ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY COMMISSION
The Commission contributes to international climate policymaking and the international debate on the development of coherent policy frameworks, solutions and tools to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Making Climate Action Everyone’s Business
Key dates 2024
26 Feb -1 March
6th Session of the United Nations
Environment Assembly (UNEA 6)
Nairobi, Kenya
21-30 April
Ottawa, Canada
4th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee Meeting (INC4) on plastic pollution
3-13 June
Bonn, Germany
UNFCCC Intersessional Meetings
13-15 June
Puglia, Italy
G7 Summit 2024
10-24 September
New York, USA
UN General Assembly
22-23 September
New York, USA
Summit of the Future
21 Oct –1 Nov
COP16 Convention on Biological Diversity
Colombia (TBC)
11- 22 November
Baku, Azerbaijan
COP29
18-19 November
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
G20 Summit 2024
25 Nov – 1 Dec
5th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee Meeting (INC5) on plastic pollution
Busan, Republic of Korea
ICC at COP28:
the voice of the real economy
ICC – as the voice of the real economy in the UN climate process -- engaged prominently on the high-stake issues for business at COP28 in Dubai, in particular: an ambitious response to the first Global Stocktake, fulfilment of the annual US$100 billion climate finance promise for developing countries and setting the basis for a more ambitious post-2025 collective climate finance goal , as well as the successful operationalisation of Article 6 of the Paris agreement on international carbon markets.
ICC issued this statement upon conclusion of COP28 on 13 December 2023. Please also refer to the summary of key negotiating outcomes and achievements.
An online event to discuss and assess results from Dubai together with lead negotiators and business leaders will take place in early 2024 and more information will be shared in due course.
ICC presence at COP28
For the second time, we hosted a central business pavilion in the COP28 Blue-zone. This year, ICC had a 600m2 footprint, the ICC’s largest presence to date. The space consisted of three venues in the COP28 Blue Zone:
Chez ICC, a dedicated space for networking, business briefings and events from ICC, our National Committees, and partners.
The Trade House – a collaboration between ICC, the International Trade Center, the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the World Trade Organisation – to highlight the role that trade can play in advancing climate action.
The ICC Partner Stage, a dedicated pavilion enabling members of the UNFCCC Business and Industry NGOs Constituency to share their expertise.
These spaces served as hubs for critical knowledge sharing, networking and coordination among private sector representatives, and also helped to bridge the gap with other stakeholders in governments and international organizations, creating new pathways for public-private partnerships.
Once again, we also hosted the ICC virtual conference "Make Climate Action Everyone’s Business Forum", featuring livestreams of pavilion events and external events from global partners. Now in its third year, the Forum has reached thousands of participants in more than 160 countries, providing a platform for more than 200 organizations’ sessions.
Trade Day Collaboration
For the first time, trade was included in the official COP programming with the first-ever Trade Day coinciding with Finance Day on 4 December, marking a significant moment when the trade community and climate policy ecosystem converge. Sustainable development is at the heart of the multilateral trading system and trade emerges as a key player to unlock climate-smart growth. In addition to our collaboration for the Trade House, ICC also had the privilege of shaping the Trade Day programming together with the UAE Presidency, WTO, UNCTAD and ITC, and hosted two high-level events on sustainable trade finance and MSME climate action. ICC Secretary General, John Denton, participated in the Trade Day opening session.
Recent publications
Principles and proposals for effective carbon pricing
4 December 2023
Since 2021, ICC has drawn on the experience of its global members to develop core principles and guidance for the effective design of carbon pricing instruments. In this third report, building on our past work, ICC provides guidance to governments and policymakers to address carbon leakage, promote linkage for greater international cooperation and make carbon pricing systems more efficient.
Path for Growth: Making Sustainability Reporting work for SMEs
23 November 2023
A pioneering report aimed at ensuring that environmental reporting ultimately helps empower SMEs towards ever more ambitious climate and environmental action.
ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade
4 December 2023
ICC has published its ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade: Wave 2, which provides a frame to assess both the environmental sustainability of a transaction, and how it supports socio-economically sustainable development. It is designed to support business in meeting both the Paris Agreement objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
How competition policy acts as a barrier to climate action
27 November 2023
In 2022, ICC called on governments, legislators and competition authorities to maximise efforts in aligning competition policies with global sustainability goals. While barriers to business collaboration in the fight against climate change persist in 2023, the tide is slowly turning. A new ICC progress report presents a snapshot of key developments in the antitrust competition space and concludes: more can and needs to be done.
Making Action on Biodiversity Everyone’s Business
The aims of the ICC Working Group on Biodiversity are to raise awareness of the importance of the biodiversity agenda across the business community and support all companies towards improving their biodiversity impact.
Having initially monitored and provided input to the COP15 process through submissions and exchanges with negotiators; in 2023 the working group has since been helping members to better understand the quickly evolving biodiversity landscape by sharing information and organizing sessions with initiatives like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
We also provided input to the Business for Nature Guidance on Target 15, as well as supported the It’s Now for Nature campaign.
Combating Plastic Pollution
ICC continued to engage in the UN process to develop an ambitious and effective legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution by 2024. Under the auspices of the dedicated working group, ICC provided input on potential elements towards an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, as well as an ICC response to the initial options paper released in advance of the second session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee meeting (INC-2) held in Paris on 29 May – 2 June.
On this occasion, ICC hosted a breakfast roundtable with representatives from UNEP, government and high-level business executives of leading businesses across the value chain of plastics. ICC subsequently provided input to the call for submissions on scope and intersessional work.
ICC also participated in the third Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting (INC-3) held in Nairobi from 11-19 November and developed an ICC response to the zero draft of the treaty released in advance of INC-3. We reiterated the need for a workable and effective legally binding instrument with global rules that would help guide and enable businesses to become positive actors in transitioning to a circular economy for plastics, emphasizing the need to take into account the special circumstances of SMEs.
