CEF Member Benefits

CEF Leaders Retreat

June 15-18, 2026 | Tamaya Resort, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM  (outside Albuquerque)

The CEF Retreat is an invitation-only, not-for-attribution meeting limited to a select number of executives from CEF’s diverse membership, designed to inspire breakthrough thinking, deepen trusted relationships, and generate actionable insights to accelerate sustainable business problem-solving and innovation.

Who Can Attend?

• The executive sponsor(s) from each member company determine whom to invite from within their organization.
• Each CEF member company's delegation may include 3 senior executives-- usually the Chief Sustainability Officer or equivalent, plus other influential leaders on their team or from other functional areas at the VP and senior director level. At their discretion, sponsors may wish to invite a younger high-potential "rising star" to join the delegation. 
  

Agenda

Members drive the agenda through a highly iterative process, via input by surveys and phone calls throughout the year. Sponsors and retreat registrants will receive a detailed registration form with the preliminary draft agenda in March, inviting input to shape the meeting agenda.  Executives who commit to attending early have the greatest influence on the agenda. See 2025 retreat agenda retreat agenda for an illustrative example.

For questions, please contact CEF Executive Director, Amy O'Meara

Climate Week NYC

CEF provides a special member-only opportunity to enjoy good company, food and groovy tunes, while reflecting on the week’s most inspiring experiences and themes as you watch the sun set over Manhattan. Join us on Thursday, September 25th, from 6-9pm at Dear Irving on Hudson Rooftop Bar. Contact CEF Chair Laura Keenan for more details and to RSVP.

Private Not-for-Attribution Roundtables

• Carefully curated, small-group dialogues around topics prioritized by members.
• Designed to foster synthesis of best practices, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and catalytic action.
• Safe space for highly candid dialogue.
• Varying formats depending on the nature of the topic.
• Pre-arranged breakout rooms and table discussions are limited in size to enable dynamic, highly interactive conversations.
• Weekly Virtual Program Update emailed to CEF Sponsors and designated team members every Thursday.

CSO-level Peer Huddles

• Private, high-trust space for peer-to-peer dialogue on topics unique to the CSO role.
• Exclusively for the CSO-level peer set (the top-ranking sustainability or environmental executive) at each member company.

Ad Hoc Meetings

• ”Behind the Scenes" Sessions to learn from fellow members who have offered to candidly delve into case studies and share practical lessons learned.
• Briefings on topics of broad interest to the entire member community.
• Special in-person meetings to go deeper on topics of shared interest and explore action ideas.
• Meetings with thought leaders who excel at assessing trends and intersections among them (societal, science and technological, regulatory, economic, geopolitical, security).

CEF Weekly Briefing

Top sustainability news and resources for sustainability leaders

• A crisp memo delivered Monday morning at 6:00am ET
• Uncluttered, easy-to-skim format
• Covers the most notable news: major corporate sustainability announcements, success stories, technology innovations, policy updates, NGO news, and new tools and research
• No advertising to maintain editorial integrity
• Members may publicize sustainability job openings
• Sign up here

CEF Monthly Research Digest

An executive briefing on new and notable sustainability reports

• Bullet-pointed summaries of noteworthy publications
• Emailed to CEF executive sponsors and anyone else at member companies who request it
• Back issues available in the CEF Member Center
• Sign up here and back issues available here

Special Research

To support outstanding meetings and collaborative action, CEF also works as needed to synthesize current corporate practices and trends in areas where analysis is lacking and to conduct landscape analyses of important action initiatives in areas members prioritize. Examples:

• 2025: CEF conducted a timely pulse survey to benchmark CEF members’ strategies, organizational structures, and reporting dynamics during a time of significant political headwinds and uncertainty.
  
  
• 2022: CEF produced an interactive map to help sustainability, supply chain & procurement executives find valuable tools and spaces to help them achieve impact across their value chains: “Advancing Sustainable Value Chains: An Ecosystem Map of Notable Standards, Initiatives, and Resources.”
  
  
• 2021: CEF partnered with ESG Navigator to gather corporate practitioner insights about the importance, stature, selection criteria, and benefits of major ESG frameworks and ratings.
  

CEF Member Center

The CEF Member Center is a password-protected, constantly updated website that houses a treasure trove of information for members, including upcoming meeting information, curated news, resources, and research by topic area, bullet-pointed summaries of notable sustainability accomplishments by CEF members, and an archive of CEF publications and meeting summaries. Any employee of a CEF member company may gain access.

--> To invite your colleagues to access the Member Center, simply instruct them to:

1. Visit cefmembercenter.com
2. Click "First Time User" button
3. Enter their work email address - valid email addresses from CEF member companies will be approved automatically
4. You can also share this PDF with instructions.

 Questions or need help, contact Mike Rama: mike@corporateecoforum.com 

Trusted Introductions

CEF’s trusted network affords members many ways to connect for peer-to-peer learning and exchange. Contact CEF Deputy Director Mike Rama to collaborate with others.

• Proactively facilitate private one-on-one or small-group meetings with peers who offer valuable experience and/or share an interest in your specific questions/topics.

• Once a month, privately share among CEF “Peer Asks and Offers” for trusted advice, opportunities to collaborate, and notices about notable events. Recent topics surveyed include: Auditing outsourced labor providers; Double materiality & ESG/sustainability assessments; Employee support during disasters and emergencies; Legal counsel specializing in ESG regulation; Scope 3, Cat.1supplier engagement, consultants and tools; Sustainability accounting tools; Sustainability team titles; Tools for internally reviewing sustainability reports; VPPA REC ownership
  

Special Initiatives

Over the years CEF has served as an incubator for impactful ideas that bubble up from our community of influential leaders representing over $6 trillion in revenue. When there are clear opportunities to add complementary value and to identify, accelerate, and bring scale to existing solutions, we harness our neutral convening space to help move such ideas to action. For example:

• 2024 – 2025: CEF is supporting small member exploratory groups on various topics, including a possible open-sourced product life-cycle assessment tool and practical solutions to close gaps in Scope 2 market-based carbon accounting methodology.

• 2019-2023: CEF convened confidential consultation processes to collate feedback from the majority of CEF member companies that expressed concerns about methods and approaches of the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and Greenhouse Gas Protocol. CEF channeled collective feedback to the SBTi and GHG Protocol teams and brokered a series of private calls with SBTi and GHGP leadership.

• 2021-2022: CEF supported 5 member companies–Google, Apple, Amazon, Dell, and Microsoft–to incubate and launch a collaborative year-long pilot project in Denver, CO to roll out an innovative doorstep collection model for consumer electronics recycling.

• 2020-2021: CEF convened a confidential consultation with 17 member companies who expressed interest in providing collective feedback to RE100, in hopes of deepening RE100’s engagement with the corporate sector and addressing significant concerns members have around technical requirements, governance, company communication, and engagement.

• 2016: CEF partnered with US BCSD and WBCSD on the Materials Marketplace, a national-scale B2B materials reuse platform, recognized with a prestigious “Circulars” Award at Davos. Acquired by Rheaply in 2022, the Materials Marketplace now has a dedicated team and more resources to facilitate and support the platform’s continued growth and success.

• 2012: At the Rio+20 Earth Summit, CEF showcased natural capital business leadership by releasing a groundbreaking report, “The New Business Imperative: Valuing Natural Capital," which featured 24 company commitments demonstrating nature’s value to business.

To explore ideas, contact Executive Director Amy O’Meara.

The C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership

Membership Expectations

As an intentionally intimate, invitation-only forum, CEF has the unique ability to engage a select group of large, influential companies that meet and retain stringent membership expectations, including:

• Demonstrated positive company sustainability impact and/or influence.
• Demonstrated integration of sustainability into core business strategy.
• Demonstrated sustainability leadership & progress.
• Strong company integrity and corporate values, and cultural alignment with CEF.
• Active engagement in the CEF community - learning from and contributing to it.
• Investment in the success of the CEF network- Embrace, own, and be an ambassador of the CEF culture of trust and candor, actively contributing to the network.
• Authentic modeling of self-reflection, humility, vulnerability, and a growth mindset, with a bias for action and integrity to accomplish the level of transformation needed.
• Fully embracing the CEF Community Principles.
  

Community Principles

Thoughtful human interaction is foundational. CEF convenings are designed to foster a robust, open dialogue through active participation and a shared commitment to progress. Each session is carefully curated to connect peers who work on or have knowledge of the topic being discussed. The following community principles enable deeper relationships and trust among members:

• Demonstrate respect for all members and their opinions, the Chatham House Rule of non-attribution, and the CEF antitrust statement and pre-competitive environment.
• Everyone is a speaker, and members are expected to proactively engage in discussions. Practice active listening, curiosity, presence during meetings, deep candor, sharing ideas, and generously helping others—they will return the favor!
• Strict “no selling” policy for goods or services. Leave the sales pitch at the door. CEF does not allow media, consultants, or vendors into any CEF events. 
  

Important Roles & Responsibilities
(to make the most of your membership)

• CEF Sponsor:  Acts as CEF’s main member point of contact and orchestrates how the company and its executives engage in the CEF community. Sponsors receive all CEF communications and determine the appropriate executives best suited to actively participate in CEF’s various offerings & outreach. To preserve CEF's distinctive culture of trust, openness, and camaraderie, we appreciate your consideration of the most appropriate colleague to engage in each meeting and that you kindly avoid distributing invitations widely - CEF offers engaging roundtable discussions rather than webinars. 



• CEF Chief of Staff:  Members have had success appointing a “CEF Chief of Staff” or someone to distribute CEF offerings to appropriate internal team members based on the topic being discussed. This role is cc’d on all CEF Sponsor communications.