(WS01) ESG Innovation and Foundations: Accelerating Market Transformation At Scale - hosted by USGBC and GRESB

Note: Pre-registration is required to reserve your seat for this workshop.
At this time pre-registration for this event is closed If you are interested in attending this workshop, there may be a limited number of seats available on a first come; first-served basis. Entry for attendees who did not pre-register will begin 5 minutes before the start of the session until we reach capacity.

Green building and ESG are complementary market transformation strategies. Leading companies are using them together to drive and communicate change at scale - increasing across portfolios and whole organizations. This two-part workshop will provide (1) an introduction to the fundamentals of green building and ESG for real assets, and (2) an overview of emerging issues and opportunities facing the industry. The first part of the program will cover the basics: How do green building and ESG work together? What are their similarities and differences as market transformation tools? How can LEED help companies improve on the GRESB ESG benchmark? What does leadership in green building and ESG look like? The second part of the program will go deeper. We will start by considering the state of the industry and then dive into five emerging challenges: decarbonization, electrification, health, regulation, and more. After this, we will recognize and celebrate green building and ESG leaders. This includes celebrating companies using green building practices to improve and excel on the GRESB benchmark. Finally, we will look forward. A set of international leaders will share perspectives on the direction of the market. This will include consideration for the increasing importance of the clean energy transition for ESG and sustainable finance. By the end of the workshop, full-day participants will have the opportunity to move from a basic introduction to some of the more important emerging issues and trends.

There will be a 1 hour break for lunch on your own during this workshop

Learning Objectives:

• Understand fundamental connections between green building and ESG
• Recognize key green building strategies used by ESG market leaders
• Appreciate emerging challenges facing ESG market leaders, including decarbonization, energy procurement, and health promotion
• Recognize the opportunities and challenges to the pursuit of transition finance through green building and ESG