The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding breakdown in global supply chains showed that the food and agriculture sectors rely on a fragile system.  A breakdown in any one of the components or by any one of the ‘actors’ within the system can cause catastrophic impact across the supply chain for workers, customers, investors, communities and the environment. The crisis has amplified the need for transforming the global food system and asking the obvious question: How do we reliably and sustainably feed a planet predicted to soon reach 9 billion people? Join this session to learn how companies throughout the value chain are driving change towards a sustainable food system and what your company can do to be part of the solution.

Imagine: You’re the CEO of a global food company. You wake up one morning to a concerning headline: “Water shortages threaten crop production, prices spike 40%.” You get nervous. You know that this can impact your supply chain’s productivity and key business outputs. What do you do? How do you respond? What’s the best course of action for your business today? In 10 years? 25 years? Quantis has designed an interactive simulation to help business leaders navigate these high-stakes situations while remaining within planetary boundaries. In all sectors, planetary boundaries are the backbone of business resilience. They give guidance on how to safely use Earth’s resources so that humanity can thrive for generations to come. Yet, businesses often neglect to consider these boundaries in their strategies. When leaders understand that aligning their business with planetary boundaries is the key to future-proofing their company, they see the necessity — and value — of taking action. In this session, get in the game! Test your ability to deliver business results while building the foundation for a resilient future. A responsive dashboard will help you discover how environmental and social challenges will affect your business decisions and their consequences. You’ll walk away from our time together with insights into how current decisions impact future performance, a clear vision on why aligning with planetary boundaries can help your business play the long game, and experience collaborating with other business leaders.

We spend so much time thinking about corporate sustainability and planetary sustainability. But what about human sustainability? How do we maintain the energy we need to pursue what matters most to us—especially when our life’s work is something as challenging as protecting the earth’s climate and natural resources? This interactive workshop will help you develop strategies to connect into your purpose, maintain your energy, and develop focus to continue the work that really matters.

What are the business incentives and best practices for rethinking plastics packaging in your business strategy? In the world of packaging and sustainability, plastics continue to be a hot button issue. The urgency of eliminating plastic waste and addressing the environmental degradation it has caused is clear — not just to help people and planet, but increasingly to mitigate risk. This breakout will explore the business case for addressing plastic pollution and unpack the financial and reputational incentives for shifting your packaging strategy.  While many companies commit to post-consumer recycled content goals, invest in recycling infrastructure, explore material innovations and pilot new models  like reusable packaging — many companies are still doing nothing when it comes to addressing plastics in their operations.  Join this session to explore the comprehensive and cross-cutting packing strategies on the market and the business case for pursuing them. 

Visit our booth in the Forum for an overview of how EcoVadis provides a comprehensive solution for sustainable procurement success.

As more and more companies set ambitious climate targets, one form of offset is in particular demand. By purchasing nature-based offsets, companies can draw down carbon dioxide, regenerate natural ecosystems and bolster local economies. Demand for these offsets could outstrip supply, but a suite of technological and product innovations is rapidly growing the market for forest and soil credits. Come to this session to hear from the entrepreneurs behind these solutions and the offset procurement teams they're working with.

How can circular business models help companies decrease manufacturing and its environmental impact while increasing profit? From lighting fixtures and furniture to clothing and accessories, more companies are exploring models for providing products-as-a-service through such arrangements as rental or leasing, pay-per-use and subscriptions. By redefining ownership, can these models reduce the need for “new” in lieu of fewer, better and more durable products? Can they reduce waste and the environmental impacts associated with production by revisiting disposability and obsolescence? Will these new models hinder or ensure sustainable revenue streams? Join this session to tackle these questions and explore how selling less, might just translate to earning more. 

How are organizations leveraging sustainability as a lens for business growth and consumer engagement? ​This session will discuss the evolution and future of the CSO role from architect of mitigation strategy to advocate for consumer interest and steward of responsible natural resource management. Participants will share their experiences distinguishing their ESG strategies, lessons on the role of marketing as a driver of change, expanding definitions of successful impact, as well as insights on the role of the private industry in responsibly tackling shared global challenges.

Learn how a software platform can help you proactively manage ESG risk alongside frameworks like TCFD and SASB.

As part of creating an agricultural system that is fit for the future, regenerative agriculture practices have the potential to create more resilient supply chains, restore soil health and enable farmers and businesses to thrive. At its heart, regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that puts more back into the environment and society than it takes out. While activity and investment in regenerative agriculture in the US has accelerated over the last five years, there are significant barriers holding us back. The sector is now at a critical point where collectively, different actors can enable the urgently-needed and just transition of the agriculture system towards resilience and regeneration. This will require breaking down silos between seasoned regenerative practitioners with deep experience and ambition, and incumbent stakeholders with resources and expertise to drive transformation across the country. Join this session to hear from representatives from across the agriculture system who will share the key findings from the first phase of the Growing our Future project, which identified the key actions that players across the supply chain – including farmers, businesses with agricultural supply chains, agribusinesses, non-profits, investors and financial services, research institutions, philanthropists and policy makers – must take to drive change. Using the report findings as a foundation, attendees will explore their role in implementing concrete, coherent action to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices.

Sustainability leaders are tasked with making positive impacts, both environmentally and socially, both within their companies and externally. The expectation that companies give back to society continues to intensify, and there are so many issues that need support, from the pandemic and human health, to social justice and equity, to climate impacts. How can you align your giving strategy with your company values and business impacts? How can you ensure you are maximizing your impact and creating meaningful ongoing relationships with the organizations you support? How can you design an overarching strategy to support causes on an ongoing basis, with the flexibility to react to unforeseen events? And how should sustainability and philanthropy relate and integrate? Join this session to learn how sustainability leaders should be connecting sustainability strategy with philanthropy and corporate giving.

Trees are more than something pretty to look at or sit under. Much like schools, streets and sewer lines, trees are essential infrastructure. They are vital to the health and wealth of people, especially as climate change-induced heat waves are leading to more and more deaths and illnesses. But a map of tree cover is too often a map of income and race—especially in cities. That’s because, often in U.S. cities, trees are sparse in low-income neighborhoods and some neighborhoods of color. The inequitable distribution of trees exacerbates social inequities. Companies, governments and nonprofits throughout the U.S. are stepping up to address this challenge by creating Tree Equity—which, simply put, means trees in every part of every city. Many are doing so through the new (launched in August) U.S. Chapter of 1t.org, a community of people committed to conserving, restoring and growing 1 trillion trees globally by 2030. Join this session to learn why and how you and your company can join the global trillion trees movement.

Many companies inadvertently create competition among their innovation and transformation efforts, but some are seeing the value in teaming up to drive better scaleable outcomes. Join this session to learn how company leaders are finding ways to connect diversity, equity and inclusion, corporate responsibility, sustainability and other transformation efforts to greater effect.

New reports of vaccine efficacy and public immunization plans are putting a safe return to the office on the horizon, despite the many challenges that still lie ahead. As companies consider strategies for their workforces to return to their workplaces, staff health and safety must be management's top priority. What will it take to ensure offices and other workplaces are safe and healthy environments for employees? How should workforce strategies and scheduling complement the design of physical spaces? And what is the role of sustainability professionals in devising these approaches? Join this session to hear from experts on developing plans for a safe return to workplaces and what the future of work will look like in the wake of the pandemic.

Join this session for a discussion on scope 3 supplier engagement from the perspective of the suppliers, including effective engagement approaches, insights on the target-setting process, and recommendations on how to accelerate action. Speakers will share their perspectives from the ongoing journey of engagement and collaboration on carbon reductions, as there is no one formula for success and best practices are all a work in progress.

What is the current and future role of nature-based solutions in carbon drawdown and net zero pledges? Join SilviaTerra and Verra experts to talk about the market landscape of nature-based solutions. With demand for carbon offsets accelerating and more and more corporations pledging net zero, how can we ensure forest carbon credits are real, transparent and have high impact? What trends in forest carbon and nature-based solutions are we expecting to see in the short and long term?

On the path to net zero, many have pledged, some have planned, but few have certainty. This kind of large-scale business transformation requires a faultless plan, with a ready flow of capital to support it. With the market acting as the ultimate arbiter, how can you make sure your pledge will turn into actions and eventual successes? We’ll be joined by panelists across industries to hear what steps they are taking in crafting transition plans, the trade-offs they have had to make, and the successes and challenges they’ve faced so far.

The need for urgent action is clear: while the lifespan of individual garments dwindles, the environmental footprint of the apparel industry continues to grow. But where there’s inefficiency, there’s often opportunity. From renewable and recycled inputs to new business models such as repair, rental and recommerce to end of life management and more — plus enabling technologies, policies and partnerships — the apparel industry is ripe for a makeover. Join this session as we explore how diverse companies are prioritizing these initiatives and remaking their organizational strategy to close the loop in fashion.

Global green bond issuance has already passed the $1 trillion mark, demonstrating how investors, corporate issuers and underwriters are embracing the goals of the Paris Agreement. What does it take for a company to issue a green or sustainability bond? How can you use green and sustainability bond issuance as a tool to advance your corporate sustainability strategy? How should you identify and prioritize the right type of bond for your company, with social bonds, sustainability-linked bonds and more also in the mix? Join this session to hear from sustainability leaders along with representatives from their treasury and finance groups on their perspectives and experiences in issuing green and sustainability bonds.

The role of the corporate sustainability professional is constantly shifting and adapting as the world we live in changes. Companies need sustainability professionals who can see what's on the horizon and devise strategies that position their companies as leaders on today's important issues. What existing skills should you continue to grow, and what new skills do you need to build in order to thrive? How can you continue to adapt, evolve and advance in your career as your role, work, and company change? What is the future of the sustainability profession? Join this session to hear from a group of leading sustainability professionals for their guidance and vision on what's next for corporate sustainability practitioners and how you can position yourself to succeed.

Successful leaders do not sit back and wait for new, completely formed leaders to arrive. They consciously recognize people with leadership potential and find ways to cultivate that promise. Through storytelling and interactive discussions in breakout sessions, the panel will foster an important dialog about the lifelong impact of mentoring. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of the values of leadership through mentoring and its lifelong impact and benefits, as well as tips on how to get started or deepen a mentorship practice you already have. Join this session to learn how your to be a multiplier and amplifier, and leave a legacy beyond yourself.

Join this session to hear from mainstream companies with strong sustainability and CSR practices on lessons learned in bringing purpose into their businesses and the impacts they're seeing on their companies. Using a story-telling approach, three business leaders will share the drivers of their pivot to purpose, how they engaged employees, management and the board, and how they are now implementing their purpose. They will share how and why this is a quantum leap from CSR and sustainability, and why becoming a for-purpose company has become so important to their brand. Finally, panelists will provide a few tips on how a sustainability practitioner can start this conversation going at their organization.

What type of change management is required to integrate sustainability in business operations? How can we best communicate the value of sustainability in the workplace? And what are the performance indicators that show we have created a culture of sustainability? Join this roundtable discussion to share ideas with fellow participants on what it takes to create long-term value and a culture for sustainability at companies, including strategies for innovative thinking and engaging internal sustainability advocates throughout your company.

In the wake of a global pandemic, political and economic instability and calls for social justice, how are companies quantifying their impact in a way that is meaningful for employees and recruits, and useful for investors, raters and rankers? Join this roundtable for a discussion on how some companies are starting to turn the corner of intent vs. action and supporting that with new disclosures, programs and more. What does meaningful disclosure look like? Is including D&I metrics in your ESG report enough? And how do we balance data with narrative to show authenticity? This discussion will give you an opportunity to explore these questions and hear from your peers to help you determine what approach will be right for your company.