BNP Paribas’ landmark
Sustainable Future Forum series in New York City gathered clients, partners and
thought leaders from around the world to discuss the opportunities and
challenges presented by sustainability.
The New York event
featured keynote remarks from Bertrand
Piccard, Founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation, who used his trip around
the world aboard a solar-powered aircraft to highlight the possibilities of
building a clean-energy future. To date, the Solar Impulse Foundation has
identified over 1,000 startups providing effective, profitable environmental
solutions that can be scaled up. Bertrand later welcomed Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of Suez, for a discussion on sustainable
business practices.
Professor
Jeffrey Sachs,
Founder of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Advisor to the UN
Secretary General, said that society and the global economy were not shifting
to sustainability quickly enough. He outlined a four-pronged framework that
could help speed up the transition: first, decarbonise by mid-century; second,
reach a zero land conversion; third, fund the good stuff and care about the
supply chain; and fourth, make green bonds the standard benchmark, as all bonds
should be green.
It was not the people who were selling the best candles who invented the light bulb.
Bertrand Piccard, Founder, Solar Impulse Foundation
Rounding up the evening,
three startups presented their sustainable project pitches: one put forward a
solution to reduce maritime fuel emissions by 40%; a second sought to use heat
waste from data centres to create cooling power; and a third developed a
microorganism that, when added to cows’ feed, results in a 50% reduction in methane
emissions from the animals.
Earlier in the day as
part of the Sustainable Future Forum event, ISS-climate, a leader in corporate
governance and responsible investing solutions, the 2° Investing Initiative, a
leading climate finance think tank, and BNP Paribas kicked off Climate Week NYC
with “A Stocktake on Key Climate Change
Themes for Investors”. This opening event covered topics ranging from the
current state of investor action on climate change, approaches to scenario
analysis, mobilising asset data for scenario analysis, and setting targets to
minimise risks and maximise impact.