2020 Global Climate Leadership Forum 

Breakthrough Thinking, Innovations, and Networks
In the Emerging Climate Economy

The 2020 Global Climate Leadership Forum is being convened by the Brazil 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign, Globo TV, and the Roberto Marinho Foundation, sponsored by Braskem and a consortium of corporate and industrial groups, and supported by the Government of Bahia State and the city of Salvador.

The site of the conference will be an eco-resort on the Bahia coast built by Braskem as part of its campaign to plant millions of new trees in the Brazilian Atlantic forest as part of its effort to reduce global warming. The theme of the conference is around green technology, eco-communities, climate finance, and media and education within the context of seeking to discern a post Copenhagen strategy of how to best deal with the climate crisis.  Several hundred Brazilian private sector, government and civil society leaders will be present and 50 -- 75 international participants. There will be extensive media.

This initiative is important in light of the fact that the net result of COP 15 was essentially to bring to a close the era of the Kyoto Accords and the attempt to get the nations of the world to all agree on common goals, fair financing, and a realistic timeframe in reducing CO2 emissions. The only agreement to emerge seems to have been a commitment to share information, with each nation now basically on its own and free to set its own goals, timeframes, and standards. This means that particular nations can now set the pace and establish climate leadership both independently of and with each other.

This runs the obvious danger of course of a slackening of the pace in addressing the climate crisis that is getting worse with each passing day, but since this seems to be the post Copenhagen reality, what is essential moving forward is to discern where the energy is and where climate leadership is emerging. The most dynamic climate leadership seems to be coming from Brazil and China -- Brazil because it has made the boldest commitments by far to reduce CO2, and China because it is taking the lead in developing green/clean technology.

President Lula has recently signed into law a bill passed by a strong majority of the Brazilian Congress to reduce CO2 emissions by just under 40% by 2020, which includes a commitment to reduce deforestation by 80% by 2020. China is making developments in green technology a national priority. China is spending as much or more on greentech as it does on its military and hundreds of billions of dollars annually on renewable energy and grid infrastructure improvements. By 2013, greentech will account for 15 percent of the Chinese GDP. By 2020, China will increase its wind generating capacity twelvefold and its solar generation is projected to increase 20,000%. There are also significant developments at the sub national level in numerous countries and in a spectrum of disciplines.

These demonstrations of climate leadership are what we believe most of us could rally around in the aftermath of Copenhagen: we should all be reducing our CO2 emissions as much as possible; and our greatest priority must be to create a climate economy and radically develop clean green renewable technology and energy.

The purpose of the Salvador Forum is to examine how innovative leadership can emerge to create international connections and collaborations in the development of climate economies,  green technology and eco-communities, and how energetic progress can be made on the critical issue of climate change outside the COP regime while of course supporting this process entirely.

If we can get traction in these areas and among the nations willing to take climate leadership, while continuing to focus on the over-all goal of significant reductions in CO2 by 2020, making as many partnerships as possible as we move toward our goals, we will be well served.

For further information on the Forum themes and participants: http://2020climatecampaign.org/