Category: 3. Business

PeaceRep had a strong presence at the IEEE VIS 2025 conference in Vienna – the world’s leading conference for scientific visualisation, data visualisation, and visual analytics. Organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the conference brings together experts in the field from around the world. This year, all three submissions involving PeaceRep were accepted, highlighting the consortium’s growing contribution to visualisation research at the intersection of peace, conflict, and data.

PeaceRep’s accepted work included:

• A poster and accompanying short paper showcasing PeaceTech visualisation research
• A dedicated workshop on visualising peace and conflict resolution
• A full research paper, co-authored by PeaceRep visualisation researchers, and which received a Best Paper Honorable Mention

 

Poster Exhibition: Visualising Peace and Conflict

[Download the poster and the accompanying paper]

Created collaboratively by current and former PeaceTech researchers at PeaceRep [Tomas Vancisin, Jinrui Wang, Niamh Henry, Sarah Schöttler, Lucy Havens, Tobias Kauer, Sanja Badanjak, Christine Bell, and Benjamin Bach], the poster highlighted PeaceRep’s three key approaches to supporting peace mediation through visualisation technology:

1. Analysis
2. Communication
3. Tracking

Featuring nine visualisations, the poster presented an emerging area of research that combines peace and conflict resolution with data visualisation as a way to address humanitarian and societal issues from new perspectives.

The poster drew significant attention throughout the conference. Some attendees were curious how peace and conflict can be represented visually, and what data makes this possible. Others were impressed by PeaceRep’s range of PeaceTech visualisations, and connected the exhibits to their own experiences, emphasising the potential for these tools to engage broader public audiences.

 

Workshop: Bringing Peace and Conflict to VIS4DH

Two out of seven days at the IEEE VIS conference are dedicated to workshops, including the long-running Visualisation for Digital Humanities (VIS4DH) workshop, now in its ninth year. VIS4DH focuses specifically on the intersection between the humanities and visualisation, and how these two areas of research can be advanced by combining research approaches.

This year, PeaceRep Research Associate Tomas Vancisin served as a co-organiser of VIS4DH and successfully advocated for Peace and Conflict to be the main theme, allowing for this (still relatively new) type of research to have unprecedented visibility within in the global visualisation community.

The VIS4DH team invited Jan Pospisil (Coventry University) to be the keynote speaker in recognition of his expertise and direct experience of gathering data in conflict settings through PeaceRep’s Perceptions of Peace in South Sudan surveys. The keynote attracted a diverse audience from across the VIS and Digital Humanities community, offering a rare insight into data collection and analysis in complex conflict environments.

 

Award-Winning Paper: Transparency Through Visualisation Badges

PeaceRep researchers also contributed to the paper The Visualization Badges: Communicating Design and Provenance through Graphical Labels Alongside Visualizations, authored by Valentin Edelsbrunner, Jinrui Wang (PeaceRep), Alexis Pister, Tomas Vancisin (PeaceRep), Sian Phillips, Min Chen, and Benjamin Bach (PeaceRep).

The paper introduces a new way to make data visualisations clearer and more honest: graphical badges. These badges act like small visual cues placed alongside a chart to communicate important context. They can flag a major finding, indicate when an axis has been truncated, or warn viewers about potential visual artifacts. In doing so, they help visualisation creators explain their analytical and design choices, while also helping readers better interpret what they see.

The framework behind these badges grew out of a series of co-design workshops involving PeaceRep researchers, which shaped both the concept and its practical use. PeaceRep’s “Messy Timeline” visualisation was highlighted as an example for discussion, with PeaceRep researchers providing critical assessments of open data principles and uncertainty communication. This example became an important case study for the visualisation badges, and is featured on the badge website.

The project resulted in:

• a catalogue of 132 visualisation badges, including different design options
• multiple categorisation schemes
• real-world visualisation examples
• a set of clear guidelines for implementation

This paper was awarded a “Best Paper Honorable Mention,” placing it among the top 5% of all submissions at the conference.

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Citations

Edelsbrunner, V., Wang, J., Pister, A., Vancisin, T., Phillips, S., Chen, M., & Bach, B. (2026). Visualization Badges: Communicating Design and Provenance through Graphical Labels Alongside Visualizations. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

 

Explore PeaceRep’s suite of data visualisation and PeaceTech tools →

Vattenfall has once again earned the highest possible rating, an A, in the non-profit organisation CDP’s latest climate change evaluation. The rating confirms Vattenfall’s continuous efforts towards fossil freedom, placing us in an exclusive group of companies that demonstrate leadership and transparency in climate strategy, governance, and results on a global level.

CDP, a non-profit global organisation, annually reviews companies worldwide on their work with climate change, deforestation, or water security, based on a large number of information criteria. In 2025, nearly 20,000 companies were reviewed and ranked from A to D. Only two percent of these companies received an A rating, among them was Vattenfall, which received top marks for its climate work.

“I am very proud that we once again are part of the exclusive group of A-listed companies. It shows that we are on the right track towards our Net Zero Targets”, says Helle Herk-Hansen, Vice President Environment at Vattenfall. “This achievement is the result of strong collaboration across Vattenfall as well as with our customers and partners as we work together towards our goal of enabling fossil freedom.”

CDP operates the world’s only independent environmental disclosure system and assesses thousands of companies each year. Achieving an ‘A’ places Vattenfall among the global leaders demonstrating comprehensive disclosure, mature environmental governance, and meaningful progress towards environmental resilience.

CDP’s scoring draws on a rigorous and independent methodology, aligned with the TCFD* framework. It evaluates companies’ depth of reporting, understanding of environmental risks, and evidence of best practice – including ambitious target-setting and verified action. CDP maintains the world’s largest repository of environmental information and is widely relied on to guide investment and procurement decisions that support a net-zero, sustainable and earth-positive global economy. 

Learn more about Vattenfall’s environmental and sustainability work 

Learn more about Vattenfall’s climate transition plan 

CDP Scores and A-lists

* Taskforce for climate related financial disclosures

For further information, please contact:
Vattenfall Media Relations, phone: +46 (0)8 739 50 10, e-mail: press@vattenfall.com

Rohit Markan is an experienced leader with more than 28 years of expertise in different fields, multiple industries and locations. He demonstrated his proficiency in Sales, Marketing, Finance, Manufacturing, Project Leadership, Innovation Management, Profit and Loss Management, Country Leadership and Board Management. He has successfully led multiple transformation initiatives and achieved revenue as well as profitability growth on different occasions.

Over the course of his career, he has held several management positions, including as a managing director for Roquette India Private Limited, Senior Vice President Sales for Roquette Asia Pacific and Global Marketing Manager for Solar Solutions at Dow Chemicals. Most recently, he had the role of Global Head of Sales for the pharma business at Roquette Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. 

“Rohit Markan brings a broad portfolio of experience and perspectives from different regions, multiple industries and diverse functions which he gained in various management roles. He is the right person to further develop our industrial business activities in this important region,” said Philip Nelles, Executive Board member for ContiTech. “Rohit has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to drive change while at the same time inspiring his teams. We are delighted to have him on board as we are working together to lead ContiTech into its next chapter as an independent company. I would like to thank Hannes Friedrichsen for all the fruitful years with the company and wish him all the best for the future.”

“I am delighted to become part of ContiTech, a company with such a long tradition and so much potential”, adds Rohit Markan. “I am eager to bring in my expertise and leadership from past experiences in Asia Pacific, thus making a contribution for harnessing the companies’ potential in one of the most important growth regions for Continental.”

Alcohol is an unavoidable part of a festive spread (for more advice on which wines, beers and other drinks I like for each and every occasion, take a look at last week’s Christmas drinks guide), but, sometimes, a drink deserves a place under the tree as well as around it – especially if it’s an easy win for a drinks devotee for whom you need to buy a prezzie.

As I said at this time last year, don’t waste your time and money on fancy-dan wine kit and gadgets: I am speaking for myself here, of course, but a lot of it will ultimately find its way to a kitchen drawer, never to be seen again. I am always running out of corkscrews, however, and the one from St John is iconic and monochrome, or maybe something sleek and silver from Fortnum & Mason, perhaps?

When it comes to gifting wine, it’s a good idea to draw on the crowdpleasers to fit that specific bill. For sparkling wines, crémant is a cost-effective option if you want the delight of fizz but don’t have deep pockets. Champagne, even in a supermarket, teeters around the £50-mark these days, though there are some cute gift boxes out there to warrant the expense: Piper Heidsieck’s fire hydrant case is fun and camp, and there’s no better excuse than Christmas to break out Veuve Cliquot’s puffy bottle holder.

But if buying booze feels like too much of a minefield (drinks aficionados can be exacting types), some good stemware is a nice option, because it’s thoughtful, good-quality stuff can be had at every price point, and it’s a gift that will allow a wine lover to get the most out of wine they already have. To that end, I really, really recommend the stemware from Zara Home: most ready-to-buy fashion homeware sections are all thick glass and style over ergonomics, but much of Zara’s range is chic and purpose-built. Its Bohemia crystal plain glass, for instance, made up my first home set, and is a snip at £4.99 each. With a wide base to swirl your wine and a narrow rim to collect the aromas, it’s a great vessel to enjoy your wine in. You’ll also find matching tumblers and flutes online.

At the crazier end, Maison Balzac makes some truly zany stemware designed with your favourite beverages in mind: blown-glass chillies, for instance, adorn one short tumbler, surely created to house a spicy margarita. And it’s spenny, yes, but the original universal wine glass from Richard Brendon’s collaboration with Jancis Robinson is an excellent luxury option, too. Emphasis on the luxury here – they’re £96 for two – but if anyone is looking to get me anything for Christmas, my housemate has managed to smash two. I’ll also accept gift cards.

Four drinks gifts I’d be happy to get

Piper Heidsieck Code Rouge Gift Set £65.99 Selfridges, 12%. So silly and brilliant: Piper’s classic cuvée in a container shaped like a fire extinguisher.

Whitebox Cocktails Spicy Marg Cracker £12 Whitebox Cocktails, 20.5%. A stocking filler if ever I saw one: two 100ml cans of spicy marg.

The King’s Ginger £32.50 (50cl) Berry Bros & Rudd, 29.9%. I do not like hunting, with which this is associated, but I do like winter walks. Sip this warming gingery liqueur from a flask.

Craft Beer Case £39 (12 x 330ml) The Wine Society, various ABVs. A range of IPAs, lagers and porters for the beer-drinker in your life.

Imagine setting out to hike a vast mountain range. Your goal is clear: reach the summit. But without a map, you risk taking wrong turns and missing the best route. The same principle applies to corporate sustainability.

SAP’s goal is equally clear: enhancing our sustainability impact to help the world run better and improve people’s lives. The question is how do we navigate this complex terrain without losing our way?

The challenge: from sustainability metrics to actionable insights

Corporate sustainability reporting has evolved significantly in recent years. However, many organizations still face the fundamental challenge of translating complex environmental and social data into insights that drive strategic change.

Sustainability metrics such as “0.15 micrograms of fine dust per cubic meter” or “five liters of water consumed” are scientifically accurate but difficult to interpret, especially for decision-makers without deep sustainability expertise. Just as hikers need a reliable navigation system, businesses need a common language to translate diverse sustainability indicators into comparable, actionable insights.

This is where impact measurement and valuation (IMV) comes into play.

The approach: how IMV translates complexity into business-relevant insights

SAP’s IMV approach encompasses three steps.

Step one: A language everyone understands—translating societal impacts into monetary units

The IMV framework quantifies the costs and benefits of corporate activities to society and the environment. It builds on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data that many companies already report and translates these into a single monetary metric, for example, Euros or U.S. dollars.

This is like moving from vague trail descriptions to precise GPS coordinates that everyone can understand. When sustainability indicators are expressed in a common unit, companies can clearly see where they stand, evaluate trade-offs between different sustainability dimensions, and compare them alongside financial impacts.

As a tangible example, the environmental impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be monetized by multiplying a company’s reported emissions by the social cost of carbon, $244 per metric ton of CO₂e in 2025. This converts abstract data into a clear, actionable signal, allowing companies to compare impacts across different ESG and financial indicators. With this clarity, businesses can focus on the most impactful sustainability initiatives—those that deliver the greatest contribution to GHG reduction goals while evaluating both financial and sustainability return on investment.

Step two: Determining relative position—comparing performance to peers

Once you know your exact position, you need a reference point to understand how well you’re performing. It’s like trail runners who want not only to reach the summit, but also to understand their performance along the way. Your GPS shows you where you are, but to improve, you need to compare your data against other runners.

Impact benchmarks complement IMV by providing reference values that show how a company’s sustainability performance compares to industry peers. These benchmarks act like performance markers, helping businesses identify where they are ahead, behind, or on par—guiding decisions to improve toward maximum positive impact.

Step three: Identifying hotspots—focusing on maximum impact

The global sustainability agenda demands urgent, focused action. IMV and impact benchmarks together provide data-driven insights that pinpoint where a business has the greatest leverage to amplify positive and reduce negative impacts.

For example, in SAP’s human rights risk assessment and double materiality analysis, these insights helped narrow down the most material sustainability topics, critical value chain stages, and high-risk countries or industries. This approach uncovers opportunities where improved sustainability performance drives long-term competitive advantage and highlights risks such as supply chain vulnerabilities and regulatory exposure.

Navigating together: collaboration for sustainable impact

SAP has adopted this methodology as a founding member of the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA), a nonprofit coalition of multinational companies dedicated to establishing a globally accepted sustainability management accounting and steering system. In collaboration with the WifOR institute, a scientific research organization specializing in impact valuation, SAP has analyzed its societal impacts (step one), applied industry benchmarks to contextualize performance (step two), and integrated these insights into core reporting and steering processes (step three). 

This collaborative approach ensures that the data guiding SAP’s sustainability strategy is independent, credible, and scientifically validated, enhancing both internal decision-making and transparency for investors and external stakeholders.

“Impact measurement and valuation provides the scientific foundation for sustainability steering, allowing organizations like SAP to understand their impacts holistically and prioritize decisions based on statistical evidence.”

Dr. Richard Scholz, Head of Impact Analysis at WifOR

The results: what SAP’s analysis reveals and how it drives strategic decision-making

The graphic below illustrates SAP’s sustainability performance compared to industry benchmarks, the result of step two. The analysis covers SAP’s entire supply chain from direct suppliers to sub-suppliers as well as SAP’s own operations. A methodology for quantifying downstream impacts, such as the effects of software in use, is currently under development.

The analysis identifies both positive and negative impacts. Areas where SAP shows a higher negative impact than the industry average are highlighted in red, indicating priority areas for mitigation. In contrast, smaller negative or larger positive impacts indicate stronger ESG performance.

Key findings

• Social performance: Supply chain data reveal mixed results regarding living wages. While most supply chain workers earn above living wage thresholds, reflecting positive impacts, the analysis also identified risk hotspots, enabling SAP to take targeted action. In response, the Human Rights team at SAP partnered with procurement, suppliers, and multi-stakeholder initiatives to develop and implement risk mitigation strategies. IMV data allowed these efforts to focus on the countries, industries, and vendors with the highest risk, ensuring that improvements are driven where they matter most.
• Environmental performance: GHG emissions results reflect strong progress toward SAP’s net-zero goal, with positive results across both direct operations and upstream activities. While water consumption is not considered material for SAP at the group level, we address identified local hotspots through local environmental management programs, including site-specific water management measures to ensure responsible resource use.

Leading by example

As a global technology company supporting the majority of the world’s business transactions, next to enabling our customers on their positive impact journey through our solutions, we want to lead by example.

Our corporate sustainability approach creates positive economic, social, and environmental impact while respecting planetary boundaries and human rights.

To achieve these goals, SAP relies on tools such as IMV that help us assess and prioritize the measures with the greatest leverage—maximizing positive impacts and minimizing negative ones.

“Sustainable transformation is only possible when we base our decisions on reliable data. With IMV, we make sustainability measurable, comparable, and actionable. This enables us to create transparency, set clear priorities, and take responsibility. By focusing on areas where we can achieve the greatest positive business and sustainability impact, we ensure that our actions are both meaningful and effective.”

Matthias Medert, Global Head of Sustainability at SAP

The journey ahead

The climb toward impact-based decision-making continues. Just as hikers rely on navigation tools to traverse challenging terrain, we use IMV as our guide to ensure every step brings us closer to our sustainability goals.

Looking ahead, we aim to expand the methodology, contribute to cross-industry standardization, and foster multi-stakeholder collaboration to accelerate the adoption of impact-based decision-making across global value chains. Through SAP cloud solutions for sustainable enterprises, we support our customers in their own impact management journeys.

Our climb is guided by more than metrics; it’s driven by purpose. Clear insights from IMV keep us on the right path toward a future where sustainability and business success go hand in hand.

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Iris Konrad is a senior sustainability specialist at SAP.

Press Release:
12:02 CET • 11 Dec 2025

News release from Vestas Northen and Central Europe
Hamburg, 11 December 2025

Vestas is proud to announce the following orders as part of our Q4 order intake:

Country	Region	Customer	Project name	MW	Turbine variant	Service agreement	Delivery & commissioning
Germany	EMEA	Uhl Windkraft	Schnabelwaid	79	11 x V172-7.2 MW	25-year AOM 5000 Service Agreement	Delivery planned to begin in Q1 2027; commissioning scheduled to begin in Q3 2027
Germany	EMEA	wpd GmbH	Reinstedt Repowering	80	11 x V162-6.2 MW, 2 x V150-6.0 MW	15-year AOM 4000 Service Agreement	Delivery planned to begin in Q2 2026; commissioning scheduled to begin in Q4 2026
Poland	EMEA	FW LUBIEŃ 1 SP. Z o.o. /Greenvolt Power Group Sp. z o.o.	Lubień	32	8 x V150-4.0 MW	20-year AOM 5000 Service Agreement	Delivery planned to begin in Q1 2027; commissioning scheduled to begin in Q2 2027

For more information, please contact:
Yannick Kramm
External Communications Specialist, Vestas Northern & Central Europe 
Mail: yankr@vestas.com
Tel: +44 (0)77 9528 4694

About Vestas
Vestas is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions. We design, manufacture, install, and service onshore and offshore wind turbines across the globe, and with more than 197 GW of wind turbines in 88 countries, we have installed more wind power than anyone else. Through our industry-leading smart data capabilities and unparalleled more than 159 GW of wind turbines under service, we use data to interpret, forecast, and exploit wind resources and deliver best-in-class wind power solutions. Together with our customers, Vestas’ more than 37,000 employees are bringing the world sustainable energy solutions to power a bright future.

For updated Vestas photographs and videos, please visit our media images page on: https://www.vestas.com/en/media/images.

We invite you to learn more about Vestas by visiting our website at www.vestas.com and following us on our social media channels:

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is proud to announce that London Assets and Structured Finance Partner Kavita Shah has been recognised among Lloyd’s List’s Top 10 Maritime Lawyers of 2025.

Kavita is honoured for her expertise in maritime asset finance—particularly creditor representation—and her advisory work on portfolio acquisitions, refinancings, and credit facilities.

Lloyd’s List is one of the world’s oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London from as early as 1734. Its annual Top 10 Maritime Lawyers list spans private practice solicitors, in-house counsel and barristers worldwide.

WFW Global Maritime Sector Head George Macheras commented: “We’re thrilled to see Kavita named as one of Lloyd’s List’s Top 10 Maritime Lawyers of 2025. WFW has had a strong presence on this list over the years, reflecting the firm’s deep expertise in the maritime sector across all key service lines”.

Kavita added: “It’s an honour to be recognised by Lloyd’s List as one of their top maritime lawyers globally. Since joining WFW, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside colleagues previously featured on this list, which has helped me develop the skills and expertise to earn this accolade myself”.