While leading businesses have long been engaged in efforts to integrate sustainability at the core of corporate strategy and decision-making, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide us with a new lens through which to translate global needs and ambitions into business solutions. These solutions will enable companies to better manage their risks, anticipate consumer demand, harness the potential of historic growth markets, secure access to needed resources and strengthen their supply chains, while moving the world towards the delivery of the SDGs and a more prosperous society for all.

While business is not being asked to deliver the SDGs by itself, this complex and urgent agenda will not be realized without involvement at scale by the private sector. Converting the SDGs into meaningful and widespread corporate engagement, and ushering in the inclusive and sustainable economic growth that the Goals represent, will be a sizeable challenge.

Forward-looking businesses are already working towards having a meaningful impact on the SDGs - in particular by:

• developing a thorough understanding of how their activities translate into economic, environmental and social impacts in the context of the SDGs;
• setting ambitious goals to implement the SDGs, including by incorporating responsible business practices across strategies and operations;
• pursuing impactful contributions to the 2030 Agenda through a strong commitment to universal principles in relation to human rights, equality and the environment;
• developing business solutions to address sustainability challenges;
• collaborating with peers to develop a collective vision and roadmaps to realize substantial sector transformation;
• working across sectors to help transform entire economic systems;
• disclosing SDG performance and progress;
• openly advocating for key policy and finance enablers that will help achieve a tipping point.

This session will delve into the business implications of the SDGs along the spectrum of risks, opportunities, transparency & governance, and collaboration. It will feature insights from leading companies and organizations working toward delivering action.

To see slides from this tutorial, click here.

Renewable energy is an important tool for meeting corporate sustainability goals, but the market is constantly changing — and that can present a major challenge when it comes to understanding what’s best for your company.

This tutorial is an introduction for corporate sustainability teams, procurement specialists and non-utility energy buyers that are engaged — or want to become engaged — in sourcing large-scale solar, wind and other clean power resources for their companies or organizations. The session will cover emerging trends in off-site corporate procurement of renewable energy (the why); the fundamentals of energy markets, what's required to execute transactions and the process most buyers take (the how); and a high-level overview of risks present in offsite transactions (the what). These issues will be explored and discussed from the buyers’ point of view.

GreenBiz 18 In-Depth Tutorials are intensive half-day sessions held prior to the start of the conference. These are designed to offer participants an opportunity to dive deeper into a topic of interest and develop tangible knowledge and skills. In addition, attendees will have a greater opportunity to network with their peers in these interactive sessions. Concurrent tutorials will be held the morning of Tuesday, February 6, and are available only to those who purchase an All Access Pass.

When the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted more than two years ago, the private sector was firmly seen as a core component of the strategy needed to successfully meet the world’s agenda for sustainable development. But how do companies appropriately apply quality disclosures and a rigorous reporting process to the SDGs without becoming burdened by ‘reporter fatigue’? Come learn how reporting organizations are working together to harmonize reporting tools to help companies better measure, report and articulate their contributions towards the SDGs.

Apple is committed to building products with recycled and renewable materials and their packaging is one of the first places they demonstrated the possibilities. Apple’s responsible forests strategy, and the goal to protect or create as much responsibly managed forest as is required to produce all of their product packaging, demonstrates their commitment to looking beyond their own supply chain to conserve the world’s forests — exemplifying what it means to be "forest positive." In collaboration with World Wildlife Fund, the company is working to improve the management of up to 1 million acres of forestland in China. What did it take for the company to set and achieve this goal related to looking beyond its own supply chain, an approach known as “forest positive?” And what have been the critical learnings from the process? Hear from Apple and WWF on what they’ve learned so far, and how you can apply these takeaways to your own organization’s sustainability goals.

Organizations with diverse teams perform better. Diversity brings innovation, growth, and cultural strength. Organizations are now recognizing the importance of fostering these values as a business imperative and are coming together to tackle this issue pre-competitively, as a movement of colleagues working together. How can you really embed these values in your organization and act on your goals to achieve meaningful, long lasting change? Hear from PwC and other leaders who have pledged to act on supporting more inclusive workplaces via the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion.

Even at cash rich companies, the fight for internal capital can leave compelling energy projects unfunded. Join this workshop to learn how companies are overcoming this challenge through innovative financing mechanisms including green bonds, internal venture capital funds, carbon pricing, and more. 

To see slides from this tutorial, click here.

Coke recently announced its achievement of 100% water replenishment for its operations. Now, other beverage companies are following suit. Intel recently announced plans to restore 100% of its water use - the first tech company to do so. This workshop will share learnings from the early movers, helping participants understand how to define water replenishment, establish a program, avoid potential pitfalls, and develop effective criteria for evaluation and success.

There is a growing recognition among the mainstream investment community that ESG practices have a significant impact on a company’s financial performance. This has resulted in a growing demand for ESG performance data from companies by investors. To date, company ESG data has been inconsistent and unreliable due to a lack of clear standards and metrics. Groups like the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board provide sector-specific ESG standards that enable industry-comparable data on issue that matter most to performance management and communications with investors. As sustainability practices evolve, so does the gap between business functions, including the sustainability team, the finance department, investor relations and the investment community. This panel will look at how the sustainability team can build alignment and close the gap with the finance department, investor relations and the investment community.

GreenBiz research shows 84 percent of companies are setting targets to procure renewable electricity — often to meet corporate carbon emissions targets. But accounting for these investments is far from simple. This session will discuss ways companies can report on the "positive" impact of their renewables investments in ways that internal (finance teams and business unit managers) and external stakeholders (customers) can understand. Topics will include RECs, carbon offsets and energy equity.

Businesses manage their waste based on cost, availability of services, and sustainability goals. Sustainability goals have increasingly focused on diversion from landfill and “zero waste”. As businesses and municipalities struggle to meet their goals, it is necessary to evaluate the environmental benefits of available choices, setting aside weight-based goals to look at the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of every option for managing materials. Lifecycle thinking recognizes the importance of the potential environmental effects at each stage of a product’s life. Focusing on just one stage or one effect can be misleading; a broader look considers the use of energy, air emissions, solid waste, and more associated with product manufacture, use and end disposal. Sustainable Material Management seeks to reduce environmental impacts by managing material through all stages of their life. It identifies impacts and action to address those impacts across the full cycle of materials products as they move through the economy – from raw material extraction to product design and manufacture, transport, consumption, use, reuse, recycling and disposal.

It is a large undertaking for companies with national and international portfolios to assess waste benchmarks and obtain data to develop strategies for operations, supply chain, and guest experiences. This session will help attendees understand how to best evaluate their choices, using waste data, product suppliers, waste haulers, and any other partners they engage. The content will cover the baselining process and how to utilize this evaluation to move the needle and develop constructive material management goals.

There are now over 2,300 Certified B Corps and more than 5,000 benefit corporations around the world. If you've ever wondered about B Corp or want to know how to get involved, join this discussion to learn how the B Corps are leading the global movement of people using business as a force for good. We will discuss how the B Corp movement is helping companies embed purpose into their organizations, what the future of the movement looks like, and how your company (large or small) can get involved.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

The U.S. currently wastes 63 million tons, or $218 billion, of food annually, presenting both an urgent problem and a unique opportunity to conserve natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, alleviate hunger, and create new jobs while simultaneously generating cost savings for businesses and consumers. Join Chris Cochran, executive director of ReFED, the largest national organization devoted exclusively to reducing U.S. food waste, to discuss emerging trends in food waste reduction strategy. Chris will highlight insights from ReFED’s brand new Retail, Restaurant, and Foodservice Food Waste Action Guides, which are being launched at GreenBiz 18. Created in partnership with major trade associations and many of the largest companies in each sector, the guides are designed to help industry leaders develop and implement food waste reduction strategies.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

If solving climate change requires roughly $1 trillion annually for the next 30 years, how do we get there? This lunch session will explore the breadth of climate finance strategies, including green bonds, green banks, sustainable retail banking, carbon risk disclosure, cleantech investing, and climate-smart institutional investment. Come prepared to participate in an interactive and lively discussion.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Public-private partnerships are a primary organizing vehicle for taking on challenges and realizing opportunities – with the potential to transform cities, industries and societies toward resilient and regenerative models. This session launches an exploration of the state-of-the-art of the varied and delicate organizing structures behind the PPP moniker. It will share and solicit examples of PPPs addressing a wide range of objectives. It will then ask participants to help shape the key questions we must ask and answer in order to expedite and accelerate the design, formation, financing and operation of effective PPPs.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

From 2013 to 2016 the amount of mandatory or voluntary regulations that either require or encourage organizations to report sustainability related information more than doubled from 180 to 383 regulations. And the number continues to grow. How can companies keep track and know that they are meeting all the required regulations? Join us as we discuss this growing phenomenon and how companies can meet the expectations while also benefiting from disclosure in our complex global economy.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Technology has the power to unlock deeper and more meaningful engagement towards sustainability. This table discussion will focus on how technology can aid sustainability initiatives within the supply chain, how companies are using technology to support their efforts today, and what opportunities lie in the future. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index is one example of an online platform helping leading global apparel and footwear companies measure sustainability performance and improvements today. This is an opportunity to share insights and brainstorm ideas with other companies and industries.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

We’ve seen a recent cadre of CEO activism movements regarding climate change, human rights, diversity and other hot-button issues. In this session, we’ll share recent research regarding employee and stakeholder expectations regarding CEO activism and discuss the role of sustainability leaders in fostering corporate activism. How can corporate sustainability teams support or influence climate change and sustainability activism in their leadership? What does this mean in terms of employee engagement? What are the potential risks and rewards regarding corporate sustainability reputation? We’ll share case studies and lessons learned regarding effective CEO activism. And, we’ll discuss the role, opportunities and challenges that corporate sustainability leaders for consideration to advance effective CEO advocacy.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

The EPA estimates 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle 30% of it. When unsure about whether an item can be recycled, 50% say they throw the item away. Addressing waste in the work place or any location can be the key to unlocking sustainable initiatives that actually stick.  Talk trash with recycling  experts from TerraCycle to learn the psychology of trash.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Companies with a clear sense of purpose and social impact are increasingly attractive to today’s workforce. Those that effectively integrate social and environmental impact into their businesses also enjoy better employee engagement, productivity and retention. Join this discussion for a deep dive on Salesforce's 1-1-1 integrated philanthropy model and how pledging just 1% of resources and employee time early on can help build a culture of community engagement and establish a strong foundation for additional corporate impact programs as your company matures.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

While our political leadership seems mired in endless debates on the merits of climate science, corporate leaders have, through their actions and commitments, become the new face of American climate leadership. From renewable energy, to energy efficiency, to the electrification of corporate vehicle fleets, companies are setting ambitious goals and taking bold action to curb carbon emissions - making their businesses more profitable and remaking our energy future. In this discussion, we will address clean energy strategies that are available to companies now, how companies can utilize their market power to overcome obstacles to clean energy adoption, and how corporate leadership can expand clean energy availability across the country.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Profound and accelerating changes such as climate disruption, artificial intelligence, and automation are rapidly transforming the landscape for both business and sustainability. Businesses that thrive in the future will be those that figure out how to harness innovation to address real human needs amidst disruptive change. Sustainability leaders have a crucial role to play helping companies navigate these emerging issues and build more resilient strategies, rather than simply integrating sustainability into strategies built by others. Join Jacob Park, Director of BSR’s Sustainable Futures Lab, to discuss how futures thinking, or strategic foresight, offers a powerful tool to demonstrate how topics like women’s empowerment, climate resilience, and quality employment are not only sustainability issues, but core to successful business strategy.

Join like-minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Purpose-driven disclosure focuses on how external mainstream corporate reporting influences investors in their resource allocation decisions and practices. How does disclosure of ESG information affect the achievement of sustainable outcomes within companies through investment decisions and actions? Hear from leaders in WBCSD’s Redefining Value program and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Conservation and Financial Markets Initiative on how this approach can ensure disclosure supports decision-making and action on ESG matters by companies and investors; aligns corporate disclosure on ESG with the demands and needs of financial market participants; supports disclosure that reflects true economic impact, including the impact of ESG on financial performance; and ensures that disclosure supports wider policy goals (like the Paris Agreement and transition to a low-carbon economy), green financing, and sustainable outcomes.

This in-depth discussion will address the "why," "what" and "how" of business advocacy for clean economy policies at the state and federal levels. We'll explore the need and opportunities for clean economy businesses to show up at the policy table, the bills coming up at the federal level that can determine markets for clean energy, climate and sustainability products, and the platforms for efficient and effective policy advocacy.

Senior management and boards are facing growing pressures from investors, customers, and regulators to be able to answer this question: what is climate change doing to your organization? In response, management teams will need a clear and common framework to assess and report on related risk, strategy and opportunity associated with climate resilience. This session will provide an overview of why your company needs to define its climate resilience and approaches it can adopt to assess its climate resilience, including the implications of the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the application of scenario stress-testing to assess climate resilience. Join this session to hear how organizations are working to apply these recommendations, the challenges they have faced in assessing climate resilience, and solutions they have developed.

Renewable natural gas (RNG) can be an important alternative to diesel and gasoline for companies looking to lower their carbon footprint and contribute to a healthier environment. However, there are a number of myths and mistaken assumptions about RNG that may be holding back greater adoption. This workshop will help clear the air as representatives from UPS, Clean Energy, and the RNG Coalition help attendees understand the difference between fossil extracted versus renewable natural gas and why industry leaders in the transportation industry are choosing to make the switch from fossil fuels to RNG.

Many companies have ambitious goals to eliminate waste at the end of their product's lives, including ensuring their packaging is recyclable, leveraging their brands to engage consumers, ensuring consumers have access to comprehensive recycling infrastructure, investing in emerging technology to improve recycling, and incorporating PCR into their packaging and products to drive the market for recycled commodities. In this session, these companies will discuss how massive corporations like theirs intend take on these goals, how to set and achieve ambitious goals around waste, and the need for partnerships and cross-industry collaboration to solve an issue that is bigger than their company.

Sustainability risks are, at the end of the day, business risks. Although they can be new and emerging, complex and longer term, issues such as climate change, human rights or resource scarcity all have the ability to impact an organization’s profitability, success or even survival. This session will provide insights on how to leverage existing ERM activities, company processes and ESG tools and frameworks to better identify, assess, manage and report on ESG-related risks.

Coinciding with the release of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and the updated COSO Enterprise Risk Management Framework: Integrating with Strategy and Performance, this session will be a timely launch of a WBCSD-COSO report detailing practical guidance for companies looking to integrate ESG-related risks into risk management activities. This guidance is aimed at addressing a number of issues plaguing successful management of ESG-related risks - including limited knowledge of ESG risks, lack of integration between ESG and those responsible for risk management or strategic activities, and difficulties quantifying ESG risks.

Circular Economy is increasingly seen as a key approach to supporting the transition to a sustainable society by enhancing competitiveness and economic growth. Unlike the traditional linear ‘take-make-consume-dispose’ approach, Circular Economy enhances value creation by multiple product life cycles, through systemic changes in the business model, product innovation, services and delivery, and closed loop value chains. In this interactive session, you will learn about an approach to diagnose your business practices, develop a clear vision, and establish an actionable roadmap.

This session will focus on strategies to scale renewable energy projects for sustainability leaders at large companies. The strategies include utility bill analysis, group purchases and navigating the world of hiring consultants, brokers, project financing and developers. The session will also explore how sustainability leaders can make the business case internally to energy, finance, legal and leadership teams.

Investor demand for sustainability information continues to increase creating the need for companies to fully understand and strategically manage the disclosure of a new set of performance metrics. To overcome survey fatigue, this session will help corporate practitioners understand what investors are doing with this information. How accessible is disclosed data and how do investors incorporate it into their risk considerations and portfolio decisions?

Getting broad internal buy-in on sustainability is a challenge most companies face. Whether the impetus for sustainable business comes from the top, bottom or middle — there are good examples of each — pushing it out to the entire organization can be a significant barrier to success. Presenters at this workshop will share their strategies and experiences that took their programs to a new level. The session will conclude with an interactive exercise that will provide attendees with fresh approaches to driving engagement at their organization.

When it comes to increasing energy efficiency (and reducing greenhouse gas emissions) in buildings, changing lightbulbs is no longer enough. How do sustainability professionals and facilities managers make efficiency innovative and fun, and what are the big wins beyond just savings? A diverse group of leading building portfolio owners and the head of the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Challenge share some new strategies for tackling efficiency that take advantage of new financing models, help streamline the piloting of new technologies, and reinforce an ongoing incremental desire for change within their organizations.