Norine Kennedy Archives

The Role of Trade in the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda

Published on August 26, 2014

The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) and the Green Economies Dialogue initiative (GED) will host a Working Session on October 2 during the 2014 WTO Public Forum:

“The Role of Trade in the Post 2015 Development Agenda: Greening Growth and Disseminating Solutions – A Green Economies Dialogue Initiative Discussion.”

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The theme of the 2014 WTO Public Forum is “How Trade Benefits Everyone.”  The ambition of the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda is to enhance and integrate economic, development and environment considerations while broadening benefits to all through inclusive growth and shared prosperity.  Trade is a powerful vehicle to advance this.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Christopher Wilson, deputy chief of mission, U.S. Mission to the WTO
  • Steven Stone, head, Economics and Trade Division, U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • Brian Fisher, managing director, BAEconomics Pty Ltd

The USCIB/GED Working Session will:

  • present perspectives relevant to trade as a vehicle for technological innovation and its dissemination, global value chains, job creation and environmental solutions, as they relate to the formulation of the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda over the next year and half.
  • highlight the benefits and contributions multilateral trade systems and approaches deliver via trade in developed and developing countries, especially through private sector technology and expertise on environmental challenges such as climate change.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

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USCIB Marshals Business Input for the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Published on July 28, 2014

green buildingsThe United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda will be an ambitious, internationally endorsed and holistic framework for achieving global prosperity. At the core of this new UN-wide program, the “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) aim to address sustainable development, lifestyle and equity issues through international commitments, finance and partnerships.

Last week, the UN concluded the final session of its SDG Open Working Group process, delivering an outcome document that proposes 17 goals and no less than 170 targets. Member states were generally pleased with the targets but remained concerned about certain items. Louise Kantrow, the International Chamber of Commerce’s permanent representative to the United Nations, coordinated business input during the process through the Global Business Alliance for Post 2015.

Broadly, the UN SDGs are designed to complete the unfinished business of the UN’s earlier Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as to respond to new challenges and catalyze the action of non-state actors such as business.

Unlike the MDGs, the new goals are being negotiated with a broad consultation, and they apply to all countries, not just developing ones. The goals are defined as inspired global targets, with each government setting its own national targets, taking into account particular capabilities and circumstances.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda process will culminate in September 2015, during a summit where heads of state will adopt the agenda, including the SDGs.

“USCIB maintains that in order for the SDGs to succeed, governments must build in a strong business role in the UN deliberations on sustainable development,” said USCIB’s Norine Kennedy, vice president of strategic international engagement, energy and environment. “Effective partnership and substantive dialogue with the private sector are indispensable.”

USCIB in partnership with the International Organization of Employers (IOE), the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) and others, will convene a business UN “Door-knock” meeting in New York on September 26 with participants from government, business and NGOs. This unique business-organized event will demonstrate private sector experience and knowhow in addressing sustainability and development challenges. It will underscore the need for the right enabling frameworks to catalyze business contributions to advancing sustainability through good governance, innovation, infrastructure investment and economic growth and empowerment.

The proposed UN Sustainable Development Goals:

  1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
  3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all
  5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full of productive employment and decent work for all
  9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
  11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
  14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
  16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
  17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Staff contacts: Norine Kennedy and Ariel Meyerstein

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Coalition for Green Trade Endorses WTO’s Environmental Goods Agreement

Published on July 9, 2014

4779_image002USCIB joined with other U.S. business groups to form the Coalition for Green Trade on Tuesday to support new negotiations by World Trade Organization (WTO) members that would remove trade barriers on environmental technologies.

The coalition has called on members of the WTO to negotiate an ambitious Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA), which would eliminate trade barriers on a broad range of environmental goods, such as solar panels and recycled materials.

In addition, USCIB joined with a broad range of business associations and companies from around the world in calling for an EGA. An open letter to WTO negotiators signed by USCIB stated: “We are committed to working with governments around the world to ensure a commercially meaningful Environmental Goods Agreement that promotes economic growth, improves environmental outcomes and advances innovation.”

Global trade in environmental goods is estimated to be $1 trillion annually, and trade in environmental products more than doubled from 2001 to 2007. An EGA would further increase global trade in environmental goods and lower the cost of addressing climate challenges by removing steep tariffs, the groups said.

“EGA is important in its own right, and can also act as a stepping stone to lower tariffs in other sectors and value chains associated with environmental technologies,” said Eva Hampl, USCIB’s director of investment, trade and financial services.  “A high-quality agreement would advance global innovation and be flexible to permit new entrants and commitments to keep pace with new technologies.”

The Coalition for Green Trade is co-chaired by USCIB, the National Association of Manufacturers  and the National Foreign Trade Council, and its  steering committee includes the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Coalition of Service Industries, Emergency Committee for American Trade, Information Technology Industry Council, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Semiconductor Industry Association, Solar Energy Industries Association  and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The first round of EGA talks are scheduled to begin this week in Geneva. Representatives from NAM, NFTC and USCIB are leading a U.S. business delegation to participate in events and meetings on the sidelines of the official negotiations.

Staff contacts: Norine Kennedy and Eva Hampl

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

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USCIB Promotes Business Innovation at Historic UN Environment Assembly

Published on June 30, 2014

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Norine Kennedy (USCIB) speaks at the UN Environment Assembly’s side event on the roles of UNEP, the sustainable development goals and business.
Norine Kennedy (USCIB) speaks at the UN Environment Assembly’s side event on the roles of UNEP, the sustainable development goals and business.

USCIB and its business network took part in the first-ever UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) last week in Nairobi.

UNEA is the governing body of the UN Environment Program, meeting for the first time since it was created by the UN General Assembly.   This principal UN environmental body has a membership of all 193 UN member states, making it the only “universal” body of the UN aside from the General Assembly. Over 1,200 participants, 170 national delegations, and 80 ministers were on hand for the five-day event from June 23 to 27 at UNEP’s HQ in Nairobi, Kenya.

USCIB representatives in Nairobi included Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, environment and energy, who serves as a co-chair of the UNEP coordinating group for non-governmental interests.  The UN Environment Assembly’s agenda and outcomes included decisions on illegal trade in timber and wildlife, air quality and chemicals. During the five day meeting, UNEA also convened symposia on “Financing the Green Economy” and “The Environmental Rule of Law.”

The Green Economies Dialogue (GED) held a side event on June 26 in Nairobi on “The Role of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Business.”  Held during the first ever U.N. Environment Assembly, this business event was co-hosted with the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the International Council of Chemicals Associations.

The side event discussed new green growth challenges and priorities linked to the SDGs relevant to UNEP’s environmental mandate, which include economic growth, jobs, sustainable consumption and production, resource efficiency.  Business speakers highlighted the necessary enabling frameworks in trade, investment and innovation that must be reflected in the SDGs to support private sector contributions to economic and environmental progress.

The GED project is now focused on the “green economy” and “green growth” aspects of the U.N.’s Post 2015 Development Agenda and related UNEP and OECD efforts.  GED is a project under the auspices of the U.S. Council Foundation that was launched to inform the Rio+20 policy debate.   GED developed information, tools and a platform for business to engage with national governments, thought leaders, academics and others on the way to Rio+20. These included Dialogue events in Washington, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo and Brasilia, and a set of peer-reviewed papers published in Energy Economics that provided academic Green Perspectives on many business-relevant issues.

Speakers at the GED event included:

Simon Darlington, President, East Africa,  Alstom

Charles Arden Clarke, U.N. Environment Program 10 Year Framework of Programs on Sustainable Consumption and Production

Helen Marquard, executive director, the SEED Initiative

Weru Macharia, Kenyan representative, IOE

Brian P. Flannery, Chair, International Business Green Economies Dialogue

 

Staff Contact: Norine Kennedy

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USCIBs Kennedy in Germany for UN Climate Talks

Published on June 6, 2014

4750_image001Ahead of a planned global climate agreement in Paris next year, government negotiators have assembled in Bonn, Germany from June 4 to 14 for the next round of UN climate talks. These June sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) focused on “raising ambition in areas of urbanization and land use.”

Negotiators have been tasked with designing the 2015 agreement and finding ways to raise ambition to address climate change before 2020.

USCIB’s Norine Kennedy, vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment attended the Bonn climate talks and spoke on behalf of business and industry groups.

“We want to work with you so we can achieve a deal that involves all countries, motivates all actors, and delivers economic and environmental benefits to all,” Kennedy told government officials at the meeting.

She stressed that governments will benefit from listening to what business considers priority elements that should be reflected in the 2015 climate agreement. Kennedy noted that the agreement should work with markets on issues such as carbon pricing, and she urged governments to build flexibility into the treaty so that states can adjust to future scientific, technological and economic innovations. Due to limited resources, Kennedy said the final agreement should promote cost-effective, market-based actions.

“The UNFCCC’s attention to non-state actors, such as business, has opened a promising area of cooperation and further work to supplement and amplify government efforts,” Kennedy noted.

Progress Report

Kennedy reports that the talks on a new UN post-2020 agreement have reached the halfway point, after meetings on June 8 concluded with an impasse.  While governments have committed to agree to “elements of a text” at the next Conference of Parties in December in Lima, they cannot reach any consensus on their starting point text for discussion.  The new agreement will include sections on mitigation (greenhouse gas reduction commitments), adaptation to climate change impacts, technology and finance for developing countries, transparency and reporting, and “nationally determined contributions (NDCs).”

NDCs are a U.S. proposal backed by most countries to allow each country, whether developed or developing, to set out its pledges for action.  This is a departure from the previous Kyoto Protocol approach, which was built on “top-down” targets.  Business representatives in Bonn are seeking to better understand where the private sector would weigh in during the national and international stages of this pledge and review oriented approach.

The first half of the week was dedicated to ministerial discussions and a full-court charm offensive by the incoming president of the UNFCCC negotiations, the Peruvian Environment Minister, Manuel Pulgar Vidal.   Preparations for the Lima COP have gotten off to a slow start, with construction of the conference venue delayed.  This raises the possibility that the number of government and non-governmental representatives allowed to attend will be quite limited.  Lima is expected to indicate whether governments can agree on the form of targets and funding commitments and thereby to be on track to reach the final agreement in Paris in 2015.

USCIB has met with members of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and with the “Umbrella Group” (a coalition of countries including the U.S., Canada, Norway, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Russia) to discuss information needs from business for the NDCs, the future of carbon markets and the Clean Development Mechanism, and the role of business in the new climate treaty to be finalized in Paris. USCIB is working with the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) which serves as the official business focal point for the UNFCCC.

“So at the half-way point, the process is facing some major hurdles,” said Kennedy. “However, delegations are feeling the pressure of expectations on them to reach an outcome in Paris that will pass muster with domestic stakeholders, so failure is not an option.”

Read Kennedy’s full remarks.

Follow Kennedy on Twitter @USCIBKennedy

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

 

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Bonn Meeting Sets the Stage for New, “Bottom-Up” Climate Regime

Published on April 3, 2014
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy speaking at last month’s UN climate change talks in Bonn
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy speaking at last month’s UN climate change talks in Bonn

While political disagreements continue to bedevil the development of a long-term, post-2020 global agreement to address climate change, meetings last month in Bonn, Germany, held under the auspices of the UN Framework Agreement on Climate Change (UNFCCC), made some progress in practical areas, notably on how a “bottom-up” approach could be the basis for the new UN climate regime.

UN negotiators have set a deadline of December 2015, when leaders will gather in Paris, to reach agreement on the new treaty. According to Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, who attended the Bonn sessions, a new climate agreement is likely to be based on nationally defined targets and other actions taken by individual countries, with reporting and review to track progress and determine overall adequacy.

Kennedy was joined in Bonn by a number of USCIB members. The meetings included a session of the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee (TEC), which promotes the deployment in developing countries of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help countries adapt to the effects of climate change. The TEC, comprised of government representatives from the United States, China, Norway, Mexico and other influential countries, provides policy advice and technology “roadmaps” that support technical assistance.

“USCIB has identified technology innovation and dissemination as a priority for its advocacy in the development of the new long-term UN climate agreement,” said Kennedy. “USCIB members have encouraged the UNFCCC to focus on fostering conditions to enable greater technological innovation, emphasizing the private sector’s critical role in developing and disseminating new climate-friendly technologies.”

In Bonn, TEC Chair Gabriel Blanco of Argentina indicated his intention to involve experts from non-state interests, including business, in the TEC’s ongoing work. USCIB will follow the ongoing work closely to provide business expertise.

Lingering apprehension from Copenhagen

Following the TEC meeting, UN negotiators met to deliberate the drafting of concrete treaty text, with fundamental disagreements persisting among parties over how to begin. According to Kennedy, developing countries support an approach which compiles all government proposals, while developed countries favor an edited and streamlined beginning text, prepared by the negotiations’ co-chairs and drawn from government proposals.

“While this might appear to be a minor procedural point, it presents a fundamental challenge: to reach a simplified text, with a small number of outstanding issues that can be finalized by ministers in Paris,” said Kennedy. “Many governments are still haunted by what happened in Copenhagen in 2009, when new treaty text was introduced at the last second as the result of high-level negotiations among a small group of governments.”

Other discussions in Bonn addressed: energy efficiency and renewable energy; sources and measuring of funding commitments for greenhouse gas reductions, and adaptation to climate change impacts; and response to the anticipated release (which took place this week) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report.

The next UN climate negotiating meeting takes place June 4-15 in Bonn, and will include a ministerial segment in the first week. Governments also agreed to an additional negotiating session in October in Lima, prior to the next major conference of parties to the UNFCCC, which will be held in December, also in Lima. USCIB will be covering all these meetings, so stay tuned for additional reports on these critical UN negotiations and related developments on global climate change.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

 

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

UN Welcomes Business as It Plans for Global Environmental Assembly

Published on March 31, 2014
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy (third from left) with members of the U.S. delegation attending the Nairobi sessions
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy (third from left) with members of the U.S. delegation attending the Nairobi sessions

For the first time, the UN Environment Program’s Committee of Permanent Representatives (UNEP OE CPR) allowed non-governmental and business representatives to attend a preparatory meeting in Nairobi, from March 24 to 28. The meeting discussed proposed decisions for the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) to be held in Nairobi in late June.

USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy represented U.S. business at the week-long meeting, where she also serves as co-chair of the Stakeholder Coordinating group for UNEP. Joining Kennedy was Weru Macharia of the Kenyan Employers’ Organization. Business submissions to UNEP can be found here.

Government representatives at the UNEP session considered new international policy efforts on:

– air quality, proposed by the United States

– strengthening scientific assessments by UNEP

– chemicals and waste, and

– non-governmental stakeholder engagement.

USCIB will be preparing for the June UNEA in order to communicate member priorities and views to the U.S. and other government representatives that will attend. UNEA will lay the groundwork for environmental considerations in the UN Post 2015 Development agenda, and extend UNEP influence into scientific assessment and agenda setting for international policy.

UNEP is the recognized central UN agency for environmental issues, comprising several multilateral environmental agreements, international chemical regulatory policy, green economy and scientific assessment. At last year’s Rio+20 meeting and UN General Assembly, governments agreed to expand UNEP’s membership to include all 193 country members of the UN, and to give it primary authority for environmental policy. USCIB has had consultative standing with UNEP since 2010.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

 

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Making the Case for Business Engagement in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Published on March 4, 2014

4681_image001Following up on its January 31 paper on essential elements of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, USCIB is actively working to secure meaningful business input in the development of the SDGs and the UN’s Post-2015 Development Agenda. The SDGs are viewed as the UN’s successor to the Millennium Development Goals agreed in 2000.

The January USCIB paper identified four overarching elements as essential to the business contribution in broad range of proposed SDG themes: good governance, economic growth and empowerment, innovation, and infrastructure. It also called for substantive business engagement to participate in and inform the UN SDG deliberations.

“The U.S. business community has a strong stake in meaningful and practical SDGs,” said USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy, who spearheads USCIB’s efforts to engage with international institutions as well as our environment and sustainability work. “National implementation and the right conditions in-country are the foundations on which a UN new paradigm for international development should be based. The SDGs will be successfully put into practice in those countries that have institutions and practices in place, and involve their private sector in meaningful ways.”

“Business has a critical role”

Kennedy joined USCIB members Ann Condon (General Electric), who chairs USCIB’s Environment Committee Chair, and Tam Nguyen (Bechtel), co-chair of USCIB’s SDG Working Group, as a featured speaker at a February Chevron Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Entitled Business in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the forum served to underscore the business case for private sector-led investment in development. Speakers emphasized the importance of good governance and economic growth and empowerment, and drew attention to USCIB’s recommendations.

“Business has a critical role to play, said Condon. “For example, investment flows dwarf government development aid. Businesses can leverage their resources and expertise in ways that drive growth in developing economies and bring innovative solutions to solve sustainable development challenges.”

Nguyen agreed. “Unlike the MDGs a decade ago, U.S. multinationals are more informed and engaged,” he told the forum. “They have shifted from mere observers to participants in promoting sustainable development.”

Other speakers at the CSIS forum included White House Counselor John Podesta and Daniella Ballou-Aares of the State Department.

Target for completion is 2015

The SDGs are slated to be completed and delivered to the UN General Assembly for approval in 2015, and the first round of deliberations to gather government views concluded on February 7. The international community is now awaiting a UN document compiling “priority areas” for further discussion on potential SDG goals and targets. Once it is released, USCIB will analyze this document for business issues requiring our engagement.

The UN SDG deliberations resume on March 3. USCIB will also develop elaborated papers on each of the four USCIB elements and other materials. Future USCIB action would also seek to inform government discussions on metrics for private sector investment in development.

Other discussions, convened by the president of the UN General Assembly and the UN Experts Group on Finance, will also contribute to developing the structure, priorities and resources needed for the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda. USCIB will continue to monitor and inform these deliberations through its SDG working group, which is co-chaired by Brian Lowry (Monsanto) and Nguyen, and participate through the Global Business Alliance for Post-2015 Development to convey U.S. business views.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

USCIB Delivers Business Recommendations on UN Sustainable Development Goals

Published on February 4, 2014

4669_image001In a January 31 paper, USCIB identified four broad prerequisites and catalysts for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper sets out USCIB’s view that the SDGs and broader UN Post-2015 Development Agenda are vital to improving the UN’s contributions to development and sustainability. The USCIB SDG Recommendations also call for substantive engagement opportunities for representative business organizations to participate in and inform the UN SDG deliberations.

The USCIB SDG Recommendations focus on:

  • Good Governance
  • Economic Growth and Economic Empowerment
  • Innovation
  • Infrastructure

The paper highlights 10 issues that merit particular attention in the SDGs, with many elements in common with those set out in the UN High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. USCIB developed these Recommendations via its SDG Working Group chaired by Brian Lowry (Monsanto) and Tam Nguyen (Bechtel).

“The U.S. business community has a strong stake in meaningful and practical SDGs,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s Vice President for Strategic International Engagement. “National implementation and the right conditions in-country are the foundations on which a UN new paradigm for international development should be based. The SDGs will be successfully put into practice in those countries that have institutions and practices in place, and involve their private sector in meaningful ways.”

USCIB, working with the Global Business Alliance for Post-2015 Development, will continue to weigh in at UN meetings to frame the SDGs, and in the High-Level Political Forum that will be held in New York this July. The SDGs are slated to be completed and delivered to the UN General Assembly for approval in 2015.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

At OECD Forum USCIB Spotlights Prerequisites for Green Investments

Published on December 6, 2013
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy addresses the OECD green growth forum.
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy addresses the OECD green growth forum.

Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for energy, environment and strategic international engagement, took part in the OECD Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum on December 5-6 in Paris. Representing the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), she spoke on a panel on “Unlocking Private Sector Investment in Green Growth.”

Kennedy highlighted the importance of providing enabling frameworks and policies that work in synergy with trade and investment rules. “Policies to green economic activity have to emphasize multilateral approaches, and function in globalized markets to enable business to deliver the full potential of innovation and economic prosperity,” she said.

The BIAC delegation also updated the forum on the International Business Green Economies Dialogue
(GED) initiative, indicating its ongoing work to provide business views and foster thoughtful discussion of how to design greener economic policy approaches into the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda and SDGs. GED Chair Brian Flannery led a discussion on supporting investment in clean energy infrastructure, in which both government and private sector speakers considered the synergies between public-private sector partnerships, overseas development assistance and regulatory and market signals. (Click here to see slides from Flannery’s presentation.)

The overarching theme of this year’s GGSD Forum is encouraging and leveraging private investment for green infrastructure and technologies, including innovation policies. BIAC has worked with the OECD Green Growth project since it’s inception, engaging on the broad range of themes that this horizontal program encompasses, such as green taxes, green jobs, green procurement and green technologies.”

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee