Practical Sustainability

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Organizations are recognizing that proactive energy and carbon management are not only good for the bottom line, but also have significant environmental and social benefits. The meteoric rise of attention around climate change, energy dependency, and GHG emissions has placed these issues front and center with shareholders, customers, and the general public. This is not only impacting Fortune 500 companies, but organizations large and small, public and private, and domestic and multi-national that are now focused on establishing energy and carbon management strategies.

What were once considered voluntary “goodwill” initiatives by companies are now becoming expectations placed upon most organizations in order to remain competitive in today’s marketplace. Today, organizations are expected to increasingly demonstrate transparency and continuous improvements in reducing impacts and are no longer left to their own discretion in disclosing environmental efforts. A variety of agencies and NGOs are holding companies accountable for performance, with the Internet greatly enhancing the communication and availability of information. A burgeoning market for incentives, recognition programs, and carbon credit/offset schemes has taken shape. The result is often intense pressure to meet or exceed peer benchmarks, report on performance, and assure that data are fully vetted prior to public disclosure. In many instances, data must also be verified by third-parties.

Each organization is charged with defining how best to demonstrate sustainability in a way that makes business sense financially and culturally, while also meeting the growing expectations of shareholders, customers, and the general public. In response, organizations are adopting systems to collect, analyze, and report sustainability metrics, and implementing process improvements to drive performance. At the same time, they must also try to navigate their way through the dynamic playing field of opportunities and options to be proactive on energy and carbon management.

Presentations will cover a variety of topics:

Strategy Development

• Developing an organizational energy strategy
• Identification and prioritization of reduction opportunities
• Benchmarking key performance indicators
• Setting short- and long-term reduction targets
• Energy, GHG, and sustainability strategy alignment with regulatory and voluntary programs

Implementation and Process Management

• Choosing organizational and scope boundaries
• Integration with management system approaches (ISO 14001, ISO 26000)
• Reduction project engineering and capitalization
• In-field energy audits and assessments
• Supply chain engagement

Data Collection, Analysis, and Reporting

• Technology evaluation and implementation
• Data validation, documentation, and third-party verification
• Outsourced energy data collection and reporting
• Public and third-party reporting options

Recognition, Incentive, and Offset Opportunities

• Leadership programs
• GHG registries and protocols
• Credits, offsets, and navigating the business of carbon trading

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Conference Sponsors

Contact Info

For more information on the conference, please contact Lisa Breese at A&WMA.