Organizational Update
Future 500 Newsletter. Published August, 2022
F500 Team Retreat
Despite summer being a traditionally slow time for us, our team is experiencing one of the busiest times in our history with several new partners and exciting projects (see more below), a growing team, and increasing clarity and focus on advancing our mission.
Despite our busyness, we carved out some much-needed time in late July for a wonderfully productive in-person retreat in Union, Washington by the Great Bend of the Hood Canal, near the mouth of the Skokomish River, which flows from the nearby Olympic Mountains.
We enjoyed unseasonably warm weather, making water play and hiking all the better. We deepened our team cohesion, learned about our respective strengths and communication approaches, and returned home restored and energized to progress our mission (more to come on that in future newsletters).
Updates on Future 500 Project Work
Our team is supporting our EU partner, Transitions, to recruit stakeholders to participate in a working group with a French consumer brand's leadership to offer critical feedback on their draft sustainability and circular business model strategy. This candid, Chatham House Rule forum will enable corporate and diverse NGO executives to roll up their sleeves to co-create a more sustainable business model that supports people and the planet.
The 30x30 movement and preserving biodiversity to ensure a resilient planet is becoming a leading priority for foundations, philanthropists, investors, companies, and NGOs for its intersectionality with social and ecological resilience. To that end, we are engaged with several of our partners on their biodiversity strategies, including a leading U.S. energy company on refocusing its philanthropic mission to support nature-based solutions to climate change.
This is a rapidly evolving issue space with several emerging frameworks to understand, including the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), The Science Based Target Network's (SBTN) AR3T framework (Avoid, Reduce, Restore & Regenerate, Transform), both of which complement and reinforce the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures (TCFD). It can be a confusing landscape for investors, companies, and NGOs but creates excellent opportunities for companies to lead in establishing best practices for others to follow.
New Partners:
We are pleased to welcome four new partners to our corporate network, including Avangrid, Celanese, RJR and Schneider Electric.
Our Upcoming CAN & WSCI Meetings:
Planning for our Fall CAN working group is well underway with a focus on educating our corporate partners on DEI corporate leadership, the power of stakeholder forums as foundational to business planning, a working case study in an innovative Just Transition program for a critical industrial sector that is embracing the electrification revolution across its value chain, and the rapidly emerging crisis of biofuels vs food, which will upend myriad sectors and test their ESG/sustainability commitments.
Future 500 has two more WSCI events coming in 2022 diving into critical topics for emerging sustainability and stakeholder engagement professionals.
Q3 meeting: Unanticipated personal risks of leading in sustainability, September 1, 2022, 11 am - 12 pm, Pacific
Q4 meeting: Topic TBD, November 2, 2022, 11 am - 12 pm, Pacific
WSCI participants will get details in advance. For more information or to express your interest in joining the meeting, email Kajsa Hendrickson at khendrickson@future500.org.
Upcoming Events
The reporting landscape is about to undergo a significant transformation due to incoming regulation and standardization of reporting. As companies are asked to disclose more, businesses will need to stay ahead of the emerging reporting expectations. At Sustainability Reporting & Communications USA [November 1-2, New York], join our colleague Kajsa Hendrickson, who is moderating a panel, along with 250+ sustainability, policy, and finance leaders in peer-to-peer networking, learning, and collaboration to help prepare for the evolving reporting landscape.
Learn more here and save $150 if you register this week using code Future500150.
EarthX, founded by Future 500 board member, Trammell S. Crow, is hosting the premier of an incredible documentary film called The Way of the Rain – Hope For Earth in Dallas Texas on October 22nd. It is a beautiful and inspiring creation for orchestra, chorus, film, art, and spoken word. Created and directed by Sibylle Szaggars Redford in collaboration with music composer Tim Janis and performance film artist Floyd Thomas McBee, the film will be accompanied by the live performance of The Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Youth Chorus with special in-person narration and spoken word by Robert Redford. The evening is presented by EarthX Film, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and M3 Films.
For Tickets or Sponsorships, please go HERE! We hope to see you there.
Recent Headlines that grabbed our attention:
Plant-based meat by far the best climate investment, report finds via the Guardian
Stemming the Tide Statement of Accountability by Ocean Conservancy
The Proposed SEC Climate Disclosure Rule: A Comment from the Business Roundtable via Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
Bringing Back a Critical Remedy for Communities Harmed by Unlawful Polluters by EarthJustice
Indigenous Peoples and Loggers Win Cash, and a Truce, From Coveted Carbon Credits The Wall Street Journal
Future 500 is a non-profit consultancy that builds trust between companies, advocates, investors, and philanthropists to advance business as a force for good. Based in San Francisco, we specialize in stakeholder engagement, sustainability strategy, and responsible communication. From stakeholder mapping to materiality assessments, partnership development to activist engagement, target setting to CSR reporting strategy, we empower our partners with the skills and relationships needed to systemically tackle today's most pressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.
Want to learn more? Reach out any time.
Blog posts
