The Global Climate Action Summit will bring leaders and people together from around the world to take climate action to the next level.

Hashtag: #GCAS2018

The Global Climate Action Summit will be a moment to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens with respect to climate action. WRI staff will attend and participate in the following events.

Tapping the Climate and Profit Opportunity in Deep Energy Efficiency Upgrades

Retrofitting buildings to improve their energy efficiency can save businesses and households money now while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This session of Carbon Smart Building Day will explain how we can leverage innovations in technology, policy, and financing that are ready to scale, and describe the business development potential of energy efficiency.

Date: September 11, 1:00 – 2:00 PM

Location: Mission Bay Conference Center, UCSF

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by Carbon Innovations

Event Contact: Emma Stewart

Overcoming the Barriers to Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits at Scale

Energy retrofits represent the largest and lowest-cost GHG emission reduction opportunity that urban areas can leverage. This session of Carbon Smart Buildings Day will identify the greatest barriers to investing in deep energy retrofits, and help attendees understand the elements required for a comprehensive policy to stimulate investment.

Date: September 11, 1:00 – 2:00 PM

Location: Mission Bay Conference Center, UCSF

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by Carbon Innovations

Event Contact: Emma Stewart

Further, Faster, Together – Carbon Smart Building Day Closing Interview by Andrew Himes with Andrew Steer

We’re running out of time to change at the scale needed to ensure a stable climate for future generations. This session will showcase innovations in collaboration that we must adopt to scale up our impact. A collective impact brings people together, in a structured way, to achieve social change. It starts with a common agenda, establishes shared measurement, fosters mutually reinforcing activities, encourages continuous communication, and it has a strong backbone.

Date: September 11, 1:00 – 2:00 PM

Location: Mission Bay Conference Center, UCSF

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by Carbon Innovations

Event Contact: Emma Stewart

Short Lived Climate Pollutants Day

By invitation only. The Pisces Foundation, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and several cosponsors including WRI will hold a series of panel discussions and an awards ceremony to recognize action on reducing short lived climate pollutants.

Date: September 11, 1:00 – 10:00 PM

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by Pisces Foundation, Climate and Clean Air Coalition

Event Contact: Kelsey Lopez, Ranchithaa Anatory, Katie Ross

Contribution to the Paris Agreement: Connecting the dots between scenario analysis and investor targets

The 2°Investing Initiative, ADEME and CDP are co-hosting this event, at which many high-profile speakers will discuss the financial sector’s contribution to the Paris Agreement, scenario analysis, target-setting and the need for evidence to back up green marketing claims.

Location: Wells Fargo, Clementine Room, Annex Building 1st Floor, 333 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Date: September 11, 12:30 - 5 pm

Speakers:

  • Dave Jones, California Insurance Commissioner
  • Cynthia Cummis, Director of Private Sector Climate Mitigation, World Resources Institute
  • Nicolette Bartlett, Head of Climate Change, CDP
  • Sue Reid, Vice President of Climate and Energy, CERES
  • Rob Schuwerk, Executive Director, Carbon Tracker North America
  • Paul Simpson, CEO, CDP
  • Ben Caldecott, Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme
  • Andrew Logan, Director of Oil and Gas, CERES
  • Alice Garton, Head of Climate Programme, ClientEarth
  • Alice Hill, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution
  • Anne Chassagnette, Environmental and Social Responsibility Director, ENGIE

Organizers: Organized by 2 Degrees Investing Initiative

Event Contact: Stan Dupre

Buy Clean: How Governments and Companies can use procurement to close the carbon loophole

By invitation only. Carbon emissions from the production of everything from cement and steel to candy and cosmetics is traded internationally, crossing many borders yet ultimately not being accounted for in the countries where goods are consumed. How can government and corporate supply chain procurement policies allow organizations to align their buying with their climate ambitions while closing the carbon loophole and addressing the entirety of their carbon footprint? Join us for this panel event to hear from corporate champions, government policy makers, and other leaders on their plans to Buy Clean.

Location: Google Community Space

Date: September 12, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm

Speakers: Nate Aden

Organizers: Organized by ClimateWorks Foundation and the Buy Clean alliance.

Event Contact: Nate Aden, buyclean@climateworks.org

Science-Based Targets: Celebrating Leadership and Setting a New Benchmark for Corporate Climate Action

At WEF 2018, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra challenged businesses around the world to step up their climate action by setting science-based targets (SBTs) ahead of GCAS, with the goal of having 500 companies worldwide committed to set SBTs by September. The purpose of this event is to assess our progress to date, celebrate leadership and success stories, and set our sights on new milestones for mainstreaming SBTs in emerging economies and high-emitting sectors in the run-up to COP24.

Date: September 12, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by WRI, World Wildlife Fund, CDP, UN Global Compact

Event Contact: Yelena Akopian, Cynthia Cummis

Spurring a Building Efficiency Movement in Support of Global Climate Action

By invitation only. Government, industry and NGO building efficiency leaders will discuss how best to create an effective global building efficiency movement. Topics include measures of success, the attributes of successful movements, ways to link national-subnational action to create a strong political agenda, and opportunities to leverage the capabilities and relationships of existing global platforms and partnerships.

Date: September 13, 12:00 – 2:00 PM

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by WRI, Alliance to Save Energy

Event Contact: Shannon Hilsey, Jennifer Layke

Assessing the Impact of Tangible Climate Action by States, Regions, Cities, Businesses and Investors

By invitation only. WRI’s Pankaj Bhatia will participate in a panel discussion on how best to measure the impact of climate action by subnational actors. Different organizations will present their methods, and the panelists will discuss what needs to be done to harmonize these efforts.

Date: September 13, 1:00 – 5:00 PM

Speakers/Organizers: ClimateWorks Foundation

Event Contact: Brett Cozzolino

Carbon Tax Forum: U.S. Business Case for a Carbon Tax

This forum will explore important questions: what kind of carbon tax is best for the economy and environment and discuss the merits of various U.S. based (federal and state) carbon tax proposals now being considered, better define the principles that underlie these proposals and build greater political support.  WRI is a co-sponsor of the event, with a number of corporate voices participating.  Christina DeConcini, WRI’s Director of Government Affairs, will moderate a panel on the political landscape for a carbon tax and Helen Mountford will be a panelist discussing the economic outcomes of a carbon tax, as a means to tackle climate change.  There is a small fee to cover expenses (and reception) so please register ahead of time here.

Date: September 13, 1:00 – 5:30 PM

Location: Gap, Inc. Corporate HQ

Speakers/Organizers: Richard Eidlin and Business Climate Leaders, with a variety of other sponsors.

Event Contact: Christina Deconcini

Climate Leadership at the Crossroads: Ministerial-Level Dialogue on Opportunities for Transformative Shifts

By Invitation only, Open to media. The Governments of New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, and Costa Rica with WRI will host a ministerial-level dialogue to explore the role that front-running countries can play in maximizing transformative climate action by building on the momentum from cities, states, businesses and other actors.

Date: September 13, 4:30 – 6:00 PM

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by the governments of Norway, New Zealand, The Netherlands and Costa Rica, WRI

Event Contact: Kelsey Lopez, Ranchithaa Anatory

Media Contact: Rhys Gerholdt

Cities4Forests: Launch Event

By invitation only. Cities4Forests is a new alliance in which leading cities partner with forests to combat climate change, protect watersheds and biodiversity, and improve human well-being. Spearheaded by the World Resources Institute, Pilot Projects, and REVOLVE, Cities4Forests is a movement to catalyze political, social, and economic support among city governments and urban citizens to integrate the inner, nearby, and faraway forests into city development plans and programs.

Because urban areas are increasingly where people live and work, the public policies and procurement practices of cities—as well as the values, votes, and consumption patterns of citizens—have enormous potential to support the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of forests. Participants share an aspiration to help reduce deforestation (especially in the tropics), restore forests (including more trees in and around cities), and manage forests more sustainably.

Cities4Forests will announce the founding city members at this reception. City mayors and other strategic partners will attend and share their views on the potential that Cities4Forests offers for their cities around the world. Complementary refreshments will be served.

Date: September 13, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

Organizers: Organized by World Resources Institute, Pilot Projects and REVOLVE

Speakers: TBA

Event Contact: John-Rob Pool

Media Contact: James Anderson

A Taste of the Future: Putting Bold Climate Commitments on the Menu

Over drinks and climate-friendly dishes to make your mouth water, you will hear about a groundbreaking new platform for companies, universities, city governments and others to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the food they serve their employees or consumers. This tasting showcase will serve up examples of how leaders are putting sustainability on the menu and engaging their employees and communities through food.

Date: September 13, 6 – 7:30 PM

Location: California Academy of Sciences

Speakers/Organizers: Organized by WRI

Event Contact: Jillian Holzer

Accelerating Corporate Clean Energy Deployment in Emerging Markets

WRI and a global coalition of key partners working with corporate purchasers and their supply chains will discuss the acceleration of clean energy deployment around the world. This event will showcase business leadership in sourcing renewable energy in emerging markets and share lessons learned across the public and private sectors.

In a series of three panels, corporate leaders will highlight their global clean energy commitments and share implementation progress in key emerging markets. Renewable energy developers and suppliers will discuss effective clean energy procurement models and investment trends. Government representatives will explore policy frameworks that enable private sector clean energy investment and advance implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Date: September 14, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Location: Microsoft Reactor

Organizers: WRI, Allotrope Partners, RE100, Abt Associates, IRENA, Stanley Foundation, WWF and WBCSD

Event Contact: Alex Perera, Katie Pastor

3rd Annual North American Dialogue on 100% Renewable Energy in Cities

By invitation only. WRI’s Global Energy Director Jennifer Layke will participate in a panel discussion on strategies for reducing community energy use, focusing on efficiency and smart planning.

Date: September 14, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Organizers: Renewable Cities

Event Contact: Jennifer Layke, Emily Kaldjian