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EVENT PROGRAM

FEB 6 - 8, 2018 PHOENIX, AZ , JW MARRIOTT DESERT RIDGE

Program subject to change. Sessions do not require pre-registration, unless otherwise noted.

  • Tuesday
  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
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Financing Sustainability

Tuesday, February 6th, 2018
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Innovative Financing for Sustainability Projects – Green Bonds and Beyond

Workshop
Grand Canyon 12

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.

Speakers

  • Audi Banny
  • Davida Heller
  • Ariana Meinz
  • Elizabeth Willmott

Slides

Innovative Financing for Sustainability Projects – Green Bonds and Beyond

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Wednesday, February 7th, 2018
8:30am to 9:30am
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Closing the Sustainability–Financial Performance Gap

Workshop
Grand Canyon 12

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.

Speakers

  • Gregg Anderson
  • Derek Bingham
  • Nicolai Lundy
  • Sophia Mendelsohn

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Aligning Retirement Plans with a Company’s Sustainability and Sustainable Development Commitments

Workshop
Grand Canyon 13

Many companies have made significant Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments and have begun to align key business priorities with specific U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. However, a “blind spot” often exists between a company’s values and its retirement investment strategy. A significant majority of Fortune 1000 companies have not yet aligned their corporate retirement plans with their commitments in sustainability and/or their sustainable development goals despite the fact that several recent studies have shown that a substantial majority of employees would like for their company to do so. For those few companies that have provided these type of funds to their employees, they are winning the talent wars in the competition to attract and retain the best and brightest employees.

This workshop will address the internal challenges that exist for large companies to provide these types of funds, insights from the panelists on how best to address them, and the WBCSD initiative that is bringing together executives from top tier asset management firms to work directly with companies to integrate these funds into their retirement plans. Session attendees will gain insights on how best  to make the business case internally and gauge employee demand in order to align their sustainability commitments with their retirement plans.

Speakers

  • Lee Ballin
  • Andrew Behar
  • Tony Calandro
  • Edward Farrington
  • Bruno Sarda
  • Chris Walker

Partner

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

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12:15pm to 1:30pm
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GreenBiz Guru Lunch: Under Pressure - How Will Companies Respond to Demands for Better Reporting on Climate Risk?

Lunch
Sunset Lawn

We are seeing increased pressure from investors for companies to enhance and standardize their climate risk disclosure to enable more effective pricing of climate risk. Pension funds are divesting from fossil fuels. City governments are suing oil companies for damage to their cities. Citizens are demanding more transparency. What will this year’s financial and sustainability reporting reveal about level of awareness and actions being taken by companies to identify and manage climate risks? How do companies move from boiler-plate disclosure to decision-useful information?

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.

Speakers

  • Helena Barton

Sponsor

Deloitte

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GreenBiz Guru Lunch: Moving from $100 Billion to $1 Trillion - Financing the End of Climate Change

Lunch
Sunset Lawn

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.

Speakers

  • Marilyn Waite

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1:30pm to 2:30pm
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Why Every Company Should Issue a Green Bond

Workshop
Grand Canyon 12

Learn why the corporate sector has increased — in fact, tripled — its participation in green bonds as energy, automotive and even consumer goods and technology companies have looked to this vehicle as a way to finance key sustainability investments, as well as help to integrate the finance and sustainability teams.

Speakers

  • Richard Mattison
  • Leslie Samuelrich
  • Jacquelynn Henke

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2:45pm to 3:45pm
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How to Be a 2° Company in the Eyes of Investors

Workshop
Grand Canyon 12

Are you 2° Company?  If you are not, join the crowd.  If you are, well done!  Join us for a lively discussion where we explore why this is a hot topic, how investors are thinking about this issue and using company data, and how companies can respond.

Speakers

  • Libby Bernick
  • Mark McDivitt
  • Bruno Sarda

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How to Engage Your Investor Relations Team

Workshop
Grand Sonoran J

The financial markets continue to embrace ESG investment strategies, which in turn drive the increasing demand for corporate disclosure of ESG information.  For CSOs inside publicly traded companies, the Investor Relations Officer (IRO) can be an amazing ally for ensuring sustainability performance is truly recognized by the markets and other key internal colleagues, like the General Council and the Corporate Secretary.  Hear leading CSOs explain how they evolved their sustainability roles to engage more effectively with key internal partners and how active engagement with IROs and GCs lead to enhanced engagement with investors.

Speakers

  • Diane Biagianti
  • Suzanne Fallender
  • Steve Lippman
  • David Tulauskas
  • Mike Wallace

Sponsors

General Motors
Intel

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Are You Letting Nature Drop Off Your Priority List?

Workshop
Grand Canyon 13

Markets and businesses are already receiving sustainability information, but is natural capital dropping off priority lists too easily? Making decisions based on only partial information leaves investors and companies open to risks and missed opportunities. In this interactive session you’ll explore the link between natural capital, finance and decision-making by jumping into the shoes of a decision-maker who needs to manage trade-offs, preferences, risks and opportunities with the information you have at hand.

Speakers

  • Michelle Lapinski
  • Sarah Mihalecz
  • Chris Walker

Partner

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

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Thursday, February 8th, 2018
8:30am to 9:30am
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Where Does your Disclosure Go and How Do Investors Use It?

Breakout
Grand Canyon 11

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?

Speakers

  • Catherine Banat
  • Mark McDivitt
  • Lee O'Dwyer

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Beyond Changing Lightbulbs: New Strategies for Efficiency, Financing and Innovation in Buildings

Workshop
Grand Canyon 10

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.

Speakers

  • Randy Gaines
  • Elaine Hsieh
  • Maria Tikoff Vargas
  • Maya Henderson

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