P4G Summit Side Events Focus on Scaling Concrete Net Zero Solutions

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Enhancing Food Security through Sustainable Food Partnership

As a side event to the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit, the Sustainable Food Partnership (SFP) event on May 28 included an engaged dialogue between the CEOs driving the collaborative and innovative model. The partnership aims to manufacture nutritious and affordable biscuits in Ethiopia with locally sourced ingredients and enhance food security for women and children in the country. Fekadu Beyene, Commissioner of Ethiopia’s Forest and Climate Change Commission opened the discussion by sharing how the partnership could address childhood malnutrition in the country and is taking a market-based approach to food security – a priority issue for Ethiopia.

Ian de Cruz, Global Director, P4G moderated a panel discussion in which CEOs representing each partner in the model shared how the partnership was critical to their growth strategy. Samuel Zemui, CEO, Moya Foods Complex noted how a partnership like SFP that involves local smallholder farmers while enriching the nutritious value of the Ethiopian diet could be eye-opening to a lot of businesses. It also opens the doors for the development of other innovative products that Moya and others could consider in the future. Ester Baiget, CEO, Novozymes shared how a partnership like this is “not only the right thing to do, it’s also a good solid business case.” By bringing science to a sustainable and competitive product in the Ethiopian market, Novozymes could expand this model to other countries and products in Africa.

Henrik Andersen, CEO, Arla Food Ingredients, spoke about value of building a model whose impact could be long-lasting while also enabling its learning to be applied in other places in the African continent. Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, General Secretary, DanChurchAid, brought in the civil society perspective by sharing how SFP presents a disruptive model that can be replicated and expanded to provide a nutritional resource for refugee camps. The CEOs also got a chance to sample a prototype of the biscuit, which Qvist-Sørensen described as “delicious, crisp and sweet.”

Tomas Anker Christensen, Climate Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, closed the event with a call for strong partnership models like SFP that rise to the challenge of tackling food security – a growing issue during the COVID-19 and climate crises. He shared Denmark’s priority of strengthening climate agriculture and spoke about SFP being a hallmark P4G partnership that produces tangible results.

E-mobility Strategies to Scale Zero Emissions Transportation

Net zero is not achievable without a transition in the transportation sector. To accelerate the adoption of e-mobility vehicles it’s critical to overcome challenges such as adequate funding, infrastructure issues and finding ways to replicate successful models. These were some of the issues discussed at a May 28 P4G Seoul Summit side-event on e-mobility hosted by the Global Green Growth Institute, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and P4G.

Sarbinder Singh, Director of Investments, P4G spoke about the platform’s approach of integrating its e-mobility theme within its larger electric transition strategy. He spoke about the need to link renewable energy solutions with the utility sector and pilot initiatives to ensure stakeholders get familiar with the solutions and risks. The event, which included representatives from governments, businesses, financial institutions and partnerships took an in-depth look at the lessons learned from Norway to Latin America and the different approaches being trialed to accelerate the transition in different parts of the world.

Watch the full recording here.

Catalyzing Investors to Accelerate the Transition to Net Zero

The Asian Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) hosted a forum on May 31 to offer insights into the current actions by investors and ones they can take in the future to address climate change risk and the business opportunities afforded by this approach.

Nigel Topping, High Level Champion for Climate Action, COP26, opened the discussion by sharing the launch of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) that brings together over 160 firms across the financial system to accelerate the transition to net zero by 2050.

Rebecca Mikula-Wright, Executive Director, AIGCC, moderated the discussion and opened by asking panelists about their strategy for accelerating the shift to net zero.

Jon Johnsen, CEO, PKA (a Danish pension fund) shared how the fund now invests10% of its asset base in green investments and that a strong green portfolio acts as a stabilizer and a risk mitigation strategy. Akira Sugano, CEO, Asset Management One, mentioned how his company focused on areas where they have the most leverage which is currently Japanese companies. He spoke about using a science-based approach to set their targets for the percentage of assets that align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Sandra Boss, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, Blackrock, noted the company’s intensified focus on sustainability and its extensive engagement with its clients asking carbon-intensive companies to have a net zero aligned business plan. Boss also shared Blackrock’s strategy of measuring and managing sustainability risk.

Ian de Cruz, Global Director, P4G, emphasized the business opportunity provided by developing countries and challenged investors to invest in solutions that progress the net zero agenda. While highlighting the Republic of Korea’s commitment to end overseas coal financing, he suggested the next step be the reallocation of that capital domestically and globally.

Watch the full recording here.