THE Zimbabwe Independent in partnership with Pivot Africa is excited to announce that preparations are a gear up for Zimbabwe’s premier sustainability event, the maiden 2024 Annual Sustainability Summit.
This is an opportunity to be part of a one-of-a-kind event to help your business achieve its sustainability goals.
The two-day event will bring together a high-quality business audience, including civil society organisations, chief product officers, chief finance officers and chief executives to drive action on sustainability.
We are delighted to give you a snap shot of some of the topical issues at the summit.
Decoding the global trilemma
The summit knowledge partner will open with a deep dive into the theme “Sustainability: Beyond the trilemma”. Climate change, biodiversity loss and the energy crises are some of the defining stories of our age.
The Independent is committed to reporting on our planet with integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. The 2024 Annual Sustainability Summit is an opportunity to explore together all aspects of the pressing global trilemma of our time for a sustainable future.
Business at the front of climate action
The 2024 Sustainability Summit will stock take how COP28's outcomes have so far impacted business operations, strategy, and sustainability goals as we track the road to COP29.
The presentation will kick start the climate conversations ahead of COP29. Change will only occur if leaders dare to ask the difficult questions currently standing in the path of progress.
This presentation seeks to ask these questions. More than 20y renowned corporate leaders will take to the stage to discuss, debate and deliver answers to the world’s most pressing climate, biodiversity, energy and transition issues.
The economics of climate change
The Central Bank will take delegates through the future cost associated with extreme climate change which is fast becoming a topic that policy makers and sectors can no longer ignore.
Real change cannot be effected without governments, businesses and individuals working towards a shared goal. The presentation will highlight the future costs associated with extreme climate change and explain the risk management strategies and climate stress tests.
The summit makes a compelling case for why climate change risk management is included in the supervisory mandate of the central bank and the role that the central bank can play in helping navigate the economy towards net zero.
Green investment opportunities
Green investment opportunities not only support environmental sustainability but also present attractive financial returns and risk profiles.
As global efforts to combat climate change intensify, the demand for these opportunities is expected to grow, giving investors a wide range of choices to align their portfolios with net-zero and sustainable objectives.
The summit will discuss and answer some of the questions such as, “What kinds of green investment funds are helping to finance an inclusive climate transition? How can green projects be scaled for greater impact? How can companies show the financial viability and attractive risk-adjusted returns of their green projects?”
Meeting today's demand
As governments and utility companies around the world are striving to onboard more renewable energy and technology on aggressive timelines, while consumers shift their habits to minimise their reliance on non-renewables, it is becoming increasingly challenging to keep the electric grid in balance.
Whether exploring renewable energy adoption, enhancing energy efficiency or adapting lifestyles, this session aims to empower attendees with practical knowledge and actionable steps to navigate and capitalise on opportunities in the evolving energy landscape.
What actions can industries take to lessen the load of their activities on the grid?
Policy intervention to low carbon
Advancing the lower carbon future we all want demands engagement from every aspect of the energy value chain. No one industry, no one company acting alone can meet the world’s energy and climate goals- collaboration and innovation need to happen on a greater scale and at a faster speed than ever before.
Delivering greater results on an accelerated timeline means lowering the cost and risk of promising new solutions, shaping effective policy and investing in innovation across virtually every sector.
This presentation highlights the need for government intervention to tackle the climate change crisis and to intervene through taxes such as carbon tax and new regulation.
The CEOs' take on sustainability
This panel will showcase sustainability leaders and how they are keeping sustainability at the top of their corporate agenda. How are chief executives and boards leading their organisations towards a more sustainable and profitable future?
Where sustainability and profitability conflict, how do you strike the right balance? As old business models fail due to climate change, how can organisations adapt and find new markets?
Where are the biggest challenges? And can chief executives drive a wider shift in culture and business so that we expect companies and the planet to thrive in tandem?
Showcase: Net zero innovations
The transition to net zero requires the implementation of newer sources of energy and technologies to help in decarbonisation efforts.
This category dives into some of the innovative approaches and technologies aimed at achieving net-zero carbon emissions. We will hear from some of the leading energy companies that are leading the energy transition across Africa.
The session will delve into technological breakthroughs and how they are catalysing the energy transition. Innovations in solar, energy storage, green buildings, e-mobility, water efficiency, waste to energy, circularity, virtual power plants, smart grids, net metering, micro grids, LEDs.
Corporate catalysts for SDG
With just six years until 2030, as the global economy and business fail to align with the Paris Climate Agreement, we have never been closer to overshooting our planetary boundaries and being off track with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
What can the private sector do to raise ambition and accelerate action on the SDGs? The private sector's pledges at COP28 were set to mobilise significant finance towards climate initiatives, this highlights the transformative potential of the sector to the climate challenge.
Where can businesses focus their efforts to have maximum impact? This panel explores actionable insights and proven strategies while challenging companies to lead the transformative journey towards achieving the SDGs.
Building fit-for-purpose leaders
High-quality discussions about how the education system is empowering future sustainability leaders with knowledge and skills for the future.
How are institutions enabling future sustainability leaders to join global discussions? What does the next generation of sustainability leaders look like? How are educational institutions and recruiters responding to the expanding scope of roles in the field?
What changes are being made to curricula? How are current workforces being upskilled to improve their knowhow in sustainability matters?
Food supply chains to be more resilient
With a “boiling world” on the horizon and a world of war, severely constrained water and food sources, mass migration and deglobalisation what can be done to ensure that organisations are prepared?
By 2050 the world will need 50% more energy and 40% more water to feed a population of more than nine billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
A farming-as-usual approach will take too heavy a toll on natural resources, as droughts, higher temperatures and flooding undermines food security.
In response, producers are adapting new ways of farming, such as regenerative agriculture and making global supply chains more efficient. How does the agricultural sector make sure that its ESG standards work effectively amid climate change? And how will scope 3 emissions in farming be tackled?
Nature positive mining
The global energy transition poses an alarming contradiction, as the shift to renewables requires a dramatic increase in the extraction of metals and rare earth minerals putting added strain on biodiversity.
While they are both important in climate change and nature loss, they are often conflicting bedfellows. The question then becomes how these often-contradictory goals can be mutually met sustainably.
Hear how inspiring initiatives to protect the climate and biodiversity in Zimbabwe are including mining communities to ensure they benefit.
Unlocking finance for energy access
There is a need of for trillion dollars annually in order for the world to deliver the transition to net- zero and this is talking about climate. Layering nature on top of that is about another US$1,5 trillion of investment needed every year in order to safe guard nature.
There are benefits of dealing with carbon and nature, absolutely they are interdependent we are talking really big numbers. We have quite a lot of technology changes and processes that we are going to need to get to the transition. However a financing gap exists.
What creative financing solutions are required to bridge the gap?
Sustainability reporting
Sustainability reporting is more than just a reporting obligation — it intends to transform the business sector into a more sustainable, resilient economy.
As reporting for climate risk and various supply chains starts to become mandatory across many regions how are companies working to effectively disclose climate risk?
We will hear how the most widely accepted international reporting frameworks help companies manage physical and transition risks that may endanger assets, attract capital, align their climate strategies to global net-zero objectives, and develop products and services resilient enough to succeed in even the most dynamic of markets.
Walking the talk
As sustainability professionals, we are standing at the tipping point of a transformative era in corporate reporting. The recent introduction of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and S2 heralds a significant shift in how organisations will measure, report, and internalise environmental, social, and governance factors.
The presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of what these changes mean for companies and how we can prepare to meet these new requirements. The adoption of IFRS S1 and S2 marks a pivotal moment in sustainability reporting, with the right mindset and tools, we can walk the talk of sustainability with confidence and purpose.
Sustainability journey
Delegates will hear how the Platinum Sponsor is progressing with their sustainability journey. As businesses walk the path to sustainability, they must grapple with difficult trade-offs, incurring financial and opportunity costs as the apparent price of a greener future.
How do investments in sustainability ripple through their balance sheets, and how do companies balance profitability and sustainability? We will understand how the Platinum Sponsor is reconciling economics, supply-chain resilience and ecology as they progress with their sustainability journey.
Insurance companies’ contribution
Insurance protects against unexpected financial shocks that set back development progress. Such shocks impact business assets, private and public infrastructure as well as people’s livelihoods.
Climate change has ignited interest in disaster risk financing, and with it, climate risk insurance. What innovative insurance products can help businesses, government and communities with their climate adaptation strategies?
In a scenario where the 1.5°C warming threshold will likely be exceeded, how are insurance companies helping businesses develop climate resilience plans that put risk assessments, disaster preparedness and response strategies in place?
Demystifying carbon markets
One glaring flaw with the carbon market is the notion that polluters can simply buy their way out of responsibility. Rather than directly addressing the root causes of emissions, carbon markets provide an escape hatch for corporations to continue their damaging practices unchecked.
Loopholes, lack of transparency, and inadequate regulation create an environment ripe for exploitation leading to a distorted market. On the other side of the coin, carbon markets done effectively have the potential to transform and drive investment into renewables and nature. How are the responsible authorities working to create a new environment in which carbon markets might work?
Investing in sustainable cities
Cities account for more than 70% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But this comes mostly from industrial and motorized transport.
How could cities be designed in more sustainable and resilient ways?
Hear how some cities are prioritising more equitable urban development to improve life for their city dwellers while generating environmental and economic benefits and what about electrification and the grid infrastructures?
How are cutting-edge technologies building sustainability by reshaping urban landscapes and enhancing infrastructure while improving life for residents?
What innovative transport solutions are revolutionising mobility and reducing congestion?
What groundbreaking architectural concepts are changing how we perceive and interact with our cities?
How do we balance sustainable modernisation with the preservation of cities’ cultural heritage?
The ‘G’ in sustainability
The critical role of governance in the ESG discipline is undeniable but underappreciated.
Why exactly is it that ESG initiatives cannot thrive without robust governance structures?
What mechanisms and strategies are most essential to ensuring that governance drives organisations’ fulfilment of their environmental and social responsibilities?
As businesses square ethics and profitability, how can they bolster their commitments to sound governance to underpin action on the other elements of ESG?
Hear from experts and corporate sustainability leaders on how governance drives corporate value and why climate-related disclosures are good for business.
Consumers on sustainability journey
An inclusive just transition creates an opportunity for corporates to bring clients onto the sustainability journey supporting them with engagement and education leaving no one behind.
How can consumers be made aware of the impact of their choices?
How can businesses influence behavioral change of their customers towards sustainable behaviour?
Is helping consumers measure their carbon footprint the way to lead them towards sustainable habits?
The climate crisis, the rapid decline of biodiversity and nature and the energy crisis have a significant impact on our world today and these are no longer just future threats but existential, the Sustainability Summit will be a platform to showcase how actions are matching the rhetoric.
Tapera is a certified expert in environmental, social and governance impact investing. — cynthia@pivot-africa.com.
