Stand.earth acquires Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research, forms Stand Research Group

International environmental organization Stand.earth today announces its acquisition of British Columbia-based Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research, and the formation of its new research arm, Stand Research Group. The acquisition supports Stand.earth’s mission to hold corporations and governments accountable and transform bad practices that harm people and the environment.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — International environmental organization Stand.earth today announces its acquisition of British Columbia-based Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research, and the formation of its new research arm, Stand Research Group. The acquisition supports Stand.earth’s mission to hold corporations and governments accountable and transform bad practices that harm people and the environment.

Greg Higgs, who founded Borealis in 2002, will continue to lead Stand Research Group as its Director of Research and Investigations. To respect client confidentiality, many of Stand Research Group’s operations will remain at arms length from Stand.earth. 

“Stand Research Group’s expertise is in tracking wood, oil, leather, beef, and more on the journey to consumer products, and tracing environmental destruction and human rights violations from source to end use. It can help answer questions like: What brands make products from illegally logged old-growth rainforests? What electronics companies purchase conflict minerals? Which companies power its fleets with tar sands crude oil?” said Todd Paglia, executive director at Stand.earth.

Over the past 15 years, research performed by Borealis has resulted in 100 corporate commitments and contributed toward the protection of more than 20 million acres of wild spaces. Borealis has performed 383 research projects with more than 90 clients, including Amazon Watch, Canopy, Greenpeace, National Wildlife Federation, NRDC, Oceana, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and WWF. Although much of that research remains confidential, some reports are publicly available.

“Our research has helped shift the practices or procurement policies of some of the biggest forest products companies, such as Kimberly-Clark, Staples, and Nestlé. These shifts have led to the protection of critical forest ecosystems around the world, from the tropical forests of Indonesia to the Great Bear Rainforest of Canada,” said Greg Higgs, director of research and investigations at Stand Research Group.

Stand Research Group is accepting requests for fee-for-service projects. Projects can range from scoping exercises to multi-year investigations. The team has direct experience in research related to:

• Coal, oil and gas, including mining and energy exploration, pipelines, crude oil imports and exports, refinery feedstock and emissions, and strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of corporate fleets
• Deforestation caused by illegal logging and agricultural commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef, and leather
• Forest conservation in tropical, temperate and boreal forests
• Ocean ecosystems, including sustainable seafood and illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries
• Human rights violations caused by mining, fishing, oil, and other extractive industries
• Plastics, including the waste trade and decoupling its production from extreme fossil fuels

For more information about Stand Research Group or to inquire about a potential project, go to stand.earth/stand-research-group/consulting-services. 

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Media contact: Todd Paglia, Executive Director, todd@stand.earth, 415-509-1500