by jbs101209 c3 — October 12, 2009—For one week in late October, Cape Town, South Africa will reportedly become one of the greenest business cities on earth as the City of Cape Town joins with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and a range of partner organizations for a city-wide Green Week.
Hundreds of financiers, investors, business leaders and built environment and property professionals from around the world and across Africa, joined by green groups, will gather at the Convention Centre October 19-23, 2009 for a week-long series of events exploring how a green approach to business can create jobs, protect the environment, and build better, fairer communities with towns and cities that work.
Cape Town’s Green Week will occur just six weeks ahead of a crucial United Nations Climate Change summit in Denmark, when the governments of the world will attempt to negotiate a new agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Cape Town Green Week will enable African finance, business, civil society and green groups to send a strong message, calling for action, to the historic U.N. gathering in Copenhagen.
Highlights of the week include:
- UNEP’s Financial Initiative (FI) will bring its Global Roundtable to Africa for the first time. Five hundred financial executives will gather at CTICC October 22-23 to explore the theme of “Financing change, Changing finance.” UNEP FI will also hold a series of training events.
- Africa Investor (Ai), a media and investment advisory group, will partner with UNEP FI to hold a Pan African CEO business meeting at CTICC on October 21 to debate green business issues and to fine-tune an African business message for the U.N. Copenhagen Climate Change
Conference. Ai will also join UNEP FI to present its 2009 African Business Awards.
- The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) will convene its Annual Convention and Exhibition October 21-23 at CTICC to cover the latest ground on the green revolution taking place in property, city design, and responsible real estate investment. The GBCSA will also launch its pilot Green Star SA Rating Tool for Retail Centres, following the successful launch of the tool for commercial office buildings last year.
- The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), in partnership with the National Business Initiative, will unveil information from South Africa’s largest companies on their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies. A CDP report detailing the climate change actions of businesses in the JSE 100 will be released during Green Week at the CTICC.
In addition to these core events, the following initiatives will be launched:
- The City of Cape Town will launch its Green Building Guidelines.
- The Cape Town Partnership will launch its Green City Programme, focusing on sustainable development in the Cape Town Central City.
- Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) will be announcing their “Nurture Our World,” which is a symbol of the CTICC’s dedication to becoming a leading environmentally sustainable convention center.
