If you’re around the Bay area (in the US) from October 23 to 26, get yourself along to this…

The 15th Business Social Responsibility Conference this year has the theme “designing a sustainable future”.

Topics covered include: “China’s Rising Influence in Africa: Is there Room for CSR?”

· “Are Global Companies a Thing of the Past?”

· “Carbon Footprinting Up and Down the Supply Chain”

· “NGOs in the YouTube World: Prepare for the Onslaught”

· “With Mainstream Banks in the Game, What is the Role for Socially Responsible Investing?”

“With sustainability now firmly on the business agenda, we must grasp the opportunity to convert actions into impacts on a global scale,” said Aron Cramer, President and CEO of BSR. “This year’s conference will feature exciting examples of cutting-edge efforts and also inspire new initiatives and collaborations.”

There is a bit of CSR stuff, so beware of that bit. But speakers include:

· Cynthia Carroll – CEO of Anglo American, one of the world’s largest mining companies, who is taking on a host of business challenges relating to worker safety, energy use and the environment.
· Dr. Gerd Leipold – Executive Director of Greenpeace International, whose organization has forged a unique partnership with the Coca-Cola Company.
· Robert Eckert – Chairman and CEO of Mattel, Inc., who is guiding the company’s efforts to responsibly and transparently manage product recalls and improve product safety standards.
· Vinod Khosla – Founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and Partner at Khosla Ventures, who is a major investor and driving force in the green technology movement.
· Robert B. Reich – Former U.S. Secretary of Labor and author of Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life, a new book that challenges corporate responsibility.
· Sir Michael Rake – International Chairman of KPMG and new Chairman of BT Group Plc, who is an expert on corporate transparency.

Delegates are coming from companies , such as Dell, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, IKEA, Levi Strauss & Co., MGM Mirage, MTV Europe, Nike, SK Telecom and Toshiba, and NGOs including Friends of the Earth, Human Rights Watch, the International Labour Organization, Oxfam International, Stellenbosch University and Witness.

Should be a good one…