6. Net Positive Community Impact

Running Tide operates in – and our supply chain extends into – communities that are the frontline of the climate crisis. Working waterfronts reliant on fishing and aquaculture, forest communities whose livelihoods are tied to effective land management and stewardship, and additional communities throughout our supply chain are all impacted by our work. In many cases, these communities possess inherent knowledge of, and experience working in, their local environment; as such, they are ideal candidates for employment, and often require minimal retraining and skills development.

It is Running Tide’s responsibility to make sure our impact on communities is positive, to take proactive measures to support the maintenance and resilience of healthy communities, and to ensure that the perspectives and guidance of community leaders are sought out and integrated into the project and operational decisions. This extends to the communities tied to the materials we source, as well as those in which we operate directly.

In addition to monitoring the climate and ecological impact of our sourcing, Running Tide also tracks the socioeconomic impacts of our project operations and the associated well-being of the stakeholders involved in our supply chains. Our forest products are FSC certified, which guarantees that workers involved in harvest operations are provided with adequate training, personal protection equipment (PPE), safe transport to and from the work site, access to health care, potable water supply, and safe sanitation facilities. FSC also prioritizes providing meaningful, fairly compensated employment and wages, emphasizes the hiring of people in the local community, and allows workers, should they choose, to organize and negotiate working conditions. We will ensure that socioeconomic values reinforce sustainability at the community level, and support the protection of the rights and resources of indigenous and traditional communities.

In areas where Running Tide does not currently have direct engagement with impacted communities, it is contingent on Running Tide suppliers to confirm their compliance with the community requirements dictated by our Supplier Code of Conduct, or risk the termination of their procurement relationship, as they represent Running Tide in all community relationships related to our supply chain. Provisions laid out in the Code of Conduct include the supplier’s intent to foster economic and social development and contribute to the sustainability and well-being of the communities where they operate; the supplier’s requirement to respect the land rights of individuals, indigenous people, and local communities in accordance with local laws, the International Labour Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People; and the requirement to respect the rights of local communities to decent living conditions, education, employment, social activities, and the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) to developments that affect them and the lands on which they live, with particular consideration for the presence of vulnerable groups.

How we measure net positive community impact

• Running Tide measures, and will report on, baseline socioeconomic impact metrics related to project activities at the end of each deployment season, including job creation, economic development, impact on local income disparity, and more. Over time, we plan to integrate this reporting into deployment-specific metrics.

• In addition to this baseline measurement and maintaining an active dialogue and engagement with the communities in which we operate, Running Tide is currently developing quantitative socioeconomic impact assessments specific to our project activities to establish baseline conditions in the communities we touch. These assessments will be designed in partnership with affected communities, monitored over the life of the project, and reported on alongside the quantification of the net carbon removed from our system.