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.
Meeting Decarbonization Goals
One member asks, "How are companies providing opportunities for their staff to contribute to the business' decarbonization efforts/goals?" Read More
Scope 3 Category 1
One member asks, "Do others include medical insurance premiums in their Scope 3 Category 1, since premiums are oftentimes a proxy for medical services? We’ve done some research and can’t find a direct answer in the GHGP – specifically related to medical insurance (not liability, etc.) Curious as to whether others include them or exclude them." Read More
Integrating a Wholly Owned Subsidiary
One member asks, "Does anyone have experience with wholly owned subsidiaries – either integrating them or being integrated as one – and how they handled ESG reporting, goals, etc. What did you do, what worked, what didn’t?" Read More
Organization Recommendations
One member asks, "I'd like to dip into the groups' collective knowledge on a couple of things: • Is anyone familiar with organizations that support environmental education and research expeditions for staff? For example, the Earthwatch Institute and Discover Corps? Read More
Trusted Advisor?
One member asks, "I am looking for an executive coach that can help with speaking to senior leaders (CFO, CEO) to demonstrate sustainability/ESG value, but also to develop the skills to be relied upon as a trusted advisor. Do you know of people?" Read More
Tracking Employee Engagement
One member asks, "How are members tracking completion rates of the various employee engagement activities? We’re exploring ways to more explicitly link the small ways employees take action to our top headline targets to better track and build momentum/excitement around these contributions and their direct alignment with the business direction and sustainability strategy – including potential gamified methods." Read More
Subsidiary Reporting Strategies
One member asks, "How does your organization handle country-level and/or subsidiary sustainability reporting? Who in the organization, if anyone, governs the process to ensure accuracy and alignment? Have any organizations eliminated sustainability reporting outside of that at the corporate level?" Read More
GHG Protocol Consultants
One member asks, "I wonder if people have worked with consultants with deep expertise in the GHG Protocol? We have some judgement calls to make about boundaries and other details and I am looking for an expert steeped in the protocol to help us out." Read More
Generative AI for Sustainability
One member asks, "Is anyone using or exploring the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT for their sustainability programs or reporting?” Read More
From Spreadsheets to Tech Platform – What Do I Do Now?
One member asks, "We have recently migrated our carbon emissions calculations from a manual process (spreadsheets) to a tech platform (Watershed). The Watershed calculation of our 2022 inventory showed a 50% drop in emissions from 2021. Since we have not had any meaningful adjustments to business activities, we know this delta is due to the change in calculation methodology (principally, that Watershed is using EEIO datasets + a very large database of supplier-provided emissions data). While our prior inventories were audited and assured by ERM, we are now in a situation where “more right” data raises more questions than answers. Additionally, because this change is material, we will likely have to restate our SBTI goals. From what I can find in the market, this seems to be relatively uncharted territory. I would love to hear from anyone that has had to explain this to leadership, and how this was handled from an external messaging perspective. I would also welcome a live conversation with anyone who is willing." Read More