Panel on Investing in Worker Reskilling to Help Drive Corporate Sustainability Targets

We are pleased to host alongside the Ares Charitable Foundation a fireside chat and panel, “Investing in Worker Reskilling to Help Drive Corporate Sustainability Targets,” during UNGA and Climate Week NYC on career preparation and reskilling toward a low-carbon future. The dialogue will focus on strategies to advance workforce solutions that increase equitable access to high-opportunity, high-paying jobs in a growing green economy.

Corporate supply chain goals are missing something: people. Climate change has prompted companies to set sustainability targets, leading them to require the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) they depend on to help meet these goals. However, companies frequently overlook the need to reskill SME workers in sustainability best practices to better achieve reduced greenhouse gas emissions. And when companies cancel contracts with SMEs that fail to help meet their targets, people and global supply chains suffer.

This discussion will explore how Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow (CREST) – a 5-year, $25 million initiative of the Ares Charitable Foundation – examines and communicates the systematic challenges that SMEs and their workers face in meeting companies’ mandates to help lessen climate impacts. The program will include insights from CREST partner World Resources Institute regarding how this initiative helps:

• Reskill workers for a viable future in the growing green economy;
• Reduce the exacerbated inequities between large and small companies in global supply chains;
• Minimize financial exposure for supply chain investors; and
• Encourage equitable partnerships that boost bottom lines.

In addition, LinkedIn will provide insights on the panel and unpack their Global Green Skills Report 2024, which encourages strengthening workers’ green skills to better meet workforce demands. We hope you are able to join us in New York for this important and timely forum.