Day one: Nov 2 | 10am - 3pm EST
10:00am: Event kickoff and CEO address
Join us as we welcome attendees and kick off another annual SupplyShift Summit. Hear from SupplyShift CEO, Alex Gershenson, as he rounds up key happenings in supply chain sustainability over the past 12 months.
10:15am: Executive panel: The sustainable supply chain journey
Many of the challenges from last year have carried into 2021. Yet still, between the IPCC’s 6th report, new regulations, investor pressure, and consumer demand, the sense of urgency for businesses to act now on sustainability has grown even more pressing. Join business leaders as they set the stage for the Summit, walk through the sustainable supply chain journey, explain how far we’ve come, and advise on the immediate priorities in front of us.
11:00am: Networking/break
11:30am: Breakouts
Room 1: The sustainable supply chain journey step 1: How to establish a sustainable supply chain strategy
Building a sustainable supply chain is no simple task, and getting started can be one of the most challenging steps. Whether you’re just starting out or need a strategy refresh, learn how to approach the essential task of setting goals, gaining buy-in, and creating a practical approach to execution.
Room 2: GHG deep dive: Accelerating progress on scope 3
Climate change remains at the top of the corporate agenda, and Scope 3 supply chain is still a massive hurdle for businesses. Learn how approaches have evolved over the last year and what you can do to start reducing your climate impact no matter what stage you’re at now.
12:30pm: Networking/break
1:00pm: Breakouts
Room 1: The sustainable supply chain journey step 2: Scaling up your sustainable supply chain program
After you’ve started the initial phases of your supply chain sustainability work, you run into the issue of scale. How do you continue to get insights about suppliers without overwhelming them or your internal teams? How do you factor in new regions, new commodities, and repeat reporting periods? Learn about standardization, partnerships, and other strategies to help you take the next step on your sustainable supply chain journey.
Room 2: Diversity deep dive: Working with suppliers for an inclusive supply chain
Social justice and DEI are still massive business priorities, but the supply chain seems to be lagging behind. What are leading businesses doing to address this issue? How can businesses engage suppliers to continue pushing this mission forward and build DEI into the culture of the entire supply chain?
2:05pm: Case study: Leveraging data to drive supplier engagement
Hear the strategies and approaches being actively leveraged to engage suppliers and drive successful outcomes for their sustainability mission. How were the strategies formed? What internal functions are involved? How do you prioritize which suppliers to engage and work closely with? What are some tangible results?
Day two: Nov 3 | 10am - 3pm EST
10:00am: Technology ecosystem update
The market for sustainable supply chain tools has evolved rapidly in the past 5 years, and is now being recognized as its own unique class of technology. How is this technology defined and what are its core strengths? How is adoption coming along? What are sustainability and procurement teams accomplishing with it? SupplyShift’s CEO Alex Gershenson discusses the current and future state of sustainable supply chain tech.
10:25am – Delivering value for suppliers
Suppliers are a key piece of the puzzle for sustainable supply chains, but supplier engagement is often a one-way-street: companies require participation in programs, but the supplier’s experience, resources, and needs are an afterthought. Hear what suppliers want to see to enable better participation in sustainability initiatives, and learn from companies that are leading the pack in adding value for suppliers.
11:00am: Networking/break
11:30am: Breakouts
Breakout room 1: The sustainable supply chain journey step 3: Designing supplier engagement strategies
After you’ve gathered a baseline of data from suppliers, it’s time to move to the most important step: engaging with them to drive improvement. Hear how businesses are prioritizing supplier engagement opportunities, from supplier and topic prioritization to communication and incentives.
Breakout room 2: Plastics deep dive: Tackling single-use plastics in supply chains
Single-use plastics are embedded in today’s economy, and the impacts of plastic on our environment are only getting worse.To comprehensively address the issue, companies need to understand their entire plastics footprint, most notably the impacts of plastic packaging and components in the supply chain. Hear how businesses are collaborating with suppliers to reduce the amount of plastic used in our goods.
9:30 – Networking/break
10:00 – Breakouts
Room 1: The sustainable supply chain journey step 4: Doubling down on business alignment
With a solid framework for assessing and improving suppliers in place, you now need to make the information available and useful to your entire business. How can procurement and sustainability teams bake supplier sustainability into the culture of an organization? What data needs to be circulated, and how should they communicate with stakeholders like leadership, legal, and marketing? Hear how companies are thinking about cross-functional collaboration and business-wide alignment.
Room 2: Labor deep dive: How to identify and mitigate forced labor risk
Xinjiang has brought forced labor to the center of the conversation on supply chains. But forced labor is not a new phenomenon, and it is not isolated to one industry or region. As human rights issues continue to enter the spotlight, what can businesses do to protect vulnerable workers in their supply chains? Get an update on how forced labor issues are evolving in 2021, and hear actionable tips to help you identify risks within your own supply network.
2:05pm: Bridging the gap between investors, sustainability, and procurement
As ESG regulations continue to expand in Europe, and pressure from major investors mounts in the U.S., asset managers, sustainability teams, and procurement teams are starting to get serious about sustainability disclosure, and the supply chain is one of the largest information gaps today. Hear from business leaders as they explore connections between finance, sourcing, and sustainability in today’s evolving world. What priorities are front and center for each group? What kinds of information do they need to see from each other? How can they collaborate more closely to drive ESG progress forward as a collective?