GreenBiz Chairman and Executive Editor Joel Makower, CEO Eric Faurot, and VP, Conferences Ellie Buechner welcome GreenBiz 19 participants to the conference.

The twelfth annual State of Green Business report examines the key trends affecting sustainable business, provides an assessment of the key metrics of company performance on natural capital and other resource issues, and offers a look into the state of the sustainability profession.

Since the inception of the SDGs, CSOs have grappled with how best to address these goals in their sustainability strategies. This conversation will explore emerging trends, best practices, standards, and stakeholder expectations, highlighting the efforts that both corporates and investors are making to integrate the SDGs into their strategic thinking. In addition, SDG metrics are becoming increasingly material to the investor community. How are investors working to integrate the SDGs into their analysis – and what trends are we likely to see moving forward? Are companies giving stakeholders, including investors, the information they need on the SDGs? And how should companies be communicating their efforts to fully capture their impacts and give an accurate and comparable demonstration of their efforts? Hear how businesses and investors can come together to most effectively advance this agenda.

Palm oil and its derivates have become ubiquitous ingredients in consumer products, with the oil appearing in about half of all packaged goods sold in the supermarket. The palm oil supply chain is complex, facing challenges linked to environmental protection, human rights, economics in developing countries, and international trade. How can companies take meaningful steps to responsibly address these issues in the face of increasing demand for palm oil? Hear from Prerna Chatterjee, BASF Marketing Manager and 2016 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 honoree, about BASF's journey toward a sustainable palm oil supply chain and why value chain collaboration is the key to industry transformation.

Marine debris is a growing issue for companies throughout the supply chain, as they grapple with their role in this challenge and how they can pivot operations to have a positive impact. Collaboration is key in developing creative, impactful solutions. Hear from leaders at Dow, Ocean Conservancy and Circulate Capital why collaborations across industries, governments and value chains are necessary to define and drive effective outcomes, and how companies can join these efforts.

Companies that integrate environmental, social and governance issues into how they operate can benefit from lower risks, lower costs, and the ability to drive higher returns. How can companies lead with their values to drive success, both financially and reputationally? What are the drivers of the shift towards sustainable investing? What role can companies have in capital investment that creates true positive impact? Hear from Audrey Choi, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Marketing Officer and first Chief Sustainability Officer on harnessing finance to address global challenges and deliver social and environmental benefits.

When done strategically, the alignment of a corporate's sustainability program with its foundation and philanthropic efforts can be a powerful driver of change. Hear from Tiffany & Co. Chief Sustainability Officer and Foundation Chairman & President Anisa Kamadoli Costa on the company's innovative and synergystic strategy to enable maximum impact.

Former NFL fullback Ovie Mughelli's entrance into environmental advocacy came after the realization that the environment is about people, and environmental and human health are inextricably linked. Since then, he has made it his mission to educate youth on environmental stewardship, fusing his passion and career to use sports as a catalyst to excite young people about the environment. In addition to building enthusiasm and awareness, his foundation is also focused on educating youth about the career opportunities available in fields where they can have a positive impact on the environment. Hear from Mughelli on his efforts to empower kids to take an active role in the improvement of their society and community, and how to help the next generation expect something different.

GreenBiz President Pete May kicks off the second day of GreenBiz 19.

What if we could accelerate the rate of change needed to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals? What if, in the light of the scale and urgency of the sustainability challenges we face, there are practical ways of making sure everything we do in business drives change that is catalytic and transformative, not incremental? This is the potential of system change for sustainability. And we begin to unlock it by understanding the problem we are solving for using a systems lens, and ensuring our strategies deliver systemic, pioneering interventions, from new market mechanisms to harmonised criteria for sustainability standards. Rethinking corporate sustainability strategies to not only transform your organisation, but the system around you, is how we will deliver the SDGs.

Fred Krupp has guided the Environmental Defense Fund for three decades and is a leading voice on climate change, energy and sustainability, and a champion for harnessing the power of both technology and the marketplace to protect our environment. Through his leadership, EDF has set the bar for corporate-NGO partnerships that move markets and transform industries. In this conversation, we’ll look at the state of play, lessons learned and where things will go from here.

Sustainability is increasingly been seen as a differentiator for corporates and investors alike. To demonstrate this, we need robust, relevant, comparable and forward-looking measurement, management and reporting of data, as well as the assurance of such data. Keryn James, CEO of ERM, the world’s largest pure-play sustainability consulting firm, will share a global perspective on what it will take for corporates and investors to succeed in this evolving context.

Diversity continues to be a top priority for leading companies, but it’s much easier to identify the issue than to implement an effective strategy. What is the role of the corporate sustainability professional in advancing diversity? How do you tailor your strategy to vastly varied global regions and cultures across your company? And how do you measure the impact and business value created as a result of these efforts? Hear from Dr. Rohini Anand, SVP Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer at Sodexo on how she has developed and driven a global diversity strategy, not just in the workplace but throughout the company’s supply chain and the communities in which it operates.

Today we live in a crisis of single use products and packaging, all due to the tremendous virtues of disposability: affordable convenience.  Enter Loop, a new global platform that is disrupting disposability, while beating it at its own game.

It is estimated that there are already over 5 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, with 8 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year. Hear from experts on the role companies can play in combatting this trend, and how to be part of the solution.

ASU, with the help of some special guests, previews the Sustainability Solutions Celebration, presented as part of the Sustainability Solutions Festival hosted by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

Decades of studies indicate that serious health issues (including but not limited to asthma, cancer, and infertility) are on the rise and are due in some part to our ongoing exposure to toxic chemicals—whether it's in the shower, on our commute, while we eat lunch at a local restaurant, or when we clean our kitchens at home. There are more than 80,000 chemicals on the market today. Many don't have any safety data. This is particularly true of those used in the skin care and beauty industry. Hear from Beautycounter Founder & CEO, Gregg Renfrew, on her mission to get safer products into the hands of everyone.

GreenBiz Group CEO Eric Faurot kicks off Day 3 of GreenBiz 19.

Creating a cohesive sustainability strategy can be an overwhelming undertaking. How do you identify material issues and prioritize what to address first? What does it take to get the rest of the company on board, from the CEO to the frontline? And how do you challenge the status quo in an entrenched industry and modernize for the future? Hear from Justin Whitmore, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tyson Foods on how he’s creating a cohesive, transformational sustainability vision for the company by setting ambitious company-wide targets and embedding sustainability strategy in the company’s operations. From aggressive new commitments to trim Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, to a new Innovation Lab and venture investments in alternative protein companies, to advancing animal welfare practices, sustainability strategy is driving systemic company change for the better.

At Steelcase, we apply human-centered design to help transform work, workers and workplaces so people can reach their full potential. We call this “unlocking human promise” — but it isn’t unique to our company. In fact, people throughout history have been searching for better, more meaningful ways to live and achieve their purpose. In this talk, Laurent Bernard will share how Steelcase is reimagining social innovation to provide tools and create experiences for people to connect to their purpose and create scalable, systemic, sustainable change in the communities where they live and work. 

Hear from Dream Corps President Vien Truong on what it will take for corporates to be part of the solution in advancing equity and social justice, both the steps they can take immediately and the long term aspirational vision for the future.

Charlie Hamilton James has spent years in the Amazon trying to understand its wildlife and people so that he could better understand the problems the region faces. The more he understood, the more complex the issues became. But his eventual realization was so simple that even a business executive could understand it.

Project Drawdown released its plan of global solutions in 2017, bringing together researchers from around the world to identify, research, and model the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. What progress has been made over the last two years since the book's release? What is the role of corporations in adopting these solutions and advancing climate change efforts? How can the business world collaborate to have the greatest impact? What will it take to deploy these solutions at scale and fully realize the drawdown vision? Hear from Executive Director Jon Foley on the learnings for business and how to accelerate the knowledge and growth of what is possible, as soon as possible.