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.

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.

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.