Sustainia

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Sustainia, formerly the Copenhagen Climate Council, is a global collaboration between international business and science founded by Erik Rasmussen founder of the leading independent think tank in Scandinavia, Monday Morning, based in Copenhagen, and today directed by Rasmus Schjødt Larsen, a Harvard graduate. The councilors of the Copenhagen Climate Council have come together to create global awareness of the importance of the UN Climate Summit (COP15) in Copenhagen, December 2009, and to ensure technical and public support and assistance to global decision makers when agreeing on a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol from 1997.

The Copenhagen Climate Council was founded in 2007 by an independent think tank in Scandinavia, Monday Morning,^[1] evolving into sustainability think tank Sustainia headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The purpose of the Copenhagen Climate Council is to create global awareness of the importance of the UN Climate Summit (COP15) in Copenhagen, December 2009. Leading up to this pivotal UN meeting, the Copenhagen Climate Council works on presenting innovative yet achievable solutions to climate change, as well as assess what is required to make a new global treaty effective. The council will seek to promote constructive dialogue between government and business, so that when the world's political leaders and negotiators meet in Copenhagen, they will do so armed with the very best arguments for establishing a treaty that can be supported by global business. By promoting and demonstrating innovative, positive, and meaningful business leadership and ideas, the Copenhagen Climate Council aims to demonstrate that achieving an effective global climate treaty is not only possible, but necessary. The strategy is built upon the following principles:

• Creating international awareness of the importance of the Copenhagen UN Climate Summit and the successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol.
• Promoting constructive dialogue between government, business, and science.
• Inspiring global business leaders by demonstrating that tackling climate change also has the potential to create huge opportunities for innovation and economic growth.^{[citation needed]}

Published in November 2007, on the eve of the UN COP13 Climate Change Conference in Bali – the instigation night of the Bali Road Map. The document outlines what the council believes is required to tackle climate change and how this can be achieved through a new global treaty. The Manifesto articulates a clear goal for the maximum level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2050. The document will serve as input at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, outlining key elements for further discussion and inclusion in the recommendations to be delivered to the UN Summit.^{[citation needed]}

Copenhagen Climate Council comprises 30 global climate leaders^[2] representing business, science, and public policy from all parts of the world.

• Business leaders are selected to represent global companies and innovative entrepreneurs, who, through their actions, reveal that sustainable, climate-responsible business is both necessary and profitable.
• Scientists are gathered to ensure that the work of the council is underpinned by rigorous analysis.
• Policy makers with experience in public policy are included in the council to ensure that the work is informed by knowledge of what is required to assist high-level, complex policy negotiations.

The Councilors to the Copenhagen Climate Council are:^[3]

• Tim Flannery, chairman of Copenhagen Climate Council, writer and scientist
• Erik Rasmussen, founder, Copenhagen Climate Council; and founder of Monday Morning & Sustainia
• Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary
• Shai Agassi, CEO and founder, Project Better Place
• Carsten Bjerg, fmr. CEO, Grundfos
• David Blood, senior partner, Generation Investment Management
• Sir Richard Branson, founder and CEO, Virgin Group^[4]
• James Cameron, vice chairman,
• Subhash Chandra, chairman of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited
• Jørgen Mads Clausen, CEO, Danfoss
• Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. , CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited
• Anders Eldrup, fmr. president of DONG Energy Denmark, now Ørsted
• Ditlev Engel, fmr. CEO, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, now DNV GL Energy
• Yoichi Funabashi, editor-in-chief, The Asahi Shimbun
• Lord Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme - Globe International advisory board member and Lord Jay of Ewelme
• Sir David King, scientist and director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford
• Lise Kingo, executive vice president and chief of staff, Novo Nordisk, now UNGC
• Thomas E. Lovejoy, president, H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and Environment
• James Lovelock, scientist, inventor and author
• Rob Morrison, chairman, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets
• Paul S. Otellini, president and chief executive officer, Intel
• Robert Purves, AM chair of Environment Business Australia and board member WWW International
• James E. Rogers, chairman of the board, president and CEO, Duke Energy
• Dr. Zhengrong Shi, chairman of the board and CEO, Suntech Power
• Björn Stigson, president, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
• Sir Crispin Tickell, director of the Policy Foresight Programme, James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, Oxford University
• Moses Tsang, CEO, Ajia Partners
• Jens Ulltveit-Moe, CEO, Umoe AS
• Li Xiaolin, Vice Chairman and CEO, China Electric Power International Co. Ltd.

The central aim of the Copenhagen Climate Council is to create global awareness to the urgency of reaching a global agreement on how to tackle climate change at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, December 2009. To achieve this end, the Copenhagen Climate Council provides a Web 2.0 climate website – 'The Climate Community' – now evolved into the Global Opportunity Explorer.

funded by UNGC, DNVGL and Sustainia - which features latest climate news, intelligence, solutions and points of view, an online climate community, as well as the rest of the Copenhagen Climate Council activities, such as the 'World Business Summit on Climate Change'; launching the 'Thought Leadership Series'; launching the 'Climate LIFE' film, book, and digital exhibition; co-hosting with CITRIS the scientific conference 'Unlocking the Climate Code: Innovation in Climate and Energy'; and the Poznań side event 'Business Requirements of a Post-2012 Climate Treaty'. Recently, the Copenhagen Climate Council has also hosted a Business Roundtable in Beijing.

The Climate Community is the official website of the Copenhagen Climate Council. The website is based on Web 2.0 principles.

Exclusive news features so far include interviews with U.S. Energy Secretary Steve Chu, UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer, the Danish Climate minister Connie Hedegaard, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, Professor Daniel Kammen, Lars Josefsson, CEO of Vattenfall.

The World Business Summit on Climate Change takes place six months prior to the pivotal UN climate change conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, December 2009. The summit brings together business chief executives with the world's top scientists, economists, civil society, media leaders, government representatives and other leading thinkers to put forward recommendations for the next international framework on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. Among the prominent participants so far are Al Gore, chairman of Generation Investment Management; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark; and Sir Richard Branson, founder and CEO of the Virgin Group.

At the summit, chief executives will discuss how business can help solve the climate crisis through innovative business models, new partnerships and the development of low carbon technologies. They will send a message to the negotiating governments on how to remove barriers and create incentives for implementation of new solutions in a post-Kyoto. The results of the World Business Summit on Climate Change will be presented to the Danish government, host of COP15,^[5] and to world leaders negotiating the terms of the next international climate treaty.

On June 19, 2008, Copenhagen Climate Council and Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) co-hosted an energy conference named Unlocking the Climate Code: Innovation in Climate and Energy. The aim of the conference was to identify the critical research and development achievements necessary for a successful transition to a low-carbon economy. Conference participants will present and debate relevant policy and business models that can support technology innovation in carbon emissions reduction. In an effort to create models of the relationships in business, policy, and technology to help guide innovative and rational decision making at the 2009 UN Summit, a suite of tools was developed, better known as the Climate Navigator^{[permanent dead link]}.

On December 8, 2008, the Copenhagen Climate Council hosted an official side event^[6] at the UN COP14 Summit on Climate Change in Poznań, Poland from December 1–10, 2008. The theme was Business Requirements to a Post-2012 Climate Treaty. At the event, Council representatives from business and science presented their key principles for a new treaty. The thoughts presented at the event will feed into the development of the final recommendations delivered by international business leaders at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, to be held in Copenhagen in May, 2009.

The speakers delivered their views on what they would toast to in Copenhagen. They included: Copenhagen Climate Council Chairman Tim Flannery; Robert Purves from World Wildlife Fund International; Jerry Stokes, president of Suntech Europe; Dr. Zhengrong Shi, founder and CEO of Suntech; Steve Harper of Intel; Susanne Stormer from Novo Nordisk; Michael Zarin of Vestas; and Thomas Becker, the lead climate negotiator for the Danish government that will host the UN COP15 climate summit in December, 2009. The session was moderated by Nick Rowley, strategic director at Copenhagen Climate Council.

On November 11, 2008, the Copenhagen Climate Council hosted a roundtable meeting^[7] with some of the most prominent business leaders in China and the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard.

The Copenhagen Climate Council was founded in 2007.