The first “universal” meeting of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Governing Council wrapped up last week in Nairobi, Kenya, having agreed on future directions and priorities for the newly strengthened UN body in guiding international policy on issues like the green economy, sustainable consumption and production, and chemicals.

In an important development, Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for environment and energy, was elected to serve as one of three key UNEP stakeholder group representatives. Representing the business community (with other stakeholder representatives from the indigenous peoples and environmental law communities), Kennedy will advise UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and other UNEP officials to support the strong involvement of business and other important non-governmental interests in the organization’s new governance structure.

Decisions taken in Nairobi are expected to have an impact far into the future as UNEP establishes itself as the preeminent platform for international environmental policy-making and action. UNEP was mandated by the last year’s Rio+20 summit and UN General Assembly session to lead UN work on environmental aspects of sustainability. The meeting was “universal” in the sense that all 193 UN members are now members of UNEP, which previously had a smaller number of governments involved directly in its decision-making.

In Nairobi, ministers and government representatives from 193 member states adopted numerous decisions regarding UNEP’s operations and work program. These included the transformation of the existing UNEP Governing Council into a UN  Environment Assembly, and the creation of stronger links between UNEP’s science-based Global Environment Outlook process and its ministerial meetings – further implementing the call by UN member states at Rio+20 to strengthen the science/policy interface.

According to Kennedy, USCIB places particular importance on UNEP’s efforts to strengthen its scientific base. “We hope to explore additional options for business cooperation with UNEP on expert, science and research matters relating to its work program, such as the recent first meeting of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and EcoSystems Services,” she said.

In the year ahead, UNEP will  take up work on human rights and the environment, environmental law and new procedures for non-governmental and business participation in its work. UNEP will also host and coordinate the Climate Technology Center and Network, which will implement the technology-transfer mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

USCIB’s Environment Committee has provided its recommendations on business priorities in UNEP’s broad work program, particularly relating to protecting and safeguarding information that is commercially important, such as IPR, CBI and trade secrets, in the context of increasing access to information.

Green Economies Dialogue session

In conjunction with the Governing Council, the USCIB’s Green Economies Dialogue initiative held its first African event on February 21 at UNEP headquarters. The side event, entitled “Green Economies in Global Markets: Opportunities for Developing Countries to Innovate and Benefit,” highlighted opportunities and challenges in greening economic development and growth in developing countries, with a special focus on Africa.

The session featured a presentation by Micael Da Costa of CleanStar Mozambique, an integrated food, energy and forest protection business, as an example of an innovative business approach to greening economic activity that fits well with African needs and aspirations. The CleanStar business model offers economic, environmental and social benefits, providing connections between small and large companies and offering tangible improvements in health and development in Africa.

Other speakers included John Matuszak of the U.S. State Department, Robert Dixon of the Global Environment Facility, Asad Naqvi of UNEP’s Green Economy initiative and Green Economies Dialogue Chair Brian Flannery. The side event was attended by representations of governments, academia, business and NGOs, and highlighted priority areas in greener development and enabling frameworks for investment and public private partnership. It provided perspectives on where UNEP can work with business to advance and accelerate priorities for greener growth most relevant to developing countries.

The Green Economies Dialogue project was founded in 2011 by the United States Council Foundation and a host of sponsors and partners. It seeks to provides business perspectives into the international policy debate on ways to promote greener economic, social and environmental progress. It has done so through previous dialogue meetings with national governments and other stakeholders, including the OECD, in Washington, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. It has also commissioned  peer-reviewed papers by respected academic authors on green economy topics of interest to business, published last year in a special “Green Perspectives” volume of the journal Energy Economics.

For more information on the Green Economies Dialogue project, visit www.green-dialogue.org

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

A group of business representatives from USCIB and the International Chamber of Commerce have joined the first session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Eco-System Services (IPBES), which is being held this week in Bonn, Germany.

Inspired by the influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this new UN body, involving over 100 countries and international governmental and non-governmental institutions, will bring together leading scientists with government representatives and other important societal interests to assess biodiversity and eco-system impacts and bring forward consensus scientific and economic reports. These findings are expected to provide a basis for decisions and priorities in major international environmental treaties, and to inform policy-making by national governments.

In a statement to the opening session on behalf of business groups attending the meeting, Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for environment and energy, said business “encourages IPBES to flag economic impacts, both positive and negative, relevant to biodiversity and eco-system services – for example, jobs, livelihoods, competitiveness.”

Kennedy said the potential contribution of the new forum would undoubtedly touch on critical investment and planning matters for companies across a range of sectors. She cited access to natural resources, valuation of cost-benefit analysis and the potential inclusion of business and industry research as important matters up for discussion by the panel.

The IPBES will include observers, such as non-governmental and business organizations, as partners in meetings and other aspects of the group’s work. Kennedy said business organizations will weigh next steps to ensure substantive and rigorous input that reflects industry expertise and realities. IPBES, which will now be headquartered in Bonn, will likely meet again at the end of 2013.

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

More on USCIB’s Green Economies Dialogue initiative

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change closed its 18th governing body meeting (known as COP18) last week in Doha, following two weeks of contentious negotiations. Decisions made in Doha set a course for the development of a longer-term and more inclusive climate agreement, to be concluded by 2015. Governments also endorsed two UN new bodies, on finance and technology, and defined the commitments, duration and carbon-market elements for a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

“Before and during COP18, we made the case for outcomes that would strengthen enabling frameworks for innovation and investment,” explained Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for environment and energy. “USCIB has advocated the need to engage business expertise in framing effective international policies and practices for greenhouse-gas reduction and responding to the impacts of climate change.” She said USCIB, having been involved in the UN climate-change negotiations since 1993, provided an economy-wide and multi-sectoral perspective on behalf of its members to promote energy security and deploy cleaner technologies.

Intellectual property a concern

According to Kennedy, USCIB members worked closely with key governmental representatives to ensure that outcomes in Doha did not call into question the importance of intellectual property rights protection, or open an unnecessary and distracting discussion of IP outside of the climate body’s competence and mandate. She said access to energy and technology would be critical in scaling up the necessary investments and deployments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Doha outcomes can enable cooperation to mobilize private-sector contributions and know-how.

Kennedy pointed out that the outcomes of COP18, while limited in some respects, reflect the challenges inherent in this negotiation, due to its economic and competitiveness impacts. “While some observers consider the outcomes of COP18 underwhelming, we understand that this is a marathon which, while slow, is yielding results,” she said. “We are especially pleased to note the increasing acceptance of business involvement in new institutions that will be providing finance and technology to developing countries.”

In a November 28 letter to Todd Stern, the lead U.S. government climate negotiator, USCIB highlighted the importance of maintaining strong protection of intellectual property rights, regulatory clarity and practical, business-oriented solutions, including preparedness for short-term extreme weather events and planning for longer-term resilience in a changing climate. The letter also stressed the importance of the broader economic context, stating that “the global trade system should be seen as a vehicle for broader dissemination of technologies and other solutions to address climate challenges and advance greener growth.”

“Doha Dialogue”

USCIB took part in the Doha Dialogue at COP18, convened by the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF). This meeting laid out options for enhancing the substantive involvement of business in the UN climate process and its institutions. High level representatives from governments and inter-governmental bodies, and business people, agreed to continue and deepen the discussions at COP19, which will take place in Warsaw in November 2013.

BizMEF is a partnership of leading multi-sectoral business organizations from major economies and regions, including USCIB. Modeled after the government-to-government Major Economies Forum, BizMEF promotes dialogue on climate change and energy security across a broad spectrum of business interests including major developed, emerging, and developing economies.

In the coming weeks, USCIB will provide members with a fuller report of Doha outcomes and discuss its priorities for 2013 in international climate and energy policy.

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

In the wake of the U.S. presidential elections – as well as Hurricane Sandy – possibilities for meaningful progress in the upcoming UN climate negotiations may be gaining momentum. The business community is hopeful that this momentum will lead governments, whose negotiators will meet for two weeks in Doha, Qatar at the end of this month, to focus on pragmatic, cost-effective and inclusive action, with the active engagement of the private sector.

The talks will take place at the 18th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP18 for short.  According to USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy, who will join a sizeable business delegation to the talks, COP18 offers an opportunity to learn from the sub-optimal 1997 Kyoto Protocol, whose commitments technically expire at the end of this year. The shape and scope of a successor agreement to Kyoto has dominated discussion in the UN for more than a decade.

USCIB and our private-sector allies will encourage governments in Qatar to lay the foundation for a comprehensive and long-term post-2020 agreement that draws on business expertise and investment to address climate change risks and advance energy security and sustainable development.

“While lingering economic challenges are still all too evident, they should not be regarded as an insurmountable obstacle,” said Kennedy. “Instead, they are a powerful motivation to act with prudence, and identify priorities for cost-effective actions that best marshal limited resources.  Mobilizing private-sector investment is paramount, and including the business community in substantive discussions in Doha and thereafter will smooth and speed progress.”

Kennedy said the next steps in the UN climate process should be as “global” as possible, rather than the two-tier approach based on lists of developed and developing countries  attempted via Kyoto, which is widely seen as no longer reflecting current development and economic realities. Comprehensive and economy-wide approaches will avoid competitiveness distortions that have bedeviled some climate-change market mechanisms, such as the impact of EU emissions trading on the aviation industry.

On the middle Sunday of COP18 (December 2), USCIB and its partners in the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF), which encompasses leading industry groups from the largest (and hence highest-emitting) economies, will organize a public-private sector roundtable. The event aims to showcase the importance of business engagement in the UN talks as they move forward, and to promote win/win solutions as negotiators seek to map out ambitious steps to reduce greenhouse gases and prepare for shifts in climate.

“Global markets and the multilateral trading system are important vehicles for the deployment of investment and new technologies by the private sector,” Kennedy observes. “These systems function best with a variety of essential enabling frameworks, including the rule of law, the honoring of contracts, impartial judicial systems, stable fiscal and policy regimes, protection of intellectual property, and of course a fundamental commitment to free and open markets.”

Kennedy said business would draw a clear “line in the sand” on the issue of IP rights, which are indispensable for technology research, development and commercial adoption. Negotiators at COP18 should avoid any weakening of IP protection, she said. Business in Doha will argue that innovation and global deployment of cost-effective and efficient low-emission technologies are essential to effectively address climate change, to maintain competitiveness, and to provide necessary incentives for investment, growth and employment.

“As those of us in the Northeast United States continue to struggle with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we are reminded of the importance of adaptation and preparedness,” Kennedy said. “These are not matters for developing countries alone. Energy infrastructure, transportation and economic impacts are critical considerations in richer countries too. Agreements at Doha and beyond should work to pave the way for practical actions that reduce the risk and enhance capacity and resilience, both in anticipation of  sudden extreme weather events and in advance of  more gradual changes impacting agriculture, energy access and water security. “

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee