Business ready to work on building the Low-Carbon Economy

Kai Bucher, Senior Media Manager, Tel.: +41 (0)22 869 1212 – kai.bucher@weforum.org

• 52 companies join a World Economic Forum Task Force that links green stimulus to climate negotiations
• All sectors involved; airlines, oil and gas, utilities, manufacturing, technology, finance and investment
• 32 world thought leaders, expert NGOs and organizations also join, including Nicholas Stern, Bjorn Stigson/WBCSD, Achim Steiner/UNEP, Tim Wirth/United Nations Foundation, Angel Gurría/OECD
• Recommendations for ready-to-implement “low-carbon projects” to be delivered to UN Secretary-General in September
• Open Letter sent to Gordon Brown, cc G20 leaders and UN Secretary-General attending London Summit, asking for G20 government officials to join in: http://www.weforum.org/climate

London, United Kingdom, 31 March 2009 – Responding to an invitation made at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos by Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 52 companies have joined forces with 32 experts and organizations to create an unprecedented low-carbon prosperity Task Force. The Task Force, presented today at a press conference in London, will work with government and UN officials to develop a set of practical projects and policy proposals around the world, which will significantly stimulate the low-carbon economy from 2010 onward. An open letter was sent today to Prime Minister Brown, setting out the Task Force’s suggested agenda for the coming months.

“We believe 2009 is a crucial year for two reasons,” said Richard Samans, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum. “The international community faces the twin challenges of dealing with the most serious global economic crisis since the 1930s and negotiating an ambitious agreement on climate change. We suggest that the two agendas can and should be designed to be mutually reinforcing. Global economic growth and the prospects for achievement of a UN climate agreement in Copenhagen later this year can both be strengthened by placing low-carbon growth strategies at the heart of economic stimulus measures now being implemented in many countries.”

This sentiment was echoed by Caio Koch-Weser, Vice-Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, Deutsche Bank AG, United Kingdom, and a member of the Task Force: “We at Deutsche Bank believe that climate change will likely be a key driver of a global recovery scenario in a two- to three-year timeframe.”

The main focus for the Task Force is to identify exactly how to create millions of green jobs in the short run and deflect economic growth onto a more sustainable, low-carbon path for the longer term. By working with organizations such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Foundation and others, a key element of the Task Force’s work is to develop practical ideas on how to get significant flows of green technology and investment into developing countries fast. This will provide a considerable stimulus in the short run for developing countries, as well as a long-term accelerator for sustainable development and low-carbon growth.

“The G20 governments can, politically and practically, signal their determination to transform the current economic crisis into an opportunity by committing a serious part of the multi-trillion dollar stimulus packages to low-carbon investments. In doing so, they will be setting the stage for sealing the deal in Copenhagen, and setting the stage for a resource efficient, innovation-led 21st century green economy. That is what business needs to know and that is what the low-carbon prosperity initiative is calling for,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi.

“Combating climate change and stimulating economic recovery and growth should be two sides of the same coin. The changes needed to build a low-carbon economy are coupled to investments – and at this critical juncture, governments have an opportunity to create incentives and partnerships that transform the global economy and deliver a third industrial revolution – one powered by green growth,” said Lars G. Josefsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vattenfall, Sweden.

“A recovery strategy based on high-carbon energy sources will not work; it will ultimately choke itself on rising oil prices and the impacts of climate change,” said Dominic Waughray, Senior Director and Head of Environmental Initiatives at the World Economic Forum. “The private sector is the key delivery agent of the low-carbon economy. This means it is vital to get business to work with independent thought leaders, expert NGOs and governments to identify the most effective ways to accelerate a low-carbon economic transformation. However, deep dialogue between these parties on how to actually build the low-carbon economy has been limited. This Task Force can change that.” 

The Task Force will be organized to take advantage of key meetings on the international calendar, in particular the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen; the World Economic Forum meetings in South Korea, South Africa, China (Annual Meeting of the New Champions) and India; and the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
 
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