Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com
Rivian Automotive announced Thursday the hiring of Anisa Kamadoli Costa as the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer, effective April 18, 2022. Previously, Anisa was Chief Sustainability Officer at Tiffany & Co. and Chairman and President of the Tiffany & Co. Foundation.
At Rivian, she will be responsible for the company’s sustainability roadmap for both the business and its products, and will help lead Forever, the foundation that Rivian established at its initial public offering with 1% of equity – 8.3 million shares. Anisa is the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer and will report directly to Rivian’s Chief Executive Officer, RJ Scaringe.
During her nearly two decades at Tiffany & Co., Anisa developed and led the company’s industry-leading, metrics-driven environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda, and strategically aligned the company’s philanthropy with its sustainability priorities centered on responsible mining, the oceans, and land conservation. Under Anisa’s leadership, Tiffany & Co. consistently earned top sustainability ratings and was ranked #4 on Barron’s “Most Sustainable Companies” list in 2020, when the company was publicly traded. Anisa holds a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, and completed Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development.
“We could not be more thrilled to welcome Anisa to our leadership team,” says Rivian Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe. “Across the organization, she will help us integrate environmental and social impact into our decisions. The sustainability strategies we set today will have lasting influence on our company and our world, and Anisa’s mindset positions her extremely well to lead and drive these critical activities.”
Rivian has committed to carbon neutrality by 2028 in its own operations – referred to as Scope 1 and 2 emissions by Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standards – and by 2032 for Scope 3 categories along Rivian’s full value chain, from suppliers to owner vehicle charging.
At Rivian, Anisa will be responsible for the company’s overall sustainability roadmap with a focus on climate and environment. She will oversee accounting of carbon emissions and other sustainability metrics, enabling data to be embedded into operations to inform decisions company-wide, including those about product design, manufacturing, energy and charging infrastructure, materials sourcing, responsible mining, and aggressive waste management. Anisa will drive progress in ways that holistically consider the social and environmental aspects of any course of action.
As an experienced philanthropic executive, Anisa will also help drive alignment between the company’s sustainability priorities and Forever’s grant-making dedicated to high-impact climate initiatives that include preserving and restoring wildlands, waterways, and oceans, and protecting the critical biodiversity needed for our planet’s long-term survival.
“Sustainability is at the core of Rivian’s mission and with this important addition to the leadership team, the company’s structure reflects that,” said Rose Marcario, board member and chair of the Planet & Policy Committee. “We’re giving the natural world, our communities and future generations a seat at the table, which is fundamental as we work to build a more livable world.”
The company also announced that will report its first quarter 2022 financial results on May 11, 2022, after market close. Rivian will host an audio webcast to discuss its results and provide a business update at 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET the same day. The live webcast will be available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/9j25wrzb and a replay will be available for four weeks at www.rivian.com/investors following the webcast.
Earlier this week, Exane BNP Paribas analyst initiated coverage on Rivian Automotive shares with a price target of $35.00 and the Underperform rating. “Our ’23E-’24E revenue is 9-13% below consensus, while adjusted EBITDA runs just ~1 % lower amid negative per unit economics”, said the analyst. Earlier today, Rivian shares were trading as much as 7.00% higher near $42.00 per share
Recently, RBC analyst Joseph Spak released a client note on Rivian where he expects a stronger Q1 2022 deliveries than the consensus. At the time, the analyst expected the company to reach a weekly production of 320 units in Q1 2022, which means 2,370 vehicles produced during the quarter.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com