The complexity of energy markets and corporate renewable procurement can be intimidating. Hear why companies are getting involved and learn the fundamentals to establish a solid foundation to begin your journey. Content will cover the basics of U.S. energy markets, major procurement deal types, best practices and how to avoid common pitfalls as you support your company in its pursuit of clean energy goals.

To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must build a new carbon economy: an ecosystem of companies, capital and policies that work together to remove billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. That economy is now taking shape. In this session, one of the founders of the Circular Carbon Network (CCN), the organization that has assembled the sector’s definitive dataset, will present an overview of key trends: Who is investing, where those funds are going and which areas are poised for the biggest growth?

As we enter the electric vehicle revolution globally, it has become clear that owning, charging and driving an EV has stark differences from driving an internal combustion engine vehicle. The driver's experience with an EV will rely on software, more than hardware. Learn about how in-vehicle integration, apps and industry partnerships will help pave the way for both consumer adoption and business fleet integration.

Fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides can generate dramatic increases in yields — and increases in greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of pollution. A new generation of crops and agricultural inputs help avoid this trade-off. Plant breeders and biotechnologists have created  varieties that require fewer inputs. And entrepreneurs have launched startups selling fertilizers based on microbes rather than chemicals. This session will explore how these and other new agricultural technologies may help feed a growing global population without doing further damage to the environment.

Inventor and MacArthur Genius fellow Saul Griffith has done the math: America is able to bend the emissions curve, address climate change and create millions of jobs. All we need to do is electrify everything. In conversation, Griffith will talk about his findings and how we don't need to throw out our cars and appliances. We just need to make sure that our next one runs off electricity. After all, the first rule when you're in a hole: Stop digging. 

What design attributes must be considered and prioritized when developing circular products?

When prioritizing the circularity of products, businesses face a daunting task: They must balance design, product performance, health and safety, regulatory compliance and cost, to name a few of the countless considerations — and frequent barriers. With an ever increasing demand to deliver products to market with speed, effectively evaluating and prioritizing these attributes is a critical yet challenging hurtle. This panel will help attendees learn how to weigh these considerations, select better materials and design more circular products. Evaluating design principles, this session will help designers and non-designers alike assess the resources and best practices to effectively make circular products at scale.

The coronavirus pandemic shuttered restaurants, closed school cafeterias and generated hardship that lengthened lines at food banks in cities across the country. Businesses and communities are now building back. But what would it look like if those cities returned not to normal, but something better than normal? In this session, you’ll hear from officials, policymakers and organizers who are building urban food systems that are sustainable, nutritious and inclusive. Their projects present an inspiring future for their communities — and for cities everywhere.

Regenerative agriculture has the potential to draw down billions of tons of carbon dioxide while simultaneously restoring soil health. Yet interest in the approach from producers, food companies and legislators has not translated into widespread adoption of regenerative methods. The good news is that a slew of new initiatives from entrepreneurs, policy makers and technologists looks set to take regenerative agriculture mainstream over the next few years. Come to this session to hear from the leaders behind the projects and learn how your company can get involved.

Trucks, buses and passenger cars are beginning to go electric in regions across the U.S., but we need to kick-start the amount of EVs on the roads and EV infrastructure deployed to meet a more dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and clean up our air. What do we need to quickly scale the electrification of transportation?

The coronavirus pandemic is bringing to life previously abstract threats. Supply chains are straining under changing patterns of consumer demand and producers are struggling to keep their workforces safe. These are immediate challenges but not new issues. As the pandemic evolves, long-standing questions about the resiliency and sustainability of our food system are getting more attention. Join this session to hear a panel of experts explain how to leverage lessons from the pandemic to boost sustainability efforts, and to share experiences on how your sector of the food industry is coping.

Renewable energy procurement often involves long-term relationships between offtakers, suppliers and local communities. This session considers why renewable contracts are an ideal opportunity for offtakers to assert their preference and influence developers to commit to higher standards — from diversity and inclusion to end-of-life considerations for renewable assets.

VERGE Accelerate is a series of fast-pitch competitions featuring leading clean economy startups. Today’s session highlights five entrepreneurs building solutions related to the circular economy. 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 Friday, October 30.

Global automakers are pledging to hit holistic environmental goals like 100% zero emissions and becoming carbon neutral. These targets don't only include decarbonizing the vehicle lineups, but also using clean energy for operations, and investing in new carbon-free tools. Learn more about how automakers are setting and planning to reach these goals.

To reach deep decarbonization, companies need to dig deep into their supply chains. This session dives into the best thinking on how to understand and report Scope 3 emissions and offers best practices for how companies can leverage their powers as buyers to decarbonize upstream and downstream.

The electric truck and bus market is growing rapidly, with dozens of medium and heavy duty vehicle models available by the end of the year. But it'll still take broad partnerships and collaboration to accelerate the transition of trucks and buses to zero emissions. This session will use CALSTART's Global Drive to Zero program as a framework for looking at how to accelerate the adoption of zero emission commercial vehicles. 

What solutions and best practices can help to tackle plastic packaging in pursuit of more circular outcomes?

In the world of packaging and sustainability, plastics continue to be a hot button issue. The need to eliminate plastic waste and address the environmental degradation it has caused is clear; but solutions vary from company to company, state to state and industry to industry. Companies are committing to PCR content goals, designing for recyclability and investing in recycling infrastructure, exploring material innovations and piloting innovations like advanced recycling and reusable packaging, among other solutions on the growing list of strategies to address the environmental and social implications of business as usual. Join this session to learn how diverse stakeholders are building comprehensive and cross-cutting strategies to tackle plastic packaging, and how you can drive change within your own packaging supply chain.

The need for carbon dioxide removal is clear, but there are many different strategies for growing the technologies, practices and organizations involved. As the sector gathers momentum, it’s critical that the transition is driven by more than just economics. Carbon removal that incorporates equity and justice considerations can lead to more successful outcomes if leaders make smart decisions about which projects get funded, where the projects are based and how local businesses and communities are engaged. In this session, carbon removal experts will unpack these issues and provide practical advice for organizations that want to ensure that removal projects contribute to a more equitable future.

As billions of dollars flow into alternative protein startups, an intriguing new technology has joined the race to shape the future of food: microbes that transform carbon dioxide, methane, energy and other inputs into proteins that can form the basis of many foods. Come to this session to learn how this new approach can drawdown atmospheric carbon and become a component of the emerging carbon economy, while also competing with other alternative proteins and propeling our food systems towards a more sustainable future.

Many companies are setting — and are achieving — 100 percent clean electricity goals on an annual basis.

Experienced energy buyers are now looking to what's next: matching real-time clean energy generation to real-world consumption, striving for clean energy where and when it’s needed. Learn how your company can match clean energy supply and demand through diverse energy generation assets, energy storage, demand response initiatives and shifting energy loads.

As the need for drawdown becomes clear, the roster of carbon removal technologies is beginning to grow. Some, such as direct air capture, are now relatively well known. Coming up fast behind those more established technologies are a host of exciting new options, some of which will soon be ready for market. In this session, the entrepreneurs and inventors behind some of these innovative new approaches will explain how their technologies offer unique advantages, and how interested companies can partners to accelerate development.

It seems that everyone wants a piece of the nascent renewable natural gas market.

RNG, which is created through capturing methane that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere, is attractive to every sector looking to decarbonize, since the emissions are considered to be carbon-negative. But there is a limited supply of RNG, and industries are competing for what little exists. In the meantime, its adoption may also be slowing the transition to clean electricity.

This session will take a realistic look at the potential and limitations of this resource.

Our global food system is simultaneously a marvel and an enormous problem. Innovations at all levels, from farm to supply to retail, have helped to dramatically reduce the number of people who go hungry. Yet the system still fails to get nutritious food to those who need it. And too often, the food we produce comes with unsustainable impacts on biodiversity and climate. How do we transition this system — which needs to feed almost two billion more people by 2050 — to be more sustainable? In this session, you will hear from panelists who have mapped out the radical changes to diets, food waste, farm operations and many other areas of the food system that can contribute to this transformation.

While California is starting to meet its clean energy goals, its emissions from transportation have been rising thanks to a combination of long commutes, sprawling housing development, under funded transit options and a booming trucking industry. But the state is now aggressively tackling transportation emissions across many fronts. Hear how from the clean air chief of California. 

Indoor farming can sound like a sustainability bonanza. Operating from high-tech facilities, a new generation of companies is growing crops using less space, less water and no pesticides. But there are hurdles to be overcome if controlled environment agriculture is to play a more significant role in reshaping our food systems. Vertical farms, for instance, require a lot of energy, which if supplied by fossil fuels can generate additional greenhouse gas emissions. And at present, much of the sector is focused on leafy greens, a relatively niche market. Leading entrepreneurs will share their perspectives in this session on how the sector can both expand and become more sustainable.

Eliminating energy-related GHGs from industrial commodities is critical to achieving a zero-carbon energy system. Learn about the REBA Institute's initiative to help companies send zero-carbon demand signals to decarbonize these hard-to-abate, energy-intensive industrial sources at the base of their supply chains.

Just a few years ago, a hungry consumer who wanted food delivered quickly often had a single option: pizza. Then came the delivery apps, providing ready access to almost any food imaginable. Demand for online grocery deliveries also has accelerated, in part due to coronavirus and social-distancing orders. These options are great for consumers, but what impact are they having on urban air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions? Models show that it’s possible to build a food delivery system that lowers emissions, but the trend toward faster delivery may make that impossible. Hear from the delivery companies and transport experts who are trying to build a modern delivery system that benefits both consumers and the environment.

Ride-hailing giants Lyft and Uber have set goals to electrify every car on their platforms, including driver-owned vehicles. These unprecedented goals will require sweeping partnerships and aggressive policies. How will they get there?

Conservation techniques and new technologies have the potential to sequester billions of tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide in coastal and deep ocean waters. Yet rival drawdown solutions, namely soils and forests, are attracting more money, attention and resources than “blue carbon” projects. In this session, you will hear from the entrepreneurs and conservationists who are working to change that. Learn how part of the solution to our climate crisis lies in mangrove forests, deep ocean pumps and other methods for storing carbon in the world’s ocean waters.

COVID-19 and social distancing have left commercial buildings across the country empty and commercial real estate companies worried about filling offices, factories and retail stores. As companies re-enter commercial spaces and negotiate new rental agreements, there are new opportunities to push building owners to embrace cleaner, smarter energy choices.

This session will cover the strategies companies can use to encourage decarbonization in their rented spaces and how this moment of transition is changing the conversation around real estate.

Organized wholesale markets are one of the most efficient paths to clean energy access for all. In this session we'll introduce REBA’s set of Buyers Principles on Organized Wholesale Market Design, discuss a recently released study by Energy Innovation on customer benefits of wholesale markets in the southeast and hear a buyer's perspective on why markets are the fastest, cheapest path to clean energy for all.

How and when should corporations get involved with policy?

While many companies are taking audacious steps on clean energy and sustainability goals, most are not. It’s clear we need policy that encourages the collective, precompetitive steps needed to reduce emissions across industries

Companies enjoy more political clout than ever, and time is running out to bend the emissions curve. This session looks at the responsibility of businesses to be advocates for clean energy and climate policies beyond their own operations, and why their customers and employees will thank them for their leadership.

Global consumption of fish and seafood has more than doubled in recent decades, but more than a third of the world’s assessed fisheries are thought to be overexploited. And while the rise of aquaculture has helped take demand off wild stocks, the process brings with it new environmental impacts. In this session, the innovators behind new fishing technologies will chart a course to better ways of managing wild and farmed stocks. Discover how blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help create a truly sustainable future for an industry that is playing an increasingly important role in meeting global protein needs.

There are a wide range of nontraditional startup funding options, including government funding, and innovative approaches to impact capital, like blended capital stacks, donor advised funds, impact debt, PRIs, and recoverable loans. Hear from leading pioneers of these options.