World Climate Summit

On one of the first days of the conference, I was offered the opportunity to volunteer at a two-day event called the World Climate Summit that was to run parallel to the UNFCCC conference. I hadn't heard about the event and wasn't sure on the details, but I agreed to give it a shot and look into it more.

As it turns out, the World Climate Summit is a proposed series of 10 meetings to occur annually alongside the COP conferences. The summit is meant to bring together major business leaders, investors, and government officials in an event separate from the COP negotiations to try to jump-start climate change mitigation in the business sector. The reality is that regardless of what comes out of the negotiations, most of the mitigation initiatives will require a great deal of funding and capital support, which will ultimately be provided by major corporate investment. Why wait for the diplomats to settle on a text when businesses can start collaborating now?

This was the first year of the World Climate Summit, and 9 more are expected to occur alongside COPs 17-26. The summit consisted of a series of workshops that dealt with case studies in several of the most prominent fields for climate change mitigation and sustainable development. Several companies presented initiatives they have taken so far, recounting failures and successes, and offering suggestions for possible directions for improvement. The break out sessions were supplemented by guest speakers, press conferences, and numerous networking opportunities. The event brought together many influential leaders in a myriad of business sectors, and promises to be an inspiring initiative to jumpstart the efforts paralleled in the official UN negotiations.