Sponsorship Sends Students To Sustainability Summit

Darius Huggins would someday like to work as a sustainability compliance officer.

And this past semester, in addition to completing his coursework, the University at Buffalo graduate student took additional steps toward his goal when he attended Western New York Sustainable Business Roundtable’s 2021 Summit. As an event sponsor, National Grid donated around $2,500 to Sustainable Business Roundtable so that students like Huggins could attend the virtual conference, which was held May 5-6.

“Representatives from different companies spoke about what they’ve been doing to operate and maintain sustainable operations,” Huggins said. “So often a sustainability plan looks good on paper, and it advocates for pushing certain initiatives forward; it was good to hear large companies speaking about the changes that they identified and what’s necessary to achieve these goals.”

Huggins' coursework this past spring also included enrolling in a carbon reduction challenge course. Sponsored by National Grid, it’s designed to teach students about how to help companies reduce their carbon footprints.

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Huggins

Western New York Sustainable Business Roundtable is a collaboration of more than 70 organizations across the region – including National Grid – that have integrated sustainability into their processes to benefit staff, the environment and their bottom lines. The summit provides members and guests an annual forum for discussing ideas and sharing lessons learned.

Huggins was joined at the conference by other University at Buffalo students, some of whom wrote notes of gratitude to National Grid for the scholarship that allowed them to participate.

One student wrote that the conference was “an interesting learning and networking experience that taught more about the intersection between businesses and sustainability.”

Added another student, “It exposed me to how businesses are implementing sustainable practices … I enjoyed listening to representatives from various companies and disciplines speak about incorporating the concept of sustainability into their business models.”