Objectives of the Energy & Climate Focus Area

The WBCSD works with its members to develop and communicate business' views and potential solutions to the international energy and climate challenge. Recognizing that climate change presents both risks and opportunities for global business, our objectives are two-fold:

Policy:

• We work with policy-makers to ensure the establishment of an efficient and effective international climate treaty post-2012, supported by regional and national policies and measures.
  
  
• We share business experience and knowledge in addressing climate change
  
  
• We promote policies that support the rapid deployment of existing solutions, and the development of future solutions essential to achieve emission reductions.

Implementation :

• We provide businesses with tools and information that support their own climate actions. A 10-year partnership with the World Resources Institute to develop standards for corporate greenhouse gas accounting is a concrete product of this work.

Current activities

Thought leadership
The WBCSD aims to be at the forefront of the international policy debate and to deliver constructive business inputs. With the fast pace of the energy and climate debate, new topics and issues of interest and relevance to business emerge quickly and require a business response. The thought leadership area provides a space for the WBCSD and its members to identify and address these issues (both policy and solutions-focused), with the objective of progressing the global dialogue.

International energy and climate policy
Business needs a policy environment that is conducive to bringing effective climate change solutions to society. The Energy & Climate Focus Area actively engages in international policy processes to support the effective development of long-term energy & climate policy.

This is done by contributing to the ongoing climate change debate, developing specific policy recommendation, and engaging with governments and stakeholders. In particular, the UNFCCC has been the focal point of our work over the past few years. We have been providing specific policy inputs on issues such as technology, finance, adaptation and approaches different sectors can take to mitigate their climate change impacts.

However, to remain relevant and influential within the UNFCCC, we recognize that our inputs must become increasingly specific and focus on the issues under debate by the negotiators. We will therefore seek to direct our engagement with the UNFCCC towards the following key areas:

• The development of proposals for business engagement in the UNFCCC process
  
  
• Advancing the technology debate
  
  
• Engagement in and feedback on international energy & climate policy meetings and processes.

Business solutions

Business has recognized the need to move from dialogue to action. While a focus on policy is of great importance, having a view as to how business and society will move together to address the challenge of climate change is essential. For this reason, the WBCSD aims to provide tools and practices for businesses to encourage the implementation of practical solutions to address the climate change challenge.

• Tools and practices
  We firmly believe that from a business perspective “we cannot manage what cannot be measured”. Our continued work on the GHG Protocol, in partnership with the World Resources Institute, highlights this commitment and belief.
  
  
• Implementing climate change actions
  In this work area we focus on how business sees a shift in energy & economic systems to ensure that the required changes to address climate change take place. This is not about which individual technologies will be necessary, but rather what fundamental shifts in our systems will be needed.