• Achim Steiner
    "Combining private sector financial flows and smart public policy will be a key to a low carbon, resource efficient 21st century Green Economy."
     
    Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director
  • Gordon Brown
    "By kick-starting this engagement on issues of systemic risk and financial sustainability with the United Nations community, my hope is to contribute to defining the new kind of thinking and action that we must embrace to address the challenges of a global economy when climate change, resource scarcity, commodity price volatility and income inequality, amongst other ongoing concerns, will set the future context for our finance sector and global capital markets."
     
    Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister
  • Mary Robinson
    "The UN framework affirms that all businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights and that all must be able to demonstrate that they are meeting this responsibility through due diligence and positive actions irrespective of local contexts and government capacities. Many companies still have a great deal of work to do to make human rights due diligence part of their operations and to ensure that at minimum, their actions do not undermine respect for rights and indeed contribute to realizing rights in people’s lives."
     
    Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland
  • Barbara Krumsiek
    "I look forward to welcoming key stakeholders from around the world to Washington, D.C. for the UNEP FI Global Roundtable. My hope is that the event will build the critical partnerships that are necessary to move the sustainable development agenda forward."
     
    Barbara J. Krumsiek, Calvert Investments President and CEO, UNEP Finance Initiative Co-Chair
  • Kai Buntrock
    “I expect a truly catalytic reaction as to the felt and understood necessity of policy makers for placing the discussion on a sustainable policy framework - targeting the future private sector mobilisation and involvement - centre stage!”
     
    Kai Buntrock, Senior Investment Manager, DEG
  • Yvo de Boer
    “I hope the UNEP FI conference will explore best practice in ESG-investing, particularly in the US where we see new levels of interest from mainstream investors. The step change for companies is recognizing that investors have a valid interest in understanding how these issues are being managed across multiple asset classes.”
     
    Yvo de Boer, KPMG’s Special Global Advisor on Climate Change and Sustainability
  • Ernst Rauch
    "Munich Re is particularly looking forward to the expert workshop on climate information services for financial institutions at the UNEP FI’s Global Roundtable 2011. We appreciate the establishment and work of climate information centres, as reinsurance companies would benefit from the broader financial services and insurance sector. This would enhance the overall resilience of the entire sector in light of climate change impacts."
     
    Ernst Rauch, Head of Climate Change Centre, Munich Re
  • Nassim Taleb
    "Owing to [...] misunderstanding of the causal chains between policy and actions, we can easily trigger Black Swans thanks to aggressive ignorance - like a child playing with a chemistry kit."
     
    Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan

MEDIA ADVISORY

For immediate release 

 

James Laurence Balsillie, Co-CEO if Research in Motion, confirmed to speak at the UNEP FI Global Roundtable  

 
Geneva, 7 March 2011 – James Laurence Balsille, the Co-CEO of Research in Motion, will be a keynote speaker at the UNEP FI Global Roundtable in Washington, DC. He will address the participants at the closing plenary, which will emphasize the key role of the private sector in the 
next economy ahead of the 2012 Rio+20 Summit. 
 
James Balsillie has held the position of Co-CEO of  Research In Motion (RIM), producer of the world renowned BlackBerry wireless handheld system, since 1992. He is the founder and chair of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a world-class global research institute focused on the restructuring of international governance. Mr. Balsillie is also the founder of the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) and founding chair of the Canadian International 
Council (CIC).
 
He is the only panel member representing the private sector in the UN High-level Panel of the UN Secretary-General on Global Sustainability (this panel was created by the UN Secretary General to formulate the way towards a sustainable future on a planet under increasing stress resulting from human activities). Mr. Balsillie graduated from the University of Toronto and the Harvard Graduate School of Business.
 
He is a Fellow of the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants and he holds numerous honourary doctorate degrees. 
 
James Balsillie is the first keynote speaker to confirm his presence at the UNEP FI Global Roundtable, which will take place on 19-20 October 2011 in Washington. The Global Roundtable is a high-profile event, serving as a key platform for the financial sector to engage with UNEP FI Signatories, partner organizations, government, and broader stakeholders.  
 
Bringing together around 600 industry leaders and policymakers just seven months ahead of the landmark United Nations Rio+20 Earth Summit, the Roundtable will deliver an inspiring, agendasetting programme. Building on previous successes in Cape Town, Melbourne, New York, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Frankfurt, the forthcoming UNEP FI Global Roundtable in Washington will be a perfect opportunity to set the plan for action on environmental, social and governance (ESG) 
issues for the financial services and investment sector.