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GreenBiz 350 Podcast

Episode 132: Funding circular economy innovation in Asia, Live Nation's zero waste playlist

Also, WeWork takes meat off the menu and a dialogue with Emily Penn, the Cambridge-educated cofounder of an all-female research crew studying toxic, plastic ocean gyres.

Week in Review

Tune in around 3:20 for a roundup of news.

  1. Food for thought: WeWork pulls meat from the office menu

  2. Apple fronts clean energy fund to invest $300 million in China

  3. Voluntary climate risk disclosures are lagging — is it time for regulators to step in?

Featured Stories

Can a $150 million fund jumpstart circular economy innovation in Asia? (17:43)

We've got the inside scoop from Closed Loop Partners co-founder Rob Kaplan, the former sustainability executive for Walmart, and spirit maker Brown Forman, who is leading the ambitious new Circulate Capital. Its mission: catalyze the recycling infrastructure on local terms.

Charting ocean plastics (28:18)

The co-founder of an all-female group of citizen scientists, eXXpedition, talks about her organization's voyage — exploring the connection between the toxics in our bodies and the toxics in our seas. Find out what they're learning from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Live Nation's cranks up the volume on zero waste (37:12)

The world's largest producer of live music concerts is taking on single-use plastics, through plastic straw bans and a move to phase out water bottles at more than 20 of its 100-plus U.S. venues. We spoke with the company's venue sustainability manager, Lucy August-Perna, about Live Nation's new goals and how they're playing out. 

What's new at GreenBiz?

News, events, webcasts — the list goes on. Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest in sustainability by keeping up with GreenBiz.

• No buyers' remorse here. Don't miss our free upcoming webcast at 1 p.m. EDT Aug. 21, "The Next Frontier: Emerging Models in Renewable Energy Procurement." Our speakers include experts from Rocky Mountain Institute Business Renewables Center and LevelTen Energy and clean power strategist from AT&T and Iron Mountain. 

• Calling all clean economy visionaries. Nominations are open for the inaugural VERGE Vanguard Awards, highlighting the dreamers, pioneers, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, business leaders, policymakers and investors on the cutting edge of an equitable, inclusive transition to a clean power grid, a zero-emissions transportation system and the circular economy. Suggest someone worthy of recognition by our Aug. 3 deadline.

• How fast is your pitch? Entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply for VERGE Accelerate, a series of fast-pitch competitions that take place on the main stage of VERGE 18. This year, we're featuring three sessions highlighting innovators in clean energy, transportation and the circular economy. 

• We've launched a new daily newsletter lineup! Monday's GreenBuzz and Wednesday's VERGE Weekly are essentially unchanged. But the lineup now includes: Transport Weekly (Tuesday), Energy Weekly (Thursday) and Circular Weekly (Friday). You must subscribe to each newsletter in order to receive it.  Please visit this page to choose the newsletters you want to receive.

• Check out Center Stage, which features the best of live interviews on sustainable business and clean technology, conducted on stage at GreenBiz and VERGE conferences.

• The GreenBiz Intelligence Panel is the survey body we poll regularly throughout the year on key trends and developments in sustainability. To become part of the panel, click here. Enrolling is free and should take two minutes.

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