Ceres

Sustainable capital markets: see schedule osustainable capital markets: Ceres mobilizes influential financial market actors to engage and collaborate on environmental, social, and governance issues to advance leading investment practices, corporate engagement strategies and policy solutions through working groups and shared learning opportunities, such as webinars and events. Ceres works with investors specifically to better manage carbon, water and supply chain risks, and ramp up global investments in clean energy and sustainable food and water systems. Ceres directs the Ceres investor network on climate risk and sustainability which includes more than 220 institutional investors, managing more than $44 trillion in assets, advancing leading investment practices, corporate engagement strategies, and key policy and regulatory solutions. Our key global investor collaborations include the climate action 100+ initiative, the investor agenda, the paris aligned investment initiative and the net zero asset managers initiative. Influential investors from leading asset management firms, public pension funds, labor and socially-responsible investment funds, foundations, endowments and family offices make up the Ceres investor network.

Climate and energy: see schedule oclimate and energy: Ceres mobilizes the most influential investors and companies in tackling climate change as a sustainability issue and financial risk issue that must be addressed at every level of business and investment planning and operations. We work with investors and companies to ramp up global sustainable investments in clean energy and sustainable food and water systems. Our investor network members also advocate for robust climate disclosure in financial filings and engage directly with companies to improve sustainability performance. This work is done across key sectors affected the most by climate change, including electric power, oil and gas, transportation, insurance and agriculture. Solutions that promote climate change resilience and clean energy will help build a low-carbon economy while protecting our planet for current and future generations.

Policy: see schedule opolicy: the Ceres policy network, known as bicep, comprises 80+ companies, including dozens of leading consumer brands and fortune 500s, advocating for strong climate, clean energy and water policies at the state and federal levels the Ceres bicep network helps companies voice their support for the policies our economy urgently needs to prevent the dire financial and material risks of the climate crisis, while unleashing new industries, jobs, and growth as part of the solution. These companies are respected leaders in their industries, and they recognize that transitioning to a just and inclusive clean energy economy is win-win for the planet and for business. Ceres bicep network members have weighed in on a range of state and federal policies from renewable energy issues to fuel efficiency standards, to various clean air act measures to the paris climate agreement. These forward-thinking companies are respected leaders in their sectors who recognize that the low-carbon economy will continue stimulating growth and create new jobs, while stabilizing our climate.

Sustainable business strategies: Ceres' company network comprises 50+ companies, nearly 75 percent of them fortune 500 firms, setting the highest bar for sustainability leadership. Through direct stakeholder engagement, standard-setting, regular benchmarking, and strong collaborations with coalitions like we mean business, Ceres moves companies to raise their ambition on robust sustainability goals and improve resiliency in their operations and supply chains. Ceres' in-house expertise, combined with our unique access to investors, companies and other advocacy organizations, provides members the critical insights they need to strengthen performance on key 'material' environmental and social impact areas. Leveraging the Ceres roadmap for sustainabilityour vision and practical framework for guiding corporate sustainability leadershipceres works with company network members to manage sustainability from the boardroom to the copy room, and from factories to fields.

Water: Ceres builds investor and business leadership to protect freshwater supplies around the globe, integrating capital market solutions into everything we do. To drive broader, more systemic change, we leverage the power of institutional investors to drive corporate attention to, and management of, water risks. We conduct research to identify gaps in institutional investor water awareness, and share best practices for integrating water into the investment decision-making process. Our investor water toolkit is the ultimate investor resource on water risk integration in portfolio management. To further drive systemic change, Ceres engages with bond investors, and others in the capital markets, to develop credit risk assessment methods and standards that will help channel capital toward sustainable water systems, and with some of the biggest companies in the world to improve their water stewardship. We are focused on improving practices in the food sector, which uses 70 percent of the world's freshwater, largely in agricultural supply chains. Our benchmarking report, feeding ourselves thirsty: tracking food company progress toward a water-smart future tracks more than 40 of the largest food sector companies and how they are responding to water risks in their operations and supply chains.

Food and forests: climate change and growing water scarcity are compromising agricultural productivity and increasing procurement costs. Additionally, illegal and unethical practices such as the razing of rainforests and the use of forced labor are intensifying as global food demand and population pressures mount. This creates new portfolio risks for investors and operational, regulatory and reputational risks for companies. But it also creates new opportunities. Most notably, consumer demand for food that is sustainably sourced is on the rise, creating opportunities for innovation and disruption in our current food system. To maintain growth and profitability in this new context, large food companies must develop sourcing strategies that fundamentally decouple food production from environmental degradation and human exploitation. This means supporting production practices, industry efforts and government policies that preserve water and forests, accelerate climate-resilience, and protect the fundamental human rights of workers. With our investor and company members, Ceres is driving large-scale changes in the way food is produced and sourced. Engage the chain helps investors better understand how these pressures present risks and opportunities for the food sector.