Sustainable Innovation Expo 2013 takes place alongside UNEP’s GMEF in Nairobi

The fourth Sustainable Innovation Expo took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 20-22 February alongside the First Universal Session of the Governing Council/ Global Ministerial Environment Forum at the United Nations Office at Nairobi.

This was the first Universal Session of the GC following the decision of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to strengthen and upgrade UNEP, as called for in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) outcome document.

Heads of state, Environment Ministers and policy makers representing over 100 nations met at UNEP's headquarters in the Gigiri district of the Kenyan capital to scale-up and accelerate the implementation of an array of treaties and transformational policies that have been agreed and successfully demonstrated across the globe for over four decades.

The Sustainable Innovation Expo, organised by Climate Action in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), presents an opportunity for a select number of renowned companies to showcase their innovations, clean technologies and energy efficient systems at this annual, ministerial level meeting and enables the private sector to collaborate with representatives of governments.

Companies present at this years exhibition included Afval Energie Bedrijf, Esri, General Electric, Krinner, Microsoft, Oracle, Philips, PowerPoint, Solea AG, TerraTherm and Verne Global.

The innovations being showcased included products that use natural resources more efficiently, technologies that harness sustainable energy, 'green' data strorage systems, satellite mapping and whole host of smart technologies that help to mitigate and adapt tothe challenges posed by both a changing climate and an ever increasing global population.

The exhibition formed part of the official UN agenda at the Forum and Exhibitors also ran niche workshops on relevant industry topics and discussion points.

A reception was held for the opening of the Exhibition from 18:00-21:00 on Wednesday 20 February at which Nick Nuttall, UNEP's spokesperson and Director of Communication and Information, gave a welcoming speech. Attendees included Ministers from the UK, Poland, Germany, Uruguay, Brazil and Japan as well as the GC-27/GMEF President, Hassan Abdel Hilal, Minister of Environment in Sudan.