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Stakeholders & Storytelling

Tuesday, February 9th, 2021

10:45am to 11:30am

Climate Policy Advocacy: The New Bar for Climate Leadership

Breakout

From the early years of corporate action when “disclosure” was the mark of a climate leader, much has changed. Today, leaders are setting 1.5 degree aligned Science Based Targets, and many companies are committing to go even further by setting Net-0 and carbon negative goals. But achieving these goals will be impossible without supportive climate policies. That’s why it’s time for companies and their trade associations to get off the sidelines and advocate for strong policy. It’s also why several of the leading business-focused NGOs are aligned and collaborating to ensure that the climate leadership mantle is reserved for those companies who are using their voice and influence to secure supportive climate policy. Join this session to learn about the new bar for climate policy leadership called the “AAA Framework”, tools to make it easier for your teams to engage, EDF’s new Authenticity Meter, which assesses recent advocacy actions by companies and industry groups and rates them on how they obstruct or support progress, and engage in a robust dialogue about what you can expect in the coming years as workers and ratings and rankings organizations begin to account for your policy advocacy actions.

2:00pm to 2:30pm

"Sustainability as a Service": How to Engage Your Customers

Networking

How do you create value for, and from, your customers in your sustainability agenda? Many organizations see their sustainability efforts through the lens of obligation: something they must do to meet evolving stakeholder expectations. This is often reflected in how programs are measured and managed. But looking through the lens of opportunity opens up new possibilities, both commercially and in terms of climate impact. This session explores ways to engage customers as part of your sustainability efforts, from how you position and communicate what you do through to helping customers pursue their sustainability goals and ambitions.

Join GreenBiz 21 roundtables to connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a big question or hot topic. Select your topic of interest to join a group discussion hosted by experts. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these interactive discussions. Cameras on!

Wednesday, February 10th, 2021

10:45am to 11:30am

From Risk to Vulnerability Management: What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About ESG Related Risks

Breakout

Traditional risk management approaches have failed to arm companies with the appropriate processes to address and strategically respond to high impact ESG-related events and risks. Despite recognition of the potentially catastrophic impact of a global pandemic, very few companies recognized infectious disease as a high-risk factor, and organizations were woefully underprepared to strategically and operationally respond to COVID-19. As organizations revive and revise their business models, they must implement more robust operational models and processes focused on resiliency and the management of business vulnerabilities. Organizations need to better plan and prepare for the impacts and challenges of addressing global disruptions and worldwide networks of interconnected ESG-related risks. Join this session for insights and tools to assess the vulnerability of your organization to ESG-related risk, extend traditional risk management activities to address dynamics and connectivity of risks, and build resiliency to critical and emergent ESG-risks.

Collaboration Towards A Global Set of Reporting Standards

Breakout

A single, coherent global set of reporting standards will ensure that all stakeholders can base decisions on consistent and comparable information while reducing reporting organizations' burden. Join this session to learn how collaboration can stimulate a global vision and process while acknowledging differing needs and practices across jurisdictions and stakeholder groups. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), providers of the world's most widely used sustainability reporting standards, will moderate this panel. Attendees will also hear from a policymaker at the forefront of developing a disclosure regime for the EU, CDP, an international non-profit that helps companies and cities disclose their environmental impact through its data collection platform, and seasoned reporting organization Dow, on its impacts and how best to engage stakeholders in dialogue.

11:45am to 12:30pm

Good Company: How to Win in the Court of Public Opinion

Breakout

A lot has been written about how COVID-19 propelled companies to make technology shifts in 3-5 months that they previously thought would take them 3-5 years. 2020 also propelled consumer shifts and expectations. Gone are the days when a company could simply comply with regulations, make social and environmental commitments that were in the “middle of the pack” and run the occasional Earth Day social media campaign. Americans now expect companies to be Good, and they expect that Goodness to be authentically baked into a company or brand’s reason for being and to be transparently communicated about. So…what exactly do they expect? What do they want companies to do? How do they expect companies to communicate about it? Suzanne Shelton will share trend-lines and insights from her firm’s market research work and lay out a framework for how companies and brands can position themselves to meet consumer expectations and win in the court of public opinion.

1:00pm to 1:45pm

Why Companies Must Invest in Communities

Breakout

Traditional global sustainability metrics are limiting our industry's reach, traction and ability to have an impact, especially in individual communities around the world. What "matters" to a mom or dad trying to raise a family isn't just the amount of carbon a local manufacturer may emit, but whether that family's neighborhood is walkable, has great parks and schools, provides affordable safe housing, has tree canopies that moderate extreme temperatures, addresses inequality, and other factors that contribute to the "livability" of a community. Join this session to learn about different approaches companies are taking to quantify the prosperity of the communities in which they operate, and how they can play a role in advancing the well-being of those communities. This human-centric conversation is a critical evolution of the traditional ways we measure the sustainability of a community, that both addresses equity and conditions that link directly to the daily lives of people in the communities we are trying to sustain.

Strategies for Scope 3 Supplier Engagement Towards Net Zero Ambitions

Breakout

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.

Changing Systems and Behaviors Towards Sustainable Outcomes

Breakout

How can companies shift consumer behavior to advance sustainable outcomes? Many sustainable product interventions rely on consumer behavior to succeed. From circular shopping to cold water washing, the consumer plays an active role in making decisions that ensure sustainable outcomes. But when a consumer is unfamiliar or unwilling to participate, sustainable initiatives and business models can fail. How can you encourage your consumers to change their behavior and ensure sustainability success? Learn from practitioners and researchers who are studying and provoking consumer behavior change.

Thursday, February 11th, 2021

10:45am to 11:30am

Modernizing Governance to Align Strategy and Purpose

Breakout

2019 saw many leading businesses take a renewed focus on the purpose of the corporation with the updated statement from the Business Roundtable and launch of the Principles for Purposeful Business. In 2020, the WEF focused on stakeholder capitalism and the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded a ‘great reset’ as business considers how it must evolve and respond to the societal challenges that the year has posed. What is the role of the board in understanding, managing, and responding to a crisis such as this? How can board members be better informed and equipped to ensure business resilience? How can the board ensure that it is taking account of all stakeholder views and using this to inform decision making and generate value for all stakeholders aligned with the purpose of the corporation, whilst still managing ESG-related risk and opportunity? This session will seek to answer some of these questions and provide attendees with an opportunity to hear from legal and corporate experts who will share their experiences on engaging with the board as they begin to reflect on how modernizing their approach to governance will support more successful and sustainable business.

Managing Human Capital for Health, Safety & Sustainability

Breakout

While the sustainability field has long recognized the importance of social issues over the course of its evolution as a discipline, the past year of COVID-19, alongside movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, has dramatically shifted the ESG conversation toward the “S” and “G.” This has included an increased focus on taking care of employee health, safety, and wellbeing as people return to and continue work in the new normal, in addition to caring for an extended universe of stakeholders (employees’ families, contractors, suppliers, and the communities in which we work). Yet in many regards this is nothing new – and what is considered “human capital management” in the field of sustainability has been the core work of safety and health professionals for over 100 years. This session will explore the dynamic evolution in how businesses, investors, and partners in the NGO community are re-defining and elevating this interdisciplinary topic – and its critical importance to the sustainability community in the future world of work.

11:45am to 12:30pm

The Landscape of Consumer Communication in Sustainability

Breakout

The consumer communication landscape is awash with apps, labels and websites to help consumers understand the sustainability of the products they are buying. How do companies sort through the options, and how do consumers avoid greenwashing? Join a panel of consumer-facing media platforms to discuss the landscape of consumer communication and where we go from here.

1:00pm to 1:45pm

Becoming a Purpose-Driven Company: Tales from the Trenches

Breakout

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.

How to Grow the Next Generation of Sustainability Leaders

Breakout

Youth leaders have played a key role in the growing awareness of climate change and the imperative of climate action. How can we continue to grow the next generation of activists, advocates, and informed citizens to engage in this critical work? What is the role of corporations in cultivating this next generation, and how should they partner with NGOs and youth leaders to advance this work towards maximum impact? What do successful ongoing partnerships look like and how can they be mutually beneficial, beyond checking a box? Join this session to hear from youth, NGO and corporate leaders on how your company can be part of the solution and finish out your time at GreenBiz 21 with a strategy for engaging, educating and empowering the next generation.

2:00pm to 2:30pm

Roundtable: The Rise of Social Metrics: Is the S of ESG the New E?

Breakout

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.

Join GreenBiz 21 roundtables to connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a big question or hot topic. Select your topic of interest to join a group discussion hosted by experts. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these interactive discussions. Cameras on!