GreenBiz Launches Bloom 23 to Highlight How Business Leadership Can Confront the Climate and Biodiversity Crises

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 1, 2023 /3BL Media/ - With growing concerns about the business impacts of biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, GreenBiz Group is launching Bloom 23, a conference focused on company strategies to protect and regenerate nature, to be co-located with VERGE 23, the largest climate tech event in North America.

Over the course of two interactive days, Bloom 23 will help catalyze a community of companies, innovators and experts from leading organizations and Indigenous groups. Participants will explore the markets, technologies and partnerships key to addressing the climate and biodiversity crises hand-in-hand.

“Corporations are waking up to the reality that biodiversity impacts their operations’ bottom lines, including their ability to deliver on climate commitments,” said Theresa Lieb, Senior Director of Nature and Food Systems at GreenBiz. “Bloom aims to build and nurture a new community focused on accelerating solutions to both.”

VERGE 23 is the center of gravity for the climate tech community — leaders from business, government, finance and startups — working together to address the climate crisis across the six key programs that comprise the event: Buildings, Carbon, Energy, Food, Startups and Transport. The annual event attracts thousands of participants and convenes some of the biggest actors leveraging the power of technology to confront the climate crisis and ensure a just transition to a clean economy.

“The co-location of Bloom 23 with VERGE 23 acknowledges the inextricable interconnection between climate and biodiversity,” said Shana Rappaport, Senior Vice President of Climate Tech and Executive Director of VERGE. “While the climate crisis has been front and center for much of today’s business world, companies are recognizing that we can’t solve the climate crisis without also solving for biodiversity loss. We are thrilled to expand our scope and reach by co-locating Bloom and VERGE.”

The co-location of the two events underscores that flourishing ecosystems are critical to both mitigating and adapting to growing climate impacts. Moreover, companies are recognizing the importance of global biodiversity to the overall health and resilience of their operations and supply chains.

Among the topics to be covered at Bloom 23:

• Creating a “nature-positive” business strategy
• Engaging Indigenous and local groups, suppliers and other partners
• Understanding the fast-changing biodiversity policy landscape
• Emerging tools, technologies and other resources
• Case studies from leadership companies

“We are in a race against time, and the private sector has a critical role now to turn risk into opportunity at speed and scale. We need all innovators, disruptors and ecopreneurs on deck for nature and climate,” said Tim Christophersen, Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce.

“As Indigenous Peoples, we think long term, and we try to do what we think is going to be best in the long term. Land, culture, and identity are interwoven, they are one and the same, resulting in 80% of the remaining global biodiversity being on Indigenous Peoples’ lands and waters. I look forward to participating in Bloom to help other stakeholders understand how to respect Indigenous Peoples' jurisdictions and invest in their knowledge,” said Steven Nitah, former Chief of the ŁuTsël K’e Dene First Nation.

Bloom 23 is launching with the support of more than two dozen allied organizations, including the Biomimicry Institute, Business for Nature, Capitals Coalition, MRV Collective, Nature for Justice, Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Wildlife Habitat Council and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

“Nature has huge economic value, but that value is at risk as we face dual challenges of nature loss and climate change. We need business leadership to understand and address their impacts and dependencies on nature, and to help halt and reverse nature loss so we can build a nature positive future,” added Sheila Bonini, Senior Vice President of Private Sector Engagement at WWF. “Bloom will provide a platform for the critical conversations and collaborations that will allow us to act at the pace and scale needed.”

“There’s a powerful, pivotal movement taking shape: companies acknowledging, measuring and addressing the value that nature brings to their operations and supply chains,” said William Sisson, Executive Director of WBCSD North America. “WBCSD is proud to partner with Bloom as we work alongside our members who will play critical roles in accelerating this important movement.”

Professionals interested in learning more can visit the Bloom 23 and VERGE 23 websites. Select media are invited to attend for free. To apply, contact Sam Dow, samantha@greenbiz.com.

Category-exclusive sponsorship and brand integrations for Bloom 23 and VERGE 23 are still available. For more information, contact Natalie Rasmus, natalie@greenbiz.com.

ABOUT GREENBIZ 
GreenBiz Group empowers professional communities to confront the climate crisis. We do this through media, events and peer networks that help professionals understand the emerging technologies, business practices, policies and societal expectations that companies, cities and others need to know to succeed. www.greenbiz.com