Bringing Projects to Scale

Today and tomorrow, the Yale Center for Business and the Environment and the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development will address the successes, disappointments, and lessons learned from decades of experience with precisely this challenge.

Conference discussions will range from the top-level keynote by Christine Bader (Yale SOM ’00), “Why Scaling Up Is So Damn Hard,” to finely focused panels on a range of issues, including urban planning, materials management, and the American public's attitudes on climate change. In every case, panelists will offer insights for embedding social and environmental sustainability into the daily operations of an organization—be it a Fortune 500 company or a small, local government—and then taking these efforts to scale.

In addition to leaders from industry, NGOs, and government, the Yale Center for Business and the Environment will convene thought-leaders from across the university: Paul Anastas, widely known as “The Father of Green Chemistry” and Professor at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will discuss transformative innovation after a session with Professor Karen Seto on sustainability and urbanization, also of F&ES and a lead author for this year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. David Bach will represent the School of Management in a discussion titled “Creating Competitive Advantage Beyond the Market.” Marian Chertow, Director of the Industrial Environmental Management Program at Yale, will discuss the end-of-life opportunities for composite materials, while Marc Brackett, a psychologist by training and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, will describe how to influence without authority. The interdisciplinary richness at this year’s conference is sure to push old ideas far and assemble new ideas when far is not far enough.