TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 will have a whole new look this fall with one aim in mind: bring together investors, founders and technologists who have specific industry interests all under one roof at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Disrupt has always been big. But this year we’re folding TC Sessions, the standalone industry events that are traditionally held throughout the year, into the big annual tech event.

Disrupt will have six industry tracks, each with its own stage, including AI, fintech, hardware, SaaS, security and sustainability. Yup, sustainability, a category that will combine transportation, climate tech, smart cities and renewables.

What the heck is sustainable tech, anyway? In our experience, it’s a moving target. The term is arguably many things: aspirational, a misnomer, a buzzword and a catch-all for products and services that are less environmentally destructive than doing business as normal.

To us, the goal of sustainable tech is simply to do less harm to the planet (thus sustaining something close to life as we know it). Yet, how to achieve that goal — without resting on piecemeal tweaks and greenwashing — is a rich and messy topic worth probing.

That is what we aim to do on the Sustainability Stage — discuss material ways to mitigate the damage we’re doing, while interrogating bullshit and distractions along the way.

The stakes have never been higher. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said with the release of its sixth major assessment, “keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors.” The tech industry must do its part by drawing down scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, cleaning up its pollutive supply chains and accelerating the transition to renewables.

Disrupt in particular is all about startups. The specific areas we’re eager to dig into this year via panels and fireside chats include: fixing the broken U.S. power grid, examining how cities will adapt to more frequent extreme weather events, mitigating fast fashion’s environmental toll and rethinking some of the world’s most-loved beverages.

Book your early bird pass today and save $800 to the startup event of the year. Prices go up May 12.

Sustainability at Disrupt by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/03/sustainability-at-disrupt/