Program

VERGE 20 Program

VERGE Carbon Program

VERGE Circular Program

VERGE Energy Program

VERGE Food Program

VERGE Transport Program

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All sessions listed below are in Pacific Time (PT). View the Schedule summary here.

Monday, October 26th, 2020

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

10:00am to 10:10am

Organizer's Welcome

Plenary

GreenBiz VP and VERGE Executive Director, Shana Rappaport, welcomes participants to VERGE 20.

10:10am to 10:25am

Lisa Jackson: The Power of Influence

Keynote

Since becoming Apple’s lead on environmental and social issues, Lisa Jackson has led the company to make bold commitments — not just in its own operations, but in those of its suppliers and partners. In this conversation, we’ll dive into the company’s wide-ranging initiatives, from low-carbon design to closing the materials loop to aligning entrepreneurship with social and environmental justice.

10:25am to 10:35am

How Planetary Data and AI Are Changing How We Respond to Risk

Keynote

If we have any hope of closing the apparent conflict between capitalism and our planetary boundaries, we will need new ways to measure — and price — natural capital and climate risks. Andrew Zolli shares how breakthroughs in remote sensing, AI, data and analytics technologies are changing the game, generating new kinds of indicators that can power new, ecologically grounded and more socially just forms of capitalism.

10:35am to 10:55am

A Sea Change in Ocean Strategy

Keynote

The potential for the “blue economy” — one that combines more thoughtful stewardship of the ocean’s resources and economic opportunity with a more pragmatic, respectful approach to protecting coastal ecosystems — is vast. But with more than $1.5 trillion in annual economic value linked to ocean-based activities, the time is right to place the world’s seas at the center of a climate-centric post-pandemic recovery. This discussion will center on the role ocean solutions can play in addressing both climate change and systemic environmental justice issues.

11:00am to 11:30am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

11:30am to 12:30pm

Buyers Guide: An Introduction to Purchasing Carbon Offsets

Panel Discussion

Offsets can help companies reduce their carbon footprints and drive much-needed investment to projects that lower emissions or draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But not all offsets are created equal. Before investing, it’s critical to understand the pros and cons of different kinds of projects and how to build a portfolio of offsets that delivers impact and reliability. In this session, leaders with extensive experience of evaluating offsets will demystify key concepts, such as additionality and “avoided” versus “removed” emissions, and explain the roles played by offset developers, brokers and verifiers.

Energy Market Fundamentals

Workshop

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.

Strategies from the Top Sustainable Fleets

Panel Discussion

Government, municipal and commercial fleets are adopting low and zero emissions fuels and vehicles in an effort to meet climate goals, state and city regulations, and in some cases lower fuel costs. Hear from the leading low and zero emission fleets on tactics and lessons learned.

11:30am to 12:00pm

Foundations of the Circular Economy

Panel Discussion

What are the basic building blocks of the circular economy, and how can they help drive opportunity and innovation across roles and sectors?

Much of the work in the circular economy to date has centered on deep analysis of the broader economic opportunity. This tutorial will help translate the theory into practical opportunities for colleagues working in various functions within an organization and value chain. We’ll explore the basics of the circular economy, from theory to action, from guiding principles to case studies spanning products, business models and system-level innovations.

How Alternative Proteins Will Reshape the Food Industry

Panel Discussion

The growth of alternative proteins is one of — perhaps the — most important trends in food over the past few years. Protein is being sourced from an increasingly long list of plants, synthesized from carbon dioxide sucked from the air and extracted from insects. Meat substitutes built from these proteins are starting to taste like the real thing, and cuts of actual meat are now being grown in the lab. This revolution will impact almost every part of the food system, from agriculture and ingredients to supply chains and workforces. In this session, we will ask alternative protein experts to look into their crystal balls and answer a question: How will these new developments have changed the industry five or 10 years from now?

12:00pm to 12:30pm

What's Next for ESG and Corporate Carbon Mitigation

Panel Discussion

Investor interest in ESG issues continues to expand, pressuring corporations to go deeper with the accounting associated with their sustainability strategy. Meanwhile, companies have been making increasingly ambitious pledges to reduce or offset the emissions within their operations and their supply chain. Yet there are so many questions about the future.

In this session, experts will cover how the wild world of corporate ESG and carbon markets might evolve, and what pain points and opportunities are on the horizon.

VERGE Accelerate: Food Pitch Session

Presentations

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

12:30pm to 1:00pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

Anaerobic Digestion and the Circular Economy: How can utility-scale anaerobic digestion be used to advance the circular economy, achieve zero waste goals and generate renewable energy? (Peter Ettinger)
Journey to Zero: Carbon Neutral Freight: What current solutions can reduce GHG emissions from road freight and enable carbon neutral growth? (Theodore Rolfvondenbaumen)
Bottoms-Up Approaches to Microgrid Development: How can the private sector and community activists work together to build energy resilience? (Peter Asmus)
VERGE Accelerate’s Food Startups: Want to dive deeper with the food startups who just pitched in the previous VERGE Accelerate session? Join us for discussions and Q&A! (Danya Hakeem, Peter Bodenheimer)
How Your Organization Can Get Involved in Carbon Removal: What options do you have for purchasing removal credits or integrating carbon removal technologies into your business? (Sameer Rashid)

1:00pm to 1:30pm

The Food Microgrid: A New and Decentralized Food System

Panel Discussion

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted food supplies and reminded us again that our food systems are ever more centralized. So what does realistic reform look like? Is there a way of retaining the benefits of the current system, including wide variety year-round and low prices, while also engineering a supply chain that is more resilient to shocks and less damaging to the environment? Meet the food microgrid, a new system that combines local farmers, digital distribution and high-tech production technologies to safeguard supplies and reduce impacts.

How to Build a Circular Supply Chain

Workshop

How can your company incorporate circular principles into your supply chain, and how can you do so effectively and equitably?

From repair and remanufacturing to material reclamation to reverse logistics, there are numerous ways to fold circular principles into your company's supply chain. But what does it take to build these circular initiatives throughout these dispersed systems? What ROI can these changes afford? Can a circular supply chain hold more resiliency than it’s linear counterpart? What does it take to make changes equitably and without sacrificing social responsibility? Join this session to learn how to effectively build circular initiatives into your supply chain in pursuit of resilience, equity and circularity.

The State of the Carbon Economy in 2020

Fireside Chat

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?

Clean Energy Procurement in 2030

Panel Discussion

Energy experts will outline key trends that will shape the future of renewable energy procurements. Join us to hear how evolving policy and market structures are growing procurement options, and what that means for large and small buyers.

Software Will Define The Future of E-Mobility

Panel Discussion

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.

1:30pm to 2:00pm

How to Partner with Large Corporates

Lightning Talks

Startups are nimble and resource-scarce. Big companies are the opposite. So, how do startups and corporates work together to advance their mutual interests? Hear the firsthand stories of entrepreneurs who have found a way: Who are the right people to talk to? What are they looking for? How do you close the deal?

The EV Infrastructure Challenge: Clean, Equitable, Smart

Panel Discussion

With California Governor Gavin Newsom's new executive order calling for no new gas car sales by 2035, infrastructure must be quickly deployed to get ready for an electric car surge. But charger deployments also need to ensure that EVs can tap into clean energy, are available to all, and are smart enough to help manage the grid in various ways.

Innovations in Utility Partnerships for Renewables

Panel Discussion

Traditional, regulated energy markets can be challenging to navigate. In this session, experienced utility executives and clean energy program developers will share best practices and some exciting new financing and program structures that enable a "win-win-win" for utilities, solar project managers, and the communities they serve. This session will outline how to deliver clean, inclusive, and sustainable renewable energy programs. Join us to gain insights about utility offerings across the country and available tools and resources to support your goals.

New Green Revolution: Lower Pollution with Higher Yields

Panel Discussion

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.

Carbontech: The New Market for Carbon-Sequestering Products

Lightning Talks

The market for products made from captured carbon is worth an estimated $1 trillion a year in the United States alone. Everything from plastics to jet fuel can be manufactured from carbon dioxide drawn from the atmosphere or diverted from industrial emissions. Thanks to new regulatory incentives and technologies, the carbontech market is now taking off. In this session, entrepreneurs, policy experts and investors will showcase their work and explain how your company can capture a part of the carbontech market.

How Electrification Can Fix the Job and Climate Crises

Fireside Chat

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.

2:00pm to 2:30pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

RE’s Changing Landscape and Emerging Technology: Is North America on the cusp of a truly green grid, and how can corporations help fuel or spearhead the transition? (Francis O’Sullivan)
Our Cities Are Heating Up. Throw Them Shade. : How can we ensure there are enough trees – especially in poor city neighborhoods – to keep cities cool as the climate changes? (Jad Daley)
What To Know About Freight Electrification: How should corporate fleets pursuing freight electrification approach scaling their efforts? (Travis Buholtz)
Sustainable Business Models Tackling Consumption: What are the internal and external barriers for companies in moving away from consumption as the main driver of growth? (Kevin Moss)
Creating Inclusive & Sustainable Cities: Can “Question Storming” help us reimagine inclusive and sustainable cities? (Sandra Baer, Lawrence Jones)

Tuesday, October 27th, 2020

8:30am to 9:45am

En-ROADS: An Interactive Climate Workshop

Workshop

Come join us for this fast paced workshop to create a low carbon future! Co-designed by MIT and the non-profit Climate Interactive, En-ROADS runs on an ordinary laptop in a fraction of a second, offers an intuitive interface and is carefully grounded in thirty years of the best available science. In the workshop, users will explore dynamics in energy supply, land-use, transportation and carbon removal, balancing changing circumstances and competing interests to prevent climate change. The model can help unearth unique insights on how different actions affect a variety of climate change impacts, including global temperature change, air quality, and sea-level rise. In February, participants at GreenBiz 2020 rated the En-ROADS Climate Workshop the best session of the conference.

Please sign up for the workshop in advance here.

9:00am to 11:00am

Food Systems Dialogue

By-Invitation

This two-hour, invite-only session features a discussion among leaders from global food companies and investment firms on food systems policies and practices. Topics include the coherence and rigor of Sustainable Development Goals measurement and reporting, internalizing food system externalities and investor use of disclosed information for portfolio management decisions. The session is open to senior executives and investors. Please email [email protected] at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development for more information. We extend our apologies if we cannot accommodate everyone’s interest in the event.

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

10:00am to 10:05am

Organizer's Welcome

Keynote

GreenBiz VP and VERGE Executive Director, Shana Rappaport, kicks off the second day of VERGE 20.

10:05am to 10:15am

Growing Healthy Communities

Keynote

America’s poorest congressional district has been nurturing a wealth of ideas about how food and gardening can help marginalized communities advance innovative solutions to both climate change and social equity. Led by Stephen Ritz, a force of nature in his own right, this inspiring story shows how imagination and determination can bring hope, opportunity and a sense of purpose to those who previously lacked such things.

10:15am to 10:35am

Connecting Communities to the Clean Economy

Keynote

This frank conversation with two respected environmental justice leaders will explore how companies can become authentically involved in shaping economic and environmental development programs at the city and state level.

10:35am to 10:40am

The New Must-Have: A Sustainable Mobility Strategy

Keynote

As companies around the world seek to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, mobility and logistics – including the movement of products and people in the supply chain — is emerging as a key new focus for meeting sustainability goals. But most transportation decarbonization strategies are siloed in company verticals and focused narrowly. This talk by IKEA’s Head of Sustainable Mobilitywill look at why a holistic sustainable mobility strategy is key and a necessary part of doing business.

10:40am to 10:55am

The Power of Climate Stories

Keynote

Climate change is a complex, interconnected and existential crisis. How we talk about it — the stories we tell, the facts we share, and the language we use — can make the difference between action and paralysis, hope and despair. In this conversation, Bill McKibben, author, activist and storyteller who has helped shape the climate movement, will illuminate the importance of getting the climate story right, and the danger of confusing effective narratives with effective action.

11:00am to 11:30am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

11:30am to 12:00pm

Investing in a Clean and Equitable Future

Panel Discussion

Every two minutes, a new solar array is installed in the United States. Yet many Americans, especially in low-income communities and communities of color, are excluded from the development and ownership of clean energy and mobility technologies. Throughout the system as a whole, the benefits of clean energy are not distributed equally.

In this panel, experts will discuss how companies and investors can enable affordable clean energy for all.

The Science of Scaling Regenerative Agriculture

Panel Discussion

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 new data and initiatives from entrepreneurs, policy makers and technologists looks set to take regenerative agriculture mainstream over the next few years. Come to this session to learn about the latest soil science results and to discover what the data means for the food industry.

Circular by Design: Rethinking Product Development

Panel Discussion

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.

Sustainable Transportation Strategies for Companies

Panel Discussion

Corporations around the globe are looking at transportation-related emissions — across Scopes 1, 2 & 3 — and looking at creative ways to reduce them. Hear from leaders that have taken the plunge and made progress.

Building a Better Food System for America's Cities

Panel Discussion

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.

Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition

REBA Members Only

The regulatory landscape for renewable energy is at an inflection point, given the unknown future of the elections and the economy. While this uncertainty could make energy buyers nervous, we see it as an opportunity to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Join Apex Clean Energy CEO, Mark Goodwin, and REBA CEO, Miranda Ballentine to hear how your company can help accelerate the clean energy transition in 2021.

12:00pm to 12:30pm

How to Serve Great Food and Cut Emissions at the Same Time

Panel Discussion

Millions of people dine out in cafeterias, universities, schools and restaurants every day, making these operations an ideal target for reducing food-related greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge for dining professionals is how to do so while meeting customer expectations on cost, taste and nutrition. Over the past couple of years, hospitals, universities and other institutions have begun to take up this challenge. In this session, you will hear from the leaders and members of the Cool Food Pledge, a multi-stakeholder initiative led by the World Resources Institute that helps organizations serve more climate friendly meals, while also delighting consumers with delicious food choices.

VERGE Accelerate: Carbon Pitch Session

Presentations

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

The Business of Scaling Regenerative Agriculture

Lightning Talks

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.

What We Need to Rapidly Scale Electric Vehicles

Panel Discussion

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?

Circular Opportunities in the Solar Industry

Breakout

What are the circular economy opportunities for the solar industry, and what will it take to bring these strategies to scale?

When we talk about energy in the context of the circular economy, the discussion typically centers on generation. A circular economy must be renewably powered, decreasing our reliance on polluting and finite resources. There’s another opportunity, however, to apply circular economy principles to the industry itself: from materials selection and design to end-of-life management. As more panels, turbines and other energy assets are brought online, there is a growing emphasis on the long-term impact that today’s design decisions will have once these assets are decommissioned. And this attention isn’t just coming from developers; renewable energy buyers are changing their expectations as well.

Join this breakout panel to hear the latest on applying circular economy principles to the solar industry.

What Data Centers Teach Us About Grid Flexibility

Panel Discussion

The number and size of data centers are growing — and so are their energy footprints. They’re also the perfect opportunity for owners and service providers to crack the code for around-the-clock low carbon energy. This session will take a look at the latest trends to decarbonize data centers while maintaining reliability — all while adding resilience to the electric grid. Join us to learn what data centers teach us about deep decarbonization across sectors.

12:30pm to 1:00pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

Scaling up Alternative Protein Manufacturing: What are the three biggest challenges to scaling up alternative protein manufacturing? (David Ziskind)
Partnering on Customized Microgrid Solutions: What are the emerging best practices for utilities and communities to collaborate on microgrid solutions? (Jeremy Donnell)
Active Allyship in Sustainability: How can we support BIPOC sustainability professionals amidst racial crisis and ensure our field is a safe space for the next generation? (Jarami Bond)
VERGE Accelerate’s Carbon Startups: Want to dive deeper with the carbon startups who just pitched in the previous VERGE Accelerate session? Join us for discussions and Q&A! (Nicholas Eisenberger, Brandon Marques)
Active Allyship in Sustainability: How can we support BIPOC sustainability professionals amidst racial crisis and ensure our field is a safe space for the next generation? (Jarami Bond)

Peek Inside ChargePoint’s Advanced Test Facility

Booth Session

ChargePoint Expo Booth

Mission critical tests are conducted in-house to ensure our solutions are bullet proof and future-proof. Visit our booth to join the tour!

1:00pm to 1:30pm

How to Make California's Grid Ready For Millions of EVs

Panel Discussion

The US will need more than 13 million chargers to support EV drivers by 2030, but today there are just 200,000. How will utilities, companies, policy makers and infrastructure providers help ensure the power grid will be ready for the growth of the electric vehicle market?

How Lessons from the Pandemic Can Make Food More Sustainable

Panel Discussion

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.

How to Value Solar + Storage

Panel Discussion

Your energy resources are worth more than the kilowatts they create.

Communities and companies are increasingly aware of the importance of energy resilience. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and severe, causing planned and unplanned power outages that impact local economies and disrupt lives. But how can we actually calculate the value of technologies that keep the lights on?

This session features the best thinking about the true value of solar plus storage, both during power outages and when the electric grid is flowing. Join us to hear how companies are working with energy providers to prepare for future disruptions, and how the global pandemic is changing how we value resilience.

Social Responsibility in Renewable Energy Partnerships

Panel Discussion

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.

Buyers Guide: What to Know Before Buying Forest Offsets

Panel Discussion

Investing in forests is about more than offsetting emissions. Successful forestry projects can bring benefits to ecosystems and economies. Yet forest projects come with challenges. How can you be sure that the trees won't be harvested? And what happens if the forest absorbs less carbon than expected? Come to this session to hear from an expert panel with deep experience of doing due diligence on forest projects, and to understand how your company can get involved.

1:30pm to 2:00pm

New Businesses, Funding and Infrastructure in Carbon Removal

Panel Discussion

Serious money is beginning to flow into carbon capture and utilization. Governments and businesses — notably the oil majors — are now funding the research and infrastructure needed to draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide and turn it into valuable products, or safely store the gas deep underground. What's the long-term play here for the industry? And how can other companies work with the majors and governments to accelerate carbon economy projects? In this session, leaders behind some of the most important projects will explain their strategies and the options for collaboration.

Next-Gen Microgrid Deployment Models

Panel Discussion

With more companies exploring microgrids, more models are emerging to make them accessible — and to get them up and running more quickly.

This session will feature companies and service providers that are deploying microgrids in multiple locations, using a “fleet” model, to increase resilience and save money. It will also look at how standardized, out-of-the-box options are making it easier and cheaper to deploy a microgrid as a product.

VERGE Accelerate: Circular Pitch Session

Presentations

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.

How Can the Dairy Industry Meet Its Net-Zero Goals?

Panel Discussion

Dairy operations produce around 2 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the industry’s emissions would be much higher were it not for decades of innovative technology and incremental efficiency gains that have reduced the greenhouse gases released by the production of every bottle of milk and pound of cheese. One question now facing the sector is whether further innovation can continue to bring down emissions. In this session, you’ll get insights from leaders who believe it can, and are using new techniques and technologies to create a carbon-neutral future for U.S. dairy.

The Zero-Emission Automaker

Panel Discussion

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.

2:00pm to 2:30pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

Design Considerations Beyond the Charger: Value is created for the market through software & system design. What topics & items make for a successful project beyond the charger? (Daniel Thompson)
Scaling Regenerative Ag Through Incentives: What incentives can catalyze widespread adoption of regenerative ag practices and what's needed to scale them quickly? (Emma Fuller)
Charging Interoperability: The Key Driver of EV Adoption: What will it take to accelerate the EV market and create new business opportunities? (Oleg Logvinov)
VERGE Accelerate’s Circular Startups: Want to dive deeper with the circular startups who just pitched in the previous VERGE Accelerate session? Join us for discussions and Q&A! (Ana Carolina Oliveira, Rob Bernard)
How your company can lobby for carbon removal: How can corporate leaders influence policymakers to pass legislation that accelerates the emergence of a carbon-removing economy? (Noah Deich)

Wednesday, October 28th, 2020

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

10:00am to 10:02am

Day Three Welcome

Keynote

GreenBiz VP and VERGE Executive Director, Shana Rappaport, kicks off the third day of VERGE 20.

10:02am to 10:05am

Meet the VERGE 20 Emerging Leaders

Keynote

The Emerging Leaders program, sponsored at VERGE 20 by Verizon, aims to empower a diverse group of up-and-coming professionals by giving them a front-row seat to the emerging clean economy. Meet this year's cohort and learn a bit about their inspiring work!

10:05am to 10:25am

Resilience from the Ground Up

Keynote

In the wake of the pandemic and recession, how do we build resilience — individual, institutional, infrastructural — in our communities while putting environmental and social equity at the center? A look into what’s working in both rural and urban communities, and from the perspective of the nation’s most visionary state.

10:25am to 10:35am

Inside the Climate Pledge

Keynote

Last year, Amazon joined forces with Global Optimism, led by Christiana Figueres, who spearheaded the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, to create the Climate Pledge — a commitment to net-zero carbon by 2040. Hear from Kara Hurst, Amazon’s vice president of sustainability, about how this partnership has brought together thousands of employees around the world as well as other global brands to forge an ambitious new set of climate leadership goals for business.

10:35am to 10:55am

Coalition Building for Climate Leadership

Keynote

What does climate leadership look like? It begins with bold, even audacious, commitments, knowing the path to attaining them might not be a straight line. It can also mean investing in promising new technologies, helping early-stage companies traverse the “valley of death” between prototype and market, and steering complex, multi-faceted companies towards a clean economy future. This panel will explore these and other strategies companies are using to meet The Climate Pledge’s goal of net-zero carbon by 2040.

11:00am to 11:30am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

11:30am to 12:00pm

Buyers Guide: What to Know Before Buying Soil Carbon Offsets

Panel Discussion

Investing in farming practices that draw down carbon dioxide is an exciting new option for companies interested in using offsets to reduce their carbon footprints. In this session, you'll be introduced to what we do and don't know about the potential of these offsets. Leading experts will explain how soils store carbon, why soil sequestration delivers much more than carbon reductions and what your company needs to consider before investing in this rapidly growing segment of the offsets market.

The Life-Changing Magic of Cleaning your Supply Chain

Panel Discussion

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.

Circular Packaging Fundamentals: Understanding the Landscape

Workshop

What landscape of materials, designs, innovations and trends exist in the circular packaging industry?

An increase in consumer awareness, corporate engagement and regulatory action has led more companies to set ambitious goals to reduce and reimagine their use of plastics and packaging. This session will explore circular packaging best practices alongside trends and innovations, offering attendees a comprehensive look into their circular packing opportunities. Speakers from across the value chain will discuss a variety of circular packaging levers from designing out waste to infrastructure investment to material innovation and beyond.

The Tipping Point for Commercial Zero Emission Vehicles

Panel Discussion

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.

Beyond the US: How to Assess International Energy Markets

REBA Members Only

Many forward-thinking energy buyers are looking beyond the borders of the U.S. to address their international load and support their supply chain companies across the globe. This session will discuss how to start assessing international markets for renewable energy procurement and share strategies to ensure your international claims are verified and accounted for properly.

12:00pm to 12:30pm

Partnerships to Decarbonize Data Centers

Panel Discussion

New tools and strategies have emerged to mitigate the impact of growing data use in the computing cloud. Learn from experienced energy buyers about how to work with data center colocation partners to execute strategies to decarbonize operations — and decrease your Scope 3 emissions.

How Innovative Financing Can Scale ZEV Trucks & Buses

Panel Discussion

One of the keys to accelerating the adoption of commercial zero emission vehicles is the emergence of new financing models, from all-in leases to climate funding. What new financing tools are companies and financiers adopting that can unlock more rapid scaling of zero emission trucks and buses?

VERGE Accelerate: Energy Pitch Session

Presentations

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

Circular Packaging Fundamentals: Tackling Plastics

Breakout

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.

How Tech and Collaboration Can Make Food Supply Transparent

Panel Discussion

Food supply chains are notoriously hard to monitor. Meat, produce and agricultural commodities are aggregated and passed between multiple intermediaries. Supplies sometimes come from remote farms in poorly regulated countries. The side effects of these challenges range from fraud to deforestation to public health threats, prompting consumers and shareholders to demand more transparency from every player in the supply chain. There is no silver bullet for a problem this complex, but progress is taking place on multiple tracks, including blockchain technologies and more openness between supply-chain partners. Get up to speed on the latest projects — and learn how your business can get involved.

Building Equity and Justice into Carbon Removal

Panel Discussion

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.

12:30pm to 1:00pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Stay tuned for Virtual Roundtable topics!

Corporate Approaches to Climate Justice: How are businesses engaging to ensure all benefit equally from climate solutions, while no one bears an unequal burden of climate impacts? (Dylan Siegler)
Getting to Net Zero Carbon Emissions: How is COVID-19 changing strategies and tactics to make sustainability more economical and successful? (Karen Scanlon)
The Convergence of Food and Medicine: Will the medical community accept food and ingredients as natural treatments for chronic illness? (Matthew Walker)
VERGE Accelerate’s Energy Startups: Want to dive deeper with the energy startups who just pitched in the previous VERGE Accelerate session? Join us for discussions and Q&A! (Sara Chamberlain, Danny Kennedy)
Accelerating Electric Medium & Heavy Duty Trucks: How do we best learn from early deployments to scale electric trucks fast? (Mike Roeth)

Bloom Energy: A Behind the Scenes Tour

Booth Session

Bloom Energy's Expo Booth

See how Bloom Energy servers are made and the people and technology that drives our mission to create clean, reliable, and AlwaysON energy.

1:00pm to 1:30pm

Resilience and Security in the Clean Energy Revolution

REBA Members Only

This session will explain modern energy security issues and how they affect corporate renewable energy buyers. You will learn how solar supply chain, geopolitical conflicts, and domestic commercial demand contribute to risks to renewable operations and decarbonization efforts. Speakers will offer concrete ways for corporate buyers to better secure their own renewable energy investments while increasing resilience throughout the U.S. power market.

Using Microbes and Greenhouse Gases to Make New Foods

Panel Discussion

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.

How Companies Can Address Energy Poverty

Panel Discussion

How can businesses make energy strategy decisions that support underserved communities, too? Hear about new options that make it possible for your company to make clean energy procurement decisions that also uplift the communities in which you operate and procure energy.

Circular Packaging Fundamentals: Advancing Reuse

Panel Discussion

What does it take to implement and scale reusable packaging solutions?

Since the day of the milkman, companies have launched untold schemes to skip recycling for its less energy- and material-intensive cousin: reuse. While using packaging over and over again is no new concept, recent business model innovations have seen a resurgence of reuse-inspired services. This panel will explore some of the ways retailers and brands are enacting reuse models, including systems for refill, returnable packaging or optimizing the supply-chain with reusable transport packaging. We will discuss the key considerations when implementing a reusable packaging initiative, including how brands can address contamination concerns head on. Join the session for a deep dive into the opportunities and logistics of reusable packaging.

1:00pm to 2:00pm

The Path Forward to Sustainable Aviation

Workshop

While the pandemic has thrown a wrench into the aviation sector's decarbonization efforts, the industry is still pushing toward sustainability goals to meet global commitments and support environmental-focused customers. How will the industry build back while prioritizing sustainability?

1:30pm to 2:00pm

How Even Small Startups Can Succeed at Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Lightning Talks

Founders may care as much about DEI as their more established counterparts, but many see these as second-order issues behind the challenging realities of starting and scaling a new company. But DEI isn’t just a luxury for well-to-do companies. Here’s how startups are baking DEI into their businesses early.

This Tech Can Transform the Fight Against Supply-Chain Waste

Lightning Talks

Around half of all food waste occurs in the supply chains that link farmers to retailers and restaurants. The complexity of these systems poses a formidable challenges to waste reduction efforts, but over the past few years a roster of new technologies and strategies have begun to make a dent in the problem. In this session, you'll hear leaders at the companies behind these approaches. Come to learn how changes to supply chains and methods for unlocking the hidden value in waste can lead to radical reductions in the amount of food that we waste daily.

How Your Company Can Help Grow a Trillion Trees

Panel Discussion

Can we conserve and plant a trillion trees in a decade? Forest protection and expansion are central pillars of the fight against climate change, and both strategies can be deployed rapidly and at scale — provided the resources are available. In this session, you’ll hear from leaders of the U.S. chapter of 1t.org, a new platform designed to connect the reforestation community with supporters in the public and private sectors, as well as from companies that have successfully invested in the global effort to restore and expand the world’s forests.

2:00pm to 2:30pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

Noah Deich

Balancing Safety, Security and Package Reduction: How do we balance food safety, security and package reduction? (Jeff Scott)
Steps to Reaching a 100 Renewable Energy Future: What are the important steps you see for reaching a decarbonized energy system? (Cassandra Heller)
Inclusive Clean Energy Finance Solutions for All: Inclusive, smart, on-site energy upgrades require upfront capital. What financial bridges and barriers are you discovering? (Holmes Hummel)
The UN Treaty for Plastic: Inclusive, smart, on-site energy upgrades require upfront capital. What financial bridges and barriers are you discovering? (Erin Simon)
The environmental, equity, and health impacts of urban forests: Can carbon markets help grow urban forests and deliver benefits to local communities? (Mark McPherson)

Thursday, October 29th, 2020

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

10:00am to 10:05am

Organizer's Welcome

Keynote

GreenBiz VP and VERGE Executive Director, Shana Rappaport, kicks off the fourth day of VERGE 20.

10:05am to 10:15am

The Power of Youth to Solve Real-World Problems

Keynote

Gitanjali is an internationally recognized, multiple award-winning, 14-year old inventor. In her talk, she will share her journey of solving real-world problems using science and technology as a catalyst for social change, and how organizations can engage youth to help identify, design and build solutions to pressing problems.

10:15am to 10:25am

How to Use Your Superpower for the Planet

Keynote

Climate change is the most important and most complex challenge humans have ever faced. In this climate emergency, those with the least will suffer the most. It’s time to take action. Learn how every individual, institution, company and organization has been primed for this moment and how to drive the long-lasting, systemic change that the planet needs.

10:25am to 10:45am

Enlisting Nature to Fight Climate Change

Keynote

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order enlists California’s vast network of natural and working lands — forests, rangelands, farms, wetlands, coast, deserts and urban green spaces — in the fight against climate change. How will it do that? What new technologies and techniques will it involve? What is the opportunity for the private sector? A conversation with California’s Secretary for Natural Resources will explore.

11:00am to 11:30am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

11:30am to 12:00pm

Carbon Removal Moonshots: Introducing Radical Drawdown Technologies

Lightning Talks

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.

New Accounting Methods Reveal Food’s True Environmental Cost

Panel Discussion

What impact is your company having on the environment, communities and public health? The interconnected nature of food businesses makes such an assessment daunting. Enter True Cost Accounting (TCA), a road-tested and practical method for conducting holistic impact evaluations. Come to this session for insights from leaders who have used TCA in their businesses.

How Utilities Can Accelerate EVs

Panel Discussion

Oregon utility Portland General Electric has been at the forefront of accelerating electric vehicle adoption for residents and companies. Learn how EVs are being used a grid benefit in PGE's footprint and why utilities need to be more aggressively embracing EVs.

Beyond 100% Clean: Matching Energy Supply and Demand

Panel Discussion

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.

The Future of Connected Goods

Panel Discussion

What role will tech-enabled tracking solutions play in building a circular future?

From QR codes and blockchain to Circular ID and the IoT, future-forward tracking devices hold the promise of simplified reverse logistics, frictionless user experience, and efficient management of reclaimed materials. Is the wide-spread adoption of these innovations the key to an effective circular economy? What untapped value will these technologies unlock and what innovations will they enable? Join this session as we explore what a connected future might look like and how we can effectively leverage connection technologies today.

11:30am to 12:30pm

The Values-Driven Consumers Changing the Food Industry

Panel Discussion

Consumers are increasingly demanding more from their food. They want it to have a positive environmental impact, support local communities, fit into a healthy lifestyle and be affordable and convenient. So how should food companies respond? This session is your chance to hear from industry experts on the latest consumer insights and learn how companies along the supply chain are adapting. Do consumers care about organic, fair trade or regenerative labels? If not, what does prompt sustainability-minded individuals to change their buying habits? This session if your chance to learn about innovative, collaborative approaches to purpose-driven branding and consumer engagement that cater to the latest consumer trends.

12:00pm to 12:30pm

Beyond Zero: Introducing Next-Level Corporate Climate Commitments

Panel Discussion

It’s not so long since going carbon neutral was considered ambitious. But in little more than a year, a handful of companies have announced new carbon targets that have redefined what ambition looks like in this arena. Some are going carbon negative, or even paying back the company’s entire carbon debt. Others have committed to attaching carbon labels to all of their products. Many of those involved freely admit that they are not certain how they will achieve these goals. One thing is clear: Doing so will require collaboration across supply chains and the sharing of best practices. Come to this session to hear from the carbon program managers who are figuring out how to take corporate commitments to the next level.

Clean Energy Equity Showcase

Lightning Talks

Come hear energetic presentations from community organizations that are leading the way to a more equitable energy future. These fast paced lightning talks will feature the voices of leaders thinking about energy access and inclusion in creative and collaborative ways.

The Complicated Potential of RNG

Panel Discussion

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.

VERGE Accelerate: Transport Pitch Session

Presentations

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

Pathways to a Radically More Sustainable Food System

Lightning Talks

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.

Leveraging Market-Based Incentives to Decarbonize Transportation

Panel Discussion

Market-based incentives play an important role in accelerating transportation decarbonization for organizations in many industries across the country. In this session, we will discuss current and planned low carbon fuel incentive programs, how to leverage the incentives these programs provide, and key insights surrounding emerging markets and technologies.

12:30pm to 1:00pm

Behind the Scenes at the WMPO: The Anatomy of Zero Waste

Booth Session

Waste Management's Expo Booth

Visit the WM booth to virtually experience the WM Phoenix Open and learn how WM executes on a zero waste, carbon neutral golf tournament.

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

The Road to a Hydrogen Economy: With much technical progress achieved and substantial decarbonization potential realized, is the world ready for a hydrogen economy? (Ajay Mehta)
Microgrids in the Race to Decarbonize California: What's the role of microgrids in helping California solve the resiliency challenges along its path to zero carbon? (Stephen Lamm)
Unlocking Growth and Development with Nutrition: How does a focus on better nutrition for all underpin our pursuit of the sustainable development goals? (Oliver Camp, Bonnie McClafferty)
VERGE Accelerate’s Transport Startups: Want to dive deeper with the transport startups who just pitched in the previous VERGE Accelerate session? Join us for discussions and Q&A! (Patrick Sagisi, Danielle Harris)
Net-Zero? How can we be Net-Positive to Nature?: How can businesses go beyond net-zero and transform the trillion tons of excess CO2 in the atmosphere into ecological and social benefit? (Amanda Joy Ravenhill)

1:00pm to 1:30pm

How to Reduce Scope Three Emissions. (Without Losing Your Mind.)

Panel Discussion

No one would say it's easy to measure and reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions. But doing so can seem easy in comparison to the often daunting task of tackling Scope 3. This session features industry leaders who have worked with partners to account for and mitigate emissions from their supply chains. Come to hear how insetting and other forms of collaboration can be a win-win that cuts greenhouse gases and builds stronger supply-chain relationships.

Circular Cities: Reimagining Urban Centers

Panel Discussion

What does a successfully circular city look like, and how can this model unlock transformational economic, social and sustainable change?

Circular cities hold the key for transformational change, unlocking a new economic model that will transition away from fossil fuels, provide a reliable platform for waste to become a resource and advance more equitable, inclusive value chains for our communities. But what does a circular city look like in practice? What successes have we seen in European cities and what will it take to effectively launch these models in the United States? Join this panel to learn from practitioners leading the charge towards more sustainable, equitable and circular cities.

The Next Pressing Problem: Decarbonizing California's Transportation

Panel Discussion

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.

Avoid the Crunch: Three Key Steps to Hit Your Renewable Goal

REBA Members Only

More companies than ever are committing to ambitious clean energy goals. But at the current market pace, Bloomberg NEF predicts that by 2030 global renewable supply won’t be able to keep up with corporate demand. What does this supply crunch mean for today’s corporations with renewable energy commitments, and what can they do to prevent it? Join LevelTen Energy’s Bryce Smith and Kyle Harrison, of Bloomberg NEF for an intriguing conversation on the three practical steps companies can take today to ensure they achieve tomorrow’s renewable energy goals.

1:30pm to 2:00pm

Meeting Climate Goals During Converging Crises

Panel Discussion

Pandemic. Recession. Racial inequities. Unemployment. Climate. With so many crises colliding, how can California stay on track to meet its ambitious climate goals? This conversation will feature California climate leaders discussing how we can — and must — keep our climate goals a priority.

Can Indoor Ag Create a More Sustainable Food System?

Panel Discussion

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.

New Markets and Technologies to Save America’s Forests

Lightning Talks

America's forests face multiple threats, including disease, invasive species, fire and more. Thankfully, the ingredients needed to tackle these threats already exist. We can protect our forests through active forest management and market incentizes, including thinning trees, and wood sourced in this way can be used to produce electricity, fertilize crops and create building materials. Carbon markets are creating other opportunities for landowners to be compensated for better management practices. What’s needed is collaborative action by lawmakers and companies to create the incentives and infrastructure that will accelerate the growth of these markets. Come to this session to hear from the entrepreneurs, nonprofits and activists who are making this happen, and learn how to get involved.

Decarbonizing Industrial Supply Chain Energy

Panel Discussion

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.

Circular Transportation: From Waste to Fuel Tank

Panel Discussion

Companies are working with cities and local businesses to develop circular fueling systems, taking waste feedstocks — like recycled cooking oil, agriculture fats, biogas from decomposing matter — and processing them into fuels for trucks and buses. How do these systems work and how can we scale them?

2:00pm to 2:30pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

Facility Renewal for Health and Sustainability: How can we increase building flexibility to provide healthy, safe and sustainable environments under emergency and “new normal” conditions? (Clay Nesler)
Tech Solutions for Forest Carbon Problems: How can new tech increase transparency and mitigate risks to forest carbon projects such as wildfire and disease? (Zack Parisa)
Wildfire Resilience: How can communities, governments and companies prepare — and recover — from wildfire dangers? (Jeff Golden)
Enabling Circular Transformation in U.S. Cities: What are the key enablers that the private, public, and social sector must align to help make the transition to a circular city? (John Holm)
The carbon economy 10 years from now: How will supply of and demand for carbon removals change as we build a thriving carbon economy over the coming decade? (Stacy Kauk)

Friday, October 30th, 2020

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

10:00am to 10:05am

Organizer's Welcome

Keynote

GreenBiz VP and VERGE Executive Director, Shana Rappaport, kicks off the fifth and final day of VERGE 20.

10:05am to 10:15am

Reuse, Innovation and Systems Change

Keynote

Reuse models require innovation in packaging and participation from multiple stakeholders, not just consumers or manufacturers. Learn how the global reuse platform Loop has reimagined supply chains, partnerships and the consumer experience in less than a year and a half from its launch.

10:15am to 10:40am

VERGE Accelerate Finals

Keynote

Twenty-five startups were chosen to pitch at VERGE 20. Today, the winners from each VERGE conference – representing Energy, Food, Carbon, Transport and Circular – will appear on the main stage, where audience voting will determine which one has the most game-changing potential impact.

10:40am to 10:55am

Climate and Public Health: A Conversation with Gina McCarthy

Keynote

The public health impacts of a changing climate are often overlooked, yet as the pandemic has clearly shown, ignoring early action can have tragic consequences. This conversation with President and CEO of NRDC and former U.S. EPA head Gina McCarthy will examine the problems, solutions and the role companies and technology can play in flattening the curve of disease vectors, asthma outbreaks, heat-related deaths and other manifestations of the climate crisis.

11:00am to 11:30am

Networking & VERGE Expo

Networking

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

11:30am to 12:00pm

Retail Solutions for Expanding Access to Renewables

REBA Members Only

There is a wide spectrum of renewable energy solutions in a retail energy market available to companies striving for sustainability goals. For many organizations, a retail solution not only provides a streamlined means to access renewable energy but can also be among the most cost-effective options. This session will explore the range of solutions in a retail energy market.

Why We Need to Electrify Ride-hailing

Panel Discussion

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?

How COVID Changes the Energy Transition

Fireside Chat

What will it take to stay on track with global decarbonization goals in a post-COVID world? In this conversation, GreenBiz executive editor Joel Makower talks with Shell New Energy’s Glenn Wright about the company’s just-released Rethinking the 2020s scenarios pathways. What will it take for companies to stay on track with climate commitments? What is the role of every sector to seize this moment to accelerate clean energy adoption?

On-Demand Food Delivery and Low Emissions — Can We Have Both?

Panel Discussion

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.

Win-win: How Offsets Can Draw Down Carbon and Boost Development Goals

Panel Discussion

Some offset projects come with additional positive outcomes that go beyond reducing atmospheric carbon. Many of these co-benefits line up with the UN Sustainable Development Goals: To broaden access to clean water, improve indoor air quality or create new revenue opportunities for local communities, for example. In this session, you’ll hear from leaders who have helped develop co-benefit projects and learn about the reasons for investing in these win-win offsets.

12:00pm to 12:30pm

The Rise of City Zero Emission Zones

Panel Discussion

Cities across Europe and China are setting goals to ban fossil fuel vehicles from city centers, and some regions in the U.S. are starting to adopt this trend, too. Learn about the driving forces behind this movement, and how companies are addressing the challenges and leveraging the opportunities of zero emission city zones.

Meet the Innovators Drawing Down CO2 in the World’s Oceans

Lightning Talks

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.

Ask a Recycling Expert: Understanding and Improving our System

Panel Discussion

What can an expert teach you about our national recycling system and how we can collectively improve it? Ask them!

The U.S. needs a more robust and efficient national recycling system, but the current state of affairs and necessary changes can be confusing, to say the least. Prior to the pandemic, the U.S. recycling rate hovered at around 35 percent. Since then complexity and challenges have only grown with the rise of single-use items and their disposal, increased residential waste and strained city and state budgets that fund our recycling programs. How can we improve the patchwork of recycling structures across the United States? What policies are needed to build resilience into our recycling systems? How should companies be thinking about and engaging with these structures and policies? Where do I even begin?

Bring any and all of your questions to this interactive Q&A with resident recycling expert, Dylan de Thomas, VP of Industry Collaboration at the Recycling Partnership.

How Tenants Can Green Commercial Buildings

Panel Discussion

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.

Deforestation Remains Part of Food Supply. Can We Fix That?

Panel Discussion

Destruction of old-growth tropical forests presents a profound threat to the planet — a threat that the food industry has recognized and pledged to eliminate. Yet, food sourced from newly deforested land remains part of global supply chains. In this session, industry experts with inside knowledge of sourcing and supply will talk frankly about why it has proved so hard to address this problem and what it will take to finally remove deforestation from supply chains.

12:30pm to 1:00pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Here are the Virtual Roundtable topics:

Coastal Ecosystems and the Food/Water Nexus: When faced with both a growing population and a global food and water shortage, how can we utilize our coastal ecosystems to find solutions? (Nicholas Demille)
Integrating carbon removal technologies into your supply chain: How can corporations and municipalities apply direct air capture and other carbon removal technologies in their businesses? (Rohini Sengupta)
Ensuring Everyone Benefits from Climate Justice: How can diversity in hiring assist in ensuring access to innovative clean energy technologies are equitable? (Taj Eldridge, Adriana Embus-Figueroa)
Harnessing the Ingenuity of Youth: How can organizations engage young people in ways that are mutually beneficial and enable the co-creation of solutions to pressing problems? (Gitanjali Rao, John Davies)

1:00pm to 1:30pm

More, Less or None: The Role of Meat in the Future of Food

Panel Discussion

A growing number of thinktanks and environmental organizations are arguing that dramatic reductions in meat consumption, particularly beef, are needed to rein in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. So should we all go vegetarian? Or can changes to the way that meat is produced allow us to cut down on emissions and keep our burgers? And what role will alternative proteins play? In this session, experts from all sides of the debate will give their take on the best way forward.

Leading The Charge To Electrify Transportation

Panel Discussion

Consumers, businesses and fleets in the U.S. are beginning to adopt electric vehicles thanks to technical innovation, state and local policies, and a plethora of new EV models. But what will it take to make the transportation revolution happen even faster? After all, the economy will benefit, the climate is demanding it, and drivers across America are hungry for the fun of an EV ride. We'll dive into what levers the US still needs to pull and what it will take from leadership with Cathy Zoi, the CEO of EVgo and the former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Why Markets Matter to Buyers

REBA Members Only

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.

Your Next Construction Project Could Draw Down Carbon

Panel Discussion

Many of the ingredients needed to reduce or even eliminate carbon emissions from construction now exist, but architects and contractors do not necessarily know about these options. In this session, you will learn how to ensure that construction projects large and small can be designed to include materials and processes that minimize emissions. Industry experts will survey the world of next-gen building materials, from carbon-negative concrete to mass timber, and explain how you can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of your next project.

Own Your (Political) Power

Panel Discussion

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.

1:30pm to 2:00pm

Cities Reclaim Streets From Cars

Panel Discussion

Cities around the world — from Paris to Seattle to Oakland — have seized on the opportunity of the health crisis to create programs that take back streets from cars for pedestrians and bikes. Hear from city leaders how they implemented these programs and learn about how these mobility solutions could remake cities after COVID.

Energy Procurement: Driving a Green Recovery

Panel Discussion

Large energy buyers continue to increase the scope and ambition of their efforts to lock in low-cost electricity rates by powering their operations with renewable energy. Clean energy represents a powerful opportunity to rebuild the economy and create jobs — all while helping corporations ramp up clean energy capacity.

How Blockchain, Data and AI Can Create Sustainable Fisheries

Panel Discussion

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.

Our Companies Set a Price on Carbon. You Can Do the Same.

Panel Discussion

You’ve measured your company’s carbon footprint and set targets for reducing it. Now you have to do the hard work of implementing emissions cuts. How do you motivate employees across the company to join the effort? One solution is to set an internal price on carbon. It’s a method that’s been shown to accelerate progress, but it can also be a bureaucratic headache for everyone involved. Hear from people who have navigated this challenge inside major corporations and are successfully reducing their companies’ emissions.

Alternatives to Venture Capital

Panel Discussion

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.

2:00pm to 2:30pm

Roundtable Discussions & VERGE Expo

Networking

Connect with like-minded participants for interactive virtual discussions around a curated clean economy topic. Bring your own challenges, questions and ideas to these free-form conversations.

Stay tuned for Virtual Roundtable topics

Equity & Electric Vehicles: How can we expand the tent and enable more diverse communities to access EVs? (Terry Travis)
Building Repair Business Models: How can business model innovation encourage and enable more product repair? (Kyle Wiens)
Growing Food in Classrooms to Transform Learning and Health: How can businesses and policymakers help schools capture the health and educational benefits of indoor academic learning gardens? (Stephen Ritz)