The international business community began this month discussions on how to raise ambition to tackle climate change so that the key objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and those of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals can be met.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – in its capacity as the United Nations Climate Change Focal Point for business and industry – convened a workshop on the “Talanoa Dialogue” – an international conversation involving all countries other stakeholders, including business, investors, cities, regions and civil society.
The workshop – the first of its kind – brought together a number of high-level government representatives leading the UN climate process, members of ICC’s Commission on Environment and Energy and other private sector stakeholders. ICC has represented business in the UN climate deliberations since 1993.
The workshop aimed to discuss what business should expect from the Talanoa Dialogue and what the private sector can in turn contribute to the process.
The three main takeaways from the event were:
- Business participation is essential to reaching global climate goals
- A wide coalition of business should be brought into the Talanoa Dialogue
- Climate action not only makes solid business sense, it’s the right thing to do
According the International Chamber of Commerce, the continued momentum from business sends a clear signal to governments that they can, and should, move further and faster on their national climate strategies.
In countries where business has had the opportunity to provide inputs on national climate action plans (Nationally Determined Contribution, or “NDCs”), the process can already be seen to have benefitted from such engagement.
To ensure that the international community is successful in achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, it is imperative that business be recognized and involved in policy assessment, design and implementation.
The Talanoa Dialogue, previously referred to as the Facilitative Dialogue, is named after the Fijian tradition of inclusive, participatory and transparent decision-making and is aimed at determining how collective action can move the global climate agenda forward. It is a year-long process of discussions, consultations, events and expert inputs that will culminate at this year’s 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) in Katowice, Poland from December 3 to 14, 2018.
The Talanoa Dialogue portal is now open and ICC will be preparing a submission before the first deadline of April 2, 2018.
