My four-day visit to California focused on the state’s leadership on climate, its convening power as a hub of global action and the role of its tech giants in saving our planet!
The Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco is perhaps one of the most important events this year on climate, bringing together global leaders, businesses and activists to step up climate action. While the event celebrated extraordinary achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens on climate action, it aimed to be a launchpad for deeper global commitment to accelerate action. I spoke at a number of events on building a sustainable future for our cities; celebrating cities that are taking action for clean air; and importantly, the need to focus more attention to the role of forests in moving towards the future we want.
At the end of the Summit, 29 philanthropic organizations announced a $4 billion commitment over five years to address climate change. This represents the largest-ever philanthropic investment focused on climate and I was able to discuss with several philanthropists, partnerships with UN Environment.
Silicon Valley is home to several of the biggest and most influential technology companies on earth. It is vital to have them on our side and contribute to a more sustainable future. Therefore, I explored common areas of interest and potential areas of collaboration with senior executives of major tech companies It is worth noting that UN Environment has a collaboration with Google on monitoring fresh water systems. It is clear that this is an area we must continue to forge partnerships on. The things these companies can do is simply phenomenal!
