Supply chains hold most of the food industry’s climate impact. Reducing these emissions is the sector’s next big challenge. 

Food companies large and small aren’t working fast enough to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. But it’s where 80 to 90 percent of their emissions occur. What’s preventing companies from assuming accountability for emissions from purchased goods and services, agriculture and land-use change? How can these barriers be broken down? This conversation will shed light on one of the toughest sustainability challenges. It will propose steps businesses can take to account for and reduce their supply chain impacts in their carbon disclosure efforts and science-based targets.

The U.S. is in a critical moment for the adoption of climate policy. Corporates should step into their power now to support policymakers.

Climate policy and regulation is an essential component of getting the U.S. on the path toward a net-zero future in line with the Paris Agreement. Corporate lobbying has an important role to play in blocking or enabling policy efforts but this opportunity too often gets left on the table. Now is the time for every company to make climate a top advocacy priority – on par with tax or trade or any other core business issue – and drive that advocacy from the C-suite. This Q&A will dive into the importance of climate lobbying and outline strategies to influence your company’s stance.

China’s investments in climate technologies at home and abroad will impact economies for decades to come.

The last few years have seen China pursue climate action on multiple fronts, from setting a net-zero target to huge investments in renewable capacity and world-leading sales of electric vehicles. How will these and future changes shape the environment for your organization, both in China and western markets? Experts in China’s climate plans and leaders from China’s climate tech sector share their insights into a future that will be profoundly influenced by the country on track to become the world’s largest economy.

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

If deployed at scale, circular economy strategies could remove billions of tons from our global carbon footprint, while also cutting costs and regenerating natural systems. Yet very few companies have combined circular projects with emission-reduction roadmaps. Leaders from organizations that have pioneered such approaches will explain how they overcame barriers to integrating these two critical areas of sustainability strategy, and what they have achieved by doing so.

Offsets experts disentangle the debate over whether forest credits perform as advertised.

Over the past few years, several media outlets have questioned the integrity of forest offsets and the role of trusted non-profits in promoting them. How have forest experts responded? And are these questions serious enough for companies to consider channeling offset spending to other solutions, or just a reminder that offset buyers always need to do appropriate due diligence? Our panel will take questions from an independent expert who will help your organization make sense of forest offsets and understand how to responsibly engage in this market.

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

The deadline for net-zero is 2050, but there’s a more immediate milestone to hit first.

The science of drawdown tells us that all organizations have to achieve a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 in order to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees. That’s a significant challenge for many, but help is at hand. Leaders from companies that are well advanced on their journey toward this target will share details of the technologies, strategies and partnerships that are propelling them toward a 50 percent cut by the end of the decade — if not before.

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

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