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Political scientist awarded the Volvo Environment Prize 2024

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Press release from the Volvo Environment Prize Foundation

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Governments and organizations meet year-round to make crucial decisions to solve global environmental problems. Why, then, is progress so slow? This is the research area of Frank Biermann, a political scientist who proposes a reformed United Nations and new institutions to reach sustainability goals. He is awarded the Volvo Environment Prize 2024 for his research on environmental governance.

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which 193 nations agreed to implement. So, what happened? According to Frank Biermann, a research professor of Global Sustainability Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, there is little.

“We analyzed 3,000 scientific studies on the political effects of the Sustainable Development Goals,” says Biermann. “We found that, so far, they´ve had no transformative impacts on our societies or the political system, not at the local, national, or global levels. This was a very disappointing finding indeed.”

So, are the big global meetings—on climate change, biodiversity, equity, and poverty alleviation—meaningless? “No”, says Biermann. “These international conventions and conferences are important, but they’re not changing the world from one day to another. They initiate reform, which governments later implement. It takes time.”

However, the Earth System is under immense pressure, so time is running out. He believes reforming the United Nations and other global institutions is necessary for a sustainable transition. Frank Biermann founded the Earth System Governance Project, a transdisciplinary research network of sustainability scholars that develop better governance solutions. “We need better and more powerful institutions and better politics to deal with the challenges such as climate change,” says Biermann.

Although the Volvo Environment Prize laureates have come from various academic disciplines, most have been natural scientists, with Frank Biermann being the first political scientist to receive the award. He sees this as recognizing the social sciences’ role in sustainability and gives the example of solar radiation modification. Some scientists have proposed this as a method of avoiding climate change.

“One of many ideas is that hundreds of airplanes would fly around the Earth and put substances into the stratosphere to cool the planet artificially,” says Biermann. “I think this is a very dangerous idea. As a social scientist, I believe we cannot govern this mechanism. We lack institutions of global governance for this kind of planetary-scale technology. Also, the risks of solar geoengineering are poorly understood and can never be fully known. Impacts will vary across regions, and there are uncertainties about the effects on weather patterns, agriculture, and the provision of basic food and water needs.”

Frank Biermann is very concerned. He and 550 other scholars have signed an open letter calling upon governments and United Nations agencies not to pursue this path. They are advocating for a non-use agreement for solar engineering, and he believes they will be successful. “I think pressure from civil society, many scientists, and parliaments will prevent these entirely speculative technologies.”

The Jury for the Volvo Environment Prize says in their motivation for the 2024 award:

Frank Biermann has been defining new pathways for international environmental governance in a period of global change. He has spearheaded research that has advanced our understanding of how international institutions might improve our collective ability to mitigate global environmental risks and adapt to unavoidable changes.” 

Since the first award 35 years ago, the Volvo Environment Prize has become one of the scientific world’s most respected environmental prizes. The award will be celebrated on October 15th in Stockholm, Sweden, with a prize ceremony and seminar.

For more information about the 2024 laureate and the award, go to www.environment-prize.com

Link to high-resolution images

Journalists wanting further information, please contact:
Claes Eliasson, Head of Media Relations
+46 76 553 7229
press@volvo.com

For more information, please visit volvogroup.com 
For frequent updates, follow us on X: @volvogroup

The Volvo Group drives prosperity through transport and infrastructure solutions, offering trucks, buses, construction equipment, power solutions for marine and industrial applications, financing and services that increase our customers’ uptime and productivity. Founded in 1927, the Volvo Group is committed to shaping the future landscape of sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions. The Volvo Group is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, employs more than 100,000 people and serves customers in almost 190 markets. In 2023, net sales amounted to SEK 553 billion (EUR 48 billion). Volvo shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

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Judopay leaps across the pond, bringing its mobile payment services to North America.

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Judopay, the UK’s go-to mobile payments provider, is now making waves across the Atlantic. Backed by its powerful partner network, Judopay is bringing its seamless in-app and online services to the complex payment landscape of North America.

LONDON, Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Judopay, the UK’s go-to mobile payments provider, is now making waves across the Atlantic. Backed by its powerful partner network, Judopay is bringing its seamless in-app and online services to the complex payment landscape of North America.

Joe Perry, Chief Customer Officer at Judopay, shared his excitement, “Our entry into this new market is about meeting the growing demand for seamless, mobile-first payments that breaks down geographical barriers. Something today’s consumers expect.”

This year alone, digital payments in North America are set to hit a staggering $3.3 trillion. Judopay’s expansion is set to enable its existing and prospective client base to tap into massive revenue opportunities and make a splash in a brand-new market.

Judopay’s connections will now make it even easier for merchants to go state-side. North America, once seen as lagging behind its European counterparts when it came to adopting digital payments, is catching up fast. The Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) forecasted that by 2026, digital wallets will reach a 41% share of the ecommerce market (versus 39% in cards) with Apple Pay and Google Pay spearheading that growth. And now, Judopay’s mobile-first approach is stepping in to keep things moving smoothly.

Joe Perry, Chief Customer Officer at Judopay, shared his excitement, “North America is now steaming ahead when it comes to app and ecommerce, and we’re excited to dive in. Our entry into this new market is about meeting the growing demand for seamless, mobile-first payments that breaks down geographical barriers. Something today’s consumers expect.

We’re focused on helping our customers go global whilst bringing our game-changing tech and innovation to North American consumers. Hand-in-hand with our partner network, we’re simplifying the payment process for all.”

As part of its North American launch, Judopay is also actively partnering with software platforms across the retail, hospitality, and mobility industry, allowing them to add innovative payment technology to their core offering.

About Judopay:

Judopay is the UK’s leading mobile payments provider. Born out of the frustration with friction-filled checkouts, we built a flexible solution designed to securely drive sales and improve the customer experience. Now wholly owned by Fabrick S.p.A., part of the Banca Sella Group, Judopay is continually building ways to enhance the overall payment experience for merchants and customers alike. Available across multiple sectors, their solution is used by KFC, Uber subsidiary Autocab, PaybyPhone, Sigma Sports, BUPA, Hiscox, Foxtons and many more.

For more information about Judopay and its services, visit www.judopay.com.

Media Contact

Jessica Carroll, Judopay, 44 20 3503 0600, jessica.carroll@judopay.com, https://www.judopay.com/

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Whatfix Recognized as a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) Leader for the Fifth Consecutive Year and a Star Performer for the Third Year

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– 2024 PEAK Matrix® Assessment Features Whatfix as a Leader in the Inaugural Regional Reports for North America and Europe

– Strengthens Leadership Position with One of the Highest Scores in Buyer Satisfaction, Value Delivered, Market Presence, and AI Innovation

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Whatfix, a global leader among digital adoption platforms (DAPs), today announced that the company has been recognized as a Leader for the fifth consecutive year and a Star Performer for the third year and second consecutive year in the Everest Group Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024. Whatfix is also recognized as a Leader in the inaugural regional reports for North America and Europe in the DAP category. The Everest Group PEAK Matrix®, a trusted framework for assessing market impact, vision, and capabilities, evaluated 25 DAP software providers in its 2024 report, helping enterprises make well-informed purchasing decisions.

Whatfix has showcased remarkable capability and impact in the digital adoption landscape, achieving top scores in portfolio mix, value delivered, vision and strategy, implementations and support, and engagement and commercial model. Whatfix was selected as one of only three DAP technology providers to receive the “Leader” title based on an evaluation of its vision and capabilities as well as market impact, including value delivered to clients. The company was also one of only four Star Performers, achieving one of the highest scores for value delivered and buyer satisfaction. Its strong market presence, extensive lifecycle expertise, and advanced AI-driven innovations underscore Whatfix’s role in providing exceptional value to clients. This progress in the yearly recognition underscores Whatfix’s consistent industry leadership, impressive year-over-year growth, and unwavering commitment to driving innovation that is shaping the future of the DAP category.

“Whatfix’s deep expertise in driving digital adoption has been crucial to its success, as evidenced by its recognition as a Leader and Star Performer in the global Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024,” says Sharath Hari N, Vice President at Everest Group. “This highlights Whatfix’s multi-product strategy, including advanced product analytics, which effectively addresses adoption challenges throughout the application lifecycle. Their extensive global reach allows them to serve a wide range of industries, while advancements in AI significantly enhance user experiences. The Rise 2 Excellence Partner Program further empowers partners to boost sales and customer success. With a continued focus on user experience and robust customer support, Whatfix is well-positioned to maintain its leadership in the rapidly evolving DAP market.”

Key factors contributing to Whatfix’s recognition include:

Multi-Product Strategy & Global Presence: Whatfix employs a multi-product strategy to effectively address adoption challenges throughout the entire application lifecycle. Its extensive global footprint enables the company to serve clients across a wide variety of industries. Whatfix has recorded the highest growth rate in DAP revenue, maintaining its market momentum and positioning itself among the top providers by market share in key industry verticals and regions.Expansion of the Product Suite: Whatfix is broadening its product offerings to target different aspects of an application lifecycle, including Mirror, its application simulation tool that provides a secure, hyper-realistic setting for users to practice and master new tools without affecting live systems. It also provides product analytics that encompasses both product and guidance analytics, as well as Enterprise Insights. The distinctive Ask Whatfix AI feature further sets it apart by translating natural language inquiries into insightful trend visualizations, simplifying the decision-making process. To enhance collaboration among content creators, it has introduced Comments, allowing users to tag colleagues and share links to pages. Whatfix supports a robust content lifecycle management system, offering various environments for creating and testing walkthroughs before publication. It has implemented visibility rules within the editor that allow precise control over when, where, and to whom the content is displayed, enhancing the overall user experience through behavioral targeting informed by product analytics.AI & GenAI-Driven Enhancements: As a leader in AI advancements, Whatfix utilizes AI and GenAI to improve its product functionalities, such as generating summarized responses to user queries, auto-filling text fields, elaborating text, and delivering real-time insights into user satisfaction through survey analysis.Dual Data Center Disaster Recovery for Seamless Operations: Whatfix is distinguished by its strong disaster recovery capabilities, operating two identical data center infrastructures simultaneously. In the event of a disruption in one data center, the other takes over seamlessly, guaranteeing zero downtime and uninterrupted operations. Organizations with data security and privacy concerns will appreciate Whatfix’s flexible deployment options, which include on-premises, private cloud, and hybrid hosting solutions.Commitment to Customer Satisfaction and User Support: Whatfix is consistently recognized for its responsive customer service, comprehensive platform functionalities, and valuable analytics, with clients highlighting these as primary strengths. The company achieved one of the highest scores for buyer satisfaction and value delivered in 2023. Its robust support for mobile and desktop applications, including virtual desktop solutions on Citrix, differentiates it in the market.

“Our continued recognition by Everest Group reaffirms Whatfix’s position as a leader in the DAP space. Our customer-first approach and relentless focus on innovation beyond DAP has enabled us to deliver unparalleled value to global enterprises worldwide,” said Khadim Batti, CEO and co-founder of Whatfix. “We’re proud to offer a solution that empowers organizations to drive user adoption, maximize their technology investments and enhance user productivity.”

This recognition comes on the heels of Whatfix’s recent $125 million Series E funding, which is driving the company’s efforts to enhance its integrated product suite beyond DAP through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions. With this momentum, Whatfix will further solidify its market presence in the US, EMEA, and APAC regions, expand into the Middle East, and strengthen its position within the global public sector.

Click here to read the Everest Group Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024.

About Whatfix
Whatfix is advancing the “userization” of application technology, by empowering companies to maximize the ROI of digital investments across the application lifecycle. Powered by GenAI, Whatfix’s product suite includes a digital adoption platform, simulated application environments for hands-on training, and no-code application analytics. Whatfix enables organizations to drive user productivity, ensure process compliance, and improve user experience of internal and customer-facing applications. With seven offices across the US, India, UK, Germany, Singapore, and Australia, Whatfix supports 700+ enterprises, including 80+ Fortune 500s like Shell, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, and Genuine Parts Company. Backed by investors such as Warburg Pincus, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Dragoneer, Peak XV Partners, Eight Roads, and Cisco Investments, software clicks with Whatfix. For more information, visit the Whatfix website.

Media Contact
whatfix@luminapr.com

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Sonepar’s North American Expansion Brings over $2B in Additional Revenue

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Acquisition growth in 2024 includes 7 companies, 1700 new associates and 89 new branches

CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — 2024 has been a transformative year for Sonepar as it continues to focus on strategic growth. Since 2021, Sonepar has closed 21 acquisitions in North America. The acquisition growth alone in 2024 consists of seven companies representing over $2B in additional revenue, approximately 1,700 new associates, and 89 new branches. Sonepar’s North American acquisition strategy is key to the global success of the Sonepar Group.

Sonepar’s mission is to continue as the strongest and most dynamic electrical distribution network across the entirety of North America. It seeks to combine local sales excellence with significant regional and global investments and capabilities to provide customers with the best distribution experience and associates with the most opportunities to succeed.

Philippe Delpech, President & CEO of Sonepar, commented:

North America is our largest market, where Sonepar leads in building and industrial verticals serving customers with a best-in-class level of service. With 36 billion dollars in sales in 2023, Sonepar is the world leader in B2B electrical distribution of products and services, deploying a global automated supply chain and a proprietary omnichannel digital platform called Spark. Today, the USA is leading in size, processes, technology, and workforce quality. We welcome the more than 1,700 associates who joined the Sonepar family through these seven acquisitions and are already working on combining our strengths for the benefit of customers, suppliers and associates.”

Rob Taylor, President of Sonepar Americas, said:

“Each acquisition is carefully considered, and we look to partner with the best local and regional distributors, which share our values and desire to grow. We truly believe that acquisitions are a strategic partnership that benefits all parties. We work closely with the leadership of companies we engage with to understand what makes them a success, with the goal of enhancing the local go-to-market approach and culture with significant investment and new capabilities. This strategy will continue to be an important focus for Sonepar across the Americas.”

The statistics regarding Sonepar’s investments in North America are striking. Sonepar has added numerous automated distribution centers and significantly increased its density branch network, now serving every province, territory and state in North America out of 548 total branches. It has also added new service offerings like panel shop design and assembly capabilities, and expanded expertise and product offerings in the solar and EV, industrial, broadband and utility segments. Sonepar’s digital solutions such as Spark and the Digital Job Center are best-in-class, offering customers a seamless digital experience.

Sonepar will continue to grow organically and through acquisitions and make significant investments across its entire business.

About Sonepar

Sonepar is an independent family-owned company standing as the world leader in B-to-B distribution of electrical equipment, solutions, and services. In 2023, Sonepar achieved global sales of $36 billion.

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