Break

Blue Pre-function Room

Get out your business cards and your smile! During this session you’ll have a chance to meet some new people and make some new connections as we “speed network” to help kick off the summit.

Join new TSC CEO Euan Murray and all our summit attendees as we kick off the 2017 TSC summit.

Our keynote speaker for April 12th will be Jason Clay, Senior Vice President for Markets and Food at World Wildlife Fund, who works with some of the world’s largest companies to reduce their impact on the environment. In addition to his work with WWF, Jason is the author of 20 books and is National Geographic’s first-ever Food and Sustainability Fellow. He created one of the first US fair-trade ecolabels and has been involved in developing many other standards for commodities such as cotton, shrimp and sugarcane.

As a part of our opening plenary session, TSC members will host discussion topics at tables around the room and participants will move from one topic to another during the session. Participants will sign up for 3 different discussion topics ahead of the plenary session on Day 1. Don’t forget to sign up!

Networking Break

Blue Pre-function Room

The idea of creating circular models for the flow of consumer goods is widely embraced as an important way to increase sustainability for these supply chains. However, the implementation can be much more difficult, especially if your organization doesn’t have previous experience in this space. TSC has partnered with RILA and the USCCF Corporate Citizenship Center to develop the Circular Economy Toolbox – a resource for organizations of all types to learn about how others have implemented circular principles and projects, and get ideas on where to start, or improve, their own programs.

As we work together to drive further harmonization in the consumer goods industry and reduce survey fatigue, technology continues to improve. Join this session to hear about a new project TSC is working on that may help you answer sustainability surveys more efficiently.

According to the recently published Food Loss and Waste Protocol, approximately 1/3 of all food is lost or wasted as it moves from where it was produced to where it would be eaten. During this session, we will discuss how TSC members and stakeholders can take on the tough challenges in the food system that lead to food waste and hunger.

12:15 – 12:30

Tomorrow’s markets will be shaped by a much larger human population and fewer people living in poverty. With 3 billion people projected to join the global middle class in the next 15 years, particularly in emerging and developing markets we can anticipate unprecedented demand for goods and services. We are on track to triple our use of natural resources by 2050, an impossibility that will put the brakes on business growth.  To grow business and help bring people out of poverty —companies must adopt new, innovative business models that meet consumer needs with much less resources and decoupling business growth from environmental impact.  In order to develop these new and innovative business models, companies, from the top down, must first be open to discussing the challenge of unchecked consumption and current business models dependent on selling more stuff to more people.

TSC has created a model to help identify source regions of forest products to connect supply chains to the landscapes they depend upon. WWF is finding a number of models that are being conceptualized in different parts of the world that envision varying approaches to scale up efforts to address commodity-driven deforestation to the level of a political jurisdiction. Join us to learn how companies can use both approaches to identify source regions and deforestation risk in supply chains and utilize jurisdictional models to ensure sourcing from deforestation-free regions.

In a post-2016 Index survey, 99 suppliers indicated they took an action to improve their score for 2017. This feedback is the first empirical evidence that TSC’s Theory of Change is working. What does that impact at scale look like? How is the Sustainability Index helping to begin or accelerate your sustainability journey? Join us as a diverse group of sustainability leaders and leaders in the making share the challenges and triumphs of their efforts to make more sustainable products for a sustainable planet.

The production of goods consumed in the developed world can have a negative impact on supply chain workers. This is especially true for workers further upstream the supply chain, who are less visible. In this session we will discuss how companies can reduce this negative impact by focusing on living wage, supply chain due diligence, and the harmonization of social audits.

Break

Blue Pre-function Room

TSC members, Triple Bottom Line Commodities and Monsanto, bring the grower perspective directly to you to discuss challenges and opportunities in agriculture supply chains. Attendees will walk away from this session with a first-hand take on grower challenges in collecting data to report for sustainability surveys and ideas on how to improve industry practices. There will be time for group discussion as this theme is ongoing in TSC’s Ag Metrics initiatives.

As the TSC evolves and expands beyond Toolkit development, developing new ways to partner with other organizations will help cement our reputation as a sustainability leader. This session will introduce the Responsible Battery Coalition, a new venture focused on transportation batteries. TSC is partnering with RBC and Suppliers Partnership for the Environment for this effort, and these three organizations will be on hand to talk about the expectation for the Coalition and what it means for TSC.

Water is not the same around the globe. Some areas are water scarce while others are water abundant. Join this session to participate in the launch of the paper “Establishing Context-Based Water Targets: a discussion paper”, a joint endeavor of CDP, The Nature Conservancy, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and WWF. Also, learn how to model water in context, how TSC’s Commodity Mapping Program provides water risk results in context, and how businesses are using this approach for better decision making.

Break

 Blue Pre-function Room

Does your business understand how it depends upon nature’s services to provide fresh water, storm protection, and healthy soils? Does your business know how it can ensure those services are available into the future? Come hear from businesses who have used natural capital in decision making. Learn about the Natural Capital Protocol and Toolkit and how it can guide businesses through the process of understanding their dependencies on nature and the risk they face as a result. Experience how to utilize the Protocol and Toolkit in this interactive workshop session

Hear from NGO’s about how companies can proactively take action to avoid campaigns. Companies will share how they worked with suppliers to address animal welfare issues. We will also share how Walmart will use TSC Animal Welfare KPIs in next year’s Index survey.

During this session, panelists will share their vision for where sustainability is headed in the retail sector, their thoughts on retailer alignment, their goals and commitments on key sustainability issues, and what they see as top priorities for consumers.

Break

Blue Pre-function Room

Description coming soon.

Euan Murray will talk about upcoming strategic priorities for TSC and TSC members.

Board of Directors is comprised of representatives from Tier 1 member corporations, universities, and civil society organizations. The board is responsible for setting TSC’s strategic direction and developing policies. Come hear our board talk about upcoming TSC innovation projects. The panel will be moderated by Jon Johnson, Chairman of the Board and College Professor of Sustainability at the University of Arkansas.

Break

Blue Pre-function Room

Grab some breakfast and join TSC Alumni and friends as they meet and greet new faces that have joined TSC since Summit 2016. If your team has welcomed new staff please encourage their attendance as well as we share best ways to engage with TSC and help our newest members feel welcome. It’s a great way to kick-off a big day of learning and discussion.

Thursday is get-to-work day at the 2017 TSC summit as attendees will pick from different working sessions to take a deep dive into different topics and sectors.

 Plenary

Blue Room

Facilitator(s):  

Sarah Lewis, The Sustainability Consortium

Speaker(s):

Hunter Lovins, President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS)

TSC Chief Scientist, Kevin Dooley, will take summit attendees through some of the highlights of our upcoming 2017 Impact Report, which will be published online later this spring. Dr. Dooley is also a Professor of Supply Chain Management at Arizona State University.

Christopher Cooke, TSC Director of Technical Development, will talk about the development of new tools to help producers better answer our KPIs.

Break

 Blue Pre-function Room

What does TSC’s 2016 data tell us about the state of packaging? What innovations are underway and where are solutions-in-waiting? Let’s dive deep into what the data is indicating before a panel of members and guests lead the discussion on existing innovations, challenges, and potential solutions. Since TSC KPIs are a mechanism for driving change, we’ll be capturing key concepts throughout the session to then incorporate into any necessary TSC KPI revisions.

This will be a Common Chemical Criteria Task Force meeting that will focus on the current version of our Framework with examples of its implementation. Additionally, we will provide an overview of the Beauty and Personal Care Products Sustainability (BPC) Project being conducted by Forum for the Future and discuss future considerations for potential impacts on TSC Toolkits.

Join this session to contribute to the work of the task force this year. This session will provide a status update and seek feedback on the on-going projects including Ag Metrics Providers Project, Sustainable Commodities Project, and Ag Metrics Webinar series. Join to discuss new opportunities regarding alignment of IT and data tools and reaching growers through input providers.

Come celebrate the successful conclusion of the first phase of the Cold Water Wash Initiative, sponsored by TSC and the American Cleaning Institute. The pilot projects and other activities related to phase one will be reviewed, and the plan for phase 2 presented. Special guest appearance by the Cold Water Wash Polar Bear!

Discuss current timelines for TSC and SAC tools to discuss how they can be used concurrently in the measurement space for textiles. Move to how collaboration is supporting issue-specific improvements such as the zero discharge of hazardous chemicals or increasing recycled content in textile materials. We will also highlight outcomes from the March 2 CFT meeting and spend time discussing next steps.