Climate change, with a particular focus on limiting global temperature rise to less than 2 °C, would be under the spotlight at the first-ever Business & Climate Summit, to be held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation headquarters, in Paris, on May 20 and 21.

Two-hundred days before the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, the summit aimed to bring together 1 000 leading businesses, investors and policymakers to make the case that bold action on climate will ensure we secure economic growth.

Speaking in a conference call on Thursday, business coalition We Mean Business CEO Nigel Topping said the issue of climate change and carbon footprint pricing was central to the meetings of Finance Ministers all over the world. “Ministers talking to CEOs are a much-needed collaboration.”

He noted that the summit would encourage a widening group of businesses to step up and take bold climate action. “We want to highlight the success of companies that are already taking action while working with more business to take this further and faster.”

Further, Topping said the summit would be critical in shaping an ambitious climate agreement, achieving net zero emissions at COP21 later in the year. “The investment community can play a leading role in this process by redirecting traditional investment flows towards a low-carbon, prosperous economic future for all.”

The first day of the summit, which would focus on a ‘Vision of a Low Carbon Society: Business Solutions towards a Low Carbon Society’, provided a forum for business leaders to showcase action companies are already taking and call for ambitious policies that would allow business to scale up low-carbon solutions.

The second day, under the theme ‘Realising the Vision: Accelerating the Solutions Roll Out’ would look at what policies were required to create the prosperous, low-carbon economy of the future.

At the conclusion of the summit, a series of policy recommendations would be presented to policymakers to help galvanise more action and catalyse ambition leading up to COP21.

“These policies should send a clear signal to market, allow businesses to unleash innovations, to scale up low-carbon solutions, create jobs and grow economies,” Topping said.

“One thing that we are excited about [regarding] the summit is the reciprocal nature of policy ambition and business ambition. As we see national plans being announced in the coming months, we also see business starting to define a new normal in terms of their own ambitions.”

He cited deforestation, a main driver of climate change, as one of the areas where action was being taken. “Reforestation is becoming the new normal for food companies, such as Nestle and Unilever.

Further, renewable electricity procurement was becoming the new normal for technology companies, such as SAP, Apple and Google, as well as retailers such as Walmart and Ikea.

“Action on climate change makes economic sense,” he highlighted.

Also speaking in the conference call, International Chamber of Commerce secretary general John Danilovich said the chamber had a long history of promoting responsible business conduct and fostering collaborative relationships between the public and private sectors and, with its new Sustainable Development Charter, developed over the past year ,the chamber hoped to get involved with small- to medium-sized enterprises in developing markets.

“We want to make 2015 a new era of green and sustainable entrepreneurship, but to do so, we need the right partners, which takes us back to the summit.

“We see the [summit] as a key event as it establishes an important precedent; it lays down a marker. Bringing business leaders to Paris is about as clear a statement as you can get that private sector is fully committed to a successful outcome of COP21. But, more importantly, the summit has a role to play to [effect a response to climate change].”

“We think it’s vital that business has the opportunity to play a constructive role in forming the entire life-cycle of climate quality. We don’t want this to be just another talking shop,” he said.

The Climate Group CEO Mark Kenber added that the Business & Climate Summit would form the centrepiece of Climate Week Paris, coordinated by the Climate Group. “Through key events during the week, including the Business & Climate Summit, the Climate Group and its partners are bringing the world’s leading companies and policymakers together to show low carbon makes good business sense – and a strong global deal means a smart economy.”

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres noted in the conference call that the “science is clear – global emissions need to swiftly peak as a prelude to a deep decarbonisation of the global economy by the second half of the century. Many businesses know this and are planning for that future; it is time for the rest to come on board.”

The Business & Climate Summit was initiated following the UN Secretary General’s call for the private sector to take a more active role in the world decarbonisation process at the UN Climate Summit in New York last year.

As a midway point between that meeting in New York and COP 21 later this year in Paris, the Business Climate Summit marks a key moment for the business voice on climate to be raised and heard by policymakers.