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Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP, Secretary of State for DECC, voiced his thanks for the invitation to speak to the Aldersgate Group (AG) reception, “the Aldersgate Group has an excellent reputation for building support, integrating environmental objectives into economic policy and I’m very happy to contribute to this discussion.”

The outcomes from the recent international climate change negotiations at Durban “were very near to the top of our expectations going into the conference” and ultimately “allowed us to save the Kyoto Protocol”, thus forming the foundation for a genuine global agreement. Negotiations for this agreement will begin early this year, concluding no later than 2015, and “the commitments in the new agreement will take effect from 2020”. Durban was a triumph for the principle that climate change should be tackled through international law, not through national voluntarism.

The Durban agreement rendered irrelevant any talk about stopping going faster than our neighbours in cutting carbon. "In reality, none of us are going fast enough – but thanks to Durban, we know we will have the framework to ensure countries can take action together." The negotiations therefore also “mark a major shift in the background of the debate we now enter into over the EU’s own climate target, which the coalition firmly believes must be made more ambitious: 30% cut by 2020 in place of the current 20%”.

“Legally binding treaties are an absolutely essential and a necessary part of dealing with climate change but they are not sufficient.” Despite not having carbon emission obligations under Kyoto, China, for example, is delivering serious change; “if you look at the growth of their low carbon economy, the growth they’re making in policy terms and the five year plan”, their commitment is evident. Canada, by contrast, signed up to Kyoto but failed to deliver. “We have to get the framework right and manage to make sure that we’re delivering on the ground.”

The Green Climate Fund which was agreed at Durban, “will channel a proportion of the $100billion a year needed by 2020 helping poor communities develop on low carbon pathways and adapt to climate change”. Mr Huhne announced that “the UK Government will contribute to the set up costs of the fund during 2012”, and will consider a “substantial contribution to its activities once it’s fully operational”. To achieve this, “substantial mobilisation of private capital” will be essential. Most funds necessary to decarbonise the UK economy must come from private funds and investment, predicated on a framework that ensures respectable returns for decarbonisation; “exactly the same principle can apply when it comes to developing countries”.

On the domestic side of the green agenda, the priority is the “successful delivery of the Green Deal”. Mr Huhne stressed that the role of business “is absolutely enormous because it is business that will go into everybody’s house, business that will install the rest of the kit and it is business that will get the payback through people’s energy bills”.

Mr Huhne confirmed that four key messages should be promoted at the Clean Energy Ministerial global forum this April and Rio+20 in June:

1) “Green economies are about efficiency, cutting out waste and using natural  resources more sustainably”;
2) “A low carbon future is our only realistic option because a high carbon choice is one where economies inevitably buckle under the impacts of rising and volatile fossil fuel prices”;
3) “Green investments can provide a major stimulus to economies in recession creating new industries, new jobs and mobilising new sources of private finance”;
4) “Across the world there are enormous business opportunities in this new vision of a sustainable and green economy”.

Mr Huhne emphasised that the green economy is not a “cottage industry” but a “major part of a growing economy and is growing steadily through this recession.”

David Nussbaum, Chief Executive of WWF, welcomed the deal at Durban, but warned of “an underlying mismatch between the political process and the science”.

The danger lies in the political agreements not leading to commitments which would halt irreversible climate change: “if we only did what it looks like we might currently get committed to, we could end up with a 3.5 degree rise in temperature.” The International Energy Authority outlined the need for emissions to peak in 2017 which is only two years after the commitment will have been made and three years before it is expected to come into force (in 2020).

Mr Nussbaum was supportive of developments at Durban such as the Green Climate Fund, but queried where the money for the fund to operate at the $100bn a year scale needed would come from. There is also a need for “consistent and consistently high corporate reporting standards on sustainability”. The International Integrated Reporting Committee’s work offers potential for that.

While Durban dealt with climate change, the upcoming conference in Rio will deal with sustainable development and Mr Nussbaum emphasised the interaction between the two. Sustainable development “is a crucial part of what has to be achieved for the world to make progress on climate if we are to achieve 'enough, for all, forever'”. It is essential to “redirect finance towards sustainable development, particularly subsidies for fossil fuels”.

Mr Nussbaum urged people to read the UN’s recently released “Zero Draft” negotiating text for the Rio+20 conference, which calls on participating countries “to establish and strengthen as appropriate national sustainable development councils with the integration for participation of all stakeholders”. The integration of different stakeholders voices from across government departments and a “vocal, articulated leadership” will be vital for the UK in these talks. Mr Nussbaum also invited business to “be articulating to government the importance of both rhetoric and action.”

Harry Verhaar, Senior Director at Philips, perceived that a major win in Durban was that “you really sensed in the atmosphere a growing mindset and a growing understanding that this is a positive agenda across all geographies”.

Mr Verhaar had previously noted the growing commitment to sustainable development in Africa, attending the African Energy Ministers Conference in September 2011 where, “they agreed on the Johannesburg declaration, which had the headline, ‘Sustainable Development’”. They established that as the smartest way forward; “if you waste less resources, you’re also economically better off as a household, as a city, as a business, as a government and as a region”.

At the Rio+20 conference it will be essential to “collectively, publicly, privately together increase the momentum for change”. Mr Verhaar voiced confidence that this momentum is possible, citing the recent developments in LED lighting. At “the end of 2006 in December (Philips) called for the global phase out of incandescent light bulbs”; at that time these made up two thirds of their sales volume. The LED revolution moved Philips from having no market in LEDs in 2006 to predicting it will make up 80% of the company’s turnover in 2020. This change in lighting technology has resulted in carbon savings and money savings, alongside social benefits.

Mr Verhaar suggested four requirements to get “the momentum that we really need, not only to save the planet but to provide more prosperous lifestyles for everybody across this world”:

1) Continue to work on advancing technology;
2) Create the necessary policy frameworks and a global treaty;
3) Establish the financing mechanisms to provide upfront investment and redesign budgeting frameworks to prepare for the long-term challenges we face in labour and energy prices;
4) Communicate the benefits of the green economy, which extend beyond ecological and economical gains to include social benefits.

Peter Young, Chairman of the Aldersgate Group, warned against “expecting some holistic global solution, which we’ll talk about until Armageddon has arrived.”

Instead business and civil society should set about, with “quiet determination”, to build the measures and activities which will create a green economy. Durban was vital in creating the precedent of global engagement which the Rio +20 conference can take advantage of, but smaller-scale activities will be just as important as any global agreement. Mr Young highlighted the “pairing and mentoring between countries who can see things in a common way”, or the “businesses who can engage within domains to bring forward solutions that are maybe not global, but can contribute on a regional or local basis”.

Meanwhile at the international level, “the Durban agreement formalised reporting against Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) in a consistent way”. This is important because “if we can’t measure things and agree things across international boundaries it will be very difficult for us to actually implement and measure the success of commitments”. MRV, Mr Young argued, would be more useful to the international community than market-based mechanisms, which “still struggle to get support for a uniform approach”.

The Green Climate Fund will be key, but Mr Young queried: “how does the private sector fund it, engage with it and actually use it as a vehicle to make successful business as well as to deliver the outcomes that we want”?

Mr Young argued that “we mustn’t expect governments to make all the running. Genuine opportunities for international businesses exist and it’s important that they engage strongly.” Quite a different mindset will be needed to achieve some of the outcomes necessary; “industry and private sector leading on some of these things and government supporting, rather than industry supporting government”. In the UK, cross-society alignment, such as through the Green Economy Council, made up of leaders from business and civil society who meet with three secretaries of state, can play an important role. Lastly Mr Young called on the Prime Minister to give “full delegated authority to the government representatives at Rio to give decision making power for us to engage to the full extent”.

This event was sponsored by WWF.