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COP22 Low-Emissions Solutions Conference will bring together cities, government, academics and business to scale up climate solutions

By Ryan Swaney

Washington DC, 5 May 2016 – Cities, business and government will come together to scale up solutions for climate action at COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco, following an announcement today that four leading organizations will present a Low Emissions Solutions Conference in order to accelerate the implementation of solutions under the historic Paris Agreement.

The Government of Morocco will host the conference in partnership with UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and ICLEI. The parties formalized their collaboration on the conference by signing a Memorandum of Understanding today at the Climate Action 2016 summit in Washington DC.

The Low-Emissions Solutions Conferenceis part of the overall global agenda to bring together the stakeholders that can design and implement Nationally Determined Contributions and Low-Emission Development Strategies (LEDSs) under the Paris Agreement.

The conferencewill convene the key players for delivering coordinated solutions to emissions reduction – cities, business, academia, and government – as all stakeholders must work together to help solve the climate challenge. Integrated collaboration helps to produce commercial business solutions that overcome policy barriers and can be scaled up rapidly for global implementation, thereby strengthening the ability of governments around the world to make their emissions reduction targets a reality.

The Low-Emissions Solutions Conference will be aimed at problem solving, brainstorming, and global co-creation, without inter-governmental negotiations or agreements. The conference will support all signatories to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The goal of the Low-Emissions Solutions Conference will be to share knowledge, exchange information, identify bottlenecks, discuss best practices, and prioritize future research aimed at scaling up climate solutions. The main objectives of the Low-Emissions Solutions Conference are to:

  1. Support operationalization of the Paris Agreement;
  2. Strengthen the technical capacities of the 196 signatory governments of the UNFCCC and their Non-Party Stakeholders to design and implement long-term low greenhouse-gas emissions development strategies as called for in the Paris Agreement (NDCs and LEDSs);
  3. Chart key technology pathways for global, public-private partnerships;
  4. Identify and resolve the barriers to scaling up identified business solutions for climate action,
  5. Support an intensive dialogue between policy makers and solution providers and developers, including engineers and technology specialists on low-emission energy systems;
  6. Enhance global exchange and partnerships for technology solutions between all levels of governments, businesses, academia, and civil society organizations.

Signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding:

  • H.E. Hakima El Haïté, Minister in Charge of Environment – Kingdom of Morocco
  • Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN)
  • Mr. Peter Bakker, President and CEO of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
  • Ms. Maryke van Staden, on behalf of Mr. Gino Van Begin, Secretary General ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI)