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SINGAPORE—Top executives from leading global companies
will join 1,000 leaders from government, international
agencies and nongovernment organizations to discuss
business and environmental issues, forge partnerships
and explore solutions for a greener future at the
Business for the Environment Global Summit (B4E summit)
here.
“What we
are calling for this year is for companies everywhere to
take the first step to find a green solution and not
wait for government policies and incentives. By
galvanizing the business community for an ongoing
dialogue around environmental stewardship, the summit
has the power to make an immediate and significant
change in the way we do business,” said Georg Kell,
executive director of the UN Global Compact.
The B4E
summit 2008, to be held on April 22 and 23 at the Suntec
Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre,
is jointly hosted by the United Nations Environment
Programme (Unep) and the United Nations Global Compact.
Kell is
optimistic that this year’s event will embolden and
inspire business leaders to bring their efforts to true
scale.
The
summit will highlight the most urgent environmental
challenges facing the world today and discuss
business-driven solutions for mitigating and adapting to
climate change. Important topics addressed will include
resource efficiencies, renewable energies, new business
models and climate strategies.
Mr.
Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and executive
director of Unep, said the summit provides an
opportunity for corporations, national leaders and other
organizations in Asia and across the world to be at the
forefront of these transformations and to lead by
example on how they are accelerating resource and energy
efficiency—how they are building tomorrow’s economy
today.
“Climate
change will affect business and society in fundamental
and transformative ways. It represents risks but also
opportunities to move the global economy to a Green
Economy,” Steiner said.
One of
the highlights of the B4E Global Summit is a high-level
roundtable discussion with this year’s Unep Champions of
the Earth laureates on the topic of advancing the
climate agenda through policy, mitigation and
adaptation.
The
laureates participating in this discussion are HSH
Prince Albert II of Monaco; Balgis Osman-Elasha, a
senior researcher at Sudan’s Higher Council for
Environment and Natural Resources; Atiq Rahman,
executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced
Studies; Liz Thompson, the former energy and environment
minister of Barbados; and Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, the
secretary general of the Yemen People’s General
Congress.
Part of
the summit also includes a workshop and field trip for a
dozen select journalists from April 21 to 24, wherein
participants tackle the role of media in the business
and environment interface, as well as covering firsthand
emerging climate change issues.
The
summit will be opened by Mr. Mah Bow Tan, minister for
National Development of Singapore. Other distinguished
keynote speakers, moderators and panelists who will be
at the event include Adrian Hodges, managing director of
the International Business Leaders Forum; Göran Persson,
Sweden’s former prime minister; Li Yue, vice president
of China Mobile; Aron Cramer, CEO of Business for Social
Responsibility, and Ashok Khosla, chairman of the
Development Alternatives Group.
The
event is organized by Global Initiatives and supported
by Business for Social Responsibility; strategic partner
Asia-Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd.
(April); corporate partners The Dow Chemical Co., OSRAM
and Siemens; and Singapore government partners Ministry
of Environment and Water Resources and the Singapore
Tourism Board. The event’s international public-
relations partner is Edelman, and its global media
partners are CNN and TIME. |
