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Sustainability Practice Network: 2008-9 Meeting Program
September 16, 2008
A Crisis in Confidence
October 22, 2008
Energy, Environment and the Election
November 18, 2008
Market Transformation and Sustainability
December 9, 2008
Portraying Sustainability - Media, Culture, and Values
January 20, 2009
High Performance Design - the Next Generation
February 17, 2009
Sustainable Living - Everyday Choices that Have an Impact
March 17, 2009
State of Our Energy
April 21, 2009
PlaNYC 2030: Progress and Lessons Learned
May 19, 2009
Rankings, Ratings, and Their Discontent
June 16, 2009
Innovative Business Models for Sustainable Value Creation
September 16, 2008, 6-8 pm
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A Crisis in Confidence
ESG Risk, the Financial Downturn, and the Recovery
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Venue: Citigroup Smith Barney Executive Conference Room
345 Park Ave. 21st Floor, New York, NY
Panelists: Allan Sloan, Sr. Editor at Large, Fortune Magazine; Greg Larkin, Sr. Analyst Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Sean Egan, President Egan-Jones Rating Agency
Moderator: Amy Scott, New York Bureau Chief, Marketplace - American Public Media
During the past 15 months financial markets have transformed in ways that few imagined possible. Oil has hit $147/barrel. A massive wave of consumer insolvency has brought Bear Stearns, Citibank, UBS, and Lehman Brothers
to their knees. And an impending wave of environmental regulation has caused the coal power deal pipeline to contract from 172 projects in planning in 2006 to 15 today. Issues like responsible lending, energy efficiency
and carbon management which have historically been treated as peripheral matters of ethics are now determining whether companies
survive or fail.
Trust - the most crucial lubricant of the capital markets - has evaporated. Investors don't trust bank's estimates of how much debt consumers can sustain, nor do they trust that auto companies will remain viable while energy is expensive and volatile.
Prior to now Standard and Poor's, and Moody's ratings were widely accepted. That is no longer the case. Investors have also lost faith in the government's ability to act as an effective regulator. Emitting 72 million tons of CO2 annually may damage the environment, but it is currently legal. Lending $400,000 to someone with no assets, no income and $60k in credit card debt may have been imprudent, but it has been and still is within the law.
The question is what needs to happen to restore confidence? Finding the answer to that question entails a realistic assessment of where we currently are and what is needed to navigate this new financial landscape. This panel will examine the origins of the current state of market conditions and will propose ways that enacting sustainability principles can help to restore confidence and stability.
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
October 22, 2008, 6-8 pm
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Energy, Environment and the Election
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Venue: NYU Law School - Vanderbilt Hall, Room 206 (40 Washington Square South)
Panelists: Daniel Abbasi, MissionPoint Capital Partners (Obama Campaign Representative),
Joshua Klainberg, NYC Deputy Director, League of Conservation Voters,
John Neffinger, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
Moderator: Dr. Michael Levi, Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment, Council on Foreign Relations
Regardless of who prevails in the November 4th election, the next President is expected to have the opportunity to refocus and redirect policies related to energy, climate change, the environment,
education, and the economy. Election season sound bites focus on their opinions on offshore drilling and gas tax holidays, but the greater impact will come through legislation.
As we near the election, this panel will examine important proposed and impending legislation, and each candidate's stance on key environmental and social policies.
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
November 18, 2008, 6-8 pm
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Market Transformation and Sustainability
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Venue: Smith Barney 345 Park Avenue New York NY
Panelists: Jonathan Diorio, Vice President, DWS Investments;
William McInerney, Partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
Moderator: Michael Gresty, President, Kinetix
The leading barrier to sustainability is market failure. When proper prices are not attached to shared natural resources, these can be treated as free inputs for production or unrestrained consumption-a classic case of
tragedy of the commons. When the resources are clean air and access to water, the effects can be felt on a global scale, requiring innovative approaches that go beyond national regulations. The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by
more than 170 countries (one notable exception being the United States), highlights the necessity of market transformation by promoting market mechanisms, such as carbon trading, to reduce green house gasses worldwide.
For non-compliant factories, is zero-tolerance the best answer, or is cooperative remediation better? What role can long-term partnerships play in solving supply-chain issues, or preventing them before they happen?
The panel will consider whether, overall, corporations have truly created sustainable improvements in their supply chains.
 Investing in Climate Change
14.6Mb Powerpoint download
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
December 9, 2008, 6-8 pm
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Portraying Sustainability - Media, Culture, and Values
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderator: TBA
Green is everywhere today-from the magazine rack and TV commercials, to the movie theater and the web. Al Gore's award-winning film
An Inconvenient Truth put a national spotlight on global warming.
Television giant Discovery recently purchased Treehugger.com and in June of this year launched Planet Green, its "24-hour eco-lifestyle television network." The widely-acclaimed Disney movie Wall-E, designed
for both young and old audiences, has an underlying message about the consequences for the planet of unsustainable practioces.
Meanwhile, grocery stores encourage shoppers to bring their own bags, and present their own store's brightly-colored re-usable versions, on sale for just $1. Bottled water shipped
from clean mountain streams is "out," carrying your own refillable water bottle is "in."
The explosion of information and green messaging has pushed sustainability into popular culture, but some argue that it is just a fad. Does growing content across media platforms translate into greater awareness and understanding of sustainability issues? This panel will discuss sustainability in the media and examples of effective communication, including questions such as: What are the benefits of using popular culture to communicate about sustainability? What are the social, cultural, and psychological factors to consider? How are online social networking tools like Facebook, MySpace, and MeetUp being used to promote sustainability and by whom?
January 20, 2009, 6-8 pm
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High Performance Design - the Next Generation
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderator: TBA
The trend in high performance design now positions LEED as the minimum standard for buildings, and then aggressively exceeds it. The next generation of buildings will
aim to be carbon neutral, achieve net zero energy, zero water, and zero waste. Enabled by advanced engineering, material ingenuity, and lower costs for dynamic building
modeling software, 3D imaging and 3D fabrication, these advancements in green building are already changing the markets.
With a panel of experts from urban design, real estate development,local authorities, and green building, this panel will explore the future of high performance design, including innovations such as high rise urban farms, distributed energy generation, and highly adaptable infrastructure.
February 17, 2009, 6-8 pm
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Sustainable Living - Everyday Choices that Have an Impact
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderator: TBA
While sustainability policy is debated on a national and global level, individuals are bombarded with, and sometimes perplexed by, a vast amount of information on
sustainable living. Writer Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, embarked on an experiment to cut his family's impact to zero and blogged about the process: "no trash,
no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilet..." (http://noimpactman.typepad.com/).
While most would not go to such extremes, many people want to make environmentally responsible choices and decisions, but which ones? Is it better to buy organic fruit from New Zealand or locally-grown "conventional?" Should we trade in our car to buy a hybrid? And if I have to choose, should it be paper or plastic? Are there definitive answers? Panelists will offer perspectives on sustainable living, and discuss the decisions and behaviors that we can implement in our lives to have a net positive impact.
March 17, 2009, 6-8 pm
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State of Our Energy
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderators: TBA
Record oil prices, the rising cost of natural gas and slowly increasing coal prices are impacting the global economy and every aspect of our lives. This is due to an increase in demand
in BRIC countries, unchanged demand in developed countries, a shortage in supply and even speculation by investors. This panel will discuss the forces contributing to the rising cost of
energy, short- and long-term strategies to mitigate the energy crisis, and the growing opportunities represented by alternative and renewable energy technologies.
April 21, 2009, 6-8 pm
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PlaNYC 2030: Progress and Lessons Learned
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderator: TBA
Launched on Earth Day, 2007 Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030 promised to address the major environmental sustainability issues facing the city, with 127
initiatives on housing, open space, water, air quality, transportation, brownfields, and the city's impact on climate change. In its first year, PlaNYC
launched 118 of these initiatives, and in 2008 issued a report on progress. Some programs have had great success (transitioning the city's taxi fleet to
hybrid vehicles), and others have come up against challenges (congestion pricing).
Part of Mayor Bloomberg's promise was to hold PlaNYC accountable for results. Two years into PlaNYC 2030, this panel will discuss the status of some of these initiatives, accomplishments, and lessons learned.
May 19, 2009, 6-8 pm
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Rankings, Ratings, and Their Discontent
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderator: TBA
To evaluate the complex issues of sustainability performance, we have come to depend heavily on scoring systems, reporting systems, and third party ratings and rankings. The Global
Reporting Initiative, now in its third incarnation, is a standardized corporate reporting framework; Innovest provides the financial community with in depth analysis and ratings based
on social and environmental performance;. Trucost converts financial data into environmental costs and liabilities; the Dow Jones Sustainability Index tracks financial performance of
sustainability-driven companiesl and the US Green Building Council has developed LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings as a benchmark, and a selling point, for
high performance green buildings.
How is this growing array of information, standards, and tools used in the market? Panelists will discuss the evolution of ratings and rankings, andbest
practices among these standards, characterized by how effective they are at evaluating and communicating performance.
June 16, 2009, 6-8 pm
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Innovative Business Models for Sustainable Value Creation
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Venue: TBA
Panelists: TBA
Moderator: TBA
Innovation creates opportunities to improve financial, environmental, and social performance, and companies and nonprofits are focusing on new business models to achieve this.
A panel of entrepreneurs and sustainability leaders will discuss how their businesses and organizations are using innovation to drive sustainability. Some of the topics to be
discussed include: clean technology, its growth, new advancements, and challenges to commercialization; and case studies on innovative uses to convert waste to energy.
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