“With new sources of public and private funding, as well as exciting new partnerships, the carbon economy is entering a period of accelerated growth. I’m thrilled to welcome the sector’s leaders to VERGE Carbon to discuss the technologies and strategies that will help create a net-zero future,” explained Jim Giles, VERGE Carbon Conference Chair, GreenBiz Group.
The carbon conference is part of Verge 2021 which also focuses on energy, food, infrastructure and mobility (see below for more information)
Carbon program tracks*
10:30 am to 11:15 am
A New Wave of Startups is Pulling Carbon From the Atmosphere (Breakout): Direct air capture (DAC) can play a critical part in climate strategies if the technology scales and costs fall. For many years, work on DAC was led by a handful of pioneering companies. Now established first-movers such as Carbon Engineering are being joined by a host of early-stage companies. Some new entrants are trialing different chemical solutions for capturing carbon dioxide. Others are building the infrastructure needed to transport captured carbon dioxide and store it permanently underground. Discover the technologies and business models that may accelerate the growth of this much-needed climate solution.
What Will Enable Food Companies to Tackle Scope 3 Emissions? (Breakout): 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.
11:30 am to 12:15 pm
New Tech for Tracking Carbon Through Supply Chains (Breakout): Imagine what would happen if companies could track the embedded carbon in every ingredient, part, and service they purchase. It’s notoriously hard to calculate the carbon emitted in the creation of a product, whether it’s a cereal bar or a computer. To determine a carbon count for the finished item, manufacturers need to know the emissions associated with each part of the product and the services used in its creation — data that can be extremely hard to come by. A new generation of solutions is now available to help tackle this problem. Learn about the technologies and strategies your organization can use to illuminate the carbon flowing through its supply chain — and how to reduce it.
12:45 pm to 1:30 pm
Turnkey Solutions for Buying Carbon Removals (Breakout): How to join the emerging market for offsets that pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Scientists have told us that we need to remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere if we’re to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Organizations that want to contribute to this goal often find the market for carbon removals difficult to navigate, but several easy-to-use services for buying carbon removals have recently emerged. Leaders from these new services will explain how organizations of any size can now purchase high-quality credits and help to grow the market for removals.
10:30 am to 11:15 am
How China’s Huge Climate Tech Spending Will Shape the Future (Breakout): 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.
Backing a Unifying Framework for Regenerative Agriculture (Breakout): By launching a new scalable framework, 150+ organizations are collaborating to help 99 percent of U.S. agriculture get on a better path. More and more companies across the food and agriculture industry are promising to collaborate with farmers and ranchers to scale farming practices that improve soil health, carbon capture, water use, biodiversity, and equity. Many are committed to achieving results by 2030. Yet key questions remain unanswered. How should farmers be incentivized? What are the best ways to measure, verify and report soil health outcomes? What will a regenerative marketplace look like? This is why Green Brown Blue, a food accelerator directed by the Lexicon and backed by Google, brought together experts from the entire food and agriculture ecosystem over 18 months to co-create and launch REGEN1. This new model is marketplace-driven and inclusive of the entire value chain — bringing together food companies, NGOs, farmers, ranchers, government agencies, soil scientists, academics, storytellers, and supply chain experts. The creators will explain the ins and outs of their new platform and how everyone can get involved to bring its benefits to life.
11:30 am to 12:15 pm
New Types of Offsets Worth Knowing About (Breakout): As the market for offsets diversifies, opportunities are emerging to fund projects that cut emissions in increasingly innovative ways. Discover how your offset spending can delay commercial timber harvesting, destroy refrigerant gases that have a huge warming impact, force industry to cut pollution, or store carbon deep underground. Experts behind the solutions will unpack the technologies and strategies involved, and explain how each meets the standards required of high-quality offsets.
12:45 pm to 1:30 pm
Integrating Captured Carbon Products Into Your Value Chain (Breakout): Household corporate names are experimenting with carbontech fuels and plastics In just the past year, some of the world’s largest companies have announced plans to test packaging and chemicals made from captured carbon. These trials will be the latest steps towards an economy in which plastics, chemicals, and fuels are created not from oil, but from carbon dioxide sucked from the air or captured from industrial waste streams. Leaders behind the latest trials will explain why they decided to experiment with these materials and what their companies — and the planet — stand to gain.
10:30 am to 11:15 am
Achieving Corporate Climate Commitments with SAF (Breakout): Almost all major organizations have a footprint in aviation, through commercial business travel, air freight or corporate jets. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are a key solution to reducing Scope 1 or Scope 3 emissions, both for airlines and the corporations who make use of their services. Join this panel discussion to find out how sustainable aviation fuels can play a role in corporate decarbonization strategies. The speakers on this panel include SkyNRG, Microsoft, RMI, and WWF.
How The Circular Economy Can Help Us Reach Net Zero Emissions (Breakout)
How to Build a Low-Carbon and Humane Meat Industry (Breakout): Meat demand persists despite the rise of alternative protein. What technologies and practices can lower emissions and better animal welfare? The availability, affordability, and popularity of plant-based meat have skyrocketed in recent years. But so far the data hasn’t shown that alternative protein is replacing meat consumption. At the same time, meat demand continues to rise in the growing middle-classes of countries like China, Brazil, and Mexico. Meat is going to remain part of global diets for years to come, calling for the development and deployment of technologies and farm practices that can decarbonize production while improving animal welfare. This session will highlight promising innovations such as feed additives and manure management approaches that reduce emissions and assess how they will impact the wellbeing of farm animals.
11:30 am to 12:15 pm
VERGE Accelerate: Carbon Pitch Session (Breakout) VERGE Accelerate is a series of fast-pitch competitions featuring leading climate tech startups. Today’s session highlights five entrepreneurs building solutions for 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 Thursday, October 28.
Partnering with Farmers to Reach Net-Zero Commitments (Breakout) Decarbonizing farms is essential for a 1.5° future. Consider these cutting-edge technologies to make headway on your Scope 3 targets. A big portion of a low-carbon future lies in the hands of farmers — and in companies’ Scope 3 emissions. A dynamic ecosystem is evolving to support farmers in revamping their operations. They promise to unlock emissions reductions by electrifying farm equipment, breeding better seeds, decarbonizing inputs, and generating renewable energy. Get inspired by the most innovative solutions and the companies championing them and learn how these approaches can help food companies decarbonize their supply chains.
Making Sense of the Headlines Questioning Forest Offsets (Breakout) 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 — which includes leading corporate buyers and representatives from organizations mentioned in the media coverage — 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.
10:30 am to 11:15 pm
Coming Soon: Hubs for Capturing, Storing, and Using Carbon (Breakout): How will the new generation of carbon campuses impact your organization? The carbon economy of the future may center on hubs where emissions from industry — think steel or cement production, for example — are captured and transformed into useful products, or stored safely underground. With the billions of dollars needed to create the first generation of these hubs soon starting to flow, experts from the public and private sectors will outline the business opportunities emerging from these new carbon campuses and explain how your company can get involved.
10:30 am to 11:15 am
How to Clean Your Supply Chain (Breakout): 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.
Takeaways from the Bold Climate Strategies of EU Retailers (Breakout): Leaders from European supermarkets reveal their sustainability tactics and challenge American grocers to raise their climate ambition. From airing controversial ads on palm oil and meat consumption to strategically placing sustainable products on top grocery shelves, supermarkets in the EU dare to lead on climate. And for good reason. Grocers exert significant control over food supply chains while interfacing directly with consumers. What are their most successful approaches? And what enables them to speak up? We take a look behind the scenes to understand the strategies, assess their impact to date, and discuss how American counterparts could follow suit.
11:30 am to 12:15 pm
Is Your Company On Track to Halve Its Emissions by 2030? (Breakout): 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.
Zero-Carbon Coins: The Path to Decarbonizing Cryptocurrencies (Breakout)
What will it take to decarbonize shipping? (Breakout): Ships transport more than 10 billion metric tons of cargo each year, and almost all of these ships run on fossil fuels. New data shows that about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to maritime shipping – even more than airplanes. This session tackles how to decarbonize the shipping industry — from private sector tech development to monitor emissions (ABB) and modifying existing ships to be zero-carbon (MHIA) to what is needed from the public sector to create new regulations to drive progress in this space.
12:45 pm to 1:30 pm
The Path to Industrial Decarbonization (Breakout): Decarbonizing industrial processes such as manufacturing or food production is a climate imperative — and it’s also incredibly challenging. Join companies blazing the trail to their own industrial emissions reductions to hear their strategies and talk frankly about the challenges and opportunities.
* ALL TIMES ARE IN PACIFIC TIME (PT). SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
To register for the Verge online carbon conference click here.
VERGE Energy brings together the leaders driving the clean energy transition, reliably, affordably, and equitably. Join the conversation to understand the challenges and opportunities in re-imagining the energy systems that power communities and companies while creating jobs and hardening grid security to position us for a resilient future. Tracks include Renewable Procurementsk, Climate Resilience, Decarbonizing Buildings & Industry and Beyond Operations. For more information or to register click here.
VERGE Food conference showcases the leaders, organizations, and innovations that are creating more sustainable ways to produce, distribute and consume food. Join the conversation to explore how to sustainably feed billions of people, and discover the innovative strategies, technologies, products, and packaging that will allow us to do so. Tracks include Emerging Technologies, Sustainable Supply Chains, and Next-Gen Eating. For more information or to register click here.
VERGE Infrastructure focuses on the growing opportunities to make our physical and digital structures more sustainable, resilient and equitable, from highways and ports to energy grids and water systems. Join the conversation to envision and influence a more adaptive, climate-smart, and inclusive world that enables communities to build back better. Tracks include Energy Grid, Transportation, Materials Management, Water and Green Infrastructure. For more information or to register click here.
VERGE Mobility highlights the road forward for clean, electric transportation systems that are accessible to all. Join the conversation to connect with the leaders at the forefront of sustainable mobility and to discover the technologies, partnerships, and best practices that are building a future of electric, decarbonized, and equitable transportation. Tracks include Scaling Electrification, EV Infrastructure, Emerging Technology and Logistics & Delivery. For more information or to register click here.
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