Last week, joined by my Rubicon colleagues Tess Riley, Amy Koonin Taylor, and Stacie Moore, I headed to Phoenix, Arizona for GreenBiz 20. One of the premier annual events for sustainable business leaders, GreenBiz is a highlight for me each calendar year—and for good reason.
The GreenBiz 20 community consisted of more than 1,500 sustainability leaders in the fields of business, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The premise of GreenBiz is its focus on coming up with and acting on big bold goals—and their willingness to elevate companies that are making broad and ambitious strides when it comes to sustainability best practices in their industries while tying in and engaging all functions of the business, including sales, finance, procurement, and beyond.
As Rubicon’s Vice President of Sustainability, I attended a number of breakout sessions at GreenBiz 20 on everything from how data is key in measuring and communicating sustainability’s impact, up-and-coming technologies, and even chemical recycling.
The New Normal
On the first day of the GreenBiz 20 conference, I penned an op-ed on the GreenBiz website exploring how sustainability has edged its way from the fringes of the corporate world to the boardroom, establishing itself as a core business strategy.
Despite this, many of the most important performance indicators are continuing to point in the wrong direction: emissions are on the rise; fugitive ocean plastics are so pervasive that they’re permanently bonding with coastal rock; and water scarcity is likely to affect two-thirds of the global population by 2025.
However, in the op-ed I write that I am encouraged that business and public policy leaders are taking notice that actions that are good for the environment are also good for business and society. Quoted from the article:
As we enter into what likely will be one of the most environmentally consequential decades in modern history, ending with the culmination of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, I’d like to share a few thoughts both on the evolution of sustainability over the past decade as well as on how the business community can—and must—rapidly accelerate global progress towards circularity and decarbonization.
If you would like to read the op-ed in full, including details on how Rubicon is working with dozens of private- and public-sector partners around the world to help to circularize their corporate or municipal operations, you can do so at this link.
—
I had a great time attending GreenBiz 20 this year and look forward to their Circularity 20 event in Atlanta in May. If you would like to learn more about Rubicon’s sustainability offerings, please reach out to me at any time at david.rachelson@rubiconglobal.com.
David Rachelson is Vice President of Sustainability at Rubicon. To stay ahead of Rubicon’s announcements of new partnerships and collaborations around the world, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or contact us today.
