Human trafficking and modern day slavery have become central issues on the business radar in recent years, not least with recent legislation in the U.K. and United States on the subject. These issues affect more than 100 million people each year and undermine human rights ranging from bodily security to freedom of movement and livelihood. Companies have a key role to play in tackling human trafficking, including a responsibility to ensure trafficking and slave-like conditions don’t exist within their own operations or supply chain. Participants in this important conversation will gain insight into the growing legal requirements around human trafficking; best practice in identifying, managing and remediating risk across operations; and examples of industrywide efforts to tackle root causes.

BSR has been unpacking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since its 2014 Conference: from contributing to shaping the goals, to providing insights after their launch, to taking stock of achievements on the one-year anniversary of their arrival. This year, this impactful discourse will go one step further and take a deeper look into how to avoid “SDG-washing” by demonstrating positive societal benefits. Participants will hear how and why investors are focusing on the goals, learn best practices for monitoring and evaluation, and walk away with insights from companies setting their business targets to align with the SDGs.

Blockchain technology offers a powerful, exciting digital tool to fix sustainability problems in myriad fields such as supply chain traceability, migrant labor, and financial inclusion. At the same time, successful implementation of blockchain innovations will require companies and stakeholders to discover solutions to overcome some of the oldest barriers to advancing sustainability—collaboration, governance, standards-setting, and funding models, among others. In this interactive session, participants will learn about the potential for blockchain to transform sustainability, conduct mini-workshops to apply what they learn, and explore how technologists and sustainability leaders can collaborate to bring these solutions to life.

Climate change impacts, disruptive new business models, the combinatorial technology explosion, and a fraying social contract are just some of the changes profoundly reshaping the landscape for business and sustainability. In the face of such rapid and complex change, futures thinking offers a powerful tool to challenge current assumptions and create more resilient strategies. This highly interactive futures session will have participants explore the implications of some of the most disruptive trends while imagining how companies might turn sustainability challenges into business opportunities.

Business integrator, impact officer, or futurist? The role of the Chief Sustainability Officer can vary enormously, not least during a time of great change. More and more, CSOs are being asked to work across regions and functions to drive fundamental change in corporate strategy, value creation, and organizational culture. The CSO also has the potential to be a source of generating innovation that creates revenue and business opportunities. What skills and qualifications does the CSO of the future need? Is the ultimate goal of the CSO to work herself out of a job, or will there always be a need for the distinct form of leadership? This panel will explore the changing job description for the CSO and the many ways the CSO can drive transformational change that delivers business value and social impact.

Women’s empowerment is widely recognized as a critical pillar of sustainable global development, and evidence is mounting that investing in women can also improve business performance. In this session, we will outline how companies can credibly commit to the gender equality agenda, assess their current performance against the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), and build a robust women’s empowerment strategy. Participants will leave this session knowing how to identify how their company can leverage its full value chain, peers, and strategic partners to make the greatest contribution to women’s progress.

This session will explore why and how companies are incorporating inclusivity into the product design process to improve access and usability for underserved consumers, such as people living with disabilities and low-income customers in emerging markets. During this interactive dialogue, session participants will glean tactics on making the case internally for integrating inclusive design into core business practices and hear about lessons learned from industry practitioners who have successfully developed and launched inclusive design initiatives at their companies.

With seismic shifts occurring in American, European, and other global politics in varying ways, companies are trying to navigate how to engage with policy in order to lead on sustainability issues at a time of profound change. From public opposition to government policies, both in the media and in courts, to quieter efforts in influence and collaboration, there seems to be a multitude of options, but no clear roadmap. This timely discourse will provide guidance for participants to help them make decisions about where and how they can engage in the policy arena, both as individual companies and in collaboration with partners, to raise the voice of business on the crucial sustainability challenges of our time.

Agriculture accounts for more than 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the sectors that will be most profoundly altered by climate change. Some companies are setting significant goals and engaging their supply chains to help mitigate impacts, transition to resiliency, and drive climate-smart agriculture, and there’s a wave of innovation happening to minimize the impact of food production and rethink agriculture overall. This conversation will “dig in” to company approaches to row crops and livestock and offer opportunities to scale impacts.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to fundamentally change the way we work and live as algorithms begin to make more fundamental decisions for us. Like many new technologies, AI is the source of tremendous opportunities to support the public good, but also brings risks and new challenges. How do we build ethical, moral, and human values into the future of AI? What governance mechanisms must be in place to minimize AI’s potential harm and maximize its benefits? This intriguing discussion will explore how companies can incorporate ethics, inclusion, and transparency to protect against perpetuating biases or circumventing ethics in financial transactions, law enforcement, monopolizing behavior, and more.

This interactive session will explore how companies can refine their focus on climate change in challenging times, drawing on lessons from the automotive industry. In the face of regulatory uncertainty and rapidly-changing technology, the industry continues to evolve its approach to climate change. Industry manufacturers are increasingly committing to energy efficiency and renewable energy, advanced vehicle technology and alternative use models ranging from extended-range electric cars to autonomous ride-sharing. What are these companies’ strategies for dealing with climate change in times of change, and what can others learn from this experience?

Good health is a source of competitive advantage and a catalyst for innovation. Companies are increasingly viewing employee and community health and well-being as a strategic priority, and they are developing cross-sector partnerships to achieve health goals. In this dynamic discussion, participants will learn from leading companies how to make the business case for investing in employee and community health and what actions to take to benefit populations. Participants will also leave knowing the metrics that are most relevant and important to their programs.

The GRI Guidelines are now Standards. The SASB Provisional Standards are on their way to being Codified. The EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive is being implemented. The Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures has provided recommendations for how climate-related financial information should be included in mainstream financial filings. These developments raise the stakes when it comes to the quality and robustness of sustainability disclosures, and the importance of rigorous reporting processes. Is the sustainability profession up to the job? Participants in this conversation will learn what they can do to ensure that sustainability disclosures achieve the same level of accuracy, reliability, and quality as financial disclosures.

Companies need to be agile to stay competitive in today’s fast-changing world. Whether adopting automation, shifting to clean energy, or managing their global footprint, companies frequently have to make substantial adjustments to the size, skills, and geographic location of their workforce. Yet these transitions frequently come at a high cost to workers and to small communities who are left behind, as they struggle to find a secure economic future when their jobs disappear. Join this conversation to learn about how business can lead a just transition process in partnership with labor, local governments, and nonprofits that both helps build a more prosperous future for workers and communities affected by the change and bolsters the viability of businesses going forward.

The sustainability community has made tremendous progress over the past 25 years. But in many ways, it has also done itself a disservice. Business leaders lament the competing standards and frameworks, the goals of collecting data rather than creating impact, and the focus on perfection rather than performance improvement. As we look to build business leadership and drive greater change over the next 25 years and beyond, this interactive and introspective session will help participants examine the mistakes made and learn how the sustainability community can work together to support even more substantial progress moving forward.