Photo credit: Sustainable Sport International, SandSI, Formula E racing competition with electric cars

Summit is by invitation only.

September 21st 2018
Scandinavia House NY
8:30AM – 1:00PM

Address: Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue (at the corner 38th St and Park Avenue), New York, NY 10016
The Summit takes place at Volvo Hall, second floor.

THE EVENT WAS SUCCESSFULLY HELD ON 21st SEPTEMBER 2018

 

Background:

Climate change is a defining issue of our time. In fact, it is an existential threat to our life and development. We are the first generation to be affected by climate change and the last generation to do something about it. There is no planet B. With current national emission targets set under the Paris Agreement, global warming is expected to exceed 3° C, much higher than the well below 2° C goal agreed in Paris in 2015, with catastrophic consequences to our common future. A large number of local authorities, private companies and civil society organizations are already active in developing solutions to supplement urgent and much-needed government action. Although these activities are promising, there is a serious risk that they will sum up to being too little and too late. Activities need to be strongly supported by citizens to reach the required scale and speed. Based on some recent studies, the choices of citizens have a critically important role to play in achieving at least half of the necessary emissions reductions. Consequently, citizens urgently need to be engaged as key drivers for this transformation – across countries and regions.

Sport has a unique power in attracting the attention of a large proportion of the world’s citizens, who participate in sport and/or are sport fans – and so in influencing their awareness, opinions and behaviors, even across traditional societal dividing lines. Climate change-related work is being carried out by some sport organizations. Although admirable it has been minimal, focused on minimizing environmental footprints of sport events rather than encouraging behavioral change of sport fans and largely uncoordinated across sports and countries. Accordingly, there is great and unleashed potential in utilizing the unique power of sport to boost the fight against climate change. That is not least the case in terms of systematically educating, motivating and supporting professional athletes to take prominent advocacy roles vis-à-vis their fans – across sports, countries and regions.

Our Sport and Climate Change Summit:

The Summit is being co-organized by Global Crisis Information Network (GCINET) and Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI). The event will be part of New York City Climate Week and takes place on the eve of the UN General Assembly general debate.

Some of the most prominent sports organizations in the world will be speaking at and attending our Sport and Climate Change Summit including Formula E, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, European Professional Club Rugby, and Major League Hockey, among others.

This is the second Climate Summit to be held at Scandinavia House. The first Summit, supported by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and focusing on promoting individual and consumer responsibility in mitigating catastrophic climate change, took place on 21 September 2017. It was opened by President Sauli Niinisto of Finland, with keynotes from Executive Secretary of UNFCCC Patricia Espinosa and Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas.

The organizers are working closely with the Secretariat of the UNFCC which is providing a speaker for opening remarks. We will be discussing and promoting some of UNFCCC’s key objectives like offsetting unavoidable carbon footprints through Bonn Secretariat’s Climate Neutral Now website, as some major sport organizations are already doing. We are also informing sport organizations and athletes about UNFCCC-sponsored Citizen Climate Pledge where you can calculate your carbon footprint and pledge to reduce your carbon footprint by 50 per cent in 10 years.

Agenda:

8.00 am – 8.30 am      Light Breakfast
8.30 am – 8.45 am      Welcome

• Tapio Kanninen, President of Global Crisis Information Network, GCINET
• Representative of UNFCCC
• Julia Palle, President of Sustainable Sport International, SandSI

8.45 am – 9.10 am      Opening keynote Address

• Amy Davidsen, Executive Director of The Climate Group, North America

9.15 am – 10.30 am   Panel: North American Sport Invests in Climate Mitigation and Promoting the SDGs in Africa

Moderator: Allen Hershkowitz, Chairman and Founding Director of SandSI

• Doug Behar, Senior Vice President, New York Yankees
• Michael Donhert, Senior Vice President, New York Mets
• Catherine Kummer, Senior Director, Green Innovation, NASCAR
• JoAnn Neale, Chief Administrative & Social Responsibility Officer, Major League Soccer
• Lauren Tracy, Director of Strategic Initiatives, US Tennis Association/US Open

10.30 am – 10.45 am Break

10.45 am – 12.00 pm Panel: How Sport Could Be Made Effective Influencing Fan Behavior

Moderator: Michael Pedersen, Founder “M INC – change the game”, Sport Lead of GCINET

• Robin Raj, Founder and CEO, The Citizen Group
• Jennifer Hershey, Senior Vice President of Operations of Jujamcyn Theaters and Founding Member of Broadway Green Alliance
• David Fenton, Fenton Communications

12.05 pm – 12.20 pm Keynote Address: The Last Hockey Game at the North Pole

• Viacheslav Fetisov, UN Environment Patron for Polar Regions, UNESCO Champion for Sport, former NHL player voted for International Ice Hockey Federation’s Centennial All-Star Team, Member of Russian State Duma and former Russian Minister of Sport

12.20 pm – 1.00 pm   Interview: Interactive Dialogue led by Robin Raj, Founder and CEO, The Citizen Group

• Mike Richter, Hall of Fame NHL Player and President of BrightCore Energy
• Viacheslav Fetisov, Hall of Fame NHL Player

1.00 pm – 1.15 pm      Call for Action: The Citizens Climate Action Pledge

• Julia Palle, President, SandSI

1.15 pm        Closing: Tapio Kanninen, President, GCINET

1.20 pm – 3.00 pm      Lunch buffet and networking

 

More information info@gcinet.org and
Julia Palle: julia@sandsi.org
Allen Herskowitz: allen@sandsi.org
Tapio Kanninen: tapio.kanninen@gmail.com
Tarja Silverman: tarjasilverman@gmail.com
Michael Pedersen: changethegame@minc.ch