Skoll | Transforming Markets to Save Forests

Panel Discussion

Session Description

Location: Lecture Theatre 5
People have long lamented the destruction of the world’s pristine forests. But to date, no one has had much success stopping destruction in the name of “progress”. This may be changing, however. The reason? Big companies are starting to fully realise the importance of finding more sustainable ways of doing business, which includes halting deforestation. Learn how multinationals may be the key to feeding the world’s 7 billion people…without destroying precious land.

Time & Location

Time:

09:00 - 10:30, Friday, March 30, 2012 BST

Speakers

Pat Venditti

Speaker

Deputy Forest Campaign Director, Greenpeace

Pat Venditti is Deputy Forest Campaign Director at Greenpeace and one of the primary architects of Greenpeace's current forest strategy. Over the past decade, he has been responsible for the development and execution of a number of Greenpeace's most successful corporate campaigns, including McDonald’s, Nestle, and Mattel. The corporate action resulting from these campaigns has made a significant contribution to the likely future of the world's last rainforests.

Read Full Bio
Marcos Jank

Speaker

President and CEO, UNICA - Sugarcane Industry Association

Marcos Jank is the President and CEO of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA). He was the founding president of the Brazilian Institute for International Trade Negotiations (ICONE), Professor at the School of Economics of the University of São Paulo and has worked as special expert in trade at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, DC.

Read Full Bio
Jason Clay

Speaker

Senior Vice President, Markets; Executive Director, Markets Institute, World Wildlife Fund US

Jason Clay, SVP, Markets, WWF-US is a thought leader on global issues and trends affecting food and soft commodities. He ran a family farm, worked in the USDA, taught at Harvard and Yale, and spent 15 years working with indigenous people. In 1988, he began to help 200 companies buy ingredients that support communities and conservation by making and selling rainforest products to support local economic development. He sourced all the nuts for Ben & Jerry’s Rainforest Crunch and 200 other products generating $100M in sales. The work tripled the price to gatherers and doubled nut prices to all other collectors. The Xapuri rubbertappers in Acre took political power for 25 years. Since 1993, Clay launched WWF’s aquaculture, ag, livestock, finance, and market transformation programs. He led a 3-year program to reduce key impacts of shrimp aquaculture. He helped develop standards for the production of some two-dozen ag, livestock and aquaculture commodities. He has worked with 70 of the 100 largest food companies to improve their supply chain management. In 2015, Clay founded the Markets Institute at WWF to spot emerging global issues and trends that will affect the production and trade of food commodities. Each year, the Institute and identifies 15 trends, issues and tools that will be important, publishes a weekly newsletter, and prepares briefs and white papers as well as 4-5 case studies documenting innovation or pilots to address key issues and trends. Clay has authored 20 books and 700 articles and given more than 1,500 invited talks. He is currently working with companies to address ESG issues and identifying new business models and markets to address them. Clay is helping WWF explore ways to use impact investing to reduce key impacts in the food system. Clay studied at Harvard and the LSE and got his PhD in anthropology and international agriculture from Cornell.

Read Full Bio
Gavin Neath

Speaker

Senior Vice President, Sustainability, Unilever

Gavin Neath is the Senior Vice President responsible for Unilever’s sustainability programmes around the world. He comes at the issue from a business perspective having previously been the Chairman of Unilever Foods in the UK and Lever Ponds in South Africa. He co-chairs the Global Consumer Goods Forum’s work on sustainability which has a strong focus on deforestation. He was awarded the CBE for services to the Food Industry in 2007.

Read Full Bio
Daniela Mariuzzo

Speaker

Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business Development, Banco Rabobank International Brasil S.A.

Daniela Mariuzzo is the Head of CSR and Sustainable Business Development at Rabobank International Brazil and the Chair of the Brazilian Working Group on Sustainable Beef. Daniela trained as a food engineer and subsequently obtained a PhD in Environmental Bioremediation. She represents Rabobank in several initiatives, including the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Financial Initiative. She also participates in the Roundtables on Responsible Commodities, such as the Round Table on Responsible Soy.

Read Full Bio