Fortune USA – September 2019

42

NO.

84

FORTUNE.COM // SEPTEMBER 2019

We all know the battery revolu-
tion has come for our cars and
buses, but what about boats
and ships, which use even
dirtier fuels? Canada’s Corvus
Energy—founded by a naval
architect and a battery ex-
pert—developed a lithium-ion
battery that could withstand
rough marine conditions. By
2011, Corvus had made its
first sales to blue-chip com-
panies like Siemens. Its bat-
teries now power 55% of the
world’s roughly 300 electric or
hybrid vessels, including huge
craft like freighters and cruise
ships. It’s a fast-growing busi-
ness: In each of the past four
years, Corvus’s growth rate
has exceeded 100%.

Paris’s struggling banlieues,
or suburbs, are fertile soil for
AdvancingCities, a JPMorgan
Chase initiative that funds job
training and business loans in
economically disadvantaged
communities. The training
it finances typically focuses
on jobs of the future—think
digital skills or hospitality-
industry work. But this year
the Paris program found a poi-
gnant link to the past. Among
its partners is Les Compa-
gnons du Devoir, a venerable
trade union that trains people
in stonecutting and carpentry.
Some of its trainees’ skills
are now being deployed in the
repair of Notre Dame, which
was gutted by fire in April.

Anyone who has

tried in vain to dis-

able a hotel suite’s

arctic AC will ap-

preciate Con-

nected Room.

Due to deploy in

about 200 ho-

tels in 2020, it lets

guests track and

control, via app,

the emissions im-

pact of their HVAC,

lights, and other

systems. It’s part

of a broader en-

ergy-saving effort

that has helped

Hilton slash car-

bon emissions and

operating costs.

Baidu is using A.I.

to support health

care in China’s

remote regions.

One example:

computer vision

software that can

detect eye disease

with 94% accu-

racy from a simple

eye scan. (It takes

just 10 seconds.)

Baidu is develop-

ing similar tech for

diseases such as

breast cancer and

pulmonary ob-

structions and has

built an A.I. diag-

nostic tool to aid

rural GPs.

Etsy is finally profitable, and new CEO Josh

Silverman is thinking more deeply about the

company’s social role. Earlier this year, Etsy

became the first e-commerce platform to offset

100% of shippers’ carbon emissions by funding

carbon-reduction projects. Because it’s difficult

to control emissions from shipments Etsy doesn’t handle itself (its

sellers do the shipping), “offsets are really a viable and credible

way” to address them, says Adam Klauber of the Rocky Mountain

Institute. Etsy may also be inspiring others: 3Degrees, a firm that

helps companies (including Etsy) reach sustainability goals, says

it has seen an uptick in inquiries since Etsy’s announcement.

THE LIST 38– 48

NO. 38

JPMorgan Chase
A job-training program
plays a role in a historic
rescue mission.
NEW YORK CITY

NO. 40

Corvus Energy
Building batteries that
put cleaner engines
on the high seas.
RICHMOND, B.C., CANADA

NO. 41

Hilton

Enlisting

travelers in a

green cause.

MCLEAN, VA.

NO. 39

Baidu

Building A.I.

to help rural

physicians.

BEIJING

An online retailer makes a carbon-offset promise,

and others follow suit.

BROOKLYN

Taking On the E-Commerce

Pollution Problem

Etsy

Etsy CEO Josh Silverman at the

company’s Brooklyn headquarters. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID WILLIAMS