Climate Partnership of Russia represented Russian Federation at COP26
01/01/2021
Climate Partnership of Russia represented Russian Federation at COP26
The event was attended by members of the Partnership, including Anton Butmanov, Director for Sustainable Development of En+ Group, Andrey Cheshev, Deputy Executive Director of the Vernadsky Non-Governmental Environmental Foundation, and Greg McNab, a lawyer at Baker McKenzie. There were Michael Ofosukhin-Wise, Climate And Nature Manager, Business for nature, and Tom Williams, director, Nature Action & Water at World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Vera Kurochkina, a representative of the Partnership, moderated the session.
Interconnectedness between climate change, the state of nature and culture has always existed, Andrei Cheshev noted during the session. The only difference is that over time, it has intensified and finally reached its peak. Today, people play a crucial role in climate change: biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures affecting this decline are only increasing. The time for action has come. And it should be taken by public authorities, business representatives and the society.
The WBCSD supports this position. Tom Williams mentioned initiatives that it proposes to others: Zero Net Loss for Nature from 2020, Net Positive by 2030 and Full Recovery by 2050. Reaching these goals, as well as compliance with the terms of the Paris Agreement, adherence to the Concept of Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals will help preserving the environment for future generations.
However, the pandemic has made some significant adjustments to the climate agenda, said Greg McNab. Due to the costs of combating it, the authorities around the world relocate funds, shifting problems of biodiversity to the second or even to the third place. He believes that this is why business is in a “deep water” now compared to pre-2019 year: it has to solve green challenges without the support of the government.
Michael Ofsukhin-Wise also agrees with Mr McNab's position. He believes that the state should organize a comfortable environment for the development of "green" business. One of the examples of such companies was En+ Group. Anton Butmanov, giving an example of Lake Baikal, spoke about specific measures to protect and support the state of the lake, regularly carried out by the Group.
Interconnectedness between climate change, the state of nature and culture has always existed, Andrei Cheshev noted during the session. The only difference is that over time, it has intensified and finally reached its peak. Today, people play a crucial role in climate change: biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures affecting this decline are only increasing. The time for action has come. And it should be taken by public authorities, business representatives and the society.
The WBCSD supports this position. Tom Williams mentioned initiatives that it proposes to others: Zero Net Loss for Nature from 2020, Net Positive by 2030 and Full Recovery by 2050. Reaching these goals, as well as compliance with the terms of the Paris Agreement, adherence to the Concept of Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals will help preserving the environment for future generations.
However, the pandemic has made some significant adjustments to the climate agenda, said Greg McNab. Due to the costs of combating it, the authorities around the world relocate funds, shifting problems of biodiversity to the second or even to the third place. He believes that this is why business is in a “deep water” now compared to pre-2019 year: it has to solve green challenges without the support of the government.
Michael Ofsukhin-Wise also agrees with Mr McNab's position. He believes that the state should organize a comfortable environment for the development of "green" business. One of the examples of such companies was En+ Group. Anton Butmanov, giving an example of Lake Baikal, spoke about specific measures to protect and support the state of the lake, regularly carried out by the Group.