Climate Action brings the private sector to COP23

On Monday, the 23rd annual Conference of the Parties (COP23) kicked off in Bonn under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the main aim to set the grounds of the Paris Agreement implementation.

In 2015, the international community celebrated the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement during COP21; the very first truly international agreement with more than 185 countries pledging to combat climate change. That was a win indeed.

Two years later, the climate community is reaching a tipping point with many challenges yet to be tackled. This June, President Donald Trump formally asked to withdraw the United States from the agreement, creating numerous questions as to how the world’s largest economy leaving the pact will affect the future of climate talks.

Ahead of this year’s negotiations, UN Environment published its annual emissions gap report arguing that current pledges from countries are falling short of what is needed to achieve the Paris goals and keep global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

However, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) published a report last week, “Creating Markets for Climate Business”, in support of maintaining the momentum for climate action. The report makes a strong case that there are “myriad” opportunities for the private sector to get involved by showing the way on how governments can create and maintain strong climate markets.

The Paris Agreement set out principles, but not the details of implementation, meaning that the Bonn meeting will be vital in building the rules that will enable the Paris goals.

As the private sector played a pivotal role in making the Paris Agreement happen, it holds the key to maintaining the momentum and to fostering much-needed progress.

Climate Action, in a unique partnership with UN Environment, has been hosting the Sustainable Innovation Forum for eight consecutive years, where it brings together policymakers and the private and technological sector to exchange knowledge, inspiration, and successful business cases to prove that climate action has become inherent to the new ‘business-as-usual’.

This year, the 8th Sustainable Innovation Forum, the largest business-focused event alongside COP23, will take place on the 13th-14th November, next to the Bula negotiations zone, bringing together over 600+ carefully chosen delegates and 75+ handpicked speakers to talk about a wide range of climate business topics.

The “Accelerating the Energy Transition” panel will host representatives from Fortum Corporation, Orsted (former DONG Energy) and Siemens AG to discuss with the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Environment Roseanna Cunningham, and the Norwegian Ministrer of Climate & Environment Vidar Helgesen.

Representatives from Bloomberg News Energy Finance, Eaton Corporation, UK Energy and Gas Regulator Ofgem and the Renewable Energy Association will discuss the changing energy business models in the wake of increased opportunities that energy storage technologies offer.

BMW Group, Westport, the Indonesian Biofuels Producer Association, California’s Secretary for Environmental Protection Matt Rodriquez, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy of British Columbia, among others, will start off the discussion of accelerating the transformation to a clean transport and mobility system.

Other topics that will be discussed in-depth are the role of climate-smart agriculture, air pollution mitigation and health in big cities, liveable cities and sustainable infrastructure, and scaling-up finance to reach the Paris Agreement Commitments.

Speaker highlights include Jerry Brown, Governor of California; Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Scotland;  Erik Solheim, Executive Director of UN Environment and Environment and Energy Ministers from countries all over the world, including Denmark, Ecuador, Maldives, Luxembourg, Estonia and Ethiopia.   

You can access the full 2-days conference agenda on http://www.cop-23.org/download/conference-agenda/.

Will you be in Bonn? Find out how to join us here http://www.cop-23.org/register/.