Net Zero Pledges – a pathway towards transition
Afore Consulting and the UN High Level Expert Group on Net Zero Pledges jointly hosted a full day seminar on Net Zero Pledges which took place in a virtual format on Thursday 8 December 2022 from 9:00-17:00 (Brussels time).
We were delighted for join us for this seminar where the Expert Group presented their findings after COP27. Also joining us was an international audience of policy makers, industry representatives, as well as the wider civil society, in Europe and beyond.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres established this High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities earlier this year to develop stronger and clearer standards for net-zero emission pledges by non-State entities including businesses, investors, cities and regions and to look at ways to speed up their implementation. We think this event was particularly interesting given the growing debate around transition plans and their verification.
The seminar was focused on the four areas of the Expert Group’s recommendations:
- Current standards and definitions for setting net-zero targets;
- Credibility criteria used to assess the objectives, measurement and reporting of net-zero pledges;
- Processes for verification and accounting of progress towards net-zero commitments and reported decarbonisation plans; and
- A roadmap to translate standards and criteria into international and national level regulations.
Speakers for the seminar include
- Jutta Urpilanen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships (tbc)
- Valvanera Ulargui Aparicio, Spanish State Secretary for Climate Change
- Helena Viñes Fiestas, Commissioner of the Spanish Financial Markets Authority, co-rapporteur, the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance and Member of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero Pledges
- Paul Tang, MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC)
- Martin Spolc, Head of the Sustainable Finance Unit, DG FISMA, European Commission
- Gregor Erbach, Head of Climate Action Research and Tracking Service, European Parliament Research Services (EPRS)
- Sacha Sadan, Director for Environment, Social & Governance, FCA
- Nathan Fabian, UN PRI and Chair of the Platform for Sustainable Finance
- Irene Heemskerk, Head of the ECB Climate Change Centre
- Catherine McKenna, Chair of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero
- Malango Mughogho, Member of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero Pledges
- Bill Hare, Lead Author of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and Member of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero Pledges
- Arunabha Ghosh, Member of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero Pledges
- Alberto Carillo Pineda, Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)
- Tomohiro Ishikawa, Managing Director & Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs, MUFG
- Nadja Picard, Partner, Global Reporting Leader, PwC
- Viktoriya Brand, Head of Group Sustainability, Deutsche Bank
- Roger Martella, Chief Sustainability Officer, GE
- Swami Venkataraman, CFA, Associate Managing Director in ESG, Moody’s Investors Service
- Sir Jonathan Taylor, Senior Advisor at Afore Consulting and Former Vice President of the European Investment Bank
- Nickolas Reinhardt, Co-Founder and Director, Afore Consulting
For the programme, please click here.