John Davies
John Davies leads the Trellis Network, a member-based, peer-to-peer learning forum for sustainability professionals. The network is made up of senior executives from $1 billion-plus corporations working together to share best practices and lessons learned for implementing sustainable development programs. Davies is an experienced entrepreneur and innovator who has applied his business and management skills to launching start-ups as well as improving the operations of existing businesses. Davies is a frequent keynote speaker at international events, is well-known for his supply chain and sustainability expertise and is the author of numerous articles in business, industry and educational publications. John received his bachelor’s degree from SUNY at Fredonia and his master’s degree from the University of Delaware.
VPPA Applicability
One member notes, "I recently had a chat with a few sustainability pros, and we have heard differing guidance on VPPA applicability. Some of us were of the opinion that VPPAs have boundaries within geographic areas (ie state or eGRID) which limit their applicability across wide geographies. Others of us were of the opinion that a single VPPA could apply across an entire geographic area as long as the grids were connected (ie one VPPA could apply across the entirety of North America). We're reaching out to our networks to try and get further clarification or guidance. Could you ask the group what their experience is with this?” GreenBiz note: responses 2 and 3 are notes from a call between the requesting member and other GBEN members. Read More
Carbon Neutral Certification
One member writes, "I have a question I was hoping you could pose to the GBEN group. Ideally I would need the data back within the next 2-3 weeks. Here’s the gist of what I’m looking to ask: If your company has received carbon neutral certification, which vendor did you use? How would you rate your experience working with them, i.e. would you recommend them? Any other tips for a sustainability manager who is about to pitch their CEO on the topic? Examples of positive outcomes from the decision to make the investment? Read More
Working with an Integrated Facilities Management Firm
One member asks, "Do any member organizations outsource their facilities management to one of the big IFM companies (CBRE, JLL or Cushman Wakefield)? If so, how do they engage with their facilities partners to develop and execute sustainability initiatives?" Read More
Climate-Related Risk Assessments
Superstorms, sea-level rise, droughts, flooding and wildfires are just a few of the climate change-related threats to business. During our Winter meetings, members discussed their strategies for both quantitatively and qualitatively identifying climate-related risks, either by adopting recommendations by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) or by evaluating other risk-assessment tools. Read More
2019 Plans and Strategies
During the January meetings, members discussed what they’ll be working on in the upcoming year and their longer-term strategy. We’ve highlighted some of the plans and goals below. Read More
Engaging the C-Suite
By popular demand, we’ve added what we’re calling a speed-dating component to our discussion format. To facilitate this, we asked each member to pick someone they didn’t know and spend 10 minutes having a discussion. The topic for our Winter meeting was how to get more engaged with the C-suite. Here’s a recap of some of the ideas that came from these discussions. Read More
China Recyclables Constraints
One member asks, "Have any companies found great alternatives to China end-user recycling markets for materials like LDPE plastic film and cardboard? For example, we have started utilizing a couple of alternatives for film recycling that are paying higher $ / lb and also have a higher contamination threshold, and all processed in the U.S." Read More
CDP Score Drops
One member asks, "Considering the significant scoring methodology changes in 2018, have any other members dropped in their CDP Score by more than at least 1 letter grade in 2018, and if so, how are they publicly acknowledging or not acknowledging the drop (e.g. PR around this)?" Read More
Carbon Footprint Consultants
One member asks, "For those members who've used external consultants to help develop their climate change strategy, I'd love to hear what consultants you've used that you would recommend. In particular, I'm interested in consultants used to assist with the following: • Develop science-based targets • Assess climate risks/opportunities and develop a climate resiliency strategy • Assist with CDP reporting • Verify your carbon footprint and/or climate change targets and progress towards them Read More
What ever happened to Green Teams?
One of our members shares, "we don’t currently have anything resembling site-level “green teams,” and they could be useful to support both the sustainability function and employee engagement in a changing culture. When I went looking for information and resources online, everything I found was about ten years old. So I’m curious if companies have recent experience with green teams, or if they have faded away or morphed into something else – and if so, why? I’d love to hear from the group or see any resources you have both to help make the case for/against the idea, and to help green teams get set up if we decide to do that." Read More