Chris Huhne, DECC Secretary of State, was keynote speaker at the Aldersgate Group (AG) reception on the climate change talks at Durban.

He confirmed that the UK will provide administrative support to the UN's Green Climate Fund. "I am pleased to announce today that the UK Government will contribute to the set-up costs of the fund during 2012 and of course we will also be considering a substantial contribution to its activities once it's fully operational". Other countries contributing to the set-up costs of the fund include the Republic of Korea, Germany and Denmark.

Mr Huhne also defended the Coalition's environmental performance declaring, "we are absolutely on course to be the greenest Government ever".

To read E2B's coverage of the Secretary of State's speech at this AG reception, click here.

The AG has formally responded to DECC's Red Tape Challenge, emphasising the need to focus on regulatory outcomes to drive growth in the long term. The Group argues that a streamlined approach can reduce business costs, for example by reforming climate change and energy efficiency legislation.

To read the full response, click here.

The European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik, emphasised the business benefits of resource efficiency at a recent AG parliamentary event. He warned that “over half of the resources we use are from outside the EU and the forecasts show that this dependency is increasing”. This represents a potential problem for the EU given the long-term trend of increasing prices for resources such as oil and food.

Climate modelling undertaken by his team has shown that a reduction of the total material requirements of the economy by 17% could boost GDP by more than 3% and employment in the EU by around 2.5million. He also outlined a step-by-step approach to establish 2020 milestones, alongside immediate actions over the next few years.

For a full summary of this event, click here.
To read coverage of Mr Potočnik’s arguments in the Guardian, click here.

A technical paper on the economic benefits of resource efficiency by AG Directors Andrew Raingold, Sir John Harman and Ian Dickie has been published in the international journal "Proceedings of ICE - Waste and Resource Management".

Permission has been kindly granted to print one copy of the article for personal use by AG stakeholders. Any other use of the PDF file is subject to reprint fees. Click here to view.

The AG is looking to recruit a new Events Officer to replace Corinna Luther, who is moving to Germany. A full job description is available on our website (click here). The deadline for applicants is 5pm on 8th February.

Save the date:

• 13th February (6pm), “Building Britain: the path to sustainable growth for the built environment”, launch of new report by the Aldersgate Group, at Drivers Jonas Deloitte’s offices. Click here for the full event details and to request a place.
• 12th March (6pm), “The Kay Review: a long-term focus for corporate Britain,” panel debate at Herbert Smith’s offices 

If you're interested in sponsoring an AG event, please contact Victoria on vfwilliams@aldersgategroup.org.uk.

AG Director Ian Dickie will be speaking at the first of four Earth Debates, hosted by the Natural History Museum.

The panel will include representatives from government and business to discuss, "Ecosystem economics - can we put a price on nature". This event starts at 7pm and is by invitation only, but will be streamed live and input is welcomed from the virtual audience via Twitter. For more information and to get involved, click here.

Peter Young, AG Chairman will be speaking on “Enabling the low carbon economy” at this environmental finance conference (Eversheds offices, central London). The day will review the growing interest in the bonds market and its potential to attract new capital to tackle environmental challenges.

To receive a 15% discount as an AG stakeholder, select the Standard Rate from available packages and enter the code EB12/ALD/15 at checkout. Click here for more information.

Andrew Raingold, AG Executive Director will be speaking on the first day of this conference at the NEC, Birmingham. Andrew will discuss how policy can drive corporate sustainability in the future.

For more information about this event and to book a place, click here.

Rob Lambe, AG Director will be speaking at this one-day conference, being held to discuss the development of new ventures in the low carbon sector. For more information about this event and to book tickets, click here.

AG stakeholders have been offered a 15% discount on delegate passes; enter Aldersgate15 as the promotional code when booking places.