Robin Chase believes that “transportation is the center of our universe.”Founder and former CEO of ZipCar, one of the pioneering companies of the sharing economy, as well as tech startup Veniam (and VERGE Vanguard winner), Chase knows that there are major opportunities to cut carbon and enact systems changes through the transportation sector.”It’s a moment — can we capture the momentum and anxiety and deliver cities that are sustainable and livable?” she asked.
Walmart’s new food traceability initiative is a leafy green supplier data program, but with blockchain. Tejas Bhatt, senior director of food safety innovation at massive retailer Walmart, knows that blockchain is a buzzword, but in moving past that, there are enterprise-level applications to enhance customer safety and supplier resilience while cutting risk. The “decentralized, secure ledger of transactions” could have a huge impact.
Lindsay Baker, founder of Comfy and currently the first head of sustainability at WeWork, is building sustainability into “everything we do.”The disruptive co-working office startup is able to “look at corporate sustainability through a fresh lens,” Baker said. She’s building a team, expanding her expertise and setting lofty goals to speed up not only the operations of the company, but to use the voice and power of the company to advocate for environmental issues.
Asim Haque is the chairman and CEO of the Public Utilities Commission for Ohio. There, the company regulates the energy market for the state, which includes electric, natural gas, telecoms, trucking, rail, movers and towers.Still, electricity takes most of his time. Ohio, a fully deregulated state, has a large mix of power dynamics, as coal fades, nuclear shakes and shale gains.
Scott Breor works at the Department of Infrastructure Protection at the Department of Homeland Security. He works with officers from every state and territoy to make sure that both cyber and physical assets are resilient.What does resilient mean? To Breor, “on the security side, we look at it as three variables: one, is the facility prepared? … the second variable, is can the facility adapt and withstand whatever that event is? … the third variable is recovery.”
Todd Brady, the corporate environmental manager at Intel Corp., discusses how to leverage the clout of the large tech company for positive impact. One of the major way that he and the company seek to do so is by financing innovative environmental projects, working on the local level in order to see real results. He discusses some of these projects, including one specific watershed resource — it’s “strategic in nature,” he noted.
Levi Strauss & Co. recently announced its big push to cut emissions and improve material reuse. Redesigning clothing and a large global company for a more positive environmental impact at the same time aren’t easy tasks. But Kyle Rudzinski, director of sustainability strategy at Levi Strauss & Co., is optimistic. He sat down with John Davies, senior vice president at GreenBiz, to discuss his approach.
The American auto industry isn’t what it used to be — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Market shifts and materials innovations have changed the way that cars are made, and how General Motors makes them. The global manager of renewable energy for GM, Rob Threlkeld, discussed the growth of EVs has meant to the company.
The largest electric and gas utility in Michigan is planning for the future. With science-based targets set on reducing emissions (and saving money), the company is trying for the perfect mix of cogeneration sources to amid a changing energy landscape.
The circular economy’s focus on keeping materials and chemicals at play extends to one of the basic elements of human life: water. But localized water systems present certain challenges to maximize water’s “quantity, quality and value,” as EcoLab’s vice president of sustainability, Emilio Tenuta, said.