More and more businesses are discovering that making sustainability central to their operations is the key to improved efficiency, profitability, and long-term success. They also are learning that transparent and honest reporting on efforts to reduce environmental impacts and risks is crucial if they want to retain investor and customer support. In this theme, corporate leaders and business executives will share their insights and explain how they are maintaining profitable business operations while adapting to evolving social, shareholder, consumer, and government expectations and requirements.

Conference Sessions:

• Opening Plenary: Building a Greener Economy through Innovation
• Reporting that Matters: Emerging Best Practices for the Future of Corporate Reporting
• Corporate Responsibility in the Digital Age: Leveraging New Media to Advance Sustainability and Reputation
• Driving the Corporate Sustainability Agenda
• Supply Chains in the 21st Century: Transparency, Standards & Responsible Sourcing
• People Power: Improving Performance through a Corporate Culture of Sustainability Leadership
• Responsible Mining: Does Sustainability Performance Pay?

The global energy market is undergoing a profound and irreversible transformation as issues around supply, security, and sustainability become paramount. Spurred by growing energy demands from developing  economies, increased investments in renewable and alternate energy technologies have freed enormous reserves of previously inaccessible energy resources. The future economics of the global energy mix will depend on demand and supply factors influenced by resource availability, technology pricing and innovation, public policy, and changing geopolitical factors. In this theme, leading energy experts will discuss the key technologies and energy sources that will power our future and will address the issues around security and sustainability in the changing economics of energy.

Conference Sessions:

• Natural Gas: Fueling the Future
• Energy Dialogue: Collaboration & Innovation for the 21st Century
• Town Hall: Energy Infrastructure - The Environment and Economy Debate
• Energy Efficiency and Alternative Power: Innovative Approaches for Business
• New Developments in the Smart Grid Sector
• Next Generation Biofuels: Driving the Development of a Lower Carbon Economy

The global financial system is still recovering from the near collapse of the international banking system and major economic upheavals that have brought several countries to the brink of insolvency. In these uncertain economic times, financial institutions, venture capital firms, and even entire governments have recognized the benefits of risk avoidance, responsible investment, and insurance coverage. Recognizing the important role that the financial sector will play in the post-Kyoto world, this theme will explore the relationships between finance, sustainable development, capital markets, and the green economy.

Conference Sessions:

• Sustained Growth and Sustainability: Re-engineering the Economic Model
• Climate Adaptation: Building Resilience through Risk Management and Insurance
• The Clean Technology Continuum: Financing Innovation from Early-Stage Through to Commercialization
• Environmental & Social Risk Management: What Your Bank Wants to Know

Much uncertainty remains around the future of global carbon markets and the regulatory regimes that ultimately will govern the management of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. But despite these uncertainties, governments and corporations alike are moving forward with strategies and initiatives for climate change adaptation and carbon management strategies to be better positioned to deal with future risks. In this theme, major players involved in developing corporate strategies and public policies for carbon management will discuss current initiatives and best practices that will help usher in the low carbon future.

Conference Sessions:

• Carbon Frustration: What’s Next for Climate Policy?
• Innovative Approaches to a Smaller Corporate Carbon Footprint

Nowhere else is the nexus between sustainability and social wellbeing more evident than in our cities, where more than half the world's population now lives. Today's urban centres have become living laboratories for innovative green building technologies, sophisticated energy management systems, and advanced sustainable transportation networks, all focussed on making cities more economically, socially, and environmentally vibrant places in which to live and do business. This theme will examine the key dimensions of urban sustainability - energy, housing, mobility, and eco-restoration.

Conference Sessions:

• Building Blocks for a Sustainable Economy Dialogue
• Lights, Power, Action: Energy Management and the Growth of Smart Cities
• Burning Issues for Tomorrow's Cities: Community Energy & Waste-to-Energy Systems
• Green Visionaries: Building Eco-friendly Cities from Within
• The Role of Property Valuation in Driving Sustainability
• Green Infrastructure Integration in Cities: The Key to Success?
• Spotlight on Dubai

It is indispensible to life, and because of growing demand for our finite supplies of freshwater, it is becoming one of the most important resource issues of the 21^st Century. Agriculture and industry are the two primary users of freshwater, together representing more than 75% of the freshwater withdrawn worldwide. This theme explores some of the challenges and opportunities that water presents to the global corporate community, both today and over the next few decades.

Conference Sessions:

• Access to Water: Improving the Supply of a Critical Resource
• Efficient Water Use by Corporations

Today's conscientious consumers are fuelling demand for sustainable products and services. This, in turn, is requiring manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers alike to work together in developing forward-thinking solutions to solve complicated and interrelated end-to-end challenges. In the process of becoming more sustainable, companies can benefit from innovation that reduces operating costs and risks while increasing profits and shareholder value. Some of today's leading manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers froma host of different segments will explore the opportunities and challenges for adopting sustainability into their core operations.

Conference Sessions:

• Roundtable: Is Sustainable Retail an Oxymoron?
• Product Stewardship and Innovative Packaging: Striving for Zero Waste
• Sustainable Consumerism: What’s Driving Demand for Today’s Eco-friendly Products and Services?