AGENDA

Delivering Together on the

Sustainable Development and

Climate Action Agendas

/

September 26, 2015

4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Grand Hyatt New York

Gallery on Lex, Lobby Level

109 East 42nd Street

2015 is a crucial year for global action on sustainable development and climate change. At the UN Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda in September, the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be endorsed by the UN General Assembly. And in December, governments are expected to reach a new universal climate agreement at COP21 in Paris.

Though these two multilateral processes run in parallel, their subjects are deeply intertwined. There will be no solution to climate change without sustainable development, and no sustainable development without climate action. But how can we ensure that the global response to these challenges is as integrated as the problems themselves?

This event will focus on one crucial response to that question: the groundswell of climate and sustainable development actions being taken around the world by cities, regions, companies, civil society groups, and many others. Working individually and in partnership, often with national governments and international organizations, this “whole of society” approach is already bringing the climate change and sustainable development agendas together in concrete actions, as exemplified by the Lima-Paris Action Agenda.

The event will convene leading representatives from across the government, civil society, business, and research communities, from both developing and developed countries, to showcase how bottom-up actions are already integrating and implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the forthcoming global climate agreement, and how such efforts can be further scaled up to fully deliver on the ambitions of the international community in the coming decade.

Program

4:00 - 5:30 p.m. / The potential and practice of multi-stakeholder initiatives in delivering sustainable development and climate action
Welcome
Brendan Guy, Natural Resources Defense Council; Rei Tang, The Stanley Foundation
What we know about the groundswell of sustainable development and climate actions
Dr. Thomas Hale, Blavatnick School of Government, Oxford University; Dr. Sander Chan, German Development Institute
Panel discussion followed by interactive dialogue
Dr. Adnan Amin, Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency
Nomusa Dube-Ncube, MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, KwaZulu-Natal
Jorge Soto, Sustainability Director, Braskem
Preeti Srivastav, Strategy Director, We Mean Business coalition (moderator)
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. / From vision to action on the sustainable development and climate agendas
Welcome
Keith Porter, President, The Stanley Foundation (MC)
Opening remarks
H.E. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Minister of State for Environment, Peru
H.E. Ségolène Royal, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, France
Discussion: Galvanizing multi-stakeholder action to drive implementation
Mpho Franklyn Parks Tau, Executive Mayor, Johannesburg
Janos Pasztor, UN Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change
Pedro Lerner Rizo Patrón, CEO, Central Hidroeléctrica El Platanal
Yolanda Kakabadse, President, WWF International
Closing remarks
John Podesta, Former Counselor to President Obama; Member, UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Agenda
Reception to follow