Live From UNGA 77 - September 20

September 20 2022

Mats Pellbäck Scharp, Head of Sustainability, was also all around town today:

Check out his tweets and video interview with "We Don't Have Time" here

From one fantastic climate event to another...heading back uptown we are able to take part in the NY Times Climate Forward event. One of the fantastic speakers was John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, United States. It was fascinating to get a bit of a peak behind the curtain and hear how Kerry is optimistic about an agreement between China and the US on emission reductions could happen soon. As Kerry said,"Climate is not a bilateral issue—it requires every nation to address the issue. If we stop talking about it, we all get hurt."

The climate action focus continues...and I got to listen in on some fantastic conversations. One of them was our own Heather Johnson at the Techonomy Health + Wealth of Our Planet event. Heather had a conversation with Techonomy Founder & Editor-in-Chief David Kirkpatrick. It was a far-ranging converation, covering everything from our own company's journey with sustainability to how ICT can enable emissions reduction for other industries. Heather stressed that it's not a matter of business vs sustainability--it's not an either/or. These things go hand in hand, as they absolutely need to so we can all reach Net Zero.

Other fantastic speakers at the Techonomy event were Katica Roy, Gender Economist and CEO of Pipeline Equity, who spoke about gender equity and its importance in climate action which was incredibly enlightening. For example, A 2017 Brookings Institute study suggests that for every additional year of schooling a girl receives on average, her country’s resilience to climate disasters can be expected to improve by 3.2 points. A 2019 study found that increasing women’s representation in national parliaments leads to the adoption of more stringent climate change policies, resulting in lower emissions. At the local level, the participation of women in natural resource management is associated with better resource governance and conservation outcomes. In short, to reach our climate goals, we need everyone in the room—and not just the men.

Lots of focus on climate action today! Our Head of Sustainability Mats Pellbäck Scharp is joining the Solutions House with Exponentian Roadmap and Google. Described as a place where "leaders, experts, entrepreneurs, youth activists, storytellers, innovators and influencers will gather with one objective: drive exponential climate solutions," the motto of the day is ‘answers only’. Mats joined this morning to help launch the upgraded 1.5 Business Playbook v.2.0. The playbook gives businesses of any size the 4 Climate Pillar strategy to create value while decreasing their emissions--an important step on the road to Net Zero!

Still thinking about some of the conversations I had yesterday with the Youth Peacemakers from WPDI. I got a chance to ask Ajwok Mary Valentino from Uganda about what she would like to say to the world leaders meeting at the United Nations General Assembly not far away if she had the chance. Her answer will stay with me.