Secretary General of COP21 joins business leaders at Paris Climate Week to discuss sustainability

With the inaugural Paris Climate Week starting today, Climate Action are to host the Sustainable Innovation Forum Stakeholder Launch, uniting business leaders, the French Government and policy makers 200 days ahead of the event at COP21 in December.

An audience of over 100 high level stakeholders will be addressed by speakers including Pierre- Henri Guignard, Secretary General of COP21, Celia Blauel, Deputy Mayor of Paris and Ligia Noronha, Director of UNEP DTIE, as well receiving an exclusive video address from Secretary General of UNEP, Achim Steiner.

2015 is a pivotal year for sustainability- COP21 represents the last opportunity to strike a legally binding, global agreement on climate change, which will ultimately underpin the success of the Sustainable Development Goals in delivering equitable global development. Urgency for such a consensus has never been greater, as expanding urban populations and accelerating resource destruction serves to both exacerbate and create new vulnerabilities to climate change.

In order to meet this urgent challenge private sector innovation and technology transfer is more important than ever, in allowing us to adapt existing systems and re-imagine entirely new ways to live. By developing technologies and business models that are effective in protecting the atmosphere, human health and our finite resources we will not only safeguarded the environment but the economy itself, driving equitable, green growth for all.

For the last 6 years the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) have partnered with Climate Action to produce the Sustainable Innovation Forum (SIF), which has become the largest business-focused event of the annual Conference of Parties (COP). The aim of the forum is to facilitate a transformation in business thinking, connect key private, public and voluntary actors to discuss current progress, share experiences and develop future innovations on the road to a green economy. The launch of SIF15 at Paris Climate Week will unite business leaders 200 days ahead of the event, encouraging early conversation amongst 100 high level private and public delegates.

Topics addressed at SIF15 will include sustainable cities and the circular economy, urban mobility and the water, food and energy nexus, with BMW, Avery Dennison and Carbon Trade Exchange amongst early confirmed partners.

Climate Action’s Event Director, Anna Watson said: “I am delighted to be launching the Sustainable Innovation Forum during Paris Climate Week, cementing our partnership with UNEP and the French Government in the build up to such an important event. Involving the private sector as leaders in addressing the climate change challenge is key, and the response that we have received from wide ranging industries reflects that the desire to take action has never been stronger. I look forward to welcoming many more partners in the run up to COP21”.

Other confirmed partners include: Danfoss, Delta Electronics, New Holland Agriculture, Vattenfall, Vestas, Development Bank of Latin America, European Investment Bank (EIB), Hidalgo, Inter-American Development Bank Group, Invest in Iceland, Green Gothenburg, Instituto Humboldt
 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Anna Watson

Event Director, Climate Action

T: +44 207 871 0173

E: awatson@climateactionprogramme.org

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Climate Action

Established in 2007 and headquartered in London, UK, Climate Action works in a unique, contractual partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – the world’s foremost body on environmental protection and stewardship.

Climate Action establishes and builds partnerships between business, government and public bodies to accelerate international sustainable development and advance the ‘green economy’. We do this by providing a global media and events platform across which stakeholders can share knowledge, technologies and expertise, and identify innovative solutions to the challenges faced by climate change and a growing population.

 

About the Sustainable Innovation Forum

Sustainable Innovation Forum is an annual event brought to you by Climate Action & UNEP. Established in 2007 and headquartered in London, UK, Climate Action has, for the last eight years, worked in a unique, contractual partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – the world’s foremost body on environmental protection and stewardship.

For more information on this year’s event please visit:www.cop21paris.org

 

About COP 21

The main objective of the annual Conference of Parties (COP) is to review the Convention’s implementation. The first COP took place in Berlin in 1995 and significant meetings since then have included COP3 where the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, COP11 where the Montreal Action Plan was produced, COP15 in Copenhagen where an agreement to success Kyoto Protocol was unfortunately not realised and COP17 in Durban where the Green Climate Fund was created. In 2015 COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, will, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.