The private sector must assume the mantle on climate change in the absence of a global agreement, whatever transpires at the UN Climate Summit in New York this month and other upcoming high-level climate change meetings. This was the consensus of panellists in a session on climate change during the eighth Annual Meeting of the New Champions taking place in Tianjin, China.
Renewed attention to climate change by China, the United States and the European Union is creating space for business to engage in a new operating environment in which governments are creating frameworks for innovation and international financial institutions are increasingly funding climate change projects.
“Creating a stable framework has helped our businesses create the solutions we need to combat climate change,” said Rasmus Helveg Petersen, Minister of Climate, Energy and Building of Denmark. “The transition from black to green economies will only be achieved when businesses can make decisions. We need to recognize the need for profitability when we do our regulatory work.”
Xie Zhenhua, Vice-Chairman, National Development and Reform Commission, People’s Republic of China, and China’s lead negotiator on climate change at the United Nations, called on businesses and governments to respond to the climate change challenge. “We need to find a circular pathway to development,” he said. “Businesses need profit, but they need to find a way to achieve common prosperity. If we can do that, we can respond to the climate change challenge and turn the world into a more beautiful place.”
The Inter-American Development Bank has devoted 22% of its total lending towards climate change related issues, said Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC; World Economic Forum Foundation Board Member. “There is huge innovation taking place in the private sector around solutions. This is happening in the absence of a global agreement. This is the most exciting part of what we are seeing today.”
Many businesses through their supply chains and manufacturing processes are using technology to reduce their emissions to reduce costs. Others are technology pioneers, breaking new ground in the fight against climate change. Mark Herrema, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Newlight Technologies, USA, said: “What is missing is something to bridge the gap between what we need to address [in terms of climate change] and people who ask why they cannot use carbon to growth their businesses,” he said. “Industry is taking climate change into their own hands and sequestering carbon.”
Feike Sijbesma, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board, Royal DSM, Netherlands, said the public and private sectors must work together but that business must take the lead. “Mother Earth is not helped by targets and good intentions, but real innovations to change things,” he said. “We in the private sector cannot hide ourselves behind the lesser progress made in public debates.”
Panellists, with the exception of Herrema, were optimistic about the potential for a global agreement on emissions reduction in Paris in December 2015. Petersen said: “We are all committed to reaching an agreement in Paris. This is where the work begins, not where it ends.” Moreno said that the absence of an agreement is “terrible for humanity”, but he remains optimistic. Xie pointed out that during negotiations with various governments he has heard no opposition to an agreement. Herrema noted that in his community, it is assumed there will be no agreement. “We have to fix the problem, assuming this is the case,” he said.
Xie chastised the European Union for its unstable carbon market. The price of carbon has plummeted since the EU Emissions Trade Scheme was launched, purportedly as the core of the international carbon market. Its cap-and-trade system offers businesses quotas, which Xie claimed acts as a deterrent. “Businesses have no incentive to reduce their emissions and that is why the market is so low,” he said. “In Paris we need to set a robust global reduction target for 2030. If this is done, there can be an international market for carbon.”
Xie pointed out that the stability of the carbon market has a direct effect on climate change negotiations. “Stable and long-term emission targets are needed so businesses can see the prospects of the carbon market,” he added.
Referring to carbon credit derivatives, Sijbesma advocated for more market control of carbon trading. “The private sector doesn’t know what to base future investments on. The carbon market should not be a new toy in the hands of the financial world to speculate and trade upon,” he said.
The session comes 10 days before the UN Climate Summit in New York, which aims to drive action towards achieving an accord on climate change at the end of 2015. China and the United States have renewed their attention on climate change recently, with commitments to reduce carbon intensity, improve energy efficiency and clean energy generation.
The UN Secretary-General and the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have invited the World Economic Forum to advance public–private collaboration to deliver climate solutions. More than 200 business leaders together with heads of international institutions and non-governmental organizations took part in an unprecedented number of climate change sessions at the Forum’s Annual Meeting 2014 in Davos-Klosters. The Forum has taken this dialogue further to drive action on several key areas of focus of the UN Climate Summit in New York, which starts on 23 September 2014. Progress on this will be shared at the summit.
The eighth Annual Meeting of the New Champions meeting is taking place in Tianjin, China on 10-12 September 2014. More than 1,900 participants from 90 countries are taking part.
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