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The issue
Climate change creates a complex global challenge for businesses due to expected regulatory risks and potential changes in the value chain from cross-industry impacts and changing customer behaviour.
The Gleneagles Dialogue shapes policy recommendations and ensures that business-specific concerns are reflected in future policy-making by feeding into the Global Dialogue process.
The World Economic Forum, in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), has been invited to convene a representative cohort of global businesses to participate in the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development. This is a multi-government, public-private policy dialogue on climate change and clean energy issues, the findings of which will be submitted to the G8 summit process in Japan in 2008.

The Opportunity
The Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change:

• Provides opportunities for private, off-the-record ministerial and senior official contact with energy and environment ministers from 20 of the world’s most influential countries in or around the Gleneagles Dialogue ministerial meetings and at World Economic Forum events
• Presents a forum to share ideas with an exclusive cross-industry group of leading companies about proactive thinking on climate change and future energy policy
• Offers a platform to influence and shape policy on a future international framework on energy and climate change
• Engages industry leaders to proactively lead the business response to the pressing issue of climate change

How does the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change work?
The process builds on the successful model used for the G8 Gleneagles CEO Roundtable. The Forum is convening a number of meetings to discuss key issues associated with the official working groups of the Gleneagles Dialogue and deliver the convened voice into the official process.
The official Dialogue process will involve business on two levels. First, a one-day ministerial meeting was held in Monterrey, Mexico, in October 2006 and will be hosted by Germany in 2007. Read Richard Samans comments in a BBC article.
Through the Forum, business was able to present its views to attending ministers. In addition, the World Economic Forum will use its Annual Meeting in Davos and its regional events in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, East Asia, India and China to advance the Gleneagles Dialogue.

Who else is involved?
The Gleneagles Dialogue process is limited to 50 select Forum members. It combines companies previously involved in the G8 Gleneagles CEO Roundtable on Climate Change with additional companies representing particular sectors or regions. As of August 2006, 21 companies are engaged in the Gleneagles Dialogue.

More on the Gleneagles Dialogue