9:00am - 12:00pm
CDP x VERGE LOUNGE:
Connect with CDP Supply Chain Experts and CDP Accredited Solutions Providers

Meet CDP Supply Chain experts (incl. Dexter Galvin, Global Director Corporates & Supply Chain, Simon Fischweicher, Head of Corporations & Supply Chain) and Accredited Solutions Providers (Benchmark ESG, Boston Consulting Group, Emitwise, Edison Energy, Keramida, Boston Consulting Group, and more) at the designated CDP lounge which will be open during the first half of the day alongside the VERGE conference. Join us for breakfast and a cup of coffee, ask follow-up questions if you attended the Supply Chain summit, participate in our raffle, learn about existing CDP initiatives and ASP offerings, and chat with CDP Supply Chain Account Managers in person!

10:00 - 10:30am 
Supply chain deep dive | Benchmark ESG: Practical digital transformation for ESG data management & value chain reporting  

As organizations look to deliver on Net Zero commitments and address emerging priorities such as Scope 3 (Value Chain) Reporting, digital transformation of ESG data management and supply chain engagement has become a necessity.  Please join to hear insights into digital solution best practices for ensuring cross-functional engagement, ESG data source connections, supply chain engagement & data collection, and streamlining of stakeholder communications & reporting. 

Presenter: Donavan Hornsby, Chief Strategy Market Manager (Benchmark ESG, CDP Gold Accredited Solutions Provider and Supply Chain summit Gold Sponsor).

10:30 - 10:45am 
CDP Supply Chain deep dive: Cascading climate action through supplier engagement.

A company’s supply chain is responsible for substantial environmental impacts. In 2020, CDP found that GHG emissions in a company’s supply chain are, on average, 11.4 times higher than its operational emissions. This chain of environmental risk is not just an opportunity to look beyond companies’ own emissions; it is now the only way to leverage change at the scale required. Olivia Poon, Account Manager of Corporate Memberships at CDP, will discuss how purchasing organizations are driving change in their value chains by leveraging CDP’s Supply Chain Program.  

Presenter: Olivia Poon, Corporate Memberships Account Manager, CDP. 

10:45 - 11:00am 
Session Break

Session break: Meet us for drinks and snacks, and participate in our raffle, in the CDP Lounge! CDP Raffle time! 

11:00am - 11:15am 
Supply Chain deep dive: Edison Energy 

While robust, reliable data is critical to understanding and tracking decarbonization of scope 3 sources, that data too often becomes an inescapable, and seemingly insurmountable, black hole. This session introduces concrete actions and strategies that position climate action and decarbonization as the guiding north star. We will discuss how companies can move beyond data, and better support their suppliers with tangible resources and engagements to reduce emissions from thermal, electrical, and other emissions sources. 

Presenter: Annabelle Stamm, Director Sustainability Strategy.

11:15am - 11:30am (Ballroom VI)
How companies are working to achieve their science-based targets - insights from CDP Data 

Julia Silberman, Director, Corporate Engagement at CDP, will provide insights drawing from CDP's environmental data on how companies are reducing their emissions to achieve their science-based targets. Join us to learn about critical trends in climate change action and how companies are working towards these ambitious goals. 

Presenter: Julia Silberman, Director Corporate Engagement at CDP. 

11:30am - 11:45am 
NTT Data Corp: Journey to achieve net-zero: Creating an enabling environment for suppliers 

To achieve any ambitious carbon-neutral target, it is indispensable to collaborate with suppliers. However, suppliers are not always cooperative or may lack capacity. NTT DATA Corporation, IT solution provider and CDP Supply Chain member in Japan will introduce their challenges in creating an ecosystem to engage suppliers to achieve net-zero targets and how they maximized the opportunity as a member of CDP Supply Chain Program.  

Presenter: Takeshi Saheki, Manager Green Innovation Office (NTT Data)

11:45am - 12:00pm 
CDP Summit Closing Remarks delivered by: Dexter Galvin, Global Director of Corporations & Supply Chain 

Networking in CDP x VERGE Lounge. Final CDP Raffle!

As a startup, the way you plan for ambiguity in the market can make or break your business. In this tutorial, you will learn how to conduct scenario planning, a method to mitigate risk by creating strategic contingency plans. A prepared scenario planning framework can help companies to not only survive, but thrive in an increasingly unclear economic future. Participate in this tutorial to work with those who have led and put this work into practice. They will explain scenario planning, how it’s proved to be an invaluable tool, and walk you through this exercise to set you up for success.

Scenario Planning Resources:

Hunter Lovins Scenario Planning

Dry problems such as proprietary programs and data silos are slowing down food systems reform. Can companies embrace open approaches, turning competitors into collaborators?

As public awareness of our climate and social justice crises rises, food organizations — large and small, nonprofit and for-profit — rush to transform their operations and supply chains. This momentum has resulted in a countless array of regenerative agriculture programs, food rescue platforms and imperfect produce marketplaces. It’s a dream come true, right?

Not for Emily Ma, who leads Google’s Food for Good work. She views the current landscape of climate-friendly food technologies as a maze of confusing standards, expensive integrations and destructive competitions. And she’s not the only one struggling. Farmers faced with an overwhelming number of potential carbon markets to enroll in report decision paralysis. Food manufacturers can’t keep up with their buyers' diverging data disclosure requirements. Corporate cafeterias get overrun with surplus food donation requests, each one requiring a different integration process.

What can we do to streamline these well-meaning efforts and accelerate impact? This workshop led by Emily and other transdisciplinary leaders will unlock a new era of sustainable food practice.

Facilities management (FM), a $1.2 trillion global industry, is undergoing a drastic demographic shift, as over 50 percent of facilities managers will retire within the next decade. How will building owners and operators attract a new generation of facilities managers to occupy the vacant positions? Furthermore, how will incoming staff balance the diverging needs of modern and legacy technology systems in their building portfolios?

The built environment is changing rapidly due to tenants' sustainability, public health and occupancy demands. Fortunately, public, private and nonprofit innovators are rising to this challenge by experimenting with new models to attract and train FM talent for the demands of buildings of the future.

Join us to explore challenges and opportunities in attracting and training FM staff to take buildings into the next decade of sustainable operations and how organizations can get ahead of their attrition struggles.

As the first generation of solar panels near the end of their first life, we are just beginning to recognize the magnitude of the future electronic-waste problem associated with renewable energy technologies. We’ll explore what it will take to process and reuse or recycle solar panels.

Google's Ecology Program is focused on restoring and enhancing nature to support biodiversity, health and well-being and climate resilience across its campuses and communities. In this series of short talks, members of the Google Real Estate and Workplace Services team will provide an overview of the Ecology Program's approach to bringing biodiversity back into campuses, share examples of its nature enhancements and discuss exciting work to come. 

This session is sponsored by Google. Sponsored breakouts are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz. Please note that attendee contact information will be shared with the sponsoring company.

Many companies have climate goals, but far fewer advocate for the policies necessary to achieve them. This disconnect is dangerous, because the net-zero targets that are increasingly being set in the private sector can’t be met without supportive public policies. What’s more, companies face growing pressure from investors, employees and customers to put their lobbying muscle behind their public commitments on climate.

Join us to explore what’s driving corporate engagement in climate policy and what leadership looks like today. Our experts will discuss why climate policy advocacy is a strategic business imperative, how companies can engage effectively and what climate policies are top priorities in the coming year. You’ll come away with a framework for action, real-world examples and insight into how you can elevate climate as an advocacy priority within your company.

Public transit is the unsung hero for decarbonizing transport. But what does its future look like in a post-COVID world?

Public transit took a massive hit during the pandemic as ridership dropped and single-passenger travel rose. In the new post-pandemic normal, as people return to public transit, questions are emerging: How should prior systems and tools operate? What new technologies and solutions such as micro-mobility, electrification, software services and more are needed to increase ridership? What will the future of public transit be? Join this session to explore how cities are coping with this new reality and discover the innovations they are deploying to keep everyone moving.

Halting deforestation and other illegal land-use changes is imperative for a livable future on this planet. To turn the tide in high-risk areas, agriculture companies must work individually as well as collectively with peers, producers, governments and other sectors.

In Brazil, challenges to sustaining vital natural ecosystems have extended beyond the boundaries of the canopied Amazon rainforest. Brazil’s Cerrado, a vast tropical savannah, has become one of the country’s most watched regions. Over the past decade, global demand for soy, beef, leather and mined metals has skyrocketed increasing pressure on nature and traditional and indigenous land stewards.

The commodity processors handling soy supply chains have long worked to change business practices and promised to incentivize suppliers to follow suit. In the Cerrado, soy buyers have increased traceability and reduced deforestation within their supply chains, but recognize that more needs to be done for the sake of people and the planet. Where must these companies collaborate pre-competitively on improved agricultural practices, technology solutions and financial investments? What additional strategies are needed to accelerate progress?

Is your company interested in accelerating regenerative agriculture transitions? Then the new Climate SMART (Scaling Mechanisms for Agriculture’s Regenerative Transformation) program may be an exciting opportunity. Run by Truterra, American Farmland Trust and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Climate SMART taps new federal funding to help accelerate regenerative agriculture transitions. In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how your company can get involved in Climate SMART. Truterra will discuss how to leverage the power of cooperative farmer and ag retailer networks to rapidly scale and reliably report on sustainable impact. You will learn: 1. Are you a good candidate to participate?; 2.How  Climate SMART might help you meet climate, DEI and other ESG commitments?; 3. What is the process for value chain partners to participate?

This session is sponsored by Truterra. Sponsored breakouts are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz. Please note that attendee contact information will be shared with the sponsoring company.

VERGE Accelerate is a series of fast-pitch competitions featuring leading climate tech startups. Today’s session highlights five entrepreneurs building cutting-edge solutions for carbon removal, followed by industry expert reactions to each pitch. Help determine the winner by casting your vote live at the event! The winner will pitch in the main stage finals on Thursday, October 27.

Learn about how energy customers are driving different forms of next-generation impact on the electric grid through their procurement approaches, the market barriers hindering these types of procurement strategies from reaching their fullest potential, and how the broader community of market stakeholders is working to evolve the voluntary carbon-free energy procurement market to make these approaches easier and more impactful.

Bitcoin mining uses a tremendous amount of energy — as much as Venezuela. Could this activity help decarbonize energy markets, or will its power consumption always be at odds with climate goals? This debate will help make sense of the ethics and consideration of cryptocurrency, and the role it may play in a decarbonized future.

If we are to achieve a fully decarbonized transport future, then we cannot leave anyone behind. How can technology help?

Headlines about access to public EV charging stations continue to emerge each day. However, new and emerging companies are striving to fix this accessibility problem for good. Discover and learn about innovative charging solutions and innovations that could help bring charging access to all.

Companies are looking to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) certificates to reduce Scope 3 emissions.

By working with airlines that offer SAF certificates, corporate clients are helping accelerate the aviation industry’s journey to net zero emissions by funding greater research, innovation and SAF availability. Learn how your company can get involved, what solutions exist today to help you reduce your business travel footprint and gain access to tailored plans to supplement Scope 3 ESG reporting. Speakers will also share insights on how collaborating on Scope 3 emissions can drive the aviation industry forward. This session will dive into specific case studies between corporate customers and major airlines as they work to reduce their carbon emissions.

Get the inside scoop on how some of the world’s largest companies are tackling hard-to-abate emissions.

Announced just under a year ago, the First Movers Coalition is an ambitious cross-sector effort to bring down emissions from seven sectors where decarbonization is particularly challenging: aluminum, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel and trucking. In parallel, coalition members are also investing hundreds of millions in emerging carbon removal technologies.

Come learn about the range of commitments made by coalition members, including pledges to use low-carbon fuels in shipping networks, purchases of specific quantities of near-zero emissions steel and contracts for tens of thousands of tons of carbon removals.

Are you an entrepreneur wondering how to scale your product with a commercial company? This interactive session gives you the opportunity to speak directly with corporate venture capitalists about what they look for when deciding to work with a startup. Learn about companies’ top climate priorities and how you can strategically create inroads with relevant business units. Join this session to build new relationships and gain insights about how to approach, navigate and successfully land your next corporate partner.

Like many companies, Iron Mountain is setting ambitious carbon reduction goals to support the effort to combat climate change. As a leading operator of a global data center portfolio, this means a focus on decarbonizing electricity consumption by powering Iron Mountain facilities with 24/7 carbon-free energy. The company has already launched an industry-leading product that enables clients to claim the benefits of Iron Mountain’s renewable energy purchases, and taking this to the next level with hourly granularity is the ultimate step for client decarbonization. However, Iron Mountain discovered early in this journey that the data necessary to achieve 24/7 carbon free energy can be difficult to obtain and time-consuming to analyze.

In this session, learn how Iron Mountain is sourcing clean energy for its data centers and matching that energy to consumption every hour; using hourly carbon accounting to get an accurate, auditable picture of its carbon footprint and progress on renewable energy--progress the company can share with its customers

This session is sponsored by Cleartrace. Sponsored breakouts are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz. Please note that attendee contact information will be shared with the sponsoring company.

VERGE Accelerate is a series of fast-pitch competitions featuring leading climate tech startups. Today’s session highlights five entrepreneurs building cutting-edge solutions for energy, followed by industry expert reactions to each pitch. Help determine the winner by casting your vote live at the event! The winner will pitch in the main stage finals on Thursday, October 27.

Whether your company is strengthening its climate goals or setting emissions reduction targets for the first time, a rock-solid plan for execution is central to success. This session will spotlight internal and operational factors that can enable – or derail – corporate climate ambitions. Subjects : collecting and managing the data that really matters, getting to “yes” with internal decision-makers, resourcing climate and clean energy projects, and finding the right expertise when you need it. Coho’s advisors will draw on their experience helping large organizations overcome obstacles on their journey from target-setting to ribbon-cutting.

This session is sponsored by Coho Climate Advisors. Sponsored breakouts are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz. Please note that attendee contact information will be shared with the sponsoring company.

Sustainability has become a corporate priority and commercial renters are looking to real estate service providers to help them reach their climate goals. Green leases can help landlords and tenants navigate the challenge of split incentives for decarbonization efforts. How do we convert growing interest in green leases into tangible action among both landlords and tenants?

This session will help attendees understand how to capture, quantify and communicate return on sustainability and the value tenants are sacrificing by opting for the “brown discount.”

Spoiler: There is no right way. But there are multiple exciting solutions to this thorny problem.

Standard methods for estimating Scope 3 emissions are crude — so how can we do better? Leading service providers, sustainability professionals and independent experts will share details of the strategies and technologies they’re using to disentangle complex supply chains and extract higher-quality data on emissions. Learn how pioneering companies are tackling the Scope 3 challenge today and discover approaches that will lead to even more granular data in the future.

Decarbonizing your portfolio can be a daunting prospect, especially when accounting for both embodied and operational carbon. This session will help practitioners understand the various playbooks and planning tools available to help turn their decarbonization goals into reality across their portfolios. Referencing real-world examples, we will explore the critical elements to incorporate into your decarbonization planning process to get buy-in from the boardroom and the boiler room to ensure goals translate to measurable outcomes.

The decarbonization pathways of the information and communications technology sector and utilities are interlinked. Experts discuss how connectivity solutions are enabling the net-zero transition of the power sector.

This session is sponsored by Ericsson. Sponsored breakouts are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz. Please note that attendee contact information will be shared with the sponsoring company.

VERGE Accelerate is a series of fast-pitch competitions featuring leading climate tech startups. Today’s session highlights five entrepreneurs building cutting-edge solutions for buildings, followed by industry expert reactions to each pitch. Help determine the winner by casting your vote live at the event! The winner will pitch in the main stage finals on Thursday, October 27.

Decarbonizing heavy-duty trucking may seem daunting, but many companies are already deploying tangible solutions and reducing their emissions.

Roadmaps for low-carbon trucking often focus on emerging technologies that mature in years to come. But low-carbon solutions for heavy-duty trucks exist today, and fleets are actively deploying them. Is your fleet looking for solutions to deploy today around hydrogen, renewable diesel, electrification and more? Learn about innovative new programs like the Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative, other ways companies are decarbonizing heavy-duty trucking in 2022 and how your fleet can be next.

The imperative for clean energy procurement in China is ever increasing as companies tackle their Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. Join a session of companies and market experts to discuss procurement options in China, challenges and emerging opportunities.

As the internet grows, so are its adverse environmental impacts. Join this session to hear the best thinking from thought leaders and participate in interactive brainstorming — to gain insights about the future of the internet and its growing energy footprint.

Imagine a future in which countries and companies get paid for tackling climate change.

What would happen if the world’s central banks banded together to create a currency that organizations could earn by avoiding emissions or removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere? An imaginary version of such a currency, known as the carbon coin, plays a central role in Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson’s bestselling sci-fi novel in which humans achieve drawdown.

The coin may not be imaginary for much longer, however. The idea is based on a theoretical framework developed by Australian researcher Delton Chen, whose Global Carbon Reward (GCR) organization is now raising funds to support a real-world trial of the idea. Come to hear Robinson in conversation with Chen and other members of the GCR team as they discuss plans for the trial, the potential of carbon coin and key ideas from Ministry.

Building construction has historically been a slow and dirty process. What innovations will allow us to leapfrog the entrenched processes and technologies we currently use to construct buildings? Speakers in this session will showcase promising new construction materials and processes that offer novel ways to reduce waste, embodied carbon emissions and construction timelines.

Attendees will leave with an understanding of the applications, strengths and weaknesses of different building materials. Practitioners will leave better equipped to see around corners when communicating the value of these materials to decision-makers in their organizations.

It's been a wild time for supply chains, and that disruption is impacting energy offtakers’ ability to procure the technologies needed to fulfill renewable energy targets at an attractive price point. This session features energy buyers and experts navigating this uncertain world. 

As we transition to a clean energy system, there are vast opportunities to engage with and share co-benefits with tribal and indigenous communities. While tribal and indigenous communities have been historically excluded from clean and affordable energy, these communities carry wisdom and resilience pivotal to the clean energy transition and can engage in a mutually beneficial relationship with clean energy developers and customers. Learn about ongoing efforts to enhance the positive impacts of the energy transition with tribal and indigenous communities, including creating economic opportunities, and the role energy customers and developers can play in enhancing such positive benefits. 

We are hitting the tipping point for EV adoption in the U.S. The trifecta of significant federal investment, the growing number of companies committing to ambitious deployment targets and maturing technology offers the perfect environment to foster rapid growth. Now is the time for fleet managers to move from the pilot stage to large-scale EV deployments.

Securing the vehicles is just one step in the electrification journey. Next comes installing and managing charging infrastructure that can support a growing number of EVs. Learn from major fleet operators building large-scale networks of EV charging infrastructure across the U.S. Optimized site design, selecting the right hardware, optimizing energy costs, managing operations and choosing the right partners are all keys to success when making the electric transition. Current deployments are shaping the future of transportation, and the lessons learned from these projects will provide a path forward for those adding EVs to their fleets — or exploring this option. 

This session is sponsored by bp pulse Fleet. Sponsored breakouts are sponsor-created and hosted breakouts, created independently by the sponsor without input from GreenBiz. Please note that attendee contact information will be shared with the sponsoring company.

Net-zero emissions goals are unachievable without large-scale integration of clean energy technologies beyond wind and solar. Energy customers can expedite the deployment of emerging carbon-free technologies but often lack the information necessary to engage with confidence. This panel of cleantech incubators and accelerators will explore how to de-risk engagement with startups and identify pathways to successful cleantech partnerships.

Investing in value-chain communities across a jurisdiction can produce multiple benefits.

Carbon credits can be a powerful tool for reducing emissions, but the approach has inherent limitations. Many credits focus solely on carbon, when a more holistic strategy would consider benefits to local communities and ecosystems. Investing in credits that originate outside of an organization’s value chain can also miss opportunities to tackle what’s often the most challenging component of a company’s carbon footprint: Scope 3 emissions.

This session will explore landscape-level investing, an innovative alternative to conventional carbon markets. Pioneers of the approach will explain how companies can fund projects within their supplysheds that deliver broad-ranging goals — from biodiversity and food security to improved health and gender equality — as well as reductions in Scope 3 emissions.

Ready, set… debate! VERGE is bringing the sustainability vs. fleet manager conversation, all too common among many companies looking to electrify fleets, front and center at VERGE 22.

EVs are winning hearts and minds across the U.S. and globally, but sustainability professionals and corporate fleet managers often disagree about how and when to take fleets 100 percent electric. Join this lively discussion between top-tier sustainability and fleet professionals as they debate the disconnects that arise for major corporations as they convert fleet operations to zero emissions.

Current proposed solutions to mitigate climate change are fractured with nature-based and engineered carbon technologies separately vying for the attention and funding necessary to drive meaningful impact. Unprecedented heatwaves, devastating storms, and falling urban-health metrics tell us we can't take a split approach any longer. We must drastically reduce emissions and use every tool, natural or human-made, we have to remove and store the rest. It’s time to acknowledge and celebrate the strengths of these disparate solutions to leverage them in our shared fight. Join the Arbor Day Foundation with Taking Root and Carbon Direct to discuss why a collaborative, scientific, and market-based approach to climate is our best path forward. In addition to a thoughtful dialogue, we will highlight inclusive and portfolio-based frameworks, such as The Oxford Offsetting Principles, that provide guidelines to ensure offsetting actually helps to achieve a net zero society.