Media release                                                                                                17 July 2008

Gordon Brown to address major Australasian Climate Change conference          

British Prime Minister Gordon has agreed to participate via a video address in a major trans-Tasman climate change business conference to be held in Auckland next month.

Both Helen Clark and Kevin Rudd have been invited and it is hoped will also feature in a Leaders’ Forum. Other key participants include New Zealand’s Climate Change Minister, Hon David Parker and senior officials from the Australian Federal government. Hon Bill English, Deputy Leader of the New Zealand National Party, is a confirmed participant.

The landmark function, which has become the major event of its kind in the southern Hemisphere, will this year be held at Auckland’s SKY CITY Convention Centre, from the 18-20 August, 2008.

The three day event features keynote speeches by a huge range of industry leaders and offers practical workshops on pertinent subjects like carbon trading, the clean development mechanism and green marketing. 

Conference organizer Elizabeth Edmonds says that the reaction from both governments and the business community has been incredible. “We have had a fantastic response from our political leaders on both sides of the Tasman, and are thrilled that Gordon Brown will be contributing his views, even though he can’t be here in person,” she said.

“We knew that this issue was growing in priority for Australasian businesses, but with an Emissions Trading Scheme in New Zealand, and one imminent in Australia, the level of interest has ratcheted up a notch compared to last year. We will be exploring the opportunities for both schemes to link and create a bigger carbon trading market as recommended in the recent Garnaut Report”

The conference is aimed at bringing businesses from the region together to learn more about the issues raised by global warming, and finding ways they can respond to both the business risks and the burgeoning new opportunities.  Over 80 speakers from Australia, New Zealand, the EU, the US and the UK are invited to provide a broad base of expertise, experience and viewpoints. A Clean Technology Symposium will showcase emerging technologies to achieve energy efficiency and emissions reductions.

The conference represents a unique opportunity for an interchange of ideas between New Zealand and Australian business leaders and policy makers. This year’s event is expected to be well attended and is viewed as the pre-eminent conference on climate change for business in this region. 

The conference is a not-for-profit event run by a consortium of 14 business and non-government entities in 5 countries.

 
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