Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 21 November 2009 - The world has reached a tipping point in the fight against climate change yet leaders are optimistic that incremental victories will ensure the battle is ultimately won. Countries, internal states and companies are increasingly implementing low-carbon initiatives with measurable impact as talks to agree on a global climate framework in Copenhagen continue.

According to leaders at the World Economic Forum's Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai, public-private partnerships and financing are key to expanding the number of low-carbon projects that are making use of the enabling technologies and policies already in place.

Despite the many climate initiatives out there, "not much is happening to reward them but we hope that through the World Economic Forum and its Global Agenda Councils, there will be a new voice in favour of action and providing rewards for action, as well as an agreement in Copenhagen," said Pavan Sukhdev, Study Leader, TEEB and Project Leader, Green Economy, United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), Cambridge, and Chair of the Forum's Global Agenda Council on Ecosystems & Biodiversity Loss.

"We are losing this living fabric at a rate that is alarming," Sukhdev warned.

Japan, India and China have moved dramatically to reduce emissions, according to Steve Howard, Chief Executive Officer, Climate Group, United Kingdom, and Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Climate Change. "In four months, China put in as much wind power capacity as the UK did in the past 20 years," he said, adding that "the Prime Minister of India wants the country to fight for a global deal."

"We have cut deforestation from 27,000 square kilometres to 7,000 square kilometres, which is the lowest reduction achieved in Brazil," said Carlos Eduardo de Souza Braga, Governor of Amazonas, Brazil. While he remains optimistic about the Copenhagen process, a deal with any chance of success must focus on empowering communities. "If you're going to create a new mechanism, we must create a mechanism to get funding to communities like those in the Amazon, and create policies to give them health, education and knowledge for sustainable products," he said.

Caio Koch-Weser, Vice-Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, Deutsche Bank, United Kingdom, a Member of the Global Agenda Council on Climate Change, raised his concern that despite being a few weeks away from global climate talks in Copenhagen, "we don't see a framework coming into place." He said the role of the World Economic Forum is critical "because it tasks all of us to urge action but also to lend momentum by coming up with public-private partnerships that are implementable and scalable once an agreement is in place."

Koch-Weser agreed that low-carbon projects should continue to be unveiled and expanded, and called for leaders due to gather in Copenhagen to create a 100 billion euro fund to finance the low-carbon economy of the future.

Over 80 business leaders and 40 environmental and scientific experts from around the world outlined a plan for stimulating a "clean revolution" in the private sector within the next few years even as governments continue negotiations on a climate policy framework in the United Nations. The World Economic Forum report, The Low-Carbon Prosperity Task Force, presented their findings to G20 leaders in September.

Global Agenda Councils - The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Councils were created to further the Forum's mission and strategic vision. They are multistakeholder groups of the world's most innovative and relevant experts, established to advance knowledge and collaboratively explore actions on the most important issues in the global arena. For further information on the councils, please visit Network of Global Agenda Councils. Their work also contributes to the Global Redesign Initiative.

• Dubai TV is the host broadcaster of the Summit on the Global Agenda.

• Plenary sessions and Press Conferences will be streamed live on Livestream: http://livestream.com/worldeconomicforum. Please visit the webcast schedule.

• Videos of the plenary sessions will also be available at http://www.youtube.com/worldeconomicforum

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• Download free high-resolution photos from the Summit on the Global Agenda at Pbase

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• Twitter users kindly use the hashtag #WEFDubai for all tweets about the event. The short URL is http://tr.im/WEFDubai

• Full streaming programme: http://tr.im/dubaiprogram

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© Press Release 2009

 

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