A New Era of Public Procurement Policy: Supplier Disclosures of Climate Information

Brought to you by a joint partnership between SPLC and CERES

Join SPLC and Ceres as we explore an emerging trend in sustainable procurement: corporate climate reporting and transition plans. Historically, public-sector buyers have collected information from vendors regarding their policies and actions, including whether they have enough financial resources, and their history of following laws. Today, new types of organization-wide data is being collected from large suppliers: information on greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related financial risks, and strategies for transitioning to low-pollution business models. Panelists will explain why local, state and national governments view this information as essential for protecting taxpayers from the growing financial risks of climate and for maintaining supply chain resilience.

Learning objectives:

• Develop greater knowledge about important trends in public procurement and how procurement rules can be designed to advance sustainability and reduce financial risk
• Adopt greater preparedness for the shift toward enterprise-level disclosures in government contracting
• Understand current thinking about collaborations within companies, such as between those with enterprise risk management and climate change reporting functions and those with government contracting functions
• Identify practical strategies for public and private sector buyers to reduce climate-related risk and improve procurement outcomes

Featuring:

Moderator: Steven Rothstein, Managing Director, Ceres Accelerator

Steven M. Rothstein is the founding Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets.

The Ceres Accelerator aims to transform the practices and policies that govern capital markets in order to accelerate reduction of the worst financial impacts of the climate crisis and other sustainability threats.

Steven’s 40 years of experience will be critical to explore the mst effective strategies for the Accelerator to focus on and move capital markets towards climate sustainability.

He has worked at local, state, federal and international levels of government. Steven served on many non-profit and government boards. He has spoken and written extensively and worked with partners in the corporate, non-profit, government and philanthropy sectors.

Senator Catherine Blakespear, 38th District

Catherine Blakespear was elected in 2022 as the state senator for the 38th District, which represents northern San Diego County and southern Orange County. She previously served eight years in local government – six years as the Encinitas Mayor and two on the Encinitas City Council.
In her first two years in the Senate, Blakespear has focused on increasing the affordability and availability of housing, protecting the environment, improving public transportation, curbing the cost of living, preventing gun violence and countering climate change.

Blakespear sits on the Senate’s committees on governmental organization and transportation. She is on the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and Budget Subcommittee 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy. She is Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and Chair of the Senate Transportation Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Resiliency, which is tasked with improving support for the 351-mile rail line that runs from San Diego to San Luis Obispo and faces climate change threats. She also is on the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies. 
 
Blakespear authored 19 bills in 2023 and 2024 that have been passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. That includes environmental legislation that bans plastic bags from being provided at grocery store checkouts, and gun violence prevention legislation to ensure people undergoing mental health crises turn in their firearms.  

In addition, she has hosted and attended dozens of events in Senate District 38 to raise awareness about critical issues, engage communities she represents and celebrate accomplished individuals and businesses. She has held two policy summits on ending homelessness, for instance, bringing together leading policymakers and experts in homelessness to find solutions to this humanitarian crisis.

Blakespear has been a champion of women’s reproductive rights since before entering public life. A lawyer and former journalist, Blakespear lives with her husband and two teenagers in Encinitas.

Dr Helen Tooze, Senior Policy Researcher, Canada Climate Law Initiative

Helen Tooze is a Senior Policy Researcher with the Canada Climate Law Initiative through a postdoctoral research fellowship with the University of British Columbia. She has authored three climate-risk governance guides for directors of Canadian credit unions, major mining firms, and the real estate sector. Helen holds a PhD from UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, an MA with distinction in Banking and Law from Bangor University, Wales, and an LLB (Honours) degree from The Open University, England. Her research interests encompass banking and securities law, financial intermediation, corporate governance, structured finance, mandatory climate reporting, sustainable finance and financial systemic risk in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Since 2019, she has contributed to the Canada Climate Law Initiative through research on climate governance, disclosure, and comparative climate regulatory policy.