The Supply Chain Transparency Summit is a half-day working session that will compare and contrast approaches to supply-chain sustainability among different sectors, using food and ag as a model. Participation is by invitation only, resulting in a diverse group of about 100 leaders from across industries, sectors and job functions. The 2020 Supply Chain Transparency Summit will build on lessons learned from previous summits, generating insights for collective action and diving deep into the extended food supply chain, from procurement to logistics to delivered product. The Summit will feature leaders from across the entire spectrum of agriculture and food production and distribution, sharing strategies and lessons learned that can be applied across other sectors. Previous GreenBiz supply-chain summits focused on multiple industry approaches to transparency and traceability (2017), the role of sourcing and procurement and the potential for technology to increase product transparency (2018) and the human side of supply-chain operations, including human rights, fair labor practices and diversity and inclusion (2019). Visit the Supply Chain Transparency Summit page here to learn more and request an invitation to attend this event.

Since Chobani's founding, the company has embraced purpose, with a unique focus on community, environmental and worker wellbeing. Meanwhile, the dairy industry is complex and ever-changing. Hear from Chobani President Peter McGuiness and Fair Trade CEO Paul Rice on their shared efforts towards creating comprehensive standards for ensuring sound labor, environmental and animal welfare conditions in the dairy industry, what it will take to accomplish, and why this matters. They'll also explore the evolving landscape of dairy and rise of plant-based options, including the non-dairy offerings Chobani released last year, and what this means for the future.

Many factors shape a firm's profitability, including those which have been explored by Michael Porter in his influential "Five Forces" industry analysis. Understanding how these forces affect your firm is essential to developing effective competitive strategy. But any competitive analysis which leaves out the natural environment is incomplete. This short session will facilitate discussion about how the natural environment and biodiversity can influence your firm's profitability and competitive strategy.

Today’s supply chains touch nearly every community across the globe. How can the private sector use that breadth and scope to maximize positive impacts for suppliers, their workers, and communities? Join us to learn more about creating successful worker education and training programs, and participate in a conversation exploring approaches to supplier and community empowerment.

Is traceability the key to unlocking circular supply chains and a more sustainable future? There are no silver bullets in sustainability, but the ability to more effectively and intelligently track materials and products is emerging as a promising driver of circularity. From decreasing overproduction to prolonging the use of items to ensuring appropriate end of life strategies, connected goods with digital identities unlock bold possibilities across sectors.

This session will discuss the ways in which traceability and tracking can forge more circular supply chains, exploring real world applications and unpacking unintended consequences.

Agriculture has a key role to play in addressing societal and environmental challenges, from combating hunger, to empowering women in developing countries, to drawing down carbon, to creating new supply chains for alternative protein production. Hear from Cargill Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Business Operations & Supply Chain, Ruth Kimmelshue, on the integration of sustainability and supply chain at one of the largest agricultural companies in the world.

As global businesses continue to increase their efforts to create more responsible supply chains, scalability has become a pressing issue. There’s a framework to address almost any industry and any issue within the supply chain, but as businesses develop their responsible sourcing strategies, how can they be sure which approach suits them best, and how their unique business needs might fit within those frameworks? At the same time, suppliers are under an increasing burden to provide data across a disparate set of information requests – and their ability to respond adequately is only getting worse. Is there a healthy balance between standardization, unique business approaches, and supplier bandwidth? This panel explores the landscape of industry frameworks for supply chain responsibility and makes the case that, through shared metrics and better platforms for collaboration, a state of harmony for responsible sourcing may be within reach after all.

Evolving from standards to collaborative action with science based targets.

Biodiversity is fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet, but biodiversity loss and species extinction is currently happening at an alarming rate. According to a draft plan from the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, world leaders must enact protections for at least 30 percent of the world's land and oceans in the next decade to protect current biodiversity levels and avert the extinction of many species. But we shouldn’t stop there, of course. "Transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological factors" will be necessary to reach environmental goals, the plan states. Hear from Dr. Helen Crowley, head of sustainable sourcing innovation at Kering and fellow and senior advisor for resilient supply chains at Conservation International, on how business must play an essential role in addressing climate and biodiversity challenges.