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Press

Press Release

For Immediate Release
September 9, 2006

Washington Summit Drives Movement Toward Climate Stabilization

Amidst growing evidence that the climate system may be veering dangerously close to irreversible and highly disruptive change, the Washington, DC-based Climate Institute is convening the Washington Summit on Climate Stabilization on September 18-21, 2006. The Summit will go well beyond quibbles about the Kyoto Protocol to looking toward actual stabilization of global atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, as California has recently done. The conference will bring together top scientific experts, leaders of companies and countries advancing clean energy transformation, and representatives of religious and campus groups that have begun to mobilize resources and members to take direct action to protect the climate.

A September 18th workshop on will kick off the four-day Summit by engaging members of environmental, religious, and university groups interested in effectively communicating evidence of potential climate change impacts to the public.

A Science Symposium on September 19th, chaired by Sir Crispin Tickell, Former British Ambassador to the United Nations and Chancellor of Kent University, will hear from the world’s leading experts on issues such as the likely changed intensity of hurricanes in a warmer world; the risk that warming may cause a release of greenhouse gases from the tundra or other sources, feeding further warming; changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet and sea ice in the polar regions; and the vulnerability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to disintegration. Experts will also address implications of rapid climate change for human health; forest fire in the Western U.S.; the polar bears’ prospects for survival; and regions or ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay, the U.S. Gulf Coast, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Iceland’s President, Dr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, will give the luncheon’s keynote address and describe his country’s effort to become the world’s first clean energy economy. President Grímsson will receive the Climate Institute’s Global Environmental Leadership Award, an honor previously conveyed to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and then Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres.

On September 20th, the Summit will discuss specific examples of corporate innovation that are making a difference and can serve as an example for others, and recognize the pioneering efforts of climate leaders, such as Goldman Sachs, Toyota Motor North America, Inc., and BP America Inc. The Climate Institute will also launch the International Leadership Alliance for Climate Stabilization, a coalition committed to pioneering climate protection strategies. The Alliance will involve collaboration among small island nations; several states and provinces in developing countries such as Mexico, India, and Pakistan; carbon offset groups in the U.S. and UK; colleges and religious organizations; and research institutes such as the Miami-based International Hurricane Research Center and the Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Unveiled that day will be a High-Altitude Climate and UV Observatory above 14,200 feet that SIMA, a Climate Institute partner, is building in Mexico. On September 21st, the Summit will conclude with a follow-on meeting with many of these groups to work with governments and private groups in island nations and developing countries that have prioritized climate protection.

Other invited policymakers include Ambassador John Ashton, the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change, U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and U.S. Representatives Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-NY), Chair of the House Committee on Science, and Bart Gordon (D-TN), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Science.

Climate Institute President John Topping stated:

“Despite some very troubling signs that climate change may be feeding on itself and carrying us into uncharted waters, there are some heartening signs that citizens and innovative firms may act, and governments may step up to the plate.”

The signs Topping cited, all to be discussed at the Summit, include:

• The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s June decision to ask each of its 2.3 million members to bear a “bold witness” by leading a carbon neutral lifestyle.

• Land Rover’s decision to build carbon offsets for the first 45,000 miles of use into the price of each model year 2007 Land Rover sold in the UK.

• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s June 2005 Executive Order seeking a reduction of greenhouse emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and the governor and legislature of the U.S.’s most populous state’s recent action to move California on the path to stabilization.

• The movement of such firms as Goldman Sachs, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart to use their financial clout and market power to promote clean energy and forest preservation.

• The growing willingness of oil and gas producers such as BP, Shell, and Chevron to become serious investors in alternative energy, and of utilities such as PG&E and Duke Energy to make carbon reduction an integral part of their business planning.

Press Contacts

Alexis Sloan Nussbaum / Lina Karaoglanova
(202) 547-0104
staff@washington_summit.climate.org