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GreenBiz 350 Podcast

Episode 207: Levi Strauss and corporate philanthropy, how to talk to CFOs

Plus, outtakes from GreenBiz 20 interviews with Dow CEO Jim Fitterling, Ecolab CEO Doug Baker, Cargill CSO Ruth Kimmelshue and youth activist Brian Mecinas.

Week in Review

Commentary on this week's news highlights begins at 4:45.

  1. On the money: 8 takeaways from the 2020 GreenFin Summit
  2. The protein transformation: hyperbole or reality?
  3. Conserving and restoring forests won’t be cheap and easy after all

GreenBiz 20 Highlights

Highlights from the plenary sessions at the GreenBiz 20 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, begin at 20:38.

  1. Ruth Kimmelshue, business operations and supply chain, chief sustainability officer at Cargill, on falling short on deforestation (21:31).
  2. Daniel Lee, executive director of the Levi Strauss Foundation, on the philosophy of "brands taking stands" in the era of President Trump (22:50).
  3. Doug Baker, chief executive of water, energy and services company Ecolab, on how environmental, social and governance issues shape the company's high-level conversations with investors (26:51).
  4. Jim Fitterling, chief executive of Dow, shares his hopes for his legacy at the materials giant (33:20).
  5. Brian Mecinas, advocacy director for the Arizona Youth Climate Strike, answers the question: "What is your ask of the business community and adults in general?" (34:44)

Features

How to talk to CFOs (37:43)
More than 1,000 organizations now use the reporting recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures to discuss risks related to the climate emergency. The challenge is getting chief financial officers to build those ideas into their conversations with investors. Here's some advice from Brad Sparks, executive director of The Prince of Wales's Accounting for Sustainability CFO Leadership Network, on how to do just that. 
A breakout biofuel for heavy-duty fleets (43:15)

Finnish company Neste is the world's largest producer of renewable diesel. Katie Fehrenbacher, senior writer and analyst for transportation, shares outtakes from her interview the company's U.S. division president, Jeremy Baines.

Getting business-schooled on climate change (46:30)
Close to 20 high-profile business schools — including Duke, Harvard and Yale — are making a big push to embed climate change into their MBA curriculum and have created a summit to share ideas. Two of the co-hosts share perspective: Katie Kross, managing director of the Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment at the Duke Fuqua Schoo of Business; and Jennifer Nash, director of the Business and Environment Initiative at Harvard Business School.
Food, glorious food (1:06:00)
A conversation with Jim Giles, senior analyst for carbon and food systems, about the new GreenBiz newsletter and conference program on sustainable food systems. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
*Music in this episode by Lee Rosevere: "Southside," "Arcade Montage," "Thinking it Over," "I'm Going for a Coffee," "Introducing the Pre-roll," "Here's the Thing" and "As I Was Saying" 

What's new at GreenBiz?

How does your community garden grow? Learn how to create a purpose-driven initiative that weaves together corporate, employee engagement and philanthropic ambitions. Register for this interactive session at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. EST Feb. 18.

What it will take to fix recycling. The role brands should play in reinvigorating consumer recycling is a matter of fierce debate. In this interactive webcast at 1 p.m. EST Feb. 25, our subject matter experts will investigate what companies doing and lessons learned along the way.

The State of Green Business 2020. Our 13th annual analysis of key metrics and trends for the year ahead published here.

Do we have a newsletter for you! We produce five weekly newsletters: GreenBuzz by Executive Editor Joel Makower (Monday), Transport Weekly by Senior Writer and Analyst Katie Fehrenbacher (Tuesday), VERGE Weekly by Executive Director Shana Rappaport and Editorial Director Heather Clancy (Wednesday), Energy Weekly by Senior Energy Analyst Sarah Golden (Thursday) and Circular Weekly by Director and Senior Analyst Lauren Phipps (Friday). You must subscribe to each newsletter in order to receive it. Please visit this page to choose the newsletters you want to receive.

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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