Connect with fellow participants in the ‘Networking’ areas to learn more about leading clean economy companies and to engage in one-on-one video chats.

There are now more than 200 programs supporting entrepreneurs at universities across the United States. In this session, you will hear from four universities each with their own unique model for helping climate tech startups at every stage — from idea to discovery to commercialization. Learn how these initiatives create new opportunities to partner with large corporations and communities.

As renewable energy procurements mature, companies are becoming more sophisticated about their criteria for new deals. In this session, experts discuss considerations for ensuring their procurements are maximizing decarbonization benefits.

Not all megawatts are made the same. Join small group discussions, lead by energy experts, to dig into the top considerations to ensure renewable energy procurements are incorporating circular design principles, supporting local communities and considering land use concerns.

From engineering electric planes to developing passenger carrying drones, these panelists are on the forefront of air mobility innovation. In this session, we’ll explore the differences, benefits, and possibilities of both regional air mobility (RAM) and urban air mobility (UAM). Learn how these different approaches plan to bring convenience, speed, and safety of air travel to all Americans, regardless of their proximity to a travel hub or urban center.

Reducing food waste is an indispensable part of climate mitigation. Whether you are a food company or not, you can be a food waste champion.

Almost every company produces food waste on-site in their cafeterias and micro-kitchens or when hosting events. This means that every business should have a food waste strategy to cut embodied carbon emissions and improve food security. Reducing waste has always been challenging and more variable office-use patterns resulting from the pandemic are complicating efforts further. It’s time to get creative. In-house operations managers and foodservice partners explain their best practices and lay out effective ways to collaborate to see results faster.

Mass adoption of electric vehicles and clean energy will rely on the availability of low-cost, reliable energy storage. This session will feature four battery innovations that may just be the key to unlocking a sustainable future for electrification.

How to join the emerging market for offsets that pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Scientists have told us that we need to remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere if we’re to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Organizations that want to contribute to this goal often find the market for carbon removals difficult to navigate, but several easy-to-use services for buying carbon removals have recently emerged. Leaders from these new services will explain how organizations of any size can now purchase high-quality credits and help to grow the market for removals.

International renewable procurements are becoming more common as companies look to reduce carbon impacts throughout their operations. What do you need to know about these contracts and the fastest-growing markets? Bring your questions to our expert.

What's the potential for biomass as a renewable energy source, and how much can it help reduce emissions? Bring your questions to this Ask an Expert session to learn about the latest in biomass and where it fits into deep decarbonization.

How can frontline communities and next-gen tech innovators work together to advance climate tech? In developing and launching the Forward for Good Accelerator in Climate Justice, the Verizon team uncovered the lesson that there are two silos of climate tech work occurring — community-led and tech-led. What solutions could we create if these two communities worked together rather than in separate lanes?

This session brings together representatives of climate tech startups, corporations and frontline communities to ideate around what could be achieved by working together better. What are the strengths each group rings to the table? What are the gaps in perspective? Are there trust issues? What specific steps could bridge the gap?

This isn’t about matching problems with solutions, it’s about coming to a common understanding of the problems and co-creating the solutions.

According to recent studies, 80% of EV charging is done at home. This is a huge hurdle to EV adoption for those who do not own their homes or who live in an apartment building. Additionally, now that more and more of the workforce is returning to the office, it is expected that EV workplace charging will play a key role in the increased adoption of EVs. This panel will discuss efforts to make EV charging networks more available in more places, in order to make driving EVs accessible to all.

Traditionally, the goals associated with healthy buildings and energy-smart buildings have seemingly been at odds. But the urgency to decarbonize offices, factories and other structures to meet climate goals and the increased awareness of healthy indoor environments following the pandemic are creating new opportunities to make real estate portfolios cleaner and healthier at the same time. Join experts discussing how to balance comfort, health and emissions goals in commercial spaces.

Online food ordering is booming. How can companies use digital platforms to nudge consumers toward more sustainable food purchases? 

The Covid-19 pandemic catalyzed an unparalleled growth in online shopping—food is no exception. The digital ordering platforms offer an exciting communications opportunity for brands to tell their sustainability story and nudge consumers toward better choices. But there are many potential strategies; labels, health or environmental messaging, promotions and product placements. What works best? This conversation will work to elucidate the most successful approaches for bringing sustainability to the online food marketplace.  

Household corporate names are experimenting with carbontech fuels and plastics

In just the past year, some of the world’s largest companies have announced plans to test packaging and chemicals made from captured carbon. These trials will be the latest steps towards an economy in which plastics, chemicals and fuels are created not from oil, but from carbon dioxide sucked from the air or captured from industrial waste streams. Leaders behind the latest trials will explain why they decided to experiment with these materials and what their companies — and the planet — stand to gain.

As the number of electric vehicles on the roads grows dramatically, the amount of batteries that will need to be manufactured, and eventually disposed of, will also soar. But for electric vehicles to be truly sustainable, the battery supply chain needs to be circular and renewable. In this session, we’ll discuss the future of sustainable battery supply chains and hear how the cutting edge startup Redwood Materials is using recycling and American manufacturing to slash costs and carbon from EV batteries.

What is next-gen nuclear, and how could it fit into decarbonization? Experts will cover what you need to know about this technology and answer your questions.

What kind of charging infrastructure does the U.S. need to scale the adoption of electric vehicle fleets? There's no one-size-fits-all solution and there are already an overwhelming number of hardware options on the market. What best fits your fleet's needs? Hardware, software, charging protocol and location all impact the performance of fleets. Come to discover how you can successfully build out your fleet electrification goals now and into the future.

What happens when two critical areas of sustainability strategy come together?

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. 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.

Meat demand persists despite the rise of alternative protein. What technologies and practices can lower emissions and better animal welfare? 

The availability, affordability and popularity of plant-based meat has skyrocketed in recent years. But so far the data hasn’t shown that alternative protein is replacing meat consumption. At the same time, meat demand continues to rise in the growing middle-classes of countries like China, Brazil and Mexico. Meat is going to remain part of global diets for years to come, calling for the development and deployment of technologies and farm practices that can decarbonize production while improving animal welfare. This session will highlight promising innovations such as feed additives and manure management approaches that reduce emissions and assess how they will impact the wellbeing of farm animals.  

VERGE Accelerate is a series of fast-pitch competitions featuring leading climate tech startups. Today’s session highlights five entrepreneurs building solutions for carbon removal. Hear expert reactions to each pitch, and then cast your vote to help determine the winner, who will get to pitch in the main stage finals on Thursday, October 28.

A net-zero, climate-resilient future means we must rethink the materials with which we build our infrastructure. Today, so-called green steel and concrete are coming out of the laboratory and into increasing use, lowering the carbon footprint of buildings, streets, and other facilities. And yet these materials can be expensive and hard to source, and local codes may even prohibit their use. What will it take to bring these materials to scale? What are the finance, technology and policy innovations that will enable them to replace their carbon-intensive incumbents?

Early electric truck pioneers are forging the way for zero-emission trucking. A real-world electric truck technology demonstration called Run on Less – Electric, organized by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency and RMI, followed 13 fleets and OEMs operating these electric big rigs for three weeks. The Run, which just ended, showed that parts of the market are already ready to electrify. Hear stories on key benefits and challenges to accelerated adoption. This session will highlight three fleet leaders who use Class 3-8 electric trucks.

One-third of food produced globally each year is lost or wasted. Food processing and packaging solutions can help eliminate this problem.

From product loss during production to food wasted due to spoilage, technology plays a critical role in transforming our food systems to meet the needs of a growing population. Increasing the efficiency of handling raw materials, and improving the processing and packaging of food can make the food system more environmentally friendly. It may also boost food security for underserved communities. At the same time, it’s important to weigh the benefits of preventing food loss with the cost of producing waste from food packaging.

Want to know the hottest trends in climate tech investing? Sophie Purdom of the Climate Tech VC newsletter, has you covered! This is your chance to learn about Sophie’s journey starting in consulting, to founding an agtech startup, writing a book along the way, to now co-leading Climate Tech VC. The newsletter has covered broad market trends related to solar, EV and carbon capture and published deep dives on corporate VCs and sustainable infrastructure. Come hear how Sophie got started in climate tech, the data behind the content, and what’s next.

Due to the growing regulatory push and customer pull, Renewable Energy Group has an opportunity today to ensure customers are in position to meet their sustainability goals and metrics. Now more than ever, industries need to work collaboratively to ensure our respective customers understand the direct benefits of our products/services vs competing technologies. Join us today to make a more sustainable tomorrow.

While many companies have adopted clean energy goals for their operations, the majority of emissions are usually from their suppliers. In this session, organizations talk about how they're expanding energy goals to include their value chain, and how they're incentivizing partners to clean up their (energy) act.

By launching a new scalable framework, 150+ organizations are collaborating to help 99 percent of U.S. agriculture get on a better path.

More and more companies across the food and agriculture industry are promising to collaborate with farmers and ranchers to scale farming practices that improve soil health, carbon capture, water use, biodiversity and equity. Many are committed to achieving results by 2030. Yet key questions remain unanswered. How should farmers be incentivized? What are the best ways to measure, verify and report soil health outcomes? What will a regenerative marketplace look like? This is why Green Brown Blue, a food accelerator directed by the Lexicon and backed by Google, brought together experts from the entire food and agriculture ecosystem over 18 months to co-create and launch REGEN1. This new model is marketplace-driven and inclusive of the entire value chain — bringing together food companies, NGOs, farmers, ranchers, government agencies, soil scientists, academics, storytellers, and supply chain experts. The creators will explain the ins and outs of their new platform and how everyone can get involved to bring its benefits to life.

Innovators lay out the logistics and economics behind reusable packaging programs emerging across the food industry. 

The Covid-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on hard-won improvements in the reduction of food packaging and disposable tableware. Nonetheless, circular economy warriors have continued to refine reusable packaging programs over the past year, overcoming complex economical and logistical challenges. Experts will share the important lessons to help other companies curb their waste footprint and become part of a circular future. Discover models that work, the essential steps for starting your own reusable program and what mistakes to avoid.  

Ships transport more than 10 billion metric tons of cargo each year, and almost all of these ships run on fossil fuels. New data shows that about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions is attributed to maritime shipping – even more than airplanes. This session tackles how to decarbonize the shipping industry -- from private sector tech development to monitor emissions (ABB) and modifying existing ships to be zero-carbon (MHIA) to what is needed from the public sector to create new regulations to drive progress in this space.

Connect with fellow participants in the ‘Networking’ areas to learn more about leading clean economy companies and to engage in one-on-one video chats.

Many people are worried about autonomous vehicles displacing taxi drivers and gig economy workers alike, as we race towards automation. However, the massive increase in the production of electric cars presents an enormous opportunity for new jobs — ones providing expanded benefits and transferable skills. How are successful public-private partnerships figuring out a new model of work, and what does that look like? This session will explore different pathways to a new type of workforce environment — where people don't just service and maintain EVs, but also get skilled up for the operational jobs of tomorrow.

The processes being developed to limit emissions from cryptocurrencies could help other sectors cut carbon from supply chains.

Bitcoin miners consume as much electricity as a small country, an unknown but significant fraction of which comes from fossil fuel plants. As awareness of the carbon-intensive nature of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has risen, industry leaders have begun developing solutions. And the techniques involved could do more than slash crypto emissions. By learning how to track and trace carbon in crypto networks, these initiatives could help other industries to decarbonize their supply chains. Experts from the Crypto Climate Accord and other organizations will share their thoughts on how the crypto sector and others can move toward a low-carbon future.

The grid is moving from a one-way distribution system to a two-way energy network. This session will cover what you need to know about interconnections, including how to work with your utility and the future of policy. This timely conversation will help level set what you can do to take advantage of new technologies.

Industry experts unpack the links between green hydrogen and social and environmental equity.

Green hydrogen looks likely to play a critical role in the decarbonization of transport and heavy industry. As the technology begins to scale, how can the public and private sectors work together to ensure that green hydrogen supports social as well as environmental goals?

Food and beverage companies are working on the challenge of manufacturing products more efficiently and sustainably. Identifying and incorporating best practices for energy, water and waste systems will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All of this needs to work without compromising the taste, quality and affordability of products while maintaining regulatory compliance. Black and Veatch draws from more than 100 years of global engineering know-how. Their experts will answer your questions on how to best design new and update existing facilities to keep up with the sustainability requirements and expected ROI of your business partners.