Gleneagles Dialogue: News 

Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development

Financing Clean Energy Workshop
London, 13-14 March
Draft programme I Gleneagles Dialogue Industry Partnership Project
Under the auspices of the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development, the World Economic Forum co-hosted a workshop on clean energy financing with the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. The workshop was entitled "Financing Clean Energy: a Framework for Public-Private Partnership to Address Climate Change" and was held at the EBRD Headquarters in London.

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom and Lars Josefsson, President and CEO of Vatenfall and also adviser to the German Government G8 Presidency on International Climate Issues were among the speakers on the first day of the workshop. Representatives from about 30 of the Forum's Industry Partner companies also participated.

The workshop offered the Forum's Industry Partners the opportunity to work in partnership with carbon finance and clean energy specialists from the UK, German and Japanese governments, the World Bank and the other regional development banks to develop public-private investment frameworks for clean energy and for the reduction of climate-related risks in developing and fast growing economies.

It is anticipated that the workshop will catalyse a series of public-private working groups. These groups will explore new public-private financing ideas to accelerate investment in clean energy, renewables, energy efficiency, financial instruments and adaptation. Outcomes will be presented as an overall "framework of recommendations" to Energy and Environment Ministers at the Gleneagles Ministerial meeting in September, hosted by the German Government, and to Finance Ministers gathered for the Annual World Bank Board meeting, at an event in Washington DC in October 2007.

Specialists in climate change and carbon finance from about 25 of the Forums Industry Partners are anticipated to participate in one of the working groups.

- Learn more about the workshop draft programme. This work on finance for clean energy, represents one of the three work areas of the Forum's Gleneagles Dialogue Industry Partnership Project.
- Read the EBRD's press release and view the photo gallery
- Read the transcript of speeches from the introductory session on 13 March.

       ___________________________________________________________________

Ministerial Meetings
Monterrey, Mexico, October 2-4 2006
The World Economic Forum, in partnership with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) led a delegation of business representatives to the high-level Ministerial Meetings of the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development.

During a presentation before the environment and energy ministers of the G20 countries of the Gleneagles Dialogue, the cross-industry business group, composed of representatives of Cemex, Areva, Lafarge, TEPCO and Alcan, stressed the urgency of addressing the issue of climate change and re-asserted the business willingness to actively engage in the dialogue.

Convened by the Forum and the WBCSD, a cohort of 21 businesses from various industries contributed their input into a briefing note which was addressed to the ministers present in Monterrey. Stemming from preliminary consultations held in August in Geneva and in September in New York, the briefing note recommends that the Gleneagles Dialogue on climate change be structured to reflect:
• The urgency of the problem.
• The multiplicity of potential solutions.
• The need for a long-term, market-based policy framework.
• The importance of promoting technology transfer and overcoming intellectual property rights problems that may stand in the way.
• The need for business and governments to work together to stimulate consumer demand for clean energy.
• The importance of confronting the equity implications of any potential solution and developing mechanisms to share responsibility for costs.
The business presentations were welcomed by Rt Hon David Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who stressed the need for business involvement throughout the next phases of the Dialogue. In 2007, Germany will take forward the Gleneagles Dialogue as a space to promote understanding, without negotiations. The Dialogue is set to give its final report during the Japanese G8 presidency in 2008.

The G20 countries are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Poland, South Korea, Spain and the European Union.

The World Economic Forum / WBCSD has so far engaged the following 21 businesses in the Dialogue: Alcan, Alcoa, Anglo American, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Duke Energy, EdF, EnBW, Eskom, Fluor, Goldman Sachs, Petrobras, RAO UESR, RWE, Shell, Swiss Airlines, SwissRe (energy), TEPCO, Toyota, TXU, Vattenfall.

       ___________________________________________________________________

Developing the Future Framework for Climate Change and Energy Policy with the G20
Building on the success of the 2005 G8 - CEO Roundtable process, the World Economic Forum has been invited by the UK government to provide input into a new Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change. This dialogue process will involve a series of meetings to shape policy recommendations on climate change for the period 2008-2012 and beyond.