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VERGE Carbon

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019

8:30am to 12:00pm

Capture It, Store It, Use It: An Introduction to the New Carbon Economy

Tutorial

Uptown Room

The science is clear: To avoid dangerous climate change, we must not only reduce emissions but remove the excess carbon already in our atmosphere. Businesses can convert carbon dioxide from a liability to an asset, creating a new carbon economy. So what does that mean in practice? Could your business start drawing down carbon from the atmosphere? And how will that become a trillion-dollar market opportunity, as one recent report found? In this tutorial, industry experts will explain the science behind carbon removal and utilization, demystify the relevant terms and showcase the start-ups harnessing these opportunities.

4:00pm to 5:00pm

Regenerative Agriculture, Carbon Drawdown and the Future of Food

Breakout

OCC 204

Farmers and ranchers around the world are experimenting with new techniques that pull carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soil. These regenerative agriculture practices can boost farmers’ bottom line by improving soil health and, if scaled up, could draw down gigatons of carbon dioxide annually. Meet the food companies and farmers who are working on the first regenerative products and learn about a sector that has the potential for dramatic growth.

How Carbon Taxes and Credits Are Impacting American Businesses

Breakout

OCC 203

There was little fanfare when Congress passed a carbon removal tax credit in 2018 — so little that many people still don’t know the credit exists. Some U.S. state governments also have created incentives for carbon removal. And with climate change set to play a more prominent role in the 2020 elections, other legislative initiatives will likely follow. Hear from experts who will explain how the existing credit and future changes will impact your company.

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019

8:30am to 9:30am

Carbon Removal Will Create a Wealth of Opportunities. Are You Ready?

Breakout

OCC 203

We must deploy technologies that suck carbon from the air if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. Doing so would create a huge new industry: one recent study estimated that products worth an estimated $5 trillion could be manufactured from CO2. This discussion will survey the ecosystem of opportunities in chemicals, materials and infrastructure that will emerge from the growth of this new sector.

How Next-Gen Materials Will Help Reverse Global Warming

Breakout

OCC 204

There’s a lot of talk right now about the “emerging” carbon economy, but in some sectors the carbon economy is well underway. This session will introduce you to the first-mover firms that are selling and using carbon-negative textiles and advanced materials made from greenhouse gases. Speakers will explain the environmental benefits of the new materials and the potential end uses, including in clothing, packaging and furniture.

12:15pm to 1:15pm

Roundtable Lunch: How Regenerative Agriculture Can Transform Farms from Carbon Sources to Carbon Sinks

Lunch

10th Street

According to Project Drawdown, regenerative agriculture has the potential to remove more than 20 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050 — equivalent to suspending all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions for 3 years. But how do we know the carbon will stay in soils? And what's the best way to keep it there? Dive into the science behind the soil with filmmaker, faculty member and regenerative ag expert Peter Byck.

About Roundtable Lunches: Join 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 do not have advanced sign-up – participation is first-come, first-served.

Roundtable Lunch: Carbon Economy AMA

Lunch

10th Street

Description: Wondering what’s going on behind the breathless headlines about carbon removal and its massive market potential? A leading carbon removal expert is here to answer your questions about the policies, technologies and companies that are shaping efforts to capture, utilize and store atmospheric carbon. We will demystify the tech enabling this movement, identify new policy levers and generally explain what your company should know about the emerging carbon economy.

Roundtable Lunch: How High Tech and Ancient Knowledge Can Save Western Forests

Lunch

We are rapidly losing Western forests to climate change, disease and megafire. California alone could lose two-thirds of its forests in the next 20 years, and with them, invaluable biodiversity, carbon sequestration and water storage for the state. We’re also losing human lives and the places we love. The good news is that this is a solvable problem if we move fast and at scale. Come learn how laser cameras, satellites, Artificial Intelligence and ancient cultural practices are all coming together to restore the resilience of Western forests.

Roundtable Lunch: How Emerging Business Models Can Grow Regenerative Agriculture

Lunch

10th Street

There has been plenty written about the importance of regenerative agriculture for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Technologies and practices have improved, but adoption is not occurring at scale. Hurdles for farmers on the ground include the lack of capital and information, as well as the lack of understanding of how the approach can increase profits. Some of these challenges can be addressed by emerging business models that bring third-party players into the frame – similar to how we scaled energy efficiency. Let’s chat about the innovative business approaches that can create regeneration at scale.

1:15pm to 3:30pm

Meet the Startups and Investors Building the Carbon Economy

Breakout

OCC 203

A new generation of startups is commercializing technologies that transform waste greenhouse gases into fuels, chemicals, materials...even animal feed. This session will open with an overview of the startup landscape from carbon economy investors, followed by a chance to meet both the investors and entrepreneurs from startups working on some of the most significant new technologies.

Thinking Wrong, Doing Right: How to Build Support for Drawdown Initiatives Within your Company

Workshop

OCC 204

Do you want to push your company to work on carbon removal projects, but aren’t sure how to get colleagues behind the idea? In this interactive session, you’ll actively brainstorm approaches to communicating the urgent need for carbon removal and the benefits it can bring. Join two leading strategists as they use their Thinking Wrong methodology to help you generate bold and innovative new ideas to amplify your company’s climate impact.

How Carbon Offsets Can Help Your Company Draw Down Carbon

Workshop

OCC 205

Investing in projects that pull carbon from the atmosphere is a relatively quick way to offset your company’s emissions and accelerate the spread of carbon removal technologies. Yet the offset market can be confusing. What’s the difference between avoidance and removal? How can you be sure that offset projects really remove carbon? This workshop will provide practical advice from offset experts on how to get involved in carbon removal and be confident that your investment delivers tangible benefits.

4:00pm to 5:00pm

How Leading Companies are Funding Forestry to Act on Climate

Breakout

OCC 203

Thanks to corporate investments, a slew of new forestry projects will help remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere in the coming decade. For many innovative companies, making a direct investment in a forestry project can be one of the most effective ways of offsetting emissions. To help navigate these projects’ social, economic and scientific complexities, companies are partnering with top environmental organizations. In this session, key players behind from both sides of the partnerships will discuss how they are working together to protect and restore forests, including planting millions of trees.

Buildings That Draw Down Carbon

Breakout

OCC 204

The construction industry emits billions of tons of carbon dioxide annually, and the world’s total floor space is forecast to double over the next 40 years. But this sector could help reverse global warming via a new generation of carbon-negative building materials. Construction industry insiders will introduce you to concrete that contains captured carbon and a new generation of wooden buildings that rise to 10 stories or more.

Thursday, October 24th, 2019

8:30am to 9:30am

How to Set Your Company on a Path to Negative Emissions

Breakout

OCC 204

Many companies have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. But could your company one day remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits? It seems a daunting challenge, but some companies have already committed to making it happen. Hear from the pioneering executives who are figuring out how to create climate positive companies.

How Remote Sensing, AI and Other Technologies Will Transform the Offsets Market

Breakout

OCC 203

The world’s farms and forests have the potential to draw down billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but monitoring the progress of land-based sequestration projects can be challenging. Hear from the technologists behind the new software tools that are making it possible to track, in real-time, the carbon being removed by even hard-to-monitor locations such as remote forests and large farms. If you’re using land-based offsets to reduce emissions, or thinking about doing so, this session will explain how the new tools can increase confidence in your investment.

8:30am to 12:00pm

Natural Climate Solutions to Achieve Corporate Climate Commitments

Workshop

Uptown Room

Join the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy to help shape new opportunities for Natural Climate Solutions that deliver emissions reductions, scope 2 and 3 solutions, and a range of environmental co-benefits that complement your sustainability efforts. This workshop will provide actionable insight into an innovative approach to managing forest carbon and a vehicle for companies interested in addressing their carbon emissions. By attending, you will learn about the Family Forest Carbon Program, which is expanding access to carbon markets to unleash an as-yet-untapped opportunity to reach emissions targets and tackle our climate crisis in a globally significant way. Your insight and expertise is vital to ensure this program—and others like it—have the chance to succeed. For more information and to register for the event, please contact Derek Young at [email protected]

1:30pm to 2:30pm

What Will the Carbon Economy Look Like Five and 10 Years From Now?

Breakout

OCC 204

We’ve asked a panel of carbon economy experts to make some bold predictions. What technologies will we be using to pull greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in 2024 and 2029? What will we be doing with all that captured carbon? How will those developments impact other economic sectors? Make sure to arrive with your own questions.

Capturing Carbon from Industrial Sources and Directly from the Air

Breakout

OCC 203

With a new federal tax credit in place, carbon capture is taking off at power plants, ethanol facilities, steel mills and elsewhere. Exciting new uses for the captured carbon are emerging alongside these projects. This session focuses on the new technologies that make capture and utilization possible, the new credits that make it profitable and how leading players in this space are planning for the future.

Managing Solar Arrays to Draw Down Carbon and Benefit Pollinators

Breakout

OCC 205

As costs fall and solar power proliferates, ground-mounted PV arrays are expected to be sited on almost two million acres in the U.S. by 2030. The land under and around arrays is often covered by gravel or mown grass, but it can be managed to provide habitat for pollinators and to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also cooling and improving the efficiency of the panels. Come to this session to hear from the entrepreneurs, researchers and sustainability experts who are working to stack even more benefits into solar development.

3:00pm to 4:00pm

Coming to a Retailer Near You: Products Made from Captured Carbon

Breakout

OCC 203

Soap. Vodka. Jewelry. A handful of first-mover companies are creating consumer products using greenhouse gases captured from the atmosphere. This nascent market has the potential to impact hospitality, retail and multiple other sectors. In this session, the entrepreneurs behind some of the new carbon innovations will discuss the technologies involved, customer reaction to products made from recycled carbon, and the opportunities in this new class of consumer products.

Carbontech: New Fuels and Chemicals from Greenhouse Gases

Breakout

OCC 204

Gasoline, jet fuel, valuable chemical feedstocks—all can be manufactured using a variety of recycled or captured greenhouse gases. In one pioneering test, jet fuel made from waste carbon was even used to fly a Boeing 747 across the Atlantic. As availability increases and prices fall, these next-gen fuels and chemicals have the potential over time to disrupt the market for fossil fuels, impacting businesses in transportation and other sectors. Speakers in this session include entrepreneurs behind the new fuels and chemicals, as well as their first customers.

The Purpose of Corporations

Breakout

Grand Ballroom Salon A,B

Corporate America has more power than ever, and with that comes a rising movement for it to better serve employees, communities and the environment. This session features experts from leading companies about the importance of making clean energy and climate front and center to ensure a happy workforce, ethical sourcing practices, and relevance in a quickly-changing world.