Climate change

Opportunities to further enhance the effective engagement of non-Party stakeholders

  • 12 February 2018

ICC Commission on Environment and Energy submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) 48.

The International Chamber of Commerce believes that open and inclusive involvement of representative business and industry organisations that have been accredited to UNFCCC or UN ECOSOC will be indispensable to implementation and improvement of the entire UNFCCC framework, including the Paris Agreement. This private sector participation is not only an invaluable resource to governments and the Secretariat, but also vital to animating the action, deployment of resources and the sharing of expertise that meeting the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement objectives, now and in the future, require. In the run-up to 2020, we recommend beginning to explore how institutional infrastructure can reflect and include private sector expertise and thereby strengthen implementation.

To catalyse implementation and access greater business input, the SBI should begin by establishing a business advisory body through the UNFCCC Focal Point for business and industry. Eventually, the UNFCCC should consider and evolve to accommodate a recognised institutional interface for business to enhance climate action, provide private sector technical capability and expertise, and invite responsible private sector recommendations and views.