Climate and Energy Funders Group
Annual Meeting
May 2- 4, 2007
Consultative Group on Biological Diversity
The Presidio, San Francisco, CA
Please join us for the 2007 Climate and Energy Funders Group Annual Meeting to network, share ideas, and challenge ourselves to rise to the coming year’s challenges and opportunities. Congressional leadership changes, greater public awareness, and more aggressive corporate support for action, all have created new opportunities to make progress on climate change in the coming year. Please find the meeting registration and information form attached.
We chose to meet in San Francisco to learn lessons from California’s climate leadership. A detailed agenda will follow shortly, but the meeting will cover future strategies for developing national-level policy, state and regional policy progress and opportunities, California as a climate leader, cities as engines of innovation, the role for funders given increasing private sector investment in green technology, how to prepare for the post-Kyoto world, a lively dialogue on strategies for getting at the transportation sector, and a funder only dialogue on broad-based communication and constituency outreach efforts, among other topics.
We will begin with dinner and a speaker at 5pm on Wednesday, May 2nd at the Acme Chophouse, which serves only sustainably raised meats and produce. Traci Des Jardines, Acme’s managing chef, is so formidable, she bested Mario Batali in the Iron Chef competition. The meeting will conclude with a working lunch on Friday, May 4th.
We have reserved a block of rooms at the Miyako Hotel, located in Japantown. The Miyako Hotel offers views of San Francisco and is close to Union Square, Nob Hill, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Japantown is home to authentic Japanese restaurants, sushi bars, Japanese style spas, a Japanese grocery store, boutiques offering an array of merchandise from Japan and movie theaters. We will offer a shuttle from the Miyako to the meeting at the Presidio and from the Presidio to the May 3rd reception.
As an added incentive – the first five registrants for the meeting will receive a special surprise.
For more information please contact Paige Brown at 415.561.6584/ or Johnnae Nardone .
DRAFT AGENDA
climate and energy funders group 2007 annual meeting
May 2-4
San Francisco, CA
Meeting Location: Presidio
Wednesday, May 2
5:00 pmWhy We Are Here
The dinner will open with a brief update on the Climate and Energy Funders Group.
5:15 pmDinner Keynote TBA
6:00 pmWelcome Dinner (optional) – Acme Chophouse
Thursday, May 3
8:00-8:30 amContinental breakfast
8:30-8:45 amWelcome and Agenda Overview
8:45-9:45 amCalifornia as a Climate Leader
"…we can show the nation and the world how to get there. We can do this because we have the economic strength, we have the population and the technological force of a nation-state. We are the modern equivalent of the ancient city states of Athens and Sparta. California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta.” Governor Schwarzenegger
California is the first state to adopt an economy wide cap on greenhouse gas pollution – the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) and has adopted a number of other groundbreaking policies to reduce climate pollution. Sen. Boxer has stated that California’s Act will serve as the model for national legislation so it is critical that AB32 succeed. This panel will examine what work remains to realize the promise of AB32, future policy opportunities in California, and the potential to leverage California’s success in other states and nationally.
Ralph Cavanagh, Natural Resources Defense Council
Angela Johnson Meszaros, California Environmental Rights Alliance
Eileen Tutt, CalEPA Assistant Secretary for Climate Change Activities
9:45-11:00 amState and Regional Priorities and Opportunities
Arguably, the greatest challenge for funders in the coming year is to choose from the many state and regional opportunities. This session will focus on strategies, emerging opportunities, and gaps in each region. Updates will be circulated in advance so that the session will be oriented towards identifying future priority strategies.
Regions:
Southeast – Steve Smith/Heidi Binko
Northwest – KC Golden/Amy Solomon
Midwest – J Drake Hamilton/Rick Reed invited
Northeast – Dan Sosland/Rob Pratt invited
11:00-12:00 pmHigh Tech Gives Way to Clean Tech
Policymakers and the private sector are increasingly betting that solutions to climate change will ultimately be an engine of economic growth and opportunity. Venture capitalists invested about $3 billion into the clean tech industry nationwide last year. In addition to the private sector, premier research institutions, such as the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, are devoting significant resources towards finding solutions to climate change. This session will bring together the private sector with a lead researcher to explore the role of funders to help push research, investment, and deployment of zero carbon technology in light of increasing private sector investment.
Steven Chu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory invited
John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invited
12:00-12:45 pmLunch
12:45-1:45 pmCities as Engines of Innovation
Urban areas account for 75% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and hold a majority of the world’s population. Cities will be where many of the policies and targets set at the federal and state level will be implemented. Further, cities are where pollution reduction, economic, and innovation opportunities lie. This session will focus on how funders can support the variety of efforts underway, such raising the voice of Mayors in the national policy debate through the Mayors Climate Campaign, as well as innovative municipal policies that reduce emissions and create jobs.
Michelle Wyman, ICLEI invited
Van Jones, Ella Baker Center invited
Mayor (TBD)
1:45-3:00 pmThe Big Picture: National and State-Level Politics and Priorities
What is achievable at the federal level has changed considerably. This session will give an overview of the range of federal policies on the table and their relative strengths as well as what is needed to win a strong, mandatory policy. The session will also explore other key policies (e.g. CAFE standards) that may be important to support and pursue.
Angela Anderson, National Environmental Trust invited
Larry Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation invited
3:00-3:30 pmBreak
3:30-4:30 pmHow I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Command and Control: Getting at Transportation Emissions
Transportation is 20% of US greenhouse gas emissions and must be dealt with to help solve the climate crisis. Yet, Americans are notoriously unresponsive to gasoline price changes. While a focus on a federal cap is a sound strategy, it is unlikely to get at transportation emissions. What strategies should funders focus on to move this important sector – hydrogen, cellulosic ethanol, cafe standards, smart growth?
This session will feature a lively debate between strategies that largely keep Americans on the road – biofuels and efficiency – and smart growth and livable community strategies that change how communities are planned and built.
Steve Winkelman, Center for Clean Air Policy invited
David Friedman, Union of Concerned Scientists invited
4:30-5:30 pmInternational Action: The Post Kyoto Picture
The next President will be faced with rejoining international negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. These negotiations must be concluded by 2010. If the US does not rejoin the process, it is possible the international negotiations will collapse. This session will explore what we can do domestically to set the stage for US reentry to negotiations in 2009, what are other pathways to international cooperation, and what are some means to finance alternatives to massive growth in polluting energy use by industrializing countries?
Eileen Claussen, Pew Center on Global Climate Change invited
Finance Mechanisms Speaker: TBA
6:00 pmReception for funders and advocates.
Friday, May 4
DAY TWO: FUNDER ONLY CLIMATE NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Day two will feature a funder only discussion of what is needed in the coming year to scale up our efforts and collaboration to the degree needed. We will learn about several emerging collaborations and consider the role for foundations within them. We will also challenge ourselves to rise to the coming year’s opportunities.
8:30-9:00 amContinental breakfast
9:00-9:45 amEmerging Collaboratives
This session will feature an update and discussion of two collaborations that will be gaining visibility– the Alliance for Climate Protection, and Design to Win. The Alliance for Climate Protection will help bring together networks and ally opportunities. We will also learn about an international, multifunder collaborative – Design to Win. We will discuss ways that funders can complement, amplify, and engage with both these efforts.
Eric Heitz, Energy Foundation
Cathy Zoi, Alliance for Climate Protectioninvited
9:45-10:30 amFunding Constituencies: Assessing the Opportunities and Needs
Sportsmen, mayors, faith community, farmers, national security hawks, among others, are all being enlisted as voices for action on climate change. Resources, however, are spread fairly thin and there is inadequate connective tissue between the constituents. This session will focus on criteria for where to focus funding and assess gaps in constituent outreach.
10:30-11:30 amRecap Priorities and Gaps
The last day and a half will have offered an intensive overview of geographic and sectoral opportunities and challenges. Given the importance of the coming year, what must we do to seize the opportunities presented?
11:30-12:00 amWrap Up and Next Steps
12:00 pmLunch and Adjourn
Climate and Energy Funders Group Annual Meeting 2007- DRAFT AgendaPage 1 of 5