The next wave of ESG leadership will be defined not by who has the best disclosure, but by who can act on it.' "Beyond the ESG Label: From Metrics to Meaning" was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio

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