Over the two weeks of COP27, CLG Europe and CLG UK hosted a series of discussions and high-level events on business and policy leadership issues to draw on best practice and mobilise concrete action to step up short-term climate action and achieve net zero. Issues explored included the energy transition, national business climate advocacy and the circular economy. |
Event summaries and recordings
The role of the Circular Economy to meet climate targets in the EU: a progressive business perspective, 10th November
The CLG Europe Materials and Products Taskforce ran this 45-minute panel
session as part of the half-day Industry Transition event co-hosted by WMB and WBCSD. Speakers included Director at CLG Europe and Policy Director at CISL Eliot Whittington, Sweden’s Ministry of Environment Helen Ågren, and others.
Business Sweden: The role of digitization
in the transition to net zero, 10th November
CLG UK’s Programme Director, Beverley Cornaby moderated this panel focusing on
the challenges and opportunities around AI and digital solutions to reduce carbon emissions on the road to net zero.
CLG UK networking dinner in collaboration with SSE at Sheraton Hotel, 10th November
This event brought together UK and international policy makers, businesses
and key stakeholders to explore how lessons from the UK on accelerating the energy transition could be relevant for other geographies globally. It featured speeches by the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, Chair of the UK’s Net Zero Review, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for BEIS, and Shalanda Baker, Director, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity.
CLGs led panel event and reception 'Strengthening global collaboration on business climate advocacy’, 11th
November
The event re-launched a reactivated global Corporate Leaders Network for climate
action focused on catalysing business advocacy on climate policy at a national
level and bringing together key policy and NGO stakeholders with contributors from international business networks across the world. It featured a speech by the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP and discussions with different corporate leaders group representatives and their members.
CLG Europe/UNFCCC event 'Accelerating the energy transition as a response to the climate and energy crises’, 14th November
International high-level panellists and policy makers discussed approaches to tackle effectively and efficiently the energy and climate crises caused by high dependency on fossil fuels. Speakers included European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, RCREEE’s Executive Director Jauad El Kharraz, IEA’s Chief Energy Economist Tim Gould, and others.
How can businesses accelerate the zero-carbon transition in Japan?, 9th November
Director of Corporate Leaders Groups, Eliot Whittington took part in this panel, where leading companies and business groups came together to share their recent efforts to accelerate an economy-wide net zero transition and discuss what lessons can be applied to Japan.
UK climate leadership: bilateral meeting between BEIS Secretary of State Grant Schapps and leading businesses in the UK, 10th November
Led by CLG UK, this meeting was an opportunity for newly appointed Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, to meet with leading businesses from the UK during the COP27 climate summit. The discussion provided reflections on COP27 to date, opportunities on net zero and aimed outcomes for COP27, including the opportunities for climate action and policy in the UK.
Bilateral meeting between the Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership and Iberdrola, 10th November
At COP27, CLG Europe Vice Chair, President of the Spanish Green Growth Group and Iberdrola’s Global Director of Climate Change and Alliances Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera met with a delegation of companies from the Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership (JCLP). In the bilateral meeting, JCLP has learned from Iberdrola about the future prospects for renewable energy and how it is managing issues, such as grid access and stability, while accelerating renewable expansion. The importance of collaborative policy advocacy work was mentioned both by Iberdora and JCLP members. Further such meetings between progressive businesses and business groups internationally will be enabled by the secretariat of the Corporate Leaders Network being reactivated and recently relaunched at COP27.
High-level Green Growth Partnership roundtable: How the EU public and private sector can work together to deliver global leadership on climate ambition and energy security, 15th November
The roundtable was built on the Green Growth Summit held on 22 October and explored the state of political discussions on how the EU can show international leadership in the COP context and contribute to a successful outcome of the negotiations. It was attended by EU policy makers and businesses.
UK climate leadership: bilateral meeting between BEIS Minister for Climate and leading businesses in the UK, 16th November
Organised by CLG UK, this meeting was an opportunity for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Minister of State (Minister for Climate), the Rt Hon Graham Stuart MP, to meet with leading businesses from the UK during COP27. The discussion provided reflections on COP27 to date, opportunities on net zero, and aimed outcomes for COP27, including the opportunities for climate action and policy in the UK.
Climate Solutions in Ibero-America from a civil society and business perspective, 17th November
CLG Europe’s Head of EU Relations, Ursula Woodburn took part in this event, aiming to provide concrete climate action solutions and showcasing successful best practices from a civil society and business perspectives in the Ibero-American context, enhancing the potential of regional collaborative action and focusing on the implementation and finance dimensions.
EU climate leadership: business delegation meeting with the European Parliament delegation, 17th November
Organised by CLG Europe, key EU businesses met with the official European Parliament delegation to discuss expectations for COP and key business asks for climate ambition. The meeting was chaired by MEP Bas Eickhout, and attended by MEPs Peter Liese, Michael Bloss, Delara Burdkhardt, Petros Kokkalis, Nils Torvalds.
CLGs Participation
CLG UK and CLG Europe member companies also participated in CISL discussions and events including:
- Roundtable: ‘People, nature, climate: how can policy and business action simultaneously deliver across all areas of the nexus?’, 10th November. Contributors included members AVEVA, EDF Group, Iberdrola, Microsoft, Royal DSM, Salesforce and SSE.
- Panel: ‘Supporting businesses on their net zero journey with comprehensive climate education’, 11th November - with the participation of Michelle Patron, Senior Director of Global Sustainability Policy, Microsoft as well as CLGs Director Eliot Whittington and CLG UK Programme Director Bev Cornaby.
- Roundtable: ‘Centering health in sustainable financing of urban infrastructure projects’, 11th November - with the participation of Harry Verhaar, VP Global Public & Government Affairs at Signify.
- UNFCCC official side event with WBCSD: ‘Unlocking Radical Collaboration to Deliver on Nature-Positive and Net Zero Goals’, 16th November - with the participation of Rachel McEwen, Chief Sustainability Officer, SSE.
Please find further details on these events on the CISL COP27 Hub.
Post-COP27 activities
On 23 November, CLG UK Programme Director Beverley Cornaby took part in a COP27 Review session ‘Successes, failures and next steps for international climate policy’ alongside other University of Cambridge colleagues. Read the key highlights of the session here, and the broader CISL reaction and analysis of COP27 outcomes on the CISL COP27 Hub.
