This conference will take place on April 30 and May 1, 2014 at the Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston Massachusetts. The Ceres Conference 2014 to connect with fellow leaders creating the innovative solutions that will build a more sustainable global economy. Throughout the two-day program, attendees will engage on a broad range of topics, including: Sustainable agriculture, clean energy investment opportunities and corporate sustainability for the 21st Century.
The future is now
The future is now and our mission is more urgent than ever. So join us and more than 600 sustainability leaders in Boston at the Ceres Conference 2014, April 30th – May 1st, to celebrate Ceres’s 25th anniversary and build a sustainable global economy.
Program
Urban Climate Resiliency: High Tides and High Stakes for Businesses
As extreme weather events become more intense and sea levels continue to rise, climate resiliency is more critical for businesses and urban infrastructure than ever before. What resiliency investments are city planners making to protect urban populations and businesses? What strategies are companies deploying to mitigate impacts from the ‘next big storm’? Join this session to hear from corporate, city and sustainability leaders who are creating aggressive and innovative resiliency solutions in cities like New York and Boston.
Lost in Translation: Measuring Sustainability Performance in Financial Terms
As corporations implement more sophisticated sustainability initiatives, executives are under growing pressure to demonstrate impacts in environmental, social and financial performance terms. It’s not an easy task. In some cases, the right metrics simply do not exist. In others, certain environmental and social issues cannot easily be translated into financial terms. Still, investors, advocacy groups and companies need to be able to judge the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives. Join this discussion about the evolving expectations of stakeholders and steps companies are taking to capture and disclose their sustainability impacts.
The Road to 2020: Building a 21st Century Sustainable Corporation
The global challenges facing corporations today require profound changes in how businesses operate. To remain competitive and succeed in a world where climate change is threatening our natural resources, companies must be more transparent about how they integrate sustainability principles into their core business strategies. But where should your business focus right now? Join this session to discuss the results of Ceres’ latest progress report on corporate performance – which is being released at the Ceres Conference – and explore key areas for achieving the greatest impact.
The Future of Food: Security, Supply and Climate Change
What will the global food system look like in the next decade? What about the next 25 years? Climate change brings various uncertainties to the production and distribution of food across the world. Droughts and erratic weather pose significant risks to staple crops and commodities that are essential for a growing population. How are food companies, suppliers and communities preparing to adapt in a changing world? Expert panelists will discuss the resources needed to support a sustainable food system, and what that system will look like in future scenarios shaped by water and land.
Plenary Panel- Unlocking Sustainability Innovation: The Business Case for Empowering Women
Across the globe, women disproportionately feel the acute impacts of climate change, constrained natural resources and inequitable working conditions. They represent half of the world’s population and do two-thirds of the world’s work, yet earn only one-tenth of the world’s income and own less than one percent of the world’s property. To solve global sustainability challenges we must access the innovation and business acumen of women. There is growing evidence that when this happens, the potential for change is significant and the pay off is huge. Join us as we explore how leading investors and companies are recognizing the business case for empowering women to overcome social and environmental challenges, unlock innovation and unleash economic potential.
The 21st Century Investor Part 1: Tapping into Today’s Clean Energy Investment Opportunities
Early investments in clean technology and renewables had mixed results, discouraging investors from committing capital to investment funds, products and structures labeled “green” or “clean.” More recently however, this market has matured and is showing increasingly competitive returns based on sound financials. Join this session to learn from investors who are financing clean energy solutions and getting results, even as they face challenges in terms of market capacity, weak investor demand, expertise and overall awareness. This session will highlight the many growing opportunities in clean energy investments globally, while also discussing barriers and strategies to scaling the success of these investments.
Measuring Performance: Companies, Credit Rating Agencies and the Sustainably Ratings Frontier
As investors continue to sharpen their analysis of opportunity and risk in equity and credit markets, they face scores of sustainability ratings methodologies utilizing more than 2,500 issues and indicators. The Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR), a new standard, aims to steer equity and credit markets toward the companies and issues holding the greatest prospects for long-term performance excellence. Join this session to get an update on the progress GISR has made over the previous year and to hear how this initiative is already having an impact on companies and rating agencies.
The Clean Trillion: Closing the Clean Energy Investment Gap
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, substantially more investment is needed globally in clean energy. The International Energy Agency pegs the figure at an extra $1 trillion a year – or $36 trillion overall by 2050 to limit temperature increases to 2 degrees. Closing this clean energy investment gap is only possible if businesses, investors and policymakers join forces. Join this session to learn from business, investor, and NGO leaders who are working together to make the clean energy future a reality. This interactive session will map out action steps to expand clean energy at the speed and scale required to address the climate challenge.
Growing Responsibility: Advancing Sustainability in Agricultural Supply Chains
Major food and beverage companies have massive global supply chains that, through their agricultural practices, are significant drivers of deforestation, water pollution and scarcity, greenhouse gas emissions, soil degradation, and in many cases, human and labor rights violations as well. These are not just environmental and social challenges, they also pose significant business risks; including commodity price volatility, concerns about product quality/contamination, reputational risk, and the viability of long term sourcing of materials. Case studies on palm oil and other agricultural commodities will demonstrate how growing pressure from investors, NGOs and consumers are moving companies to set specific targets to increase the use of sustainably sourced and certified raw materials, particularly for commodities where environmental and social concerns are especially high and traceability is a key challenge.
The Future is Now: Business Solutions for a Sustainable Global Economy
Companies are integrating sustainability into the core of their business strategies and getting results. From renewable energy sourcing to advancing more efficient and equitable supplier networks, these businesses are positioning themselves for competitive advantage in a resource-constrained world. Join this session to learn from two innovative business leaders who are building environmental and social solutions that are boosting their bottom lines and transforming the economy.
Sustainable Stock Exchanges: Building a Unified Global Reporting Standard
While we’re still lacking an internationally recognized standard for corporate sustainability reporting, investor interest is growing – and consensus is building – to achieve a unified listing standard for disclosure of material ESG issues by listed companies at the world’s stock exchanges. Measuring and disclosing sustainability performance is essential to increasing corporate transparency and accountability and ultimately helps investors make better decisions. This session will help participants navigate the many existing reporting options and trends in ESG disclosure, including stock exchange activity. The session will also offer potential solutions for building a more harmonized approach to ESG reporting.
Raising the Bar: Responsible Corporate Engagement on Policy Issues
As the world begins to feel the impacts of climate change and looks ahead to the international climate talks in Paris in 2015, a new standard is being established for responsible corporate engagement in the climate policy debate. What are the actions companies can take today? What is the business case for engaging on policy issues? What are the core elements of responsible corporate engagement on climate policy? As more companies advocate for strong climate policies at the local, national and global level, it is essential that their corporate lobbying practices align with their internal sustainability goals. This workshop will highlight the positive role businesses can play in accelerating climate policy action, using the Guide to Responsible Engagement in Climate Policy – released jointly by the U.N. Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, WWF, Ceres and others as a foundation.
Powering the Future: Exploring the U.S. Energy-Water Nexus
Managing water and energy in a climate-stressed world brings us face-to-face with risks that can threaten unprepared regional communities, companies and investors. Critical industries such as the U.S. electric power and oil and gas sectors are increasingly vulnerable to water shortages and constraints, yet their business models require water at the right time and place to remain profitable. This interactive panel will explore the interdependence between water and energy in the context of how we power our transportation sector. From water use and impacts of shale oil and gas extraction, to the vast water requirements of power generation, to the implications for automotive product design, this workshop will highlight different scenarios and solutions available over the next 25 years.
The 21st Century Investor Part 2: Creating Sustainable Value Across All Asset Classes
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues contribute to value creation in all asset classes. Investors are using ESG factors to drive results – from industry leaders in real estate and farmland creating a set of voluntary sustainable investment standards, to private equity managers achieving value by incorporating ESG best practices, to fixed income and infrastructure managers using ESG analysis to identify projects that pose less risk to principal. While ESG is increasingly being integrated into due diligence and ongoing portfolio management, its value is not often recognized. Join this session for insights from investors on how to drive results using ESG factors and how to demonstrate the value of these factors across asset classes.
For more information or to register click here.
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