The Conference Board's 2002 Business and Sustainability Conference, "Getting There from Here: Aligning Environmental, Economic and Social Objectives with Corporate Strategy," will be held June 26-27 at the Hilton New York and Towers.
"Sustainability thinking emphasizes the triple bottom line: environmental, economic and social effects of business actions," says Tom Davis, conference program director. "Sustainability is the driver for many of the changes top companies have had to adopt in the wake of the terrorist attacks."
Jeffrey B. Swartz, president and CEO, The Timberland Co., will deliver the conference's opening keynote address, "Doing Well and Doing Good: Corporate Social Responsibility in a Challenging Economic Environment."
The luncheon keynote address, "The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD): Implications for U.S. and World Businesses," will be given by Right Honorable Lord Holme of Cheltenham CBE, vice chairman, Business Action for Sustainable Development, Paris, France.
"Benchmarks of Sustainable Performance" will be addressed by Richard Wells, president, The Lexington Group; Elizabeth Girardi-Schoen, director, Environment, Health and Safety, Pfizer Inc.; Fred Keller, chairman and CEO, Cascade Engineering; and Timothy Lankford, president, Sustainable Asset Management USA Inc.
Focus groups will be held on three topics:
- "Water Use: Responses to Changing Global Demographics" with Thomas Streiff, head of Group Sustainability Management, Swiss Re, Zurich, Switzerland, and Harry Ott, director, Global Environmental Assurance, The Coca-Cola Co.;
- "Environmental Management and Corporate Responsibility" with Ernst Brugger, chairman, BHP Brugger and Partner Ltd. and CEO, The Sustainability Forum, Zurich, Switzerland; Cliff Bast, global manager, Environmental Strategy and Solutions, Hewlett-Packard Co.; and Lawrence A. Selzer, president, The Conservation Fund; and
- "Climate Change and Global Warming," with Elizabeth Cook, director of Sustainable Enterprise Program, World Resources Institute; and Tod Delaney, president, First Environment Inc. and ANSI Representative to the ISO TMB Ad Hoc Group on Climate Change.
Panel discussions include "The Evolution of Sustainability and How We Got Here," "Business Perspectives on Sustainability: Drivers, Constraints and the Rationale to Commit," and "Managing the Sustainable Enterprise: Impact on the Bottom Line."
The keynote address-finale, "What's Next for Sustainability after the Johannesburg Summit," will be delivered by John Turner, assistant secretary of state for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), U.S. State Department.