Friday, April 16, 2010
Climate Change Post-Copenhagen: Collaborating From The Ground Up
Session Description
The Copenhagen Climate Summit left the climate community wrestling with the best way to proceed in the absence of a global agreement on carbon emissions. Barring multi-national cooperation, progress must continue at the national and sub-national levels, calling on industries, non-governmental organisations, and social entrepreneurs to self-organise and collaborate to drive emission reductions. This cross cutting conversation engages participants from multiple sectors around opportunities for collaboration including how to bring about change from the bottom up.
When | Where
09:00 - 10:30
Friday, April 16
Session leaders
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Founder and CEO, The Catalyst Project
George Polk, a serial entrepreneur, stepped down as CEO of The Cloud in early 2007 to focus on climate change. Since then George has founded the European Climate Foundation, where he also served as CEO & Chairman. He also founded Project Catalyst, a major initiative related to the COP15 negotiations. George has also served as an adviser to George Soros on climate change related investments, Senior Advisor to McKinsey and the ClimateWorks Foundation, and is a Director of the Carbon War Room and Powerspan Corporation – a leader in carbon capture technology.
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Mindy S. Lubber is the President and a founding board member of Ceres, a non-profit organization that is mobilizing many of the world’s largest investors and companies to take stronger action on climate change, water scarcity and other global sustainability challenges. She directs Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a group of 120 institutional investors managing over $15 trillion in assets focused on the business risks and opportunities of climate change. Mindy also oversees engagements with 100-plus companies, many of them Fortune 500 firms, committed to sustainable business practices and the urgency for strong climate and clean energy policies.
Under Mindy’s leadership, Ceres launched The 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability and The 21st Century Investor: Ceres Blueprint for Sustainable Investing, visionary guides highlighting environmental and social performance improvements companies and investors must achieve to succeed in the resource-constrained 21st century global economy.
In 2016, Mindy received the Climate Visionary Award from the Earth Day Network, and the William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership from the Center for Environmental Policy at American University. The December 2015 online edition of Vogue Magazine featured Mindy as one of their “Climate Warriors”, one of the top 13 women advancing the Paris Climate Agreement at the UN Conference at COP21. In 2010, Mindy was honored by the United Nations and the Foundation for Social Change as one of the “World’s Top Leaders of Change” for her work in mobilizing leading companies to integrate environmental challenges into core business strategies. She is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and was named one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Corporate Governance” by Directorship magazine.
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CEO, OneSun, Solar
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. His books have been published in over 50 countries and 27 languages. They include The Ecology of Commerce, Natural Capitalism, and Blessed Unrest. He is CEO of OneSun, Solar.
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CEO, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation
Seema Paul is currently CEO and Board member of the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, a New Delhi-based organisation that promotes sustainable energy and transportation policies in India. Prior to joining Shakti, Ms.Paul served as Chief of Policy at UNAIDS, and prior to that as the Senior Program Officer in the Environment Team with Ted Turner’s United Nations Foundation.
