Climate Change Technical Program
Join the global conversation on climate change policy, initiatives, and solutions!
Final Program available! View the sessions, panels, and speakers.
Opening Keynote Address: EPA and Biden-Harris Administration Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis
Vicki Arroyo, Associate Administrator for Policy, Office of Policy, U.S. EPA
Vicki Arroyo currently serves as the Associate Administrator for Policy at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In this role she oversees a diverse portfolio at the agency that includes regulatory policy and management, climate adaptation, environmental economics, community revitalization, NEPA and more. She also oversaw the environmental justice work of the Agency from January 2021 through September 2022, when a new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights was launched, and still works to incorporate environmental and climate justice considerations in all of EPA’s work. For 12 years prior, Arroyo served as Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center, where she was also a Professor at Georgetown Law and Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program. Arroyo oversaw the Georgetown Climate Center’s work at the nexus of climate and energy policy, supervising staff and student work on climate mitigation and adaptation at the city, state, and federal level. She also served as an Assistant Dean for Centers and Institutes.
The Climate Change International Perspectives Panel will feature:
- Mizan R. Khan, Deputy Director, International Centre for Climate Change & Development (ICCCAD), Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)
- Young Ku, Chair Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and Chief Executive Officer, Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy
- United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) Update from Brian Bunger, Partner, Holland & Knight, A&WMA Immediate Past President
Carbon Neutrality Panel
In September, The State of California passed the California Climate Crisis Act committing the state to achieve carbon neutrality no later than 2045 and 90% clean energy by 2035. While this is a significant regulatory milestone, stakeholder-driven voluntary carbon neutrality commitments by governments and private companies have already doubled since 2019 and are increasing every year in parallel with this new regulatory environment. This panel takes a deep dive into emerging clean technologies and innovative approaches to achieving carbon neutrality including a wide variety of renewable fuels, energy efficiency technologies, electrification, improved battery technology and the use of off-site mitigation known as carbon offsets. The panel will also discuss additional critical emerging tools such as carbon capture and sequestration, and even geoengineering if global warming pathways appear to become more extreme, as well as the adaptation and resilience necessary to survive and thrive in a difficult environment. The challenge to organizations with these carbon neutrality commitments is to understand these technologies, derive the most strategically effective approach in terms of mix of solutions, and establish transparent data visualization (data dashboards) to track progress towards goals. Our panel has expertise in all of these aspect of carbon neutrality strategies and we will explore and analyze them in this panel.
Panelists include:
- Jami Goldman, Sustainability Program Manager, CSAA Insurance Group
- Lizzie Aldrich, Vice President of Business Development, Anew
- Jeff Caton, Climate Services Program Manager, ESA
- Brian Schuster, Community Sustainability Director, ESA
- Gabriel Olson, Director, Carbon Strategy and Sustainability, BayoTech
