The Climate Week NYC Opening Ceremony brings together business and government leaders to showcase amazing climate action and find ways to do more. The Climate Group will broadcast the Climate Week NYC Opening Ceremony through both an interactive online digital platform for sector leaders and on an open on-demand platform for public viewers.
Virtual
Hub Live – Climate Week NYC
The Hub Live is the first fully digital Hub event program at Climate Week NYC 2020. Taking place online on September 22 – 24, leaders and practitioners are invited to come together and tackle key challenges in climate and environmental leadership within this energized forum and networking space. Now in its third year, The Hub Live will feature a series of events, discussions and workshops that bring together the expertise, influence and ambition of business and government leadership. Here, those with the power and opportunity to build a better future can meet, collaborate, negotiate and inspire each other. The Hub Live is an invite-only event.
To apply to attend, you should fulfill one of the following requirements:
- An executive or senior decision maker, from a leading and influential business committed to climate action,
- A senior level government representative (national, state, regional or city) focused on ambitious climate action and impactful climate policy,
- A senior actor representing a multi-lateral organization, non-governmental organization, academia or public engagement institution with significant impact and influence,
- All attendees must be senior decision makers with a significant opportunity to demonstrate and influence ambitious climate action.
COVID-19 and Building Back Responsibly
The impact of Covid-19 has been unprecedented, not just in the tragic impact on lives, or the disproportional impact it has had on the most disadvantaged communities, but also in terms of what we have seen can be achieved. As lockdown restrictions ease and we all negotiate living in a ‘new normal’ we must not lose the opportunity to understand what factors made change happen at a pace previously unimaginable, and apply this to address the underlying inequalities and climate challenges that existed before Covid-19 that it has so dramatically highlighted. To drive this, Business in the Community has spent the last month in conversation with over 100 business leaders and a further 500 practitioners and partners to understand what Covid-19 has taught us about how we could turn ambitions into action. Now is our moment to not simply slip back to a new normal, seeing the last few months as a series of heroic acts, but instead to seize the opportunity to accelerate action. Join us to hear and share your thoughts with a diverse panel of business game changers on their experiences and reflections, and how they plan to take these actions forward in their businesses to Build Back Responsibly.
Responsible Innovation Framework
This webinar marks the launch of Business in the Community’s Responsible Innovation methodology, including a panel of expert innovators. Every company is innovating daily just to stay ahead, and even more so as we look to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. But to what extent are the impacts of these innovations on our communities and environment considered? This year has seen Business in the Community develop and pilot a new approach to responsible innovation, which enables innovators to identify and mitigate unintended consequences and capitalize on opportunities to support our communities, protect our environment and meet the Global Goals. Responsible innovation has been shown to reduce risk and bring cost reductions, improved brand value, increased resilience, enhanced employee, customer and supplier relationships, and ultimately, more innovation. By joining this webinar, you will receive the tools needed to put the Responsible Innovation Framework into practice within your businesses. There will also be opportunities to collaborate and innovate responsibly together.
For more information, contact Elena Perez, Events Manager at BITC, [email protected].
Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data’s Fifth Anniversary Town Hall
Our fifth anniversary is coming up and we’re getting ready to celebrate. On September 25, we’re hosting a virtual gathering to launch the publication of our five-year report, to reflect on progress since our founding in 2015, and most importantly, to hear from you. We want to hear about your favorite data memories, some of the biggest challenges you’ve worked through, the biggest difference in SDG data that you see now versus five years ago, and we want your input on what the next five years should look like.
Have something to share? Send us an email, tweet it with #Data4SDGsAt5, and/or come to the townhall. We’ll see you online.
Global Blockchain Business Council’s Blockchain Central UNGA
The Global Blockchain Business Council’s (GBBC) Blockchain Central UNGA will bring together leading voices in technology, policy, and business to discuss the role of technology and community in accelerating progress toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This year’s Blockchain Central UNGA will be entirely virtual, open to the public, and live-streamed, allowing stakeholders and citizens across the globe to tune into thought provoking discussions, fireside chats, and presentations on the issues our global community is tackling to create a more secure, equitable, and functional societies for all.
Keynote Speakers:
Akon, Grammy-nominated Artist, Producer, Tech Entrepreneur
Megan Roberts, Deputy Director of Policy Planning, UN Foundation
Superintendent Linda Lacewell, NYS Department of Financial Services
David Treat, GBBC Board Chair; Senior Managing Director & Head of Accenture’s Blockchain Business
Leanne Kemp, Founder & CEO, Everledger; Chief Entrepreneur, Queensland, Australia
Charles Sims, Head of Technology, LA Clippers
Nature for Life Hub: Part 1
To coincide with the 75th UN General Assembly, UNDP and partners are creating a four-day “Nature for Life Hub”- a virtual space where global leaders will share stories on the importance of nature for sustainable development. Leaders participating in the ‘Nature for Life Hub’ will invite a virtual audience to engage in lively, thought-provoking exchanges, and will engage a wide variety of sectors, including governments, businesses, financial institutions, youth and local communities. All events will showcase nature-based solutions in policy, in practice, in communities, in art – but most of all, in action.
Sept 24, DAY 1 – SDG DAY: Celebrating the value of nature in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sept 25, DAY 2 – BUSINESS AND FINANCE DAY – Greening our wallet in development, finance and business.
Each day will culminate in key messages to be issued by the coalition of partners to be fed into the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework negotiation process, CBD COP 15 and Climate COP 26 negotiation processes.
Business Fights Poverty NYC Online 2020
Join us for a week of inspiring and engaging content, live events, peer networking, and community-led learning to drive connections, conversations, and collaboration around how we rebuild better after the pandemic. The event will explore how business and its partners can help create an equitable and resilient future, and each day we will deep-dive into a specific theme:
- Imagining the Future We Want (Monday);
- Creating an Equitable World (Tuesday);
- Helping People Survive and Thrive (Wednesday);
- Building Resilient Livelihoods (Thursday);
- Shaping System-Level Partnerships (Friday).
The event is co-hosted with AB InBev and Visa, and a range of supporting partners, including Anglo American, Mars, Nestlé, and Standard Chartered. Content partners include Harvard Kennedy School Corporate Responsibility Initiative, the UN Office for Partnerships, WBCSD, Business in the Community, The Partnering Initiative, and the League of Intrapreneurs.
Roundtable: Driving leadership action to Build Back Responsibly
With COVID-19 impacting the world over, the 75th United Nations General Assembly Week (UNGA) will be a key moment in the 2020 calendar for the world to focus on social and environmental challenges and accelerate collaborations to meet the Global Goals.
This roundtable is part of a series of virtual events, which Business in the Community (BITC) is running to elevate the conversation and drive action on how business can Build Back Responsibly.
Over the last month, we have been in conversation with over 100 business leaders and a further 500 practitioners and partners, to understand what Covid-19 has taught us about how we could turn ambitions into action. Now is our moment to not simply slip back to a new normal, seeing the last few months as a series of heroic acts, but instead to seize the opportunity to accelerate action. So to coincide with this year’s United Nations General Assembly week, we will be bringing together influential business leaders across our network to create faster, bolder, bigger action.
This event is by invite only. For more information, contact Elena Perez, BITC’s Events Manager, at [email protected]
Reimagining Tourism in Post-pandemic Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
The tourism sector accounts for more than 30 percent of total exports in many SIDS. As a result of the lockdowns and travel restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international tourism is plummeting. UNWTO estimates that international arrivals in SIDS globally dropped 47 percent from January to April, in the month of April arrivals dropped by 97 percent. This shock is having major direct and indirect impacts for livelihoods in SIDS, impacting on foreign exchange earnings, employment and wages and tax revenues furthermore many MSMEs rely heavily on revenue from tourism. As an important source of employment, the sharp decline in tourism in SIDS is increasing precarity, putting especially informal workers at risk many of whom are women.
This interactive discussion will focus on building forward tourism in SIDS better, greener and bluer. It will bring together key experts to discuss how SIDS can advance the environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability of their tourism sectors promoting the industry as a driver towards realizing ambitions of the SAMOA Pathway and the Decade of Action post COVID-19.
Peace One Day Live Global Digital Experience
Join the Peace One Day Live Global Digital Experience on the UN International Day of Peace on September 21 2020. This ground breaking virtual event, produced by Jeremy Gilley and Jude Law, will be broadcast live to every continent in the world, connecting the most incredible international speakers, actors and musicians for a full day of online digital experience and to raise awareness of Peace Day, and ultimately spread the message of peace and non-violence throughout the world. What’s more, is that it’s absolutely free to register for this incredible digital experience.
Making Global Goals Local Business: Getting Started
Our Getting Started webinar is aimed specifically at businesses that are trying to develop a better understanding of the SDGs, and how they relate to their work.
This 1-hour webinar will discuss what the SDGs are, demonstrate why business should be engaged, and present practical guidance on how to get involved. The second half of the webinar will take the form of a Q&A session and open discussion.
“We the Peoples” – Reimagining global governance on the eve of the UN’s 75th anniversary
The 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN) is not only an occasion for celebration of its achievements, particularly in enshrining human rights norms, but also an opportunity for civil society reflection on how the UN should change to better serve a world that is very different from that of 1945. This event will focus on thinking more boldly, assessing prospects for change and responding to the challenges involved in building a more open, inclusive and democratic UN through a 90-minute live debate with audience participation. The event will have English, French and Spanish translation.
During the course of the event, participants will engage with critical perspectives on the concrete actions needed to strengthen the ability of the UN to advance human rights and social justice through its engagement of civil society and people’s movements and the promotion of civic freedoms.
3rd Annual Peace of Mind Conference: Family Wellness Virtual Event To Promote Stigma Reduction
Access California Services’ annual Peace of Mind conference serves as a culturally and linguistically sensitive platform to help reduce stigma regarding mental illness and promote access to mental health resources to local, underserved, immigrant, and refugee, Southern California residents. The 2020 Peace of Mind conference will convene virtually over two days, on September 27th and October 4th, 2020, from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. PST. Prominent speakers will share their insights on health and emotional well-being. Event details will be shared on registration. We look forward to having you join us!
3rd Annual Peace of Mind Conference: Family Wellness Virtual Event To Promote Stigma Reduction
Access California Services’ annual Peace of Mind conference serves as a culturally and linguistically sensitive platform to help reduce stigma regarding mental illness and promote access to mental health resources to local, underserved, immigrant, and refugee, Southern California residents. The 2020 Peace of Mind conference will convene virtually over two days, on September 27th and October 4th, 2020, from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. PST. Prominent speakers will share their insights on health and emotional well-being. Event details will be shared on registration. We look forward to having you join us!
Private Sector Forum
Since 2008, the UN Secretary-General’s annual Private Sector Forum has gathered global leaders at the United Nations on the first day of the UN General Assembly week to address major global issues such as climate change, sustainable development and human rights. This year we will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, the International Day of Peace and deliver a Call to Action for business leaders to support the mission of the United Nations. The Private Sector Forum will provide a platform for CEOs, Governments leaders and UN agency heads to engage in a high-level dialogue; allowing a global private sector and multi stakeholder audience to engage first-hand in the debate and discussions. Themes for discussion will include multilateralism, peace and justice, human and labour rights.
Global Impact Forum
Recognizing that global challenges often require local solutions, the inaugural Global Impact Forum will showcase four key initiatives to mobilize corporate action on the Global Goals: SDG Ambition, Young SDG Innovators, Target Gender Equality and Business Ambition for 1.5°C. As a new suite of engagement opportunities, Global Impact Initiatives are designed to mainstream sustainable business practices and scale solutions from the ground up through the efforts of Global Compact Local Networks around the world. The Forum will zoom in on what it takes to implement these initiatives at regional, national and organizational levels. You will hear from governments on their advancements through multi-stakeholder partnerships, from UN and civil society leaders on their vision to scale collective impact, and from business – from executive level to young leaders – on how their actions are leading to meaningful progress towards the achievement of the SDGs.
FEMROOT Africa: The Importance of Females in Science, Tech, and Innovation in the African Context
This roundtable discussion will highlight the importance of science, technology and innovation (STI) in an African context, indicating how these are the driving forces in the economic growth of especially in developing nations. This discussion will also point out the need for women to be a part of this conversation, as it will be facilitated by women in engineering, thus indicating the importance of diverse team in the tech industry. All these discussion points will be dwelling on SDGs 4 and 5 (Access to Quality Education and Gender Equality), which ultimately feed into the achievement SDGs 1, 2, 8, 9 (No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Decent Work & Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure).
Localizing Change – Think Global, Act Local
We have heard the phrase “Think Global, Act Local,” as a catch-all phrase for grassroots impact, but what does it truly mean in action? We have seen bold actions recently of human compassion, local communities protecting refugees, food and farm activists transforming urban farming, advancing local alternatives to clean energy and water, and local movements driving global change. How can we adopt this mindset into our work as young leaders to transform the world and achieve the SDGs by 2030?
Quiz Night (Day): Youth and the Global Goals
Join the UNITE 2030 Youth Delegate Social Media Team for a fun, spin-the-wheel style game all around Youth and the Global Goals.