An inclusive, collaborative platform enabling climate action at COP26
Event Partners
COP26 is the most important climate meeting of our generation.
The 12th Sustainable Innovation Forum (SIF) will be convened alongside COP26, 6 years after 196 world leaders signed the historic Paris Agreement.
COP26, under the presidency of the United Kingdom, marks a crucial deadline for countries to present more ambitious climate commitments. The UNFCCC’s climate conference must set clear pathways for the transition to a net zero economy, a decisive moment for global climate action.
There is a risk however that the pandemic will result in a lack of ambition in updated government NDCs and industry commitments to net zero targets. But there is a greater risk to governments, businesses and investors who do not showcase defined and clear pathways for net zero; they will be left behind in the race for a global green economy.
To create truly transformational change and accelerate the transition to a net zero global economy, greater cooperation, collaboration, and cross-sector partnerships between governments, businesses and investors must be forged at COP26 this November.
Ambition must turn to action. Promises must become plans. Visions must become reality. We have this decade to deliver a net zero future.
2020 Featured Speakers
HRH The Prince of Wales
Sustainable Markets Initiative
Ban Ki-moon
8th UN Secretary General | Deputy Chair
United Nations | The Elders
Ban Ki-moon (Deputy Chair of The Elders)
Ban Ki-moon was the UN Secretary-General from 2007-2016. He mobilised world leaders around a new set of challenges and sought to give voice to the world’s poorest and vulnerable people. He put Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, and equality for girls and women at the top of the UN agenda; creating UN Women and securing the Paris Agreement. He is a former South-Korean Foreign Minister and diplomat. He is the Chair of the Global Green Growth Institute, Chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, and Co-Chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens.
President David Kabua
President of the Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands
H.E. Dr. Yasmine Fouad
Minister of Environment
Arab Republic of Egypt
Dr. Yasmine Fouad was appointed Minister of Environment of the Arabic Republic of Egypt on 18 June 2018. She was previously Assistant Minister of Environment since 2014.holds MSc in Environmental Science and PhD in Political Science – Euro Mediterranean Studies. She has more than 20 years’ experience in Environment and International cooperation, working in Government, UN organizations, NGOs and Universities.
Li Yong
Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
UNIDO
LI Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has had an extensive career as a senior economic and financial policy-maker. As Vice-Minister of Finance of the People’s Republic of China and member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank for a decade, Mr. Li was involved in setting and harmonizing fiscal, monetary and industrial policies, and in supporting sound economic growth in China. He pushed forward financial sector reform, and prompted major financial institutions to establish corporate governance, deal with toxic assets and strengthen risk management. Mr. Li gave great importance to fiscal and financial measures in favor of agricultural development and SMEs, the cornerstones for creating economic opportunities, reducing poverty and promoting gender equality. He played a key role in China’s cooperation with multilateral development organizations, such as the World Bank Group and the Asian Development Bank.
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez
CEO
Global Environment Facility
Lawyer by profession, politician by choice, and conservationist at heart, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez was elected as CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility by its governing body, the GEF Council, in June 2020.
The former Costa Rican Environment and Energy Minister was a pioneer in the development of Payment for Ecosystem Services initiatives and strategies for forest restoration, ocean conservation, and de-carbonization, and is an internationally recognized expert on environmental policy, multilateral environmental negotiations, and financing for nature conservation. During his three terms as Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica doubled the size of its forests, made its electric sector 100 percent clean and renewable, and consolidated a National Park System that has positioned the Central American country as a prime ecotourism destination.
Isabella Lövin
Minister for Environment and Climate & Deputy Prime Minister
Government of Sweden
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Environment and Climate of Sweden Ms. Isabella Lövin has served as Minister for International Development as well as a Member of the European Parliament. Together with the Indian Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar, Minister Lövin heads the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT). The group gathers countries and companies that are committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions from industry by 2050.
Claire O’Neill
Managing Director of Climate and Energy and Former COP26 President
WBCSD
Claire O’Neill entered politics in 2007 after a transatlantic career in consulting and finance, initially as a policy advisor to George Osborne, the then Shadow Chancellor and then as the Conservative MP for the Devizes Constituency from 2010 – 2019.
She served in several Ministerial positions before becoming Climate Change Minister and then attending the UK Cabinet as Minister for Energy and Clean Growth. Claire wrote and implemented the UK’s Clean Growth Strategy; formed the Green Finance Taskforce; launched the global Powering Past Coal Alliance to end coal-powered electricity generation and negotiated the UK’s Offshore Wind Sector Deal that dramatically dropped the cost of this vital renewable energy source. In 2019 she brought forward the ground-breaking legislation that committed the UK to be a Net Zero emissions economy by 2050 and she also formulated the UK’s successful bid to host the United Nations 2020 Climate Change Conference known as COP26. She served as COP26 President-Designate until she left politics in 2020.
Ranked as one of Bloomberg’s global “Green 30 for 2020”, Claire has now joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as the Managing Director for Climate and Energy, and Natural Climate Solutions. WBCSD is the leading voice for business sustainability and is a global CEO-led organization drawn from all business sectors and all major economies, representing a combined revenue of more than USD $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees.
8 Industry Tracks
In the afternoon of day 1 and 2, the Forum will focus on eight Industry Tracks. The Industry Tracks will take place across four stages and streams.
Day 1
Mobility & Transport
Climate Policy & Finance
Land Use & Agriculture
Industry Transition
Day 2
Energy Transition
Cities & The Built Environment
Oceans & Blue Economy
Sustainable Supply Chains
The International Copper Association continues to sponsor the Sustainable Innovation Forum because we consider it to be one of the premier events in the climate action space each year. The audience always includes the stakeholder groups we want to reach and it affords us the ability to expand our partnerships - and to create new ones.
Climate Action brings people together who are passing each other like ships in the night. But this is an event that has a sustained and thoughtful program around the multiple perspectives that people are considering.
We see the exchange in this forum as essential to learn from a broad community of thought leaders. Thus, the BMW Group is proud to be once again part of the SIF and we are looking forward to providing an update on our achievements at COP26 in Glasgow.
Global Attendees
Speakers
Partners
Join the Roadmap to COP26
Engaged Global Community of Climate Enablers.
With 40,000 climate enablers already engaged in our Roadmap to COP26, we continue to build momentum in 2021 with a series of pre-COP digital engagement events.
Designed to develop an online community of key stakeholders driving climate action in different sectors, our platform will create a virtual window into the UN Climate Change conference this November allowing you to participate physically and digitally.