Sustainability Conference | 10 June 2025

Arrivals, Coffee & Networking

Welcome Remarks

• Emma Bennett, Chief of Staff & Director of Operations, ICC United Kingdom
• EY Representative
• ICC Sustainability Chair, Gabrielle Giner

Fireside Chat: Paris – 10 Years On

Overview:
A decade after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, what progress has been made? This fireside chat will explore global climate leadership, policy changes, and trade dynamics while looking ahead to COP30 in Brazil.

Panel 1 – The Cost of Inaction (ICC-Oxera Report)

Overview:

The economic cost of inaction on climate change is staggering, with climate-related extreme weather events costing the global economy more than $2 trillion over the past decade. This panel, based on the ICC-Oxera report, will examine the financial burden of extreme weather, global supply chain disruptions, and insurance risks.

Coffee Break 

Panel 2 – Driving Ambition via Policy & Regulation: Unlocking the Net-Zero Economy

Overview:
The transition to net zero is not just an environmental imperative—it is an economic opportunity. This session will explore how smart policy and regulation can catalyse innovation, drive investment, and unlock economic growth. Drawing on the latest evidence from the UK’s net-zero transition, the panel will examine how governments, business leaders, and trade institutions can work together to create stable, investable policy frameworks that enable long-term business planning and accelerate the shift to clean, resilient growth.

Rather than framing policy as a burden, this session will focus on how well-designed regulation can de-risk investment, stimulate private sector leadership, and ensure countries like the UK remain competitive in the global race for green investment.

Lunch Break

Panel 3 – Trade, Carbon, and the Climate Transition

Overview:

Carbon pricing mechanisms — including carbon taxes, emissions trading systems (ETS), and voluntary carbon markets — are becoming central tools for businesses striving to decarbonise complex, global supply chains. This session will explore how businesses can strategically integrate carbon pricing into their Scope 3 emissions reduction plans, leverage digital innovations for carbon footprint tracking and credit verification, and navigate an increasingly fragmented trade landscape shaped by mechanisms like the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

As global carbon pricing initiatives intersect with emerging trade policies, climate subsidies, and regulatory divergence, it is essential for companies to understand both the risks and opportunities this evolving environment presents. This panel will examine how carbon pricing tools can support fair, predictable, and effective climate action across borders — while avoiding greenwashing and unintended market distortions.

Discussion Points:

• Embedding Carbon Pricing into Supply Chains: How can companies integrate carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes into their net-zero strategies, particularly for Scope 3 emissions?
• The Rise of Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs): What role do VCMs play in mobilising finance for net-zero supply chains, and how can integrity and impact be assured?
• AI and Digital Innovations: How are emerging technologies enhancing carbon measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV), and what role do data-driven platforms play in ensuring transparency and credibility?
• Carbon Markets in a Fragmented Trade Landscape: What are the implications of CBAM and similar trade-linked climate tools for global supply chains? How can businesses align carbon strategies with evolving trade policies in the EU, US, UK, and beyond?
• Compliance vs. Voluntary Markets: Where do these regimes align and conflict — and how can businesses navigate the interplay to avoid regulatory or reputational risks?
• Preventing Greenwashing: How can AI and blockchain-backed platforms support high-integrity carbon credit issuance and prevent misleading climate claims?
• Global Cooperation and Policy Coherence: How can international frameworks (e.g., the ICC’s efforts) support harmonised approaches to carbon pricing and avoid protectionism or market distortion?

Speakers:

Panel 4 –Hard Data, Real Impact: Digitialising Trust in the Future of Trade

Overview:

Data is no longer a back-office function — it’s the backbone of trust, accountability, and performance in global trade. From climate action and Scope 3 emissions to human rights and anti-corruption compliance, the pressure is on for businesses to demonstrate real progress with verifiable, real-time information.

This panel explores how companies are using digital tools — from traceability platforms to decentralised data systems and ESG verification technologies — to transform the way they manage risk and impact across their value chains. As legal requirements tighten and stakeholder expectations grow, high-quality data is becoming essential to not just meeting obligations, but staying competitive.

We’ll examine how new data infrastructure is helping businesses turn ESG commitments into measurable outcomes, ensure due diligence on people and planet, and build credibility in increasingly complex global markets. The discussion will also highlight how this shift supports nature-positive strategies, strengthens supply chain resilience, and creates new opportunities for cross-sector collaboration and investment.

Discussion Points:

• What does it take to build trust in global supply chains today?
  • The rising bar for data integrity, ESG transparency, and regulatory alignment.
• How are businesses using technology to turn ESG commitments into action?
  • Case studies on traceability, digital MRV, and decentralised data systems.
• Why is high-quality data essential for credible Scope 3 reporting and climate alignment?
  • Opportunities and challenges in supply chain emissions tracking and integration.
• How can data systems support human rights, anti-corruption, and ethical trade?
  • Navigating legal obligations while embedding values into operational practice.
• What’s the role of assurance, verification, and interoperability in scaling impact?
  • Standards, certification, and digital infrastructure for supply chain accountability.
• Where are the investment and innovation opportunities in this evolving landscape?
  • Emerging partnerships, business models, and value creation through data-led sustainability.

Coffee Break

Panel 5: Coalitions That Count: Business Leadership for Sustainable Trade in a Polarised Landscape 

Overview:
As global sustainability regulations accelerate, so too do the political, economic, and ideological tensions shaping them. From the rollback of ESG standards in parts of the US to the EU’s assertive climate and supply chain agenda — and with differing approaches emerging across the Global South — business is increasingly caught between competing expectations and policy frameworks.

These growing divides risk undermining the coherence needed to deliver on ambitious global frameworks such as the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. But they also highlight a powerful opportunity: for businesses to come together and shape a shared, credible response through collaboration.

This panel will explore how trade associations and cross-sector coalitions can provide a united business voice — advocating for fair, science-based regulation, maintaining momentum on ESG, and strengthening resilience in global supply chains. In a polarised world, coalitions that count are those that act, align, and lead with clarity and purpose.

.Discussion Points:

• What does the current geopolitical and regulatory landscape mean for business and ESG?
  • How diverging climate, trade, and supply chain policies are shaping risk, strategy, and investment.
  • The implications of recent political pushback on ESG in key markets.
• Why is collaboration through trade associations and coalitions more important than ever?
  • How collective business voices can cut through fragmentation, reduce compliance burdens, and influence fair, science-aligned policy.
• How can business coalitions defend progress on climate and sustainability without being political?
  • Maintaining credibility and momentum while navigating ideological divides.
• What does it take to align diverse voices — from multinationals to SMEs — behind a shared sustainability agenda?
  • The importance of inclusive, cross-sector collaboration that balances ambition with practical delivery.
• How can coalitions help bridge North–South divides and support global policy coherence?
  • The role of business diplomacy in advancing sustainable trade that is fair, transparent, and responsive to different contexts.
• What happens if business stays silent — and what can be gained by stepping up together?
  • The risks of fragmentation and lost influence versus the potential of aligned, proactive leadership to shape a stable, sustainable global economy.

Closing Keynote – The Future of Sustainable Trade

Final Remarks

• Speaker: Gabrielle Giner, ICC United Kingdom Sustainability Committee Chair

Networking Reception & Drinks