Mexico City (Mexico),
27 September 2010 - Leaders from influential
global corporations and key global environmental
organizations are expected to call on countries
to make a success of this years UN climate
negotiations in Mexico.
The call will come from a Business for Environment
(B4E) conference to be held 4 to 5 October
in Mexico City. The event today was announced
by the Mexican Minister of Environment Juan
Rafael Elvira, UN Under-Secretary General
and Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner,
the Director General of WWF-Mexico Omar
Vidal and the Chief Executive of Global
Initiatives, Tony Gourlay.
B4E will raise the global
business voice ahead of the 16th Conference
of the Parties of the United Nations Framework
on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP16), at Cancun,
from 29 November to 10 December.
Mr Steiner said: "There
remains a serious and significant greenhouse
gap between the ambition of nations and
the science. This needs to be bridged if
the world is to have a chance of keeping
a global temperature rise under 2 degrees
C. Cancun offers the next opportunity to
accelerate a transition to a low carbon,
Green Economy. One option is to address
non-CO2 pollutants such as methane and black
carbon -these represent low hanging fruit
with potentially immediate benefits for
climate as well as for public health to
agricultural production".
In a declaration to
be finalized at the talks, company and civil
society leaders are expected to urge the
governments of the world to make the climate
negotiations in Cancun a success and call
for creation of legal frameworks for a rapid
transition to a low carbon economy.
Key note speakers include
Al Gore, the former US Vice President and
global advocate for climate action, Barbara
Kux, Chief Sustainability Officer at Siemens
AG, Daniel Servitje, Chief Executive Officer,
Grupo Bimbo, George Kell, Executive Director
of the UN Global Compact, Juan Rafael Elvira
Quesada, Secretary of Environment of Mexico,
Georgina Kessel, Secretary of Energy of
Mexico, and James Leape, Director-General
and CEO of WWF International.
Hundreds of international
delegates from business, government and
NGOs are expected to emphasize the opportunities
and conditions under which a climate-resilient
world could become also a fairer and in
the end more prosperous world. In five industry
working groups -Construction, Transportation
and Logistics, Agriculture, Food and Beverage,
Technology and Communications, and Energy
- leaders will highlight the many examples
where the low carbon economy has already
started to take shape, and stress the importance
to create this new economy in global solidarity.
CEOs and top-level executives
will join government leaders, international
agencies and civil society organizations
to discuss and agree on innovative solutions
that ensure a sustainable future for all.
The business community will gather to share
leading practices and discuss truly innovative
solutions and the policy frameworks to catalyze
them.
The Minister of Environment
and Natural Resources of Mexico, Juan Rafael
Elvira Quesada, mentioned that the insights
and recommendations of the companies participating
in B4E global summit will undoubtly contribute
to the negotiations in COP16. He said that
in Mexico, the Ministry has strengthened
partnerships with the different industry
sectors through the Environment Leadership
and Competitiveness Program in which common
objectives for sustainable development have
been achieved. "Increasingly, companies
show that mitigation and water treatment
action amongst other measures, in addition
to contributing to combat climate change,
have important savings and make business
more competitive", said the Minister.
"Many leading businesses
are already acting to reduce their climate
impact," said James Leape, Director
General of WWF International. "These
businesses recognize it makes business sense
to be ahead of the curve, to improve the
energy efficiency of their operations and
to seize emerging opportunities. But, to
move the whole economy on to a low-carbon
path, we need to level the global playing
field, and this requires a binding international
climate agreement. Cancun must deliver the
next step towards this goal."
"Climate change,
rather than just an environmental concern,
must be addressed considering its implications
for development. The B4E Business Summit
comes at a time of great challenges and
opportunities for the global economy and
I am convinced that the commitments and
proposals from the business community will
encourage negotiators from the countries
participating in the COP16 to reach concrete
and ambitious agreements to address climate
change and promote sustainable development
" said Omar Vidal, Director General
of WWF-Mexico.
Notes to Editors:
B4E
B4E is the main conference
on Global Business Dialogue and action on
the environment and is intended to shape
proposals on climate change by the global
business community.
To participate in this
summit, there are different ways: by attending
the event, participation as a sponsor, and
/ or exhibitor in the discussion boards.
For more information see: http://www.b4esummit.com/
The business summit
is organized by the United Nations Programme
for Environment (UNEP), the United Nations
Global Compact, the Government of Mexico,
Global Initiatives, and WWF.
Amongst the confirmed
participants are Walmart, The Coca-Cola
Company, PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard, AP Moeller
Maersk, Tata and Sons, DHL, Trina Solar,
Toyota, General Motors, Alstom Power, Cemex,
Acciona, Danone, Siemens, Nestle, McKinsey,
Volvo, Accenture, Hitachi, British Telecom,
Pemex, EcoSecurities, IFC, World Food Programme
and Schneider Electric.
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