Caring for Climate Hosts Inaugural Business Forum to Co-Create Climate Change Solutions

By VIOLET MENGO

The United Nations Global Compact, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat and UN Environment Programme yesterday launched the inaugural Caring for Climate Business Forum where, for the first time, the private sector will join with the public sector in the co-creation of climate change solutions as an official part of the Conference of Parties.

CEOs will showcase to diplomats, policymakers and world leaders the contributions that business and investors are making towards climate action. Held concurrently with COP19/CMP9, the Business Forum will help to bring greater scale to business innovation on climate change, encourage Governments to raise ambition on climate policies and foster collaboration among business, investors, Government, civil society and the UN.

Through direct engagement with COP19 talks, companies will share solutions and commitments and set concrete action plans and partnerships in pursuit of effective and scalable solutions on climate change.

“COP 19 is a pivotal moment to both step up and showcase climate action,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC. “Businesses must be heard, leveraged and invited to develop scalable climate change solutions to drive climate action. This can create the political space for more ambition in the UN climate process, which as part of a virtuous cycle can in turn catalyze more business action."

The Business Forum will showcase some of the most innovative commitments  and solutions for climate change from businesses, including plans by Ikea to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2020, and a new global framework by Dow to mitigate the footprint of large-scale events and help to produce the  first carbon neutral Olympic Games.

World leaders will learn about actions taken in markets across the globe – such as China, where Caring for Climate has facilitated commitments by companies across seven action areas for combatting climate change and reducing pollution and emissions.

“Environmental change is accelerating and generating new and emerging challenges but also opportunities for business,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP and UN Under-Secretary-General.

“Companies that face up to these realities are likely to be the ones that survive and indeed thrive in a rapidly evolving world where factors such as climate change and dwindling availability of natural resources will shape future patterns of profit and loss while driving new and smarter markets,” he said.

Demonstrations of real-life climate-change solutions can help to build precedents and public support that are needed to move policymakers to action.

The Caring for Climate Business Forum gives companies the critical opportunity do so.” said Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive Director.

“By facilitating private-sector investment, setting a price on carbon and bringing to scale climate change solutions that work, the private sector can prove that it plays a lead role in influencing the global climate change agenda.”

Leveraging the themes of innovation, ambition and collaboration, the  Business Forum will be opened by high-level speakers including Christiana  Figueres, COP 19 President and Poland’s Minister of Environment Marcin  Korolec, and President and CEO of World Resources Institute Andrew Steer.

A dozed focused sessions on themes related to the UNFCCC agenda and co-organised with The Climate Group, CDP, UNEP’s Finance Initiative and WRI will cover mitigation (i.e., bridging the emissions gap by 2020); adaptation; capacity-building and technology-transfer; and innovative financing – and cross-cutting issues such as transparency and responsible policy engagement.

New tools and resources for companies launched at the Business Forum include the Caring for Climate (C4C) Progress Report 2013 which examines trends in participation in C4C, emissions performance of companies and progress made against the five commitments, and a guide to help businesses engage responsibly in climate policy.

The Climate and Energy Action Hub, an  interactive platform for companies to collectively provide technologies, resources, services and business models to scale up climate and energy efforts, will present nearly 20 projects seeking partners from the private  and public spheres.

Today, chief executives and senior representatives of Caring for  Climate signatories will engage in a high-level meeting with Government representatives to distil the outcomes from the first day, with participation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania; Achim Steiner; and Christiana Figueres.

Companies will put forward key recommendations for Government actions to help scale up and deepen the quality of corporate climate leadership globally. The Business Forum will conclude with a report-back segment and a formal announcement of new commitments to action.