Press release

WBA hosting press conference at Bonn Climate Change Conference

PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT 

Date/time: Tuesday June 4th from 10:30 – 11:00 in the Nairobi 4 Main Building – Entrance Level, Press Conf. Room  

Advancing just transition pathways: what is the role for the private sector?

The World Benchmarking Alliance’s press conference, taking place on Tuesday 4 June at 10:30 local time, will explore some of the outcomes from the first Just Transition Work Programme High Level Dialogue and integration of just transition in NDCs and LTS. 

  • The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA)’s research finds that while almost half of companies in high emitting sectors have green job creation strategies in place, less than 1% are effectively planning for a just transition, putting more than 11 million direct workers at risk globally.  
  • Part of the reason for these staggering numbers is the lack of clarity from governments on the role of the private sector in delivering a just transition to ensure workers, suppliers and local communities are not left behind in the transition to net-zero. Yet, governments do not need to reinvent the wheel.  
  • Good practices already exist and can be replicated elsewhere; both in terms of the reporting obligation of companies and the types of public private partnerships that can be put in place. Bringing the private sector to the table and clarifying its role in delivering just transition matters. This is not only to scale private finance but also to build jointly with the public sector pathways that respond to national socio-economic priorities. 
  • WBA’s international working group to track just transition progress links company, national and sectoral pathways to other initiatives such as the Just Transition Finance Lab. At this year’s SB60 colleagues will continue this dialogue to further the discussion and push for stronger public-private collaboration on just transition.   

Speakers:  

  • Moderator: Patrick Rondeau, Advisor on Climate and Just Transition, FTQ  
  • Joachim Roth, Climate Policy Lead, World Benchmarking Alliance 
  • Jodi-Ann Wang, Policy Analyst Sustainable Finance, LSE Grantham Research Institute 

Notes:  

If you would like to hear more about the work WBA and partners are doing on just transition and the critical role the private sector, please contact us: 

Joachim Roth – Climate Policy Lead: j.roth@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org  

Dara Karakolis – Climate Communications Lead d.karakolis@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org  

Media requests: Press@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org  

About the World Benchmarking Alliance   

Founded in 2018, the World Benchmarking Alliance is a non-profit organisation holding 2,000 of the world’s most influential companies accountable for their part in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.   

It does this by publishing free and publicly available benchmarks on their performance and showing what good corporate practice looks like.   

The benchmarks provide companies with a clear roadmap of what commitments and changes they must make in order to put our planet, society and economy on a more sustainable and resilient path.   

They also equip everyone – from governments and financial institutions to civil society organisations and individuals – with the insights that they need to collectively incentivise leading companies to keep going and pressure the laggards to catch up.    

Visit www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org and follow @SDGBenchmarks    

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