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Day 1: Developments in Human Rights Due Diligence, AI in ESG and Carbon Markets

Michael Littenberg

Senior Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Michael Littenberg is a senior partner at Ropes & Gray. Michael is the global head of the firm’s ESG, CSR and Business and Human Rights practice. As part of his practice, for more than 30 years, Michael has been active in advising leading public and private companies on ESG, corporate social responsibility and business and human rights compliance matters, and he is widely viewed as one of the leading practitioners in this emerging area.

Erik Autor

Of Counsel, Barlow & Company LLC

Erik O. Autor, Esq. is Of Counsel with the customs and international trade law firm of Barlow & Company, LLC in Washington, DC and separately manages a trade consultancy, Autor Global Strategies, LLC. Prior to returning to private law practice, he was President of the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones (NAFTZ), representing stakeholders in the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) Program. With extensive experience in international trade and investment, customs, corporate social responsibility/ESG, and global supply chain management, Mr. Autor counsels corporate clients on import/export laws and regulations, including representation before government agencies that regulate international trade, advocacy in courts of law to seek relief from adverse actions by those agencies, lobbying the U.S. Congress on legislative/policy issues, developing and advocating policy positions issues before international organizations, and reducing operational costs and expanding market access through duty-savings programs, such as the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Program, and policy initiatives such as opportunities through nearshoring/ friendshoring. Mr. Autor’s other professional experience includes serving as Vice President and International Trade Counsel at the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association; International Trade Counsel and Senior International Trade Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Finance for Senator William Roth (R-DE) and Senator Robert Packwood (R-OR) during Congressional consideration of major trade agreements and legislation such as NAFTA, the Uruguay Round, and the Customs Modernization Act; associate attorney in the trade practice at the law firm of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom; and law clerk to a federal judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade. Mr. Autor received a J.D. and LL.M. from Duke University School of Law, an M.Sc. (Econ.) from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. (magna cum laude) from UCLA. He is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Sarah E. Fortt

Partner, Latham & Watkins

Sarah E. Fortt is counsel at Latham & Watkins. Sarah is the Global Co-Chair of the ESG practice at Latham & Watkins. Before joining Latham, Sarah was the mind behind the creation of one of the first cross-functional ESG groups at a U.S.-based global law firm, where she also served as the firm’s dedicated corporate governance expert. Sarah is a key thought leader in U.S. corporate governance and on matters regarding environmental and social corporate risks and opportunities, including those relating to climate change, human rights and corporate culture. She regularly helps clients create consistent, effective and meaningful stakeholder communications (both required and voluntary). Sarah has worked with companies across multiple industries in times of calm and in times of crisis, as well as during key strategic transactions. Sarah has created a unique perspective on and approach to corporate cultural wellness that connects an in-depth understanding of leadership, governance, the ethics and compliance functions, employee incentives and initiatives, and corporate risk and crisis management. She has a sophisticated understanding of incentive structures and how they function across various levels of an organization given an organization’s strategies, goals and “sacred cows.”

Andrew Britton

CEO, Kumi Consulting

Andrew is the founder and CEO of Kumi, a specialist advisory firm that focuses on responsible supply chains and human rights due diligence. Kumi works at all levels of the value chain and across diverse industry sectors, helping companies to assess human rights and broader ESG risks, build and implement effective management systems and improve their performance. Kumi is also at the forefront of the evolving regulatory compliance agenda for human rights due diligence, working closely with the OECD and the European Commission on the implementation of due diligence requirements under the EU’s Conflict Minerals and Battery regulations.

Reco Charity

Senior ESG Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Reco Charity is a senior associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, within the firms Sustainability & ESG Advisory group. He has also been a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and Merger & Acquisitions practice. Reco focuses his practice on advising clients on sustainability strategy, integration, disclosure and governance; mergers and acquisitions; corporate governance; sustainability-linked financings; and general corporate matters. He provides strategic counsel to global private equity firms and companies across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, technology, banking and others. In addition, Reco represents a number of nonprofit clients on a pro bono basis.

Tyson McDowell

Managing Partner, Greatscale Ventures

Tyson is cofounder and managing partner of Greatscale Ventures, and a thought leader on the subject of positively merging humans with AI-driven technologies. After nearly 20 years of experience in building and running companies as CEO, CTO or President, and watching the world change dramatically as a result of high-scale technologies permeating everyday life, he realized the need to scale up his own efforts to impact humanity with tech. While technology and business are his focus, Aviation is a core passion. Tyson is a certified private pilot with instrument, multi-engine, helicopter and various type ratings. He resides in San Diego, CA with his daughter Amelia, is a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO), and is Vice Chairman of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Matthew Sekol

Global ESG and Sustainability Advisor, Microsoft

Matt is a Sustainability Global Black Belt at Microsoft, where he advises companies and partners on ESG issues and trends. He has over 20 years of experience enhancing technology and operations by creating cutting-edge products across industries. He serves on the LP Advisory Committee of Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund, which supports diverse-led and founded startups.Matt uses his skills to translate complex, disconnected ideas to senior stakeholders and develops innovative strategies to manage risk and deliver new market opportunities. He speaks, writes, and was recognized by Onalytica as 'Who's Who in ESG.’ In addition, Matt has participated in whitepapers on ESG, including biodiversity and data quality, and regularly speaks on the connections between ESG and technology. He has written a book called “ESG Mindset,” which makes the concept accessible from the board to individual contributors. He also writes a weekly newsletter called The ESG Advocate at esgadvocate.substack.com.

Ana Carolina Avzaradel Szklo

Technical Director of Markets and Standards, Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative

Ana Carolina Avzaradel Szklo is the Technical Director – Markets and Standards at VCMI, leading the organization’s technical work and managing the Expert Advisory Group. She is responsible for further developing and implementing the VCMI Claims Code of Practice, to ensure corporate engagement with voluntary carbon markets and that VCMI claims are credible and robust. Ana manages the Markets and Standards Team who support this work to secure appropriate governance and research surrounding the Code’s development. Ana has 19 years’ experience working on themes of sustainability across 20 countries and in diverse contexts ranging from climate negotiations within the UNFCCC and IPCC to project development and advocacy. Ana previously served as the Sustainability Manager of Humanize Institute, a Brazilian philanthropic organization focused on sustainable development and fostering income generation. Prior to this, she worked as the Technical Development Director of the Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS) and as liaison to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a global network of environmentally minded corporate CEOs that convenes over 200 companies as well as in the Brazilian Designated Authority under the Ministry of Science and Technology. She maintains a wide network of collaborators including leaders from the business, government, NGO and academic sectors. Ana is an economist and has a Master’s degree in Environmental and Energy Planning, serving as a member of the UNFCCC Roster of Experts as an energy expert and lead reviewer of national greenhouse gas inventories.

Saif Bhatti

CEO, Renoster

Founder and CEO: 9 years in sustainability, environmental monitoring, international carbon footprints and offset purchasing. Techstars Sustainability ’21. Data scientist and researcher.

Elizabeth Geller

Director of Energy and Climate Practice, 3Degrees

Elizabeth Geller is a consulting professional, engineer, and project manager with nine years of experience in the environmental compliance and sustainability fields. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University and spent the early part of her career conducting air quality emissions analyses and advising industrial clients on compliance with the US Clean Air Act. In her current role, Elizabeth advises corporate clients on climate goal setting, renewable energy procurement strategy, carbon credit procurement strategy, greenhouse gas emission quantification, and supplier engagement. Elizabeth has supported clients in a wide variety of industries including power generation, natural gas transmission, materials manufacturing, consumer goods, aerospace, mining, data centers, and food manufacturing. Combining her background in engineering and air quality compliance with her current focus on climate mitigation, she brings a unique perspective of understanding corporate sustainability goals alongside operational facility needs.

Dr. Mark C. Trexler

Director of Climate Change Advisory, The Climatographers

Dr. Mark C. Trexler has more than 30 years of regulatory and energy policy experience. He has advised clients around the world on climate change risk and risk management. Mark joined the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, in 1988, where he worked on the first carbon offset project, the CARE Agroforestry Project in Guatemala. Mark founded and directed Trexler Climate + Energy Services (TC+ES) from 1991–2007. After TC+ES was acquired by EcoSecurities’ in 2007, Mark directed its Global Consulting Services Group until 2009, and was Director of Climate Risk for the global risk management firm of Det Norske Veritas from 2009-2012. He is widely published on business risk management topics surrounding climate change, including in the design and deployment of carbon markets. Mark has served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and holds advanced degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lawrence Heim

Editor, PracticalESG.com

Lawrence Heim has been practicing in the field of ESG management for almost 40 years. He began his career as a legal assistant in the Environmental Practice of Vinson & Elkins working for a partner who is nationally recognized and an adjunct professor of environmental law at the University of Texas Law School. He moved into technical environmental consulting with ENSR Consulting & Engineering at the height of environmental regulatory development, working across a range of disciplines. He was one of the firm’s leading environmental compliance and management systems auditors and helped create the company’s first national practice for environmental auditing. Among his professional highlights during this time was developing an innovative regulatory strategy that saved a major petroleum refinery $150 million in waste management costs associated with a new waste listing. Lawrence became an in-house environmental audit manager with Georgia-Pacific, then a publicly traded Fortune 150 manufacturer. At Georgia-Pacific, he designed and implemented a comprehensive redesign of the company’s internal environmental audit and corrective action program which was later approved without modification by EPA and Department of Justice as part of a $120 million Clean Air Act settlement. He was also one of the company’s primary experts on waste management regulations. It was during this time he was granted a charter Certified Professional Environmental Auditor (CPEA) designation from the Board of Environmental Auditor Certifications during their inaugural year. Lawrence joined Marsh USA and helped create the Global Environmental Risk Consulting Practice, shifting his focus from compliance to a broader vision of environmental impacts to business and risk management, working with clients to reduce their environmental risk profile by adapting traditional risk management processes and tools. At the same time, he continued to provide regulatory compliance support to clients and was Marsh USA’s primary environmental regulatory expert nationally. As a partner at Elm Consulting Group, he continued providing international clients support on environmental, health and safety compliance and management systems. He founded subsidiary Elm Sustainability Partners and became an internationally recognized expert in conflict minerals, responsible minerals supply chain due diligence and associated audit programs/practices. He was the only non-financial auditor selected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to participate as an expert panelist on the conflict minerals rule and provided guidance on non-financial auditing to US Departments of State and Commerce. Lawrence remains one of only a handful of auditors to have conducted Independent Private Sector Audits (IPSAs) of Conflict Minerals Reports submitted to the SEC under Dodd Frank Section 1502. While at Elm, he was voted to the Board of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Environmental, Safety and Health Audit Center. During his time at the Responsible Business Alliance/Responsible Minerals Initiative, he led an unprecedented period of due diligence standards development, including spearheading an expansion into ESG standards for responsible mineral supply chains. Lawrence is the author of Killing Sustainability (2018, 2022) and is a former Board Member of ASSET, the anti-slavery organization founded by award-winning actress and former UN Goodwill Ambassador Julia Ormond.