Devex – April 14, 2015
The proposed post-2015 development agenda currently consists of 17 goals and 169 targets. From a business standpoint, how should the private sector make sense of these? Watch this video interview with USCIB’s Norine Kennedy:
Too much on the table? How businesses should approach the SDGs
USCIB urged senior U.S. cabinet officials to include business in talks about limiting greenhouse gas emissions as part of the United Nations’ global effort to develop a new international cooperative climate accord.
In December 2015, world leaders are expected to conclude a new UN climate agreement, the world’s first binding and universal agreement committing all countries to reduce carbon their emissions. This international agreement is built around each country’s individual Independent Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs), or national pledge, whereby the country commits to reducing its carbon footprint by a certain amount in the coming decades.
The United States released its INDC proposal on March 31, unveiling a blueprint for cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by nearly a third over the next 15 years. The private sector was not consulted during the drafting of America’s INDC proposal. Business is expected to support and finance the UN’s climate agreement; therefore business must be included in talks to inform the national pledges and the world’s climate change agenda at every step, from setting priorities, to crafting policy options, to taking action.
“We have a common interest in INDCs that are successful and synergistic with international regulatory frameworks and the global marketplace,” wrote USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson in a letter sent Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and other senior U.S. cabinet officials. “We believe that NDCs can be strengthened and aligned through consultation and coordination with business to discuss how proposed efforts will affect the economy and environment, where additional initiatives can supplement and add to INDC submissions and to seek advice on how to assess proposals by other nations.”
USCIB is a member of the Major Economies Business Forum on Energy Security and Climate Change (BizMEF), which comprises national and regional business organizations representing millions of companies all over the world. BizMEF members have participated in and shared at UN climate change conferences since the Copenhagen conference in 2009. BizMEF released a set of views on how business can contribute to the development and implementation of INDCs:
As negotiations intensify around the UN climate agreement set to be finalized in Paris in December, USCIB encourages all governments to consult with business going forward to help understand and assess each country’s national pledge.
World Politics Review – March 17, 2015
An overview of the UN’s development of Sustainable Development Goals quotes USCIB’s Norine Kennedy.
Sustainable Partnership: Security and the Post-2015 Development Goals
Following USCIB’s nomination, Dr. Neil C. Hawkins, corporate vice president for sustainability at The Dow Chemical Company, has been named to serve as the first business and industry representative to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) newly created Global Environment Outlook (GEO) High Level Advisory Group.
The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is an international consultative scientific and expert process that conducts integrated environmental assessments and reports on the state, trends and outlooks of the environment. GEO reports present an annual “all of planet” integrated assessment of ecosystems by scientists and environmental experts; its purpose is to inform policymakers and help set priorities for international cooperation on environmental challenges.
The upcoming GEO-6, to be launched in mid-2017, will build upon regional assessment processes and create a comprehensive picture of the environmental factors contributing to human well-being, accompanied by an analysis of policies leading to greater attainment of global environmental objectives and goals, including the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)s. The assessment will lay the foundation for continued socio-environmental assessments across relevant scales, with a thematic as well as an integrated focus, enabling and informing societal transitions and the tracking of SDG targets and goals as well as previously agreed internationally environmental goals. The enhanced policy analysis in GEO-6 will be aimed at assisting member states to position themselves on the most effective pathways for transitions towards a sustainable future. The GEO will bring together representatives from the U.S. and other national governments with experts representing a broad range of stakeholder constituencies.
Dr. Hawkins is the only business representative with a seat on this policy-driving panel.
“We’re thrilled to support Neil in this role on behalf of business writ large,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment. “His involvement in the GEO assessment process will contribute to a more multi-dimensional assessment of planetary eco-systems and human impacts from a business perspective, and shed light on how the private sector can help deploy innovative solutions.”
In his global role as corporate vice president of sustainability at Dow, Hawkins drives strategy and implementation for Dow’s sustainability programs, including the enterprise-wide 2015 Sustainability Goals. He is a recognized practitioner and thought leader on sustainability in the international business community.
Hawkins’s nomination to UNEP’s GEO6 High Level Advisory Group is the most recent development in USCIB’s engagement with UNEP and its UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, as well as USCIB’s inputs to previous GEO reports.
For more information on UNEP GEO, please see
If a global climate agreement doesn’t work for business, it won’t work.
Following another finish in “overtime,” the annual UN climate change conference wrapped up in Lima, Peru on December 13. This was the 20th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, and one could be forgiven for a sense of déjà vu. After all, we have become accustomed to the inevitable cliff-hanger ending of these annual “COP” meetings, just as we have come to depend on a last-minute compromise.
The Lima meeting’s purpose was to set the stage for the home stretch of negotiations of a long term inclusive climate agreement to be finalized next December in Paris. Yet despite a modest agenda, it proved extremely difficult for member states to agree to even a brief five page outcome document. In my view, this means we should not be too complacent as we look ahead to 2015. Much has changed since the international community negotiated the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, and business has a lot on the line.
Negotiators did make progress in framing commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions and fund developing countries’ climate efforts. I attended alongside USCIB’s Norine Kennedy and many dozens of USCIB member executives and representatives of our global business network. Our colleagues from the International Chamber of Commerce played an important coordinating role, facilitating private-sector engagement across the board in Lima.
This was my fourth COP, and a major difference I noticed from prior meetings was while governments still face gaps and differences in opinion, positions put forward by business groups are converging in three key areas that are – in USCIB’s view – deal-breakers for the future of the agreement.
Commitments and Transparency
The climate agreement to be signed in Paris must provide a clear framework for international cooperative action, committing all large emitting economies to the measurement, monitoring and reporting of nationally pledged activities to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as those announced recently by the United States and China.
UN negotiators needed to reach agreement on credible measuring, reporting and verification for all national commitments to ensure transparency and assess progress going forward. In Lima, China and a number of other, largely developing, countries resisted measurement and reporting tools to ensure that countries are living up to their commitments.
Financing and Investment
We need to leverage private investment if we are to have any hope of marshalling the $100 billion in annual financing that UNFCCC parties say is required to ensure adequate resources for climate mitigation and adaptation. Yet governments seem stuck in the same old “aid, not trade” mindset. The UN’s Green Climate Fund, designed to finance developing countries’ efforts to combat climate change, did reach its initial $10 billion capitalization target. But going from $10 billion to $100 billion depends on the mobilization of private investment and innovation.
Negotiators must now work toward a 2015 Paris agreement with measures that enable markets and foster business investment – as well as government aid – aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adjusting to climate impacts. The UNFCCC should promote innovation through financially efficient and well-targeted support mechanisms to scale up new technologies and strong, protection of intellectual property.
Private-Sector Engagement
If a global climate agreement doesn’t work for business, it won’t work. This was the message my colleagues and I delivered repeatedly in Lima. With so much riding on economy-wide transformational change that will rely on the private sector, the Paris outcomes must anchor the role of business in the UN climate agreement through actions to reduce emissions, pursue efficiency, transform energy systems and build more resilient infrastructure.
We made some progress on this front. Our well-attended BizMEF Lima Dialogue (see photo) won praise for engaging with key governments and other stakeholders in support of securing the private-sector commitment and expertise that can drive meaningful change. Given the wide impact that a UN agreement will have on markets, regulations and national competitiveness, an agreed and recognized structure is needed to provide business expertise and support.
UN negotiators should make space for a business consultative channel as a resource of technical and practical expertise for governments and the UNFCCC process.
So where does this leave us, with one year to go before the big Paris climate summit? The challenge of climate change is real on economic, environmental and social fronts, with opportunities for business in new markets and for the global community to enable climate friendly development and energy access.
Negotiators have a lot of work to do between now and next December. Have they bitten off more than they can chew? I think not, but getting this agreement past the finish line will clearly require pragmatic problem-solving and engagement with the private sector. Business innovates and invests in ways that the public sector can’t, and tapping into that innovation could well be the difference between success and the same old same old in Paris next year.
Peter Robinson’s bio and contact information
Other recent postings from Peter Robinson:
What’s the Rush on Global Tax Reform? (Summer 2014)
Setting the Rules of the Road in Cross-Border Commerce (Spring 2014)
It’s Time to Clap with Both Hands on FDI (Winter 2013-2014)
Making Sure the Business Voice Is Heard in International Agencies (Fall 2013)
The United Nations climate change conference wrapped up in the wee hours of Sunday in Lima, Peru ending two weeks of climate talks and 36 straight hours of negotiations over the weekend. Member states agreed to a common structure for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – known in the UN as “Intended Nationally Determined Pledges” – and to move ahead on a broader international climate agreement that would enter into force in 2020.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) 20th
Conference of the Parties (COP20), which took place in Lima from December 1 to 12, set the foundation for an intense year of negotiations leading to a long term, comprehensive climate agreement in Paris 2015.
Signaling the political challenges of the task at hand, the 194 governments struggled for consensus on a five page decision that would allow the process to continue. Conflicts between rich and developing nations bogged down efforts to build a draft of the final Paris 2015 climate agreement, in sharp contrast to strong interest by businesses and other stakeholders to be more substantively involved in action and consultation towards the 2015 Paris outcome.
“Lima’s outcomes show the scale of the task before governments and society in limiting greenhouse gases, planning for energy transitions, and linking resilience and development,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and the environment. “Business innovation and investment are indispensable, and USCIB is ready to continue to inform and support these vital economic and environmental deliberations going forward.”
Committed to forging a recognized consultative role for business in the United Nations climate agreement to be finalized next year in Paris, the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF), of which USCIB is a member, co-hosted the “Lima Business Dialogue” during COP20 in Lima. The Dialogue was organized in partnership with, and hosted by, the Lima Chamber of Commerce on December 7.
Over 70 attendees participated in the dialogue, including high-level government officials and climate negotiators from the United States, Peru, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Japan and Poland; global business leaders; representatives of major national business organizations; and officials from the UNFCCC Secretariat. Playing a leading role for USCIB were President and CEO Peter Robinson and Norine Kennedy, vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and the environment.
BizMEF comprises national and regional business organizations representing millions of companies all over the world, and members have participated in and shared views at meetings of the UNFCCC since COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009. This partnership’s broad representation allows BizMEF to provide robust and balanced views on a range of issues in discussions concerning climate change, energy and development. USCIB contributed to five BizMEF papers on key priorities, issues and perspectives around the UN climate negotiations.
The Lima Business Dialogue tackled climate change policy and market opportunities and challenges faced by the Latin American business community, reviewed the role the private sector plays in the UN’s technology mechanism and the UNFCCC’s Green Climate Fund, and discussed the value of engagement by the private sector in the UN’s Post-2020 Climate Agreement. Panel discussions focused on critical areas for business such as nationally determined contributions, markets, and carbon markets and pricing.
View photos from the COP20 Lima Business Dialogue
(Flickr)
“Our goal is to encourage the creation of more effective engagement options for the business community in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” said Robinson. “Both by considering ways to do so and by demonstrating the value of enhanced, recognized participation.”
This session built on previous successful BizMEF Dialogues in Doha and Warsaw Dialogues in 2012 and 2013. While the UN refers to businesses as “observer organizations” at the UNFCCC’s deliberations, implementation of government commitments, and the financial and technological means to do so, rely in large part on the private sector. Yet business has limited opportunities to offer its technical expertise and policy advice to the deliberations.
“The UNFCCC now has a once in a decade opportunity to anchor business in the Paris 2015 outcome,” Kennedy said at the dialogue. “And by doing so, to tap into the business’s unique understanding of policy and markets, and its operational, technological, investment, and management expertise to help design and implement the new international cooperative climate framework. We are not seeking to sit at the table with negotiators. We aim to be a resource to negotiators and the process.”
The day after the Lima Business Dialogue, Robinson attended a press conference with International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) leaders in which he made a strong case for business engagement in UN climate talks.
“If a global agreement on climate change doesn’t work for and with businesses, it just won’t work,” he said. Robinson was also quoted in a Financial Times article, “Business calls for greater say in climate talks.”
For more information on USCIB’s, ICC’s, and BizMEF’s engagement in UN climate negotiations, visit our COP20 web page, and follow us on Twitter at #BizCOP20.
Key USCIB issues for Lima:
- Ensuring the role of business is anchored in the Paris 2015 outcomes.
- Reviewing the form and scope of the Intended Nationally Determined Pledges: USCIB tracked the degree to which business would be consulted in INDC preparation at the national level and in reviewing INDCs at international levels.
- Supporting innovation and strong intellectual property rights protections, including in the ongoing work of the Technology Mechanism. While the Lima Decision does not mention IP, the most recent version of the “elements” of a negotiating text contains references to intellectual property.
- Ensuring that conditions for private sector investment are strengthened. The Green Climate Fund did reach its $10 billion threshold, yet discussions of markets and market mechanisms were contentious.
Staff contact: Norine Kennedy
Business leaders have called for a much bigger say in UN talks shaping a global climate deal in Paris in 2015, in a sign of growing concern about how the agreement may affect the private sector. USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson is quoted: “We want to find an opportunity where we are more inside the tent than on the sidelines.”
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson and USCIB Vice President Norine Kennedy are in Lima, Peru this week for the UN climate talks (COP20). Robinson took part in a press briefing yesterday alongside other members of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), including James Bacchus of Greenberg Traurig, chair of the ICC Commission on Trade and Investment.
Both Robinson and Bacchus are quoted at length in an article in today’s Financial Times, “Business calls for greater say in climate talks,” calling for a much bigger role for business in the UN climate negotiations. Here are some key quotes from the article, which is available in its entirety on the FT’s website
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Robinson: “If a global agreement on climate change doesn’t work for and with businesses, it just won’t work.”
Bacchus: “This issue is important for governments to address but it is far too important to leave to governments alone.”
Robinson: “We want to find an opportunity where we are more inside the tent than on the sidelines. We are concerned that we are not as fully engaged now as the world needs us to be.”
Bacchus (on the need for an agreement to guarantee open markets for trade and investment): “What kind of access will developing countries have to the new green technologies they need if they restrict trade and restrict investment?”
You can access recent statements and other materials from the Lima conference on USCIB’s webpage dedicated to COP20. We are also tweeting from Lima using the hashtag #BizCOP20.
Staff contact: Norine Kennedy
On December 4, the United Nations secretary general submitted an advance version of the synthesis report to the UN general assembly outlining his views on the UN’s Post-2015 Development Agenda outcomes.
Titled “The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet,” the report will inform member states’ negotiations of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be agreed upon in September 2015. The UN SDGs, which lie at the core of the UN’s ambitious Post-2015 Development Agenda, aim to address sustainable development through international commitments by governments and other sectors, finance and partnerships.
The secretary general envisions a strong role for business in his report, noting that “[a]n enabled properly regulated, responsible and profitable private sector is critical for employment, living wages, growth, and revenues for public programs.” The report adds: “Transforming business models for creating shared value is vital for growing inclusive and sustainable economies.”
An Open Working Group process in 2014 consisting of inputs from a wide variety of stakeholders and member states led to 17 draft SDGs. In his report, the secretary general has sought to inspire action and make these draft SDGs more easily absorbed by member states and other stakeholders by proposing a six pillar framework around – People, Dignity, Prosperity, Planet, Justice and Partnership. Promoting “decent work” is embedded as a core element in promoting prosperity “to grow a strong, inclusive and transformative economy.”
The private sector’s contribution is acknowledged in several paragraphs: “We know that forward-looking companies are taking the lead by transforming their business models for sustainable development, and that we have only scratched the surface of the potential for ethics-driven investment by the private sector.”
Key points of interest to business from the synthesis report:
- The priorities identified by business for the sustainable development agenda are shared by many other stakeholders and are seen as essential elements to achieving the SDGs.
- Acknowledgment that business is already innovating for sustainable development and stands ready to contribute more, given appropriate enabling environments.
- A new framing of the goals and targets that will inspire public-private partnerships and mobilize essential actors.
- Emphasis on the need to stimulate private money flows to pay for the Post-2015 agenda goals.
Staff contacts: Norine Kennedy and Ariel Meyerstein
The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) will be representing American business interests at the 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference, host to the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP20) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), in Lima, Peru, from December 1-12, 2014.
As governments in Lima begin work on a long-term UN climate change framework in the lead-up to a final climate agreement in Paris next year, U.S. business sees an opportunity to design international climate cooperation that works with markets to deploy investment and innovation, and to encourage companies in all sectors to integrate climate mitigation and adaptation into their activities and supply value chains.
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson and Norine Kennedy, vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and the environment, will be in Peru for the COP20 meetings. USCIB is the American affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and is actively supporting ICC’s presence in Lima throughout COP20.
USCIB is also a member of the Major Economies Business Forum on Energy Security and Climate Change (BizMEF), which comprises national and regional business organizations representing millions of companies all over the world. BizMEF members have participated in and shared views and meetings of the UNFCCC since COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009.
View photos from the BizMEF Lima Business Dialogue (Flickr)
The post-2020 climate agreement to be signed in Paris must provide a clear framework for international cooperative action, committing all large economies to the measurement, monitoring and reporting of pledged activities to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as those announced by China and the U.S. recently. For such national pledges to work in the Paris timeframe, Lima needs to reach agreement on credible measuring, reporting and verification for all national commitments to ensure transparency and assess progress going forward.
The UN’s Green Climate Fund, designed to finance the international community’s efforts to combat climate change, is on track to reach its initial $10 billion capitalization target. But going from $10 billion to the $100 billion or more needed to advance climate change objectives depends on the mobilization of private investment and innovation. Lima must set the stage for a 2015 Paris agreement with measures that foster business investment as well as government aid aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adjusting to climate impacts.
With so much riding on economy-wide transformational change that will rely on the private sector, the Paris agreement must move to anchor the role of business in the UN climate negotiations. Given the wide impact that a UN agreement will have on markets, regulations and national competitiveness, an agreed structure is needed to provide business expertise and support to the process. This will be the focus of a special side event to be held on the middle Sunday in Lima.
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson is quoted in this Financial Times article:
“We want to find an opportunity where we are more inside the tent than on the sidelines,” said Peter Robinson chief executive of the US Council for International Business. He added businesses should be “co-parties” in the talks, not mere observers. “If a global agreement on climate change doesn’t work for and with businesses, it just won’t work,” he said.”
USCIB has signed on to several letters and policy recommendations relevant to COP20, including:
Staff contact: Norine Kennedy