The Majuro Declaration: Cramer Calls for Business Leadership on Climate Change

Authors

• Edward Cameron

  Former Managing Director, BSR

Edward Cameron, Director, Partnership Development and Research, BSR

On September 2, BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer delivered a video address to climate experts and world leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum to discuss the need for leadership in the face of dangerous climate change. The forum brought together the Pacific Island states, Australia, and New Zealand, and high-level delegations from other Pacific Rim countries, including Canada, China, India, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States, as well as a delegation from the European Union. Together, these countries account for 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Cramer joined leading climate voices, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, E.U. Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to call for a new wave of climate leadership. Cramer’s presentation emphasized the key role of business in catalyzing a transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. He highlighted the ways in which business can reduce the greenhouse gases that drive climate change and strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities to inevitable climate impacts. Opportunities for business include acting through supply chains and financial investments, serving as examples within industry peer groups, and actively supporting and shaping a policy environment for low-carbon development.

The panel's input built support for the signature outcome of the forum, the Majuro Declaration for Climate Leadership, which calls for active leadership by all—not just governments, but business as well. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the United States' support for the Majuro Declaration and funding for vulnerable Pacific islands, under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now building multistakeholder support for the declaration in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The Majuro Declaration will be presented to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to build momentum toward his climate leadership summit, scheduled for 2014.

For our part, BSR is constructing a substantial body of work around the theme of “Business in a Climate-Constrained World,” which aims to hold global mean temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. We look forward to driving climate leadership with our member companies and other partners, building on the progress made in Majuro last week.