Social equity programs in the cannabis industry have become a business imperative. This panel will discuss how several different operators approach the issue in their organizations.

We will explore the challenges and promises of upcycling cannabis waste into sustainable products.

Investors, employees, and customers are looking to companies up their game regarding environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) practices. This multi-stakeholder approach to capitalism is growing across industries.  Hear from a panel of experts who are advocating for more cannabis companies to drive innovation in this space.

Social equity programs in the cannabis industry have become a business imperative. This panel will discuss how several different operators approach the issue in their organizations.

Cannabis and social transformation.

Like food, the cannabis industry has the power to change the world. Join us as we explore the evolution of good food and how it can set an example of what to do (and not to do) for the sustainable cannabis movement to grow and make a positive impact. This session will dive into the history of the good food movement, lessons learned and the 11 principles cannabis industry professionals can apply today in order to create a more open, transparent, and sustainable industry for all.

It’s no secret...producing cannabis doesn’t come without a strain on the environment. As more states move towards legalization, the industry faces growing pressure to become more sustainable. With stringent regulations and operational codes looming over daily operations, are there sustainable solutions that cannabis companies can adopt? Get a behind-the-scenes peek at real-world hurdles and hear about progress underway to bring more sustainable business practices to the cannabis industry.

An open conversation exploring the fundamental injustice of individuals, particularly people of color, who experienced firsthand the devastating and unjust impact of the criminilization of cannabis, specifically, incarceration for cannabis offenses. These experiences will be juxtaposed with the rising tide of legalization and the burgeoning cannabis industry. The panel will then explore how the legal cannabis industry can work together to help repair these injustices with direct, tangible actions.

The cannabis industry is reported to generate 150M tons of waste annually so what can we do about it. How do we turn from a cost center into a tool to build your brand and create new revenue? The WasteTrakr team looked at a market that gets paid by the number of barrels and takes it to a landfill. We created a path by which recycling efforts can be documented and enables the business to show its impact on carbon footprint and sustainability and share the good news with your customers.

TerraCycle is known for recycling materials others won’t, including Cannabis packaging, and imaging a future where the concept of waste doesn’t exist. Learn about the impact of COVID-19 on recycling and reuse and how business is scaling up.

As legal cannabis sweeps the nation, consumers are demanding transparency from companies on their environmental impacts and social policies. From this demand, various certifications have emerged. This panel will bring together some of the original cannabis certifications with some of the emerging ones, and give consumers an inside perspective on the value proposition and market saturation sought by each.

From LATAM to Europe to Asia and the South Pacific, investors and operators share how the cannabis industry is growing globally and the challenges and opportunities adopting sustainable practices.

While there is no universally accepted standard for regenerative agriculture, companies ranging from Cargill to Patagonia are touting commitments to regenerative production. Philosophically, regenerative agriculture improves soil health, rather than just maintaining it, so can be thought of as a bar above sustainable. Regenerative agricultural practices include cover cropping, intensifying and lengthening crop rotations, and reducing tillage. These practices generally function to build up soil by 1) increasing the amount of living plant cover and photosynthesis (atmospheric carbon capture) and 2) decreasing soil disturbance which increases soil carbon loss via microbial respiration. These practices can help improve the carbon balance of row crop agriculture, relative to the prevailing systems where one-or two-crop grain systems dominate and cover crop adoption, while increasing, is still quite limited (less than 5% of cropland acres nationally). Building soil health isn't just about carbon though, ancillary benefits include improving crop resilience to drought, extreme rainfall, and mitigating pest pressure, in some cases. Together this approach to growing holds much promise for cannabis and other crop producers interested in nurturing a more resilient production system for plants, people, and the planet. 

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility are familiar terms within mainstream business, creative marketing, investments and consumer behavior. With the emergence of the cannabis industry, these concepts are quickly integrating into our industry from the start. This panel will review some of the challenges that companies encounter when trying to create truly sustainable cannabis businesses.

The Emerald Triangle is home to the original US cannabis sungrown farmers. What started as an underground industry has grown into a challenging regulated market in California. We will hear from various multigenerational and sungrown farmers from this region, as they share their stories of how the shift to legal markets have affected their realities.

Discussion on the positive business benefits of sustainability and circular product design. This panel willl share case studies and specific examples of business value realized by small and large companies through the implementation of strategies focused on: material health and safety, design for the circular economy, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, permaculture and social equity.

A robust discussion identifying the regulatory missteps made by states and cities as Adult-Use cannabis legislation is put into place across the nation. Social equity was meant to be a form of reparations for the harm inflicted on communities of color during the war on drugs. However, the realities of standing up a successful cannabis business are expensive, convoluted and difficult to navigate. 

Karim Webb, CEO of LA based SE firm 4thMVMT will be joined by Ron Holmes, co-founder on Chicago based consulting firm Majority-Minority and Mrs. Phyllis Dorsey, a current LA dispensary license holder to discuss SE policies in CA and IL, the changes that are needed to ensure success for Black and Latino communities in cannabis and how the concept of social equity can work in other industries. 

Design Charrettes have been a common practice among Architects and Planners for decades. Over that time, design professionals have used the practice that can be described as “formalized brainstorming” to incorporate early design ideas from all stakeholders. This traditional process establishes an early-stage creative environment to identify and incorporate principles for successful building design and operation. Only in the last 20 years has this process been expanded to include multi-disciplinary principles related to a project’s sustainability. This presentation presents an argument that supports the idea of whole building design charettes, emphasizing the benefits of this process in the context of sustainability and the “triple bottom line,” as it applies to the cannabis industry.

The growth of legal cannabis has come with complications related to prior prohibition of cannabis that disproportionately and adversely impacted people in communities of color. In an attempt to counter this history of disparity, many states, cities and businesses have implemented social equity programs connected to the legalization of medical or recreational cannabis. This panel will discuss some of the social issues that have risen to the surface during the transition into a legal market and highlight various solutions that emerged.

It's not often that an entirely new legal industry springs up practically overnight after having been mostly illegal for decades. Unlike most emerging industries, cannabis already has a long-established consumer base for both recreational and medical uses, raising the question of how fast and how big the industry will grow, and what ethics will emerge from the start. There are also significant sustainability risks in the cannabis industry that potentially threaten its success. Investors should consider these risks as they evaluate their investments. This panel will review some of these risks, and discuss how investors can leverage their financial power to push to cannabis industry towards a more sustainable future.

Marketing in the cannabis industry is extremely competitive, and has quickly led to industry leadership and consumer loyalty. This panel will review some of the strategies brands are using to authentically connect with consumers, and shed light into what we can expect from top brands in the future.