Dear John,
Ceres 2021: Transform Tomorrow Today has concluded and was a huge success, thanks to all of you!
We had an amazing 1000+ participants who joined us to hear more than 160 speakers across nearly 70 virtual plenaries and sessions last week. We heard from two dozen chief executive officers and senior government officials including bp CEO Bernard Looney, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard, EPA Administrator, Michael Regan, and National Climate Advisor (and former Ceres Board member) Gina McCarthy on the actions they are taking to support the transition to a more sustainable net-zero emissions economy.
One of our most successful conferences also featured a little bit of Hollywood—with an interview with actor and activist, Ted Danson. Also award-winning actress and songwriter Mary Steenburgen and Nashville singers, Brothers Osborne and Lucie Silvas joined us for a special event "Earth You Big Ol' Thing You," a love song to our planet.
Ceres 2021 wasn’t just about the amazing speakers and solutions-oriented discussions. It was also a platform for some very important news announcements and updates. Since we know that not all of you could attend, read on for a quick recap. |
Before the conference even started, three major companies
announced they were joining the Ceres Company Network: PayPal, PSEF, and Starbucks.
Following that announcement, Climate Action 100+ released its first Net-Zero Company Benchmark, highlighting the corporate ambition and actions of the world’s largest corporate emitters. This new groundbreaking tool and its company assessment findings were a topic of conversation throughout Ceres 2021.
On Tuesday, Looney reiterated bp’s commitment to a tenfold increase in offshore wind over the next decade, signaling the companies hope to be a leader in the net-zero economy.
Later that day, we were excited to announce that Mark Campanale, founder and executive chair of Carbon Tracker Initiative, was awarded the 2021 Joan Bavaria Award
for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets. This is one of our most anticipated announcements every year at the conference. The award recognizes global leaders working to move capital markets toward a system that balances economic prosperity with social and environmental issues. Congratulations, Mark! |
On Tuesday, Gov. Brainard also
announced the creation of the Financial Stability Climate Committee,
charged with tackling risks across the broader financial system. This crucial step is one of many of Ceres’ recommendations in Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A call to action for U.S. financial regulators.
On Wednesday, EPA Administrator Regan pledged to address the disproportionate impacts of climate pollution on underserved communities and to make environmental justice central to his agency’s efforts. He also promised to take “aggressive” action on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. These are all steps that Ceres has encouraged the EPA to take to address the ongoing climate crisis.
And on Thursday, perfectly timed to close Ceres 2021, Ceres board members Tony Davis and Ion Yadigaroglu, whose firms Inherent Group and Capricorn Investment Group, respectively, have committed to reach net-zero emissions across their portfolios by 2050 or sooner, published an op-ed challenging other investors to do the same.
It certainly was an uplifting week. The positive momentum continued into this week with the announcement of 43 new asset managers including BlackRock and The Vanguard Group, committing to become net-zero asset managers through the Net Zero Asset Manager initiative. |
If you are interested in viewing any of the Ceres 2021 sessions, stay tuned. We will be announcing those details in the coming weeks.
Also we'll be announcing the dates for Ceres 2022 very soon. We hope you can join us next year!
Thank you!
The Ceres Team |
P.S. Save the Date for an Evening with Ceres on October, 13th, 2021. For more info or to discuss sponsorship, please contact Chris Smith at
[email protected].
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Interested in sponsoring future Ceres conferences and events? Please contact Sondra Traister, manager of events and sponsorship, at [email protected]. |
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Ceres is a sustainability nonprofit organization working with the most influential investors and companies to build leadership and drive solutions throughout the economy. |
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