Norine Kennedy Archives

Like it or Not, UN Needs Private Sector Input in Climate Talks

Published on May 15, 2017
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy at the UN climate talks in Bonn

USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy has an op-ed in The Hill today urging UN negotiators not to freeze the business community out of future discussion of climate change. The full text of the op-ed is available on The Hill’s website.

Kennedy, who attended the latest UN climate talks in Bonn last week, worked closely with the U.S. and other governments, as well as numerous business groups including the International Chamber of Commerce, to push back against proposals by a few governments and NGOs to curtail private-sector participation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

 

 

The Hill

May 15, 2017

Like it or Not, UN Needs Private Sector Input in Climate Talks

By Norine Kennedy

BONN, GERMANY—As the current round of U.N. climate talks here in Bonn near their conclusion, delegates are allowing themselves a sense of cautious relief. The Trump administration has postponed a final decision on its continued involvement in the UN climate treaty – and the Paris Agreement concluded in 2015 – until after this meeting concludes on May 18. A hard-working, albeit smaller-than-usual, U.S. delegation is on hand, and the talks are moving ahead on a range of technical matters.

(Read the full text on The Hill’s website.)

 

 

USCIB SDG Series: Countdown to the High-Level Political Forum

Published on May 9, 2017

This year’s United Nations High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development will be held from July 10-17 under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. The theme for the forum will be “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world” focusing on the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

  • Goal 1.End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  • Goal 2.End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  • Goal 3.Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  • Goal 5.Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  • Goal 9.Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  • Goal 14.Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

USCIB is deeply engaged in all aspects of the 2030 Development Agenda, advocating for good governance and the rule of law, economic growth, investment in infrastructure, enabling environments to foster innovation, strong public-private partnerships and above all, an open channel for business input into policy negotiations and implementation.

USCIB believes that good governance and rule of law, infrastructure, enabling environments and private-public partnerships are the building blocks of success in achieving prosperity and eradicating poverty. While much work remains, USCIB members are already doing their part to ensure the realization of these goals. Each week, we will feature one of these goals in this publication. Additionally, we refer you to USCIB’s “Business for 2030” website which showcases the private sector’s contributions to the SDG’s. Stay tuned!

USCIB in the News: Business and the UN Climate Process

Published on May 8, 2017
USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy and CEO Peter Robinson at COP21 in 2015.

The Financial Times has published a letter to the editor from USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy on the role of business in the UN climate change talks — please see below. The op-ed is also available on the FT’s website.

Publication of this letter comes as UN members gather in Bonn, Germany for talks leading up to this December’s COP23 summit. A few governments and interest groups have called for new rules aimed at restricting the private sector’s participation in the UN climate process. Kennedy’s letter forcefully rebuts these efforts.

Financial Times

May 4, 2017

Letter

Business takes its climate responsibilities seriously

From Norine Kennedy, New York, NY, US

Sir, Regarding “Developing nations seek to reveal business influence on climate talks” (May 1): the UN is at its best when it opens its doors to all relevant stakeholders. Potential conflicts of interest pertain to all organisations, not just business associations. Business representatives are obliged to abide by all UN rules as a condition of their attendance at UN meetings.

We take this responsibility seriously. Just two years ago, my organisation joined others from around the world in celebrating the Paris Climate Agreement. The political will needed to reach consensus in Paris was spurred in part by support from business. Now, disappointingly, some wish to disinvite the private sector.

Since it is business that will deliver the lion’s share of the investment and innovation needed to confront the climate challenge — a fact recognised in the Paris Agreement — shouldn’t the conversation include business representatives? How else can governments and other stakeholders develop effective policy frameworks to unlock potentially game-changing solutions?

Norine Kennedy
Vice President, Energy and Environment,
United States Council for International Business,
New York, NY, US

USCIB Urges Trump Administration to Remain Engaged in UN Climate Talks

Published on April 26, 2017

With senior advisors in the Trump administration set to meet tomorrow to discuss U.S. engagement in the UN and other international climate change discussions, USCIB has urged the administration to keep the U.S. seat at the table.

Earlier this month, in a letter to the White House, USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson wrote: “In spite of challenges and shortcomings in the UN climate policy arena, USCIB reaffirms its support for the United States to continue as a Party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement.”

However, USCIB’s letter, which was sent April 17 to National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, explicitly recommended that the U.S. place a number of conditions on continued engagement, including reassessing existing U.S. emissions reduction and related commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement in the context of broader consultation with the private sector.

The letter further recommended that the U.S. insist on greater access and transparency in the UN climate negotiation process for U.S. economic stakeholders, call on the UN to discourage unilateral trade measures related to climate, and work through the UN and other international forums to foster speedier development and deployment of environmentally sound technologies.

“Addressing climate change and its impacts will require a long-term international cooperative approach with due attention to national circumstances and priorities to assure ongoing economic development,” Robinson wrote. “USCIB members are convinced that U.S. engagement and leadership are required to champion economically sound approaches to energy and climate change risks that advance U.S. economic prosperity and create new job and market opportunities for U.S. businesses at home and abroad.”

USCIB Convenes Multistakeholder Roundtable on Business and Infrastructure for SDGs

Published on April 25, 2017
L-R: USCIB Vice President, Strategic International Engagement, Energy and Environment Norine Kennedy, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson, and Ambassador Lisa Kubiske from the U.S. State Department

As the UN gears up for its annual high-level political forum (HLPF) to review progress on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in July, the international community is turning its attention to SDG 9—building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. The extensive role of infrastructure in achieving all 17 SDGs prompted USCIB to organize a ‘Business for SDGs’ roundtable on Infrastructure last Friday, April 21, hosted by Covington LLP in Washington DC.

Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment and the lead for USCIB’s work on the sustainable development goals opened the meeting and served as the event’s master of ceremonies.  “USCIB’s SDG Working Group realized that no SDG can be delivered without the right ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure, such as education, financial inclusion, food systems and healthcare, in place. The pipeline for bankable projects for both has to accelerate to broadly deploy and leverage business resources and know,” said Kennedy.

The event, held on the margins of the UN Financing for Development Infrastructure Forum, drew participants from government and business, including USCIB member companies AT&T, Bechtel, Citi, KPMG, MasterCard, and Monsanto as well as the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, NGO groups such as the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation, and U.S. government representatives, notably Ambassador Lisa Kubiske from the U.S. Department of State who gave closing remarks.

The roundtable discussed obstacles to and best practices in public private partnerships for infrastructure projects, challenges in removing barriers or dealing with corruption, and the importance of scaling U.S. business investment, and the role of business in developing and utilizing SDG-relevant metrics. “There’s a huge financing gap, especially in terms of development and sustainable infrastructure projects around the world,” said Kubiske before citing U.S. government resources and initiatives that to de-risk and support U.S. companies competing for infrastructure projects, such as Power Africa.

“Investment in infrastructure is key to achieving a successful implementation of the SDGs,” emphasized Peter M. Robinson, USCIB’s CEO and president in discussing key takeaways from the roundtable. “We must actively search for ways to discourage governments from crowding out private investment; the implementation imperative requires scaling up business involvement and commercial opportunities. A first priority is to knock down obstacles to infrastructure investment, which can take the form of formal barriers to foreign investment in specific sectors or burdensome regulation affecting both foreign and domestic firms,” he said. Robinson’s remarks can be found here.

USCIB will host another roundtable on Innovation and SDGs in May in conjunction with the Financing for Development Forum.  Please see USCIB’s Businessfor2030 website for more information on the roundtable and other USCIB actions and engagement on the SDGs.

USCIB’s Sustainable Development Event to Focus on Infrastructure

Published on April 17, 2017

Vertical Garden – Green Wall – BioWallSince the global adoption of the UN Agenda for 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international community has turned its attention to implementation, and the resources from governments and business required to set the SDGs into motion. In this regard, a pressing priority across all seventeen SDGs is upgrading and building infrastructure for sustainability. USCIB will host a roundtable on infrastructure for sustainability this Friday, April 21 in Washington DC.

“Roundtable participants will discuss where and how business is already planning for and investing in infrastructure for sustainability, what are the enabling frameworks, policies and partnerships that can be scaled for impact, what new sources and approaches exist to mobilize resources and advance bankable projects for sustainability infrastructure and which indicators to use to measure and report impacts of infrastructure investments by the private sector,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment.

Both “hard” and “soft” forms of infrastructure have also figured prominently in the UN Financing for Development (FfD) process. The USCIB Roundtable will immediately precede the FfD Infrastructure Forum, and inform recommendations by USCIB to the UN High Level Political Forum meetings in July when they review SDG actions by governments, business and others.

Notable speakers at USCIB’s event will include Ambassador Lisa Kubiske, deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of State, Albena Melin, principal operations officer at the International Finance Corporation, Krishan Sharma, senior economist at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Alan P. Larson, senior international policy advisor at Covington.

For further details and registration information please contact Mia Lauter, mlauter@uscib.org.

Global Partnerships Week Launches With Focus on SDG-17

Published on March 6, 2017
(L-R) Kathy Calvin, President & CEO, UN Foundation, Trevor Davies, Global Head, International Development Assistance Services Institute, KPMG and Claus Stig Pedersen, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Novozymes
(L-R) Kathy Calvin, President & CEO, UN Foundation, Trevor Davies, Global Head, International Development Assistance Services Institute, KPMG and Claus Stig Pedersen, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Novozymes

Global Partnerships Week (GPW) kicked off yesterday, March 6, to celebrate the role of public-private partnerships in promoting global development and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The two-week, annual event is organized by Concordia, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships, and PeaceTech Lab and engages experts from the public and private sectors, as well as foundations and multilateral institutions.

The U.S. Institute of Peace hosted GPW’s day-long Global Practitioners Forum yesterday, which focused on engaging practitioners in achieving what many consider to be the most imperative and interconnected SDG, Goal 17. Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar moderated the opening panel titled “Goal 17 in 2017: Partnerships for the Global Goals,” which featured USCIB members KPMG and Novozymes, as well as UNESCO, UN Foundation and New America. The panel aimed to explore the role of partnerships in addressing challenges presented by inequality, poverty and governance to ensure the achievement of a comprehensive 2030 development agenda.

Claus Stig Pedersen, head of corporate sustainability at Novozymes, presented participants with anecdotes and insights around partnership challenges, as companies look to align both longer-term strategies and growth opportunities with the SDGs. “It’s not just about partnerships for the sake of doing partnerships, it’s an investment in the future, but it takes time,” stated Pedersen. Pedersen cited several examples including Novozymes’ leadership in the Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4ALL), first launched by the United Nations and World Bank at the Rio+20 Summit in 2012, where it subsequently helped establish a coalition of partners aimed at developing and deploying sustainable bio-energy solutions. “Although the partnership was first launched in 2013, we [Novozymes] have continued to stay engaged, establishing concrete projects and cases that are driving the initiative forward.” While many stakeholders increasingly subscribe to the idea of partnership, Pedersen noted some of the success factors behind this effort. “We all really need to do our due diligence and build up good relationships together, as well as learn to draw on each other’s strengths as we look to partner to achieve greater positive impact.”

Additional information on Novozymes public-private partnerships can be found on USCIB’s Business for 2030 website, which serves as an important tool to showcase business’s past and continuing contributions to sustainable development through the prism of the SDGs.

USCIB Urges Business Access in Comments to UNFCCC

Published on March 3, 2017

As uncertainty in U.S. participation and leadership in UN climate negotiations and the Paris Climate Agreement continues, USCIB and its global network are pushing to ensure that business has a voice in the global climate policy process.

USCIB, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF) recently submitted coordinated comments to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ahead of its Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 46) meeting, to take place in Bonn, Germany on May 8-18, 2017. The USCIB, ICC and BizMEF submissions all make the case for enhancing engagement of Non-Party Actors (NSAs), particularly the private sector, in order to strengthen Paris Agreement implementation. USCIB’s Norine Kennedy, Vice President for Strategic International Engagement, Energy and Environment will attend the Bonn meetings, along with USCIB members from Monsanto and Novozymes.

In preparing the comments Kennedy noted, “As it stands today, the UNFCCC institutional infrastructure does not adequately reflect the role of the private sector and therefore must be updated and expanded to recognize and mobilize business engagement as part of global efforts to deliver on the Paris Agreement. In our view, the May Workshop during SBI46 on enhancing NSA engagement could provide valuable ideas to begin to build this vital institutional infrastructure for implementation of the Agreement.”

Governments have recognized the major contribution of the private sector to achieving the Paris Agreement, its entry into force and other follow-up activities.  As a long-time observer organization representing American business in the UNFCCC since 1993, USCIB has consistently sought to extend existing opportunities to participate in the international climate processes.  USCIB’s advocacy has focused on broadening and improving existing options to create a more comprehensive, recognized channel for business engagement to strengthen implementation of the Paris Agreement and ensure the effectiveness and resilience of the UNFCCC.

In its comments, USCIB emphasized that enhancing business engagement requires innovative governance and partnership, and will be a prerequisite for successful and cost-effective implementation. Kennedy stressed that “the UNFCCC should adjust its means of working with business to a more collaborative and mainstreamed mode. This will require innovative leadership by policy-makers to engage the private sector in new ways.”

USCIB’s comments also included suggestions for the SBI workshop’s objectives, a long-term vision for business engagement in the UNFCC, and the role of business in national pledges under the Paris Agreement, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The full submission can be accessed here.

 

USCIB Urges Secretary Tillerson to Push for UN Accountability

Published on February 21, 2017

USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson issued a letter last week to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlining principles and priority areas for the Trump administration’s posture and involvement in international environmental policy and forums.

The letter recommends an assessment of U.S. engagement in the international environmental arena and proposes an ongoing dialogue with U.S. business groups familiar with those deliberations to inform the administration.

While a growing number of United Nations agencies are increasingly restricting the private sector and excluding business representatives from key meetings, USCIB’s statement urges the administration to insist that UN bodies conduct their work with transparency and accountability to economic stakeholders in the United States.

USCIB’s letter is timely given Tillerson’s first international trip this week as secretary of state to the Group of 20 (G20) meetings in Bonn, Germany. According to the Chicago Tribune, Secretary Tillerson will meet G20 envoys in Bonn to discuss the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and climate change.

USCIB Vice President for Strategic International Engagement, Energy and Environment Norine Kennedy commented on the importance of maintaining a strong U.S. presence, noting: “The proliferation of environmental and climate change policies on the global agenda demands that the administration remain an active member of the international environmental community to further and defend U.S. business and economic interests, while tackling climate change and other universal environmental challenges.”

Private Sector Unites for Action Under Paris Climate Agreement

Published on November 30, 2016

USCIB joined representatives from over forty leading national and international business groups to endorse the Marrakesh Declaration, agreed at the High Level Business Summit on November 16 during the 22nd UN Convention on Climate Change (COP22) meetings in Marrakesh.  This meeting, convened by Morocco’s preeminent business group, the Confederation General des Enterprises de Maroc (CGEM) and the leading French business organization, MEDEF, agreed a consensus statement on business priorities and commitment to further develop the Paris Agreement and to create enabling frameworks to support business investment, innovation and implementation of the UN climate agreement.

The main objective of COP22 was to accelerate technical work and guidelines for reporting under the Paris Agreement in several areas, including tracking government action and linking carbon markets, in order to support implementation and meet deadlines resulting from the rapid ratification and entry into force of the Paris Agreement.  While few substantive issues were resolved, the two weeks of negotiations did deliver decisions to outline a timetable for future work and request submissions from governments on a wide range of policy and market topics. Over 20,000 government, UN, NGO, business and press representatives attended COP22.  Members of USCIB on hand at the conference included Nick Campbell, Arkema, Justin Perrettson, Novozymes, Russel Mills, Dow Chemical Company, Brian Lowry, Monsanto, Arthur Lee, Chevron and Jorge Dieguez, Dupont.

While the outcome of the U.S. presidential election did raise questions regarding the U.S. role in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for energy and environment, “We regard U.S. government involvement in the UN climate process as critical to represent and defend U.S. economic interests overseas, and promote U.S. innovation as part of the solution to energy security and lower carbon economic activity.”

USCIB also presented on business perspectives on implementing the Paris Agreement and the role of business in developing and improving national pledges, known as Nationally determined contributions (NDCs), that are the foundation of the Paris Agreement.  At an official COP22 side-event on November 18, organized by the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF), of which USCIB is a founding member, Kennedy participated on a panel with other experts and representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Turkish business association, TUSIAD, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Japan’s business group Keidanren, and the Global CCS Institute.

USCIB actively works with BizMEF to develop global business recommendations on the top-line issues that matter to U.S. business. Just one week prior to the official COP22 side-event, USCIB, through BizMEF, partnered with CGEM to convene the 4th BizMEF Business Dialogue. This Dialogue brought together over seventy participants from business, governments, and UN agencies and was a crucial platform for Kennedy to present USCIB’s report on the role of business in developing national pledges under the Paris Agreement, with recommendations for involving the private sector in national and international assessments of climate action.

The next two years will bring multiple fast-moving – by UN standards – decision-making deliberations across a number of key issues, and USCIB will continue to track those that most directly impact our members. USCIB will focus on ways to carve out a clear role for business input and representation in the process. Kennedy emphasized, “We consider it fundamental, at both the national and international levels, for policy makers to consult with business on the economic and environmental aspects of climate policies. There is no doubt that the Paris Agreement has implications for every business sector, across all types of commercial activity, in the near and the long terms. So preserving and improving the UN system’s accountability and transparency, and creating new opportunities for the private sector to contribute, this is USCIB’s bottom line.”

USCIB will circulate a comprehensive COP22 report out and seek USCIB members’ recommendations on 2017 USCIB climate advocacy in early December.  Please contact Norine Kennedy to get involved in USCIB’s climate and environment committees.

CLICK to download new BizMEF statements on the role of business in the UN climate talks, implementing the Paris Agreement, national reporting and verification and greenhouse gas markets.