Climate Group
Encyclopedia
The Climate Group is a non-profit organization
that works with business and government to promote clean energy to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Group was created in 2004 and now has offices in the UK (headquarters), the US, Europe
, Australia
, India
, mainland China
and Hong Kong. The Climate Group now has 80 members consisting of large companies and governments representing cities, states and geographic regions from around the world. The Climate Group's members represent 15% of global GDP.
The Climate Group says it is one of the world’s first alliances of business and government working to create solutions to climate change.
Solutions pursued by the Climate Group include its technology programs, such as the LED
'Lightsavers' global trial taking place in cities such as New York
, Hong Kong and Kolkata
; the Climate Principles project, under which financial institutions (including Credit Agricole, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swiss Re, F&C Asset Management and BNP Paribas
) agree to consider climate change when structuring their service and product offerings; the States and Regions Alliance, designed to encourage regional climate change initiatives; and publications. .
The Climate Group also hosts a range of events such as Climate Week NYC in New York City, a week-long global forum.
The Climate Group has partnered a range of initiatives and reports with organisations including the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSi), International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the Carbon Disclosure Project, the New York Academy of Sciences, the United Nations Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, The Office of Tony Blair and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBSCD).
has supported the group since launch and has appeared at a number of the organisation's events. Since 2004, the organisation has grown and now has offices in London, New York, Brussels, Australia, Beijing, Hong Kong and Delhi.
In late 2007, the Climate Group recruited its first India director, who left after only a matter of weeks under circumstances the Group declines to reveal. In 2008, the Group recruited its second India director, Preeti Malhotra, who built operations on the sub-continent to over a dozen staff. By the middle of 2009, India operations were suffering, with only a couple of people still working in the office there.
The consumer engagement campaign Together, which lasted for approximately two years in the UK, was launched in the US in June of 2008 in New York. Around six months later, Together ceased to operate in the US.
In 2011, Mark Kenber, previously deputy-CEO, took over from Steve Howard as CEO of The Climate Group.
Business and government members pay to be members of The Climate Group, and that funding accounts for approximately 20 per cent of the organization's operating budget. Many Climate Group programmes are carried out in partnership with members, whose sponsorship is often the primary source of revenue for those individual programs (such as Together). The Climate Group states that overall strategy is driven by staff - sometimes in consultation with members - and approved by its board, and that there is no link between membership and governance of the organisation.
Funding became a serious problem for the Climate Group's US operations in 2009 following the financial and later economic crisis in the country. As a result, roughly one-third of the Group's US staff were laid off - including the director of north American operations - and a number of other cost-cutting measures implemented.
, Earthwatch, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
, would be a partner in the HSBC
Climate Partnership, and donated US$100 million to fund joint work - the largest-ever single corporate philanthropic donation to the environment. The results of this program can be seen in HSBC’s 2010 Partnership Review, and HSBC’s Clean Cities film of December 2010. The Clean Cities film specifically outlines some of The Climate Group’s achievements enabled by this program, including LED pilots in New York, clean technology finance in Mumbai, consumer campaigns in London and cutting employee carbon footprints in Hong Kong.
Through its States and Regions program, The Climate Group brings heads of sub-national governments together in events such as Cancun’s China Day and Climate Leaders Summit 2010. Agreed statements arising from these events, signed by The Climate Group’s members, include the Copenhagen Statement of 2009 and the Cancun Statement of 2010. The States and Regions program also facilitates partnerships between developed and developing nation sub-national governments, giving rise to projects such as assessment of regional vulnerability to climate change impacts.
Previous projects include:
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that works with business and government to promote clean energy to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Group was created in 2004 and now has offices in the UK (headquarters), the US, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, mainland China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Hong Kong. The Climate Group now has 80 members consisting of large companies and governments representing cities, states and geographic regions from around the world. The Climate Group's members represent 15% of global GDP.
The Climate Group says it is one of the world’s first alliances of business and government working to create solutions to climate change.
Solutions pursued by the Climate Group include its technology programs, such as the LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
'Lightsavers' global trial taking place in cities such as New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Hong Kong and Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
; the Climate Principles project, under which financial institutions (including Credit Agricole, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swiss Re, F&C Asset Management and BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas S.A. is a global banking group, headquartered in Paris, with its second global headquarters in London. In October 2010 BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the largest bank and largest company in the world by assets with over $3.1 trillion. It was formed through the merger...
) agree to consider climate change when structuring their service and product offerings; the States and Regions Alliance, designed to encourage regional climate change initiatives; and publications. .
The Climate Group also hosts a range of events such as Climate Week NYC in New York City, a week-long global forum.
The Climate Group has partnered a range of initiatives and reports with organisations including the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSi), International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the Carbon Disclosure Project, the New York Academy of Sciences, the United Nations Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, The Office of Tony Blair and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBSCD).
History
The Climate Group was created in 2004 by ex-CEO and founder Steve Howard to engage major companies and governments to encourage them to take action on climate changes. To join, a company or government must sign the Climate Group's leadership principles. Former UK prime minister Tony BlairTony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
has supported the group since launch and has appeared at a number of the organisation's events. Since 2004, the organisation has grown and now has offices in London, New York, Brussels, Australia, Beijing, Hong Kong and Delhi.
In late 2007, the Climate Group recruited its first India director, who left after only a matter of weeks under circumstances the Group declines to reveal. In 2008, the Group recruited its second India director, Preeti Malhotra, who built operations on the sub-continent to over a dozen staff. By the middle of 2009, India operations were suffering, with only a couple of people still working in the office there.
The consumer engagement campaign Together, which lasted for approximately two years in the UK, was launched in the US in June of 2008 in New York. Around six months later, Together ceased to operate in the US.
In 2011, Mark Kenber, previously deputy-CEO, took over from Steve Howard as CEO of The Climate Group.
Funding
The Climate Group states that it functions independently of any corporate and government entities. It funds its work from a variety of revenue streams. The Climate Group's 2007-2008 Annual Report indicates that over 75% of The Climate Group's funding is from philanthropic donations, foundations and other NGOs, as well as from the philanthropic HSBC Climate Partnership.Business and government members pay to be members of The Climate Group, and that funding accounts for approximately 20 per cent of the organization's operating budget. Many Climate Group programmes are carried out in partnership with members, whose sponsorship is often the primary source of revenue for those individual programs (such as Together). The Climate Group states that overall strategy is driven by staff - sometimes in consultation with members - and approved by its board, and that there is no link between membership and governance of the organisation.
Funding became a serious problem for the Climate Group's US operations in 2009 following the financial and later economic crisis in the country. As a result, roughly one-third of the Group's US staff were laid off - including the director of north American operations - and a number of other cost-cutting measures implemented.
HSBC Climate Partnership
In 2007, HSBC announced that the Climate Group, along with WWFWorld Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
, Earthwatch, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...
, would be a partner in the HSBC
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
Climate Partnership, and donated US$100 million to fund joint work - the largest-ever single corporate philanthropic donation to the environment. The results of this program can be seen in HSBC’s 2010 Partnership Review, and HSBC’s Clean Cities film of December 2010. The Clean Cities film specifically outlines some of The Climate Group’s achievements enabled by this program, including LED pilots in New York, clean technology finance in Mumbai, consumer campaigns in London and cutting employee carbon footprints in Hong Kong.
Members
As of December 2010, The Climate Group coalition included 80 of the world's largest companies and governments. It also works with a variety of associate members and partner organisations on initiatives such as The Climate Principles, The Aviation Global Deal Group and Breaking the Climate Deadlock.Publications
The Climate Group also publishes research reports. Some include:- Smart 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age – this 2008 report, produced in partnership with the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, presents research showing that smarter ITInformation technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
could reduce global emissions by 15 per cent and save EUR 500 billion in annual energy costs by 2020.
- The UK-India Business Leaders Climate Group – launched in February 2010 to provide advice to the UK and India on how to accelerate collaborative, climate-friendly economic growth.
- CCS: Mobilising Private Sector Finance – launched in September 2010, this report produced with the Ecofin Research Foundation examines the risks and returns of carbon capture and sequestration projects from the perspective of European financial institutions.
- China's Clean Revolution series – to December 2010, three reports have been released on China's renewable energy policies. The latest report was released on December 6, 2010, to coincide with COP16 in Cancun, is the China Clean Revolution Report III: Low Carbon Development in Cities
- COP 16: Post-Cancun Analysis briefing – released January 2011, this policy briefing paper provides The Climate Group’s analysis of the 2010 UN Climate Conference in Cancun, with views on what it means for governments and businesses.
Major Initiatives
The Climate Group spearheads and supports a growing number of what it says are game-changing initiatives. They include:Technology Programs
The Climate Group works with its government and business partners to demonstrate low emissions technologies with the goal of accelerating the ‘scale up’ of these technologies until they are widespread. Technology programs include:- The LED program, which aims to accelerate widespread adoption of this lighting technology. The programs aim is for LEDLEdLEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
lighting to represent 25% of the global indoor and outdoor lighting market by 2020, reducing electricity use and costs — and associated CO2 emissions — by 50 - 70%. Demonstration projects are operating in many cities across the globe including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kolkata, London, New York and Sydney. - The Carbon Capture and Storage program, which aims to develop carbon capture and storageCarbon capture and storageCarbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...
demonstration plants in China, India, the US, Europe and Australia. - The SMART 2020 program, which aims to harness smart information and communication technologies, such as smart grid technologies and building management systems, to reduce emissions by up to 15% by 2020.
- The EV20 program, which aims to build the momentum of the electric vehicles market through partnerships with car and battery manufacturers, electricity utilities, financial institutions and governments.
States and Regions
The States and Regions Alliance is underpinned by a recognition of the important role that sub-national governments are playing in tackling climate change on the ground. The UN Development Program estimates that 50-80% of actions required to take limit global temperature rises to two degrees will need to arise from sub-national levels of government. The Climate Group argues that while global negotiations continue to prove difficult, its State and Regions Alliance members, as well as other subnational governments, will play an essential role in building a global climate change deal from the bottom-up. Updates on developments in sub-national government climate policies and low emissions technology programs across the globe are maintained on The Climate Group’s website.Through its States and Regions program, The Climate Group brings heads of sub-national governments together in events such as Cancun’s China Day and Climate Leaders Summit 2010. Agreed statements arising from these events, signed by The Climate Group’s members, include the Copenhagen Statement of 2009 and the Cancun Statement of 2010. The States and Regions program also facilitates partnerships between developed and developing nation sub-national governments, giving rise to projects such as assessment of regional vulnerability to climate change impacts.
Special Projects
The Climate Group also runs specific initiatives separate from its ongoing project streams. These projects include:- The Greenhouse Indicator, a weekly indicator of greenhouse gas emissions produced from the generation of energy in Australian states including New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. Emissions are reported in newspaper publications including The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
. - The Climate Principles, a framework for the finance sector that major international financial institutions such as Credit Agricole, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swiss Re, F&C Asset Management and BNP Paribas have adopted. Signatories of the Principles are working to include climate change considerations in all their financial products and services.
- The HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The Partnership aims to reduce major city carbon emissions, monitor climate change impacts on forests and waterways, and empower individuals in their communities and workplaces to contribute to climate change action and research.
- Climate Week NY˚C, a partnership between The Climate Group, the United Nations, the UN Foundation, the City of New York, the Government of Denmark, Tck Tck Tck Campaign and Carbon Disclosure ProjectCarbon Disclosure ProjectThe Carbon Disclosure Project is an organisation based in the United Kingdom which works with shareholders and corporations to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of major corporations....
.
Previous projects include:
- Together. In 2007 The Climate Group launched a consumer engagement campaign in the UK called Together, supported by Tony Blair, Gordon BrownGordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, Boris JohnsonBoris JohnsonAlexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, David JamesDavid James (footballer)David Benjamin James is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bristol City.On 14 February 2009, he achieved the all-time Premier League appearance record with 536 appearances, overtaking Gary Speed. He held this record until being overtaken by Ryan Giggs on the 14th May 2011...
, Claudia SchifferClaudia SchifferClaudia Schiffer is a German model and occasional actress, who reached the peak of her popularity during the 1990s, initially due to her resemblance to Brigitte Bardot. Schiffer is one of the world's most successful models, having appeared on over 500 magazine covers...
and Annie LennoxAnnie LennoxAnnie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
. Together worked with big brand names to bring consumers easy ways they can help fight climate change. In May 2009, the Together Campaign reported that its partners had helped UK consumers save over 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and around £200 million on their household bills. Together also ran in AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the US.
- Voluntary Carbon Standard. The Voluntary Carbon StandardVoluntary Carbon StandardThe Verified Carbon Standard formerly the Voluntary Carbon Standard is a quality standard for voluntary carbon offset industry. Based on the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, VCS establishes criteria for validating, measuring, and monitoring carbon offset projects....
(VCS) launched in November 2007. The objective of the VCS is to boost confidence in the voluntary carbon marketCarbon MarketThe Carbon Market is the oldest and largest farmer's market in Cebu City, located in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, and is a major tourist attraction. It is wheelchair accessible. It is located in downtown Cebu City, on MC Briones Street, Ermita barangay, and it can be reached by...
by providing a new and much needed quality assurance for certification of credible voluntary carbon offsets.
- Breaking the Climate Deadlock. In late 2009, delegates gathered at the UNFCCC COP-15 in Copenhagen. Climate Group sought to help encourage a fair and effective agreement, along with former UK Prime Minister Tony BlairTony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
.