How do we solve billion-dollar climate equity problems with $5-$25M budgets? Whether your focus is developing climate solutions or solving for worker wealth inequality, this interactive tutorial is designed to invite participants to shift their mindset and develop the sources of financial capital to solve the climate equity solutions of our time. Participants will learn about both Full Spectrum Capital and how you can leverage Full Spectrum Capital by mixing and matching it with other capital within and outside the company. Stephanie and Antoinette will provide an overview of Full Spectrum Capital and outline strategies you can implement to partner with your other divisions to increase impact, increase return, and reduce risk to achieve your goals. 

The information and strategies from this tutorial can be applied to:

• Developing financial products to support your suppliers achieving their sustainability goals

• Developing financial products to attract and retain the workforce by refinancing debt, increasing wages, and providing wealth-building opportunities via asset ownership

• Developing a social enterprises strategy

• Developing a Full Spectrum Capital corporate education strategy using Impact Investing Giving Circles

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. An all-access pass is required to participate.

Plastic waste is one of the most critical issues of our generation, with more than 8 million tons of plastic polluting our oceans every year and disrupting ecosystems. With a staggering volume of plastic waste, cross-industry partnerships are crucial to addressing this issue. How can collective action help eliminate plastic waste in a scalable and impactful way? What innovative solutions can we create and how will they impact future generations? In this panel, you’ll hear how one company is leveraging the power of sports to create innovative recycling models by recycling stadium cups into products, as well as the role education plays in building up future leaders and utilizing core competencies to work toward a waste-free world.

Sponsored sessions are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz.

Targeting net-zero emissions is the new North Star for climate policy, yet doubts remain about the integrity of many corporate targets. Sadly, accusations of greenwashing are too often justified. Some companies are focusing on 2050 instead of taking immediate action. Others are over-investing in carbon offsets. So how can your organization craft a net-zero strategy that brings real climate benefits while also advancing other business objectives? Leading experts from the public and private sectors will unpack the criteria behind high-quality targets and present case studies on how to simultaneously deliver profits and emissions reductions.

How should your sustainability strategy incorporate and align with circular principles? The circular economy is a powerful lens through which a company can reduce waste, emissions and material consumption while transforming their business strategy and regenerating natural systems. Yet circular initiatives are often siloed from sustainability strategy, if they are leveraged at all. How could a robust sustainability strategy incorporate circular principles, and how should these cross-sectional strategies align to advance sustainable business goals? Hear from companies leading the charge in sustainable, circular initiatives as they discuss their comprehensive sustainability strategies.

ESG factors have increasingly become a crucial component in the capital allocation process for both investors and issuers. Though fewer individuals today debate the importance of ESG and its impact on value creation, most still struggle to make sense of the standards, disclosure requirements, and various ESG ratings associated that help drive long-term sustainable financial performance. In this session, we’ll run through best practices for utilizing ESG initiatives to increase market valuation for your company. We'll explore how to effectively communicate your company’s ESG strategy to ESG-integrated investors; how to align with the best ESG framework based on your company, industry, and investors; why ESG scores from widely used rating agencies are critical and how to maintain strong standings; and why continuing to improve on material ESG topics will enhance your company’s long-term performance. Our panel of experts will also highlight their real-life success stories, showcasing how revamping their ESG strategies and programs resulted in stronger financial valuation.

Successful corporate energy strategies aren't just the responsibility of energy managers. To be impactful and efficient, they require cross departmental support — such as stakeholders from finance, sustainability teams and buildings. Join this session on how to find common language and strategies to ensure support from across your organization.

Metals and minerals like copper, cobalt and lithium are essential for a multitude of industries and technologies critical to the clean economy transition, but these materials are in short supply and subject to supply chain disruption. How can applying circular principles to the supply chains for these metals and minerals increase their availability and accessibility? Industries from automotive to electronics are seeking to do just that. Addressing this question will be critical to meet demand for products like batteries that play an important role in driving sustainability. Join this session to hear from leading companies and NGOs moving the needle, and what you need to know about this transformation.

Science, data, and technology are powering a digital transformation for agriculture—one that’s driven by sustainability and fueled by the financial commitments of a few industry-leading companies. This session will explore what’s driving collaboration across industries to enable meaningful economic, social, and environmental progress globally. Discover how the world’s most impactful crops—corn, cotton, soybeans, rice, wheat, and carbon—are produced, sourced, and distributed in more pragmatic and beneficial ways with the support of companies backing sustainable ag to drive corporate value and reach their climate goals.

Sponsored sessions are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz.

Across the globe, we see that no two communities are impacted by climate change the same way. That’s why equitable climate action is essential to sustainable change. Join Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President, Sustainable Workplaces at General Motors for a discussion about how, in the pursuit of achieving carbon neutral commitments, the public and private sectors can integrate goals for a more inclusive, sustainable world for all.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Join this lunch roundtable with Patrick Flynn, Global Head of Sustainability at Salesforce, for a discussion on how to create a unique climate action plan for your company and leverage your business as the greatest platform for change. Salesforce is Net Zero across its value chain and released its Climate Action Plan (https://sfdc.co/climate-action) to offer a blueprint for others to accelerate their journeys to Net Zero.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

As company commitments to net-zero have tripled over the past two years, so have the number of carbon accounting and optimization tools.  According to a recent CNBC report, this $10B business will more than double by 2026. 

This roundtable will explore how sustainability leaders make sense of carbon accounting’s exploding marketplace.  We will discuss:

• Which tools are best suited to diagnosing a company’s more complex carbon output.
• How to pin down the Scope 3 attributes of supply chain and client produced emissions.
• Which tools recommend climate transition solutions once the footprint has been established.
• The ever-evolving alphabet of climate protocols and standards (TCFD, VRF, CDP, SBTi, etc.).   What solutions are best designed to deliver accurate and flexible reporting.

Roundtable participants will be able to share their insights, questions, and best practices on how accounting and optimization tools can lead to attaining carbon transition goals and reporting  progress.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

It’s time to confront the elephant at your company’s lunch table: animal products. They are food’s carbon heavyweights and should be featured much more sparingly at events and in cafeterias. Greener by Default is using smart behavioral science strategies to make this task less daunting and more impactful. Join the chat to learn what sustainable menus can look like and how to introduce them to your company.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

In response to the urgency and scale of the global plastic pollution problem, communities, companies and countries alike are calling for a more coordinated and ambitious strategy to stop the flow of plastics into the environment. Following in the footsteps of the Paris Accord, at UNEA-5.2 at the end of February, the United Nations will decide whether it will commence negotiations on a global treaty on plastic pollution. Its success will require the buy-in and support of all stakeholders across the plastics value chain — especially businesses. Join this roundtable to discuss the business case for a Global Plastics Treaty, and learn what your organization can do to support these international efforts.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Conserving, restoring and regenerating the life support systems of our planet is the opportunity of our time — and nature based solutions, including the burgeoning market for carbon credits, have a key role to play. Companies leading the voluntary market can incentivize growth in ways that ensure high quality credits are generated. But how do we understand the difference in value between carbon credits, including quantifying the added co-benefits — from ecosystem services to ensured permanence? Join us for a conversation about this, and more!

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

The emergence of science-based targets has made it easier for companies to set appropriately ambitious emissions goals. But the situation is much less clear when it comes to targets for conserving and regenerating forests, oceans and other ecosystems. GreenBiz Group is planning new events in this space and we would love to hear your thoughts on how we can best accelerate progress. Join the discussion to share news of initiatives and ideas, and get a sneak peak into our plans.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

All of us can admit to sometimes feeling overwhelmed given the scale of the climate crisis. However, many of our employees know that even small actions - taken by many - can make a difference. There’s a hunger for knowledge by our employees to live more sustainable lives – at work, at home and in the community. How can employers help? Join us for this exchange to share and learn best practices to engage employees - creating impact and driving employee satisfaction. 

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated 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. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

The rise of the climate youth movement has underscored the importance of integrating the ambition and passion of the next generation into corporate climate strategies and commitments. There’s no time to waste on management hierarchies that ignore that perspective. So, is your organization doing the right things to team veterans of corporate sustainability with those earlier in their careers? This session will feature alumni from the annual GreenBiz 30 Under 30 project, which recognizes young professionals already making their mark in sustainability and ESG circles. The discussion will center on how to balance the energy of new ideas with the weight of hard-won experience; how to create a more inclusive work environment for Millennial and Gen Z employees; and why diverse, intergenerational teams are a powerful force for change.

Partnering with universities can accelerate action on sustainability solutions in new and innovative ways. Hear specific examples of leading universities that are evolving how they collaborate to address our most pressing sustainability challenges. Cross sector partnerships have been around for decades, but universities are transforming how public, private, nonprofit, indigenous and other communities are working together to drive durable solutions. In this session we will hear from the leaders of institutes at ASU, University of Minnesota, and the University of Washington about corporate collaborations that are making a difference, and how their universities and others are changing and could be your next best collaborator. By catalyzing multi-disciplinary teams to work on applied questions in service of the SDGs, science based targets and the priorities of many corporate sustainability strategies, universities are adding value in new and interesting ways. Today, these partnerships are about more than guest speakers, technology transfer, and experimental pilots; they are rooted in shared goals and values and attract the brightest researchers and students to collaboration. They can last for decades and leverage a wide range of private and public resources. Learn how to leverage these relationships to achieve your sustainability goals.

How can circular initiatives be leveraged in pursuit of net-zero emissions? If deployed at scale, circular economy strategies could remove billions of tons from our global carbon footprint, while also cutting costs and regenerating natural systems. Yet very few companies have combined circular projects with emission-reduction roadmaps. In this session, leaders from organizations that have pioneered such approaches will explain how they overcame barriers to integrating these two critical areas of sustainability strategy, and what they have achieved by doing so.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has been unequivocal in his intention to bring transparency and credibility to ESG investments in the U.S. How might companies be able to adopt the new disclosure requirements into existing frameworks, and what needs to be done to meet new climate disclosure requirements?

For years, businesses have focused on tracking, measuring and reducing their own direct carbon emissions — and for good reason. That’s where change starts. But in this vital decade of climate action, it’s imperative for companies to accelerate progress by looking beyond their own walls. To achieve a net zero future, today’s companies must use their platform to build a more sustainable business ecosystem. This means not only leading by example but providing partners, suppliers and other stakeholders with the tools to activate data-driven climate action strategies of their own. This session will explore how companies can broaden their scope by driving climate action and transparency throughout the entire value chain. Executives from Salesforce and other leading companies will explore the growing importance of the customer-supplier relationship in fighting climate change and share insights and learnings from leading supply chain solutions like Salesforce’s Sustainability Exhibit, a newly launched program that integrates climate commitments into supply chain contracts.

The explosion of interest in carbon offsets has helped drive a proliferation of different nature-based solutions. Companies can buy credits that promote sustainable forestry, delay timber harvesting, create new forests, sequester carbon in farmland soils or even grow kelp. 

To help figure out which of these options is right for your business, we’ve assembled leaders from the companies behind some of the highest-quality nature-based solutions available. In this interactive session, short presentations on the offsets will be followed by an opportunity for small-group discussion with each of the companies.

A growing number of companies are stepping up their advocacy on climate policy, as they recognize the critical role policy plays in meeting both national and enterprise-level climate targets. At the same time, companies are facing increasing pressure from investors, employees and other stakeholders to put their lobbying muscle behind their climate commitments. In this session, we’ll discuss what’s driving corporate engagement in climate policy and explore what leadership looks like today, with concrete examples and compelling stories you can use in your own organizations. Come hear from EDF, Cummins and Microsoft about why climate policy is essential to meeting business goals, how to be an effective advocate, and top climate policy priorities for 2022.

Climate change is driving organizations to set aggressive decarbonization goals, and every day more and more are announcing plans for net-zero.  Achieving these targets will require comprehensive energy strategies that involve integrating multiple solutions.  From virtual power purchase agreements to distributed energy resources to fleet electrification to green hydrogen, there are many options to consider and no one size fits all.  Depending on your current operations and future plans, combining the right solutions is the key to delivering maximum impact.  What is the right mix for your organization?

In this session, NextEra Energy Resources’ Ittay Arad, Bradford Pete-Hill, and Michael Puckett will talk about integrating multiple clean energy solutions, using several real-life examples.  The NextEra team will also be making a special announcement on water and what this could mean for your sustainability strategies.

Sponsored sessions are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz.

Communicating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices has never been more business-critical. With investors, customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders demanding more ESG disclosure than ever before, companies are struggling to effectively translate their strategy into stories that engage multiple and disparate audiences. Some companies are finding that they don’t always need to lead with “ESG” terminology to communicate these issues to certain stakeholder groups. With no handbook to follow, many companies are unclear when it’s best to lead with ESG, impact, sustainability or other buzzwords in their communications. In this panel discussion, ESG leaders from four consumer-facing brands will discuss their strategies for effective sustainability communication.

Over the last four years, recycling programs across the United States have struggled under the weight of COVID-19, China’s National Sword policy and an underfunded patchwork of laws and regulations across cities and states. The time for dramatic change is now: President Biden has made fighting climate change and boosting environmental protection a crucial focus of the new administration. The EPA has set a recycling goal of 50 percent by 2030 and recently appropriated $1.5 million to collecting detailed data on the recycling system nationwide.

At the same time, two states – Maine and Oregon – were the first in the country to pass extended producer responsibility laws covering packaging and California passed a labeling law that will change the way recyclability can be communicated to consumers in our largest state. And the legislative efforts are just beginning, with new bills under consideration and debate, the state of packaging and recycling policy at the state and federal levels is in flux. Join this session to uncover the state of national policy, its implications for industry now and how your company can engage in the policymaking process and advance our national recycling system in the future.

As the world mobilizes toward net-zero and beyond ambition, various barriers to immediate climate action come more starkly into contrast. Setting worthwhile commitments is a necessary start, but acting on those goals is another thing. Specific to corporate action on carbon removal, Microsoft continues to lead in both communicating and addressing these obstacles.

In this panel discussion, the Arbor Day Foundation will lead conversation on opportunities that exist in the near term for companies, such as Microsoft, looking to put its ambitious climate commitments into action through forests. We will highlight Microsoft’s commitment to agroforestry communities in Nicaragua alongside Natural Capital Partners, the Arbor Day Foundation, and Taking Root as an exemplar for action this decade.

Sponsored sessions are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz.

Two words of advice for any carbon credit buyer: caveat emptor. Carbon credits can deliver emissions reductions and removals that are critical to the fight against climate change. Yet over the past few years, academic studies and investigative reporting have revealed that some carbon credits have little or no impact on greenhouse gas levels. How can your company make sure that the credits it buys are of the highest quality? 

Thankfully, help is at hand. Carbon market experts at the World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund and Okeo Institut have developed an advanced, open-source methodology for evaluating the integrity of carbon credits. Come to learn what their early assessments are telling us about the quality of the carbon credits in the market and how you can use their guidelines to purchase a portfolio of credits that has real impact.

How do you collaborate to protect, regenerate and restore land to reduce the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss while improving farmer livelihoods? Through collaborations with industry and government partners, farmers and NGOs, we can improve sustainable land use and are taking swift and aggressive action in the food supply chain. Participants will learn more about how companies activate a multi-pronged approach to create permanent, sustained change and hear how companies and brands are progressing against this approach, together.

Sponsored sessions are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz.

The era of the “great resignation” — in which virtually every working adult is reevaluating their professional priorities — is forcing companies to rethink their strategies for career development and hands-on mentoring. How can approaches optimized for “in person” coaching be adapted for hybrid workplaces? What’s the best way to match mentors and mentees? How can mentors help their companies deliver on corporate diversity and inclusion commitments? This session will feature practical suggestions from past winners of the Women in Sustainability Leadership Awards, who will explore how sustainability leaders can act quickly to identify and cultivate promising talent.

While much of the world is busy fleshing out its net-zero strategies, a handful of companies have stepped up to the next challenge: biodiversity. From agriculture to tourism, textiles and construction – ecosystem degradation is putting the sectors most dependent on the natural environment at risk. But when treated right, nature is an asset rather than a threat, as case studies building biodiversity into their bottom line demonstrate.