Events

When companies evaluate the sustainability of their products and systems, measuring social impacts is typically a significant challenge. While life-cycle assessment tools can be used to measure environmental impacts with a reasonable degree of accuracy, there are no similarly robust tools for social impacts. It can also be difficult to determine which metrics for social impact are most important for supply chains to prioritize. This roundtable will help companies prioritize key metrics, and will help researchers find gaps in current understanding of social metrics to guide future research and to develop new tools.

Click here for the event recap

Dow established this student challenge to encourage and promote forward thinking in social and environmental responsibility -- and acknowledges the energy, commitment and enthusiasm of the students and their university professors, sponsors and facilitators who support their efforts of sustainable innovation and continued excellence. Winners were selected at seven universities around the world.

This October, winners and advisors will visit UC Berkeley for the global awards ceremony. Read about the Berkeley winners of the Dow Challenge here. Details on public events to follow soon.

How should the apparel industry face the growing water crisis? Economic growth, changing populations, and climate change will all contribute to significant global water shortages in the coming decades, and the business risk is especially high for clothing companies that rely on cotton. This roundtable will bring together sustainability directors, experts in environmental science, technology, and agriculture to explore the latest solutions to sustainable water use in cotton production. Attendance is by invitation only.

Topics covered include:

• Water scarcity: a briefing in water shortages in key cotton production regions
• Environmental and social impacts of water use in cotton production
• Economic impacts: the risk of shortages
• Measuring water usage within the supply chain
• Global policy driving sustainable water management
• Best practices in water management in cotton agriculture
• Water management solution throughout the lifecycle of cotton apparel
• Moving from innovation to implementation
• Opportunities for collaboration

This inaugural symposium on Green Chemistry is the initiative of the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry—a new interdisciplinary center representing over ten UC Berkeley departments, coordinated by the Berkeley Institute for the Environment.

The two-day event marks the formal establishment of the Center for Green Chemistry. It provides an opportunity for the UC Berkeley community to meet with industry, government and other stakeholders to explore the Center’s vision. It will also showcase its leadership role in developing interdisciplinary green chemistry curriculum and research.

Nationally-recognized experts will present sessions on the center’s core themes: New Chemistries, Health and Environment, Policy and Law, Business and Economics, Education and Outreach, and Integrative Sciences. Workshops on green chemistry education will also bring together educators from California Community Colleges, Cal State Universities, the University of California, and private colleges to learn about developments in Green Chemistry education.

"The whole idea of holding the symposium is to make sure everyone knows what we're doing in Berkeley in the field of Green Chemistry—that it's both unique and truly multi-disciplinary, and that we're involving everyone. This symposium is the first time we're coming out to the public to explain what we're doing in this space." -- Marty Mulvihill, Curriculum Director, Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry

The SPS program hosted the second day of the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging course, created by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. The course is designed for packaging and corporate professionals seeking a deeper understanding of sustainability and how sustainability criteria can be effectively integrated into the packaging development process to enhance the lives of people, lower environmental impact and reduce costs. Learn more here.

Co-hosted with the California Product Stewardship Council, this intimate roundtable discussion explored sustainable solutions to the challenges surrounding extended producer responsibility. Given the breadth of this topic, we focused in on two areas in particular: end-of-life electronics and the challenges with hazardous materials they bring, and problematic packaging and the challenges of managing light weight, hard-to-collect packaging materials. By bringing academics, NGOs, retailers, manufacturers and waste management companies together, we were able to explore and identify a full range of solutions and shared opportunities, ranging from public policy to technology and partnerships to design.

To view the presentations from the workshops, visit our EPR Roundtable page.

Close to one billion people lack access to safe drinking water. This two-day event explored possible solutions to addressing that challenge in a sustainable manner. Around 40 academics, NGOs, foundations, corporations and venture capitalists came together to share their ideas and experiences in water purification technology and sustainable business models.

A diverse group of companies and organizations led interactive panels and presentations, including Acumen Fund, IDEO, SAIL Venture Partners, Meridian Design, Stanford University and UC Berkeley.

This year-long speaker series explored how society and business needs to change to create a truly sustainable future. Funded by the SPS Program and organized by the Haas School of Business Net Impact Chapter, the series included sessions covering themes such as:

• “Natural Capitalism”, with speaker Hunter Lovins, founder and president of Natural Capitalism, Inc.
• The role of design in sustainability
• Global markets and partnerships
• Base-of-the-Pyramid business models