we've been so slow off the
mark here?
>> Because we prefer comfort
than
challenge in truth.
And a lot of it
is to do with the same in
our private
lives let's not be too
hypocritical
but it's easier to say it
doesn't matter it's happening
anyway but to
look at the consequences of
what's happening is the adult
thing to do and that's what
we have to do now.
>> And you look at these
beautiful animals and then
hear that we have
lost half, more than half of
all the
actual animals, not the
species but
the actual animals just in
the last
30-40 years.
>> Yeah.
Because we
got very, very sophisticated
ways of
killing them.
>> And we are in
danger of losing half the
species.
In
this century.
Multiple studies have
shown us this.
So I'm going to come
back to you but speaking of
global politics we have a
prime minister here.
>> You're not going to put it
all on me, are you?
>> Yeah.
I
said I'm a big fan of your
work, prime
minister and I've said that
publicly
and I think you really
represent a
breath of fresh air in world
politics
but I know that in leading
your
country you're interested in
improving
the inner generational
well-being of
New Zealanders and build an
international reputation for
New
Zealand and how do those
challenges
inform your approach to the
climate
crisis.
>> I think you can probably
put them this the same
basket.
What greater threat is there
than the
threat of climate change.
We have a
term in New Zealand that's
unique to
New Zealand because it's a
phrase from
indigenous New Zealand.
That means
guardianship.
Specifically
guardianship of our
environment.
The
way I'd like to think about
us and
politics taking on the
challenge of
climate change is that we
have a
short-term, a three year
term.
That's
our political cycle, in
which I see
the challenge is to embed in
that
period of time, as deeply as
we can the infrastructure for
long-term
change.
One of the biggest threats I
think that we have and you
talked about why we're not
making enough
progress, political cycles.
This
needs to be something that
we embed in
our national psyches, in our
political
psyches and in our action.
And it
needs to endure us beyond
individuals.
So if we can do anything,
we will be
creating legislation which
embeds
those targets, that ambition
that we
need and then right through
to the
basic pragmatic things like
planting a
billion trees over ten
years, creating
investment funds, doing each
of the
things that will set us on a
long-term path for
guardianship because that's
what we all have to take the
responsibility for.
>> I've been so
happy at the proposals
you've made
since you took office.
It puts to
mind a saying from an
American
humorist in the 19th
century, Mark
Twain who said do the right
thing,
you'll gratify your friends
and
astonish your enemies.
>> And in
politics you'll surprise
everyone but
ultimately I think civic
society has
done an incredible job.
Young people
have been the leaders that
we need.
Now everyone is looking to
us.
And
so, we've got the rule book,
we know
what's required.
It's about a matter
of getting on and doing it
and turning
what has been seen as a
threat with a
great deal of pessimism and
fear into an opportunity.
It might be jarring
if we do it quickly or if we
take a longer trek it can be
something we can prepare our
people for.
I think it's the only
option.
>> Yeah.
You still have some
resistance, don't you.
>> Yes.
>> How do you deal with
that?
I mean, I'm asking for very
practical reasons, there are
policymakers here who are
sometimes
really put on their back
foot by the
fierceness of the resistance
to even
recognize the reality of the
climate
crisis.
>> There's good cause to be
optimistic though.
Ten years ago I
remember speaking
passionately about
the issue of climate change
and being
roundly booed.
Including I think by
members of my own family.
But even in
that ten year period how
dramatic the shift has been.
No longer do you have
the significant questioning
of the
science that we even had
perhaps in that period of
time so how do we move
in the face of resistance?
We don't do it alone.
We build a movement with us
and I want to acknowledge the
work of Sue David, a voice of
authority, trust and respect
and to all those leaders who
use the platform that they
have.
It creates the space for us
as politicians to do the
right thing.
>> Yeah.
Yeah.
So the business
community has an extremely
important
role and unlike New Zealand
some
countries have a challenging
period
for leadership these days.
And
they're actually in many
countries
where democracy's not
working the way
many of us think it should
and the
business community is
stepping up.
And providing leadership.
Not all,
but Annan certainly is and I
was going
to ask you at the end for a
pledge or
a commitment but I know that
just,
just recently you did that.
So tell
us what you've just
announced as -- an
active leadership in the
group.
>> Thank you vice president.
When you're asked to be the
only businessman on a
panel about environment it
sort of
fills you with a little bit
of trepidation you wonder
whether you're
going to be the fall guy or
the dart
board or anything but
knowing you were
moderating this you were I
was willing
because you've been a
supporter of
ours.
I've delighted to share with
you who are not at the
global climate action summit
in California in
September that I did make a
pledge on
behalf of all 220,000
colleagues of
mine in our group.
It's not the
largest group in India or in
the
world.
It is a sizable group.
It's 20 billion dollars with
a hundred
companies but I did commit
that the
entire group in all its
companies would
be carbon neutral ten years
before the
Paris agreement dead line by
2040.
>> That's great.
That's fantastic.
>> (Applause).
>> That's
fantastic.
And if more business CEOs
and leaders would follow
your example
that would really accelerate
the
progress.
We're seeing a lot of
change in India, aren't we?
>>
Absolutely, and what I think
we're
seeing is that India unlike
many other
countries, including many in
the west,
vice president, is not
dialling down
on its ambitions.
In fact, three
climate groups had created a
climate tracker report and
they have announced
and stated that out of 32
country survey they've done
only 7 are still
on track to meet their Paris
agreement
commitments and India is one
of them and I'm very proud to
state that here
today.
So India's not backing off.
As far as the business
community's
concerned, I believe that
India's also
in the forefront of having a
business
community that unegively
recognizes
that this is not a problem
we're
solving on our own, not a
nice thing
to do not something you
check on your
CSR box.
So any country that dials
down, thank you very much,
we'll pick
up the opportunities if you
don't want
them.
>> Yeah.
That's such a great
point to make.
In my country, in the
United States, the fastest
growing job
is solar installer and it's
growing
nine times faster than the
average job
growth in the country.
Second fastest
growing job is wind turbine
technician.
The opportunities for
tens of millions of jobs not
only in
the U.S.
but all around the world for
retrofitting buildings, you
know
roughly a quarter of the
global
warming pollution can be
traced to
highly inefficient buildings
that
waste heat in the winter and
cool in the summer.
And you can create jobs in
every
community.
They can't be outsourced.
They are in the community.
At a time
when we got the warning on
Monday here
that the risks of a downturn
have
increased.
Now is the time for an
increase in secular demand
and moving
quickly make all the sense
in the world and young people
are calling for
it and I want to turn to
you, Akira,
because you represent a new
generation
of purpose driven leaders
and people
involved in business.
What are you
doing to help mobilize other
young
people.
In Japan and elsewhere.
>>
Definitely, thank you very
much.
Actually I have -- watching
this
series, that just makes me
so
emotional in a way.
But please don't
take everyone that the youth
generation, the young
generation is
too emotional.
We, yeah, as is just
mentioned.
We are just purpose driven
and we know what is right and
wrong to
us.
And we are just stating
that,
like, we as a community of
course as a global community
but at the same time
that the community that we
work in
everyday in the very real
basis or
very local basis that we are
already doing so much and we
can see how much
we can already achieve as a
local
basis.
So that's why I'm here after
this to also present the
pledge from
the young generations for
everyone to
get on board.
Yeah.
And this is
really, like welcoming and
the opening
opportunity for everyone to
take their
own voices in.
Because for our young
generation you just seen in
the video
as well, in David's video
for us,
young generation, taking
action for
climate change or
sustainability or
biodiversity, whatever you
call it, is
just as important as just
breathing.
It is so natural and normal
for us.
>> Well thank you very much.
I have
been so impressed and so
moved by your
generation.
Expressing in such a
passionate way the reasons
why we have
to do more.
And Sir David you must
feel some times where you
have deep
emotions coming from
observing the
beauty that you chronicle in
your work
and realizing the fragility
and the
threat to it.
Over the years, you
personally have changed,
haven't you,
in highlighting the threat
to the
natural environment.
Isn't that
correct?
>> Yes, I think so.
In the 1950s I wasn't alone.
I think
most naturalists were aware
that we
could damage the environment
and that
we, a species, might become
extinct
and we could do something to
stop
that.
And so we were very proud of
the fact that we saw the
Arabian ORIX
extinct in the world but
could see
there were individuals in
zoos around
the world and we could get
them
together and reconstitute a
breeding
herd and spruce them and of
course we
did.
But that was a simple
problem
with   a simple solution.
We didn't
even then dawn on us that
what we were wrecking were
not individual species
but ecosystems that was the
catastrophe and that we
still haven't cracked and
solved that problem.
>>
Yeah.
I focus mainly on the
climate
crisis I think it's by far
the most
serious problem that we
face.
But in
truth, it is the most
serious manifestation of an
underlying
collision between human
civilization
as we have presently
organized it and
the ecological system of our
planet.
We're losing forests at a
rate of one
football field per second.
We're
seeing the acidification of
the
oceans.
We're seeing the loss of
wetlands, the loss of living
species
as we mentioned before.
And that's
not something that can be
easily
undone.
I find myself, that there is
a risk of people moving
straight from
denial to despair without
pausing on
the medium step of actually
solving
the problem and I loved your
formulation when Hilda
presented the
award to you last night.
You said we
have to focus on that
intermediate
place where it's not just a
-- a high
alarm constantly or doom and
gloom but
actually focusing on the
practical
steps that can be taken so
thank you
for delivering that message.
>>
Thank you.
>> Yeah.
>> Well, you started it.
I pay you respect and
thanks to you because you
sounded the
alarm a long, long time ago.
>>
You're kind to say that but
I -- thank
you.
>> (Applause).
>> I simply
channelled what my teachers
taught me
beginning with Professor
Roger.
We
were having a conversation.
Thank
you, prime minister, I'm not
going to
name any names of your
fellow heads of
state.
I want you to conjure one of
them, can be woman, can be a
man, I'm not trying to be
overly cute about
this.
>> It's a virtually it's
naming names, there's not
many of us
out there.
>> What I'm trying to invite
you to do is to have a
conversation with one of
your fellow
heads of state who doesn't
want to do
anything about the climate
crisis,
doesn't think it's real or
pretends to
think it's not real and is
hostile to
any efforts to do anything
about it.
What would you say to him
or her?
>> You know, I wonder whether
or not I would say anything
or whether I would show them
something.
>> Yeah.
>> And it only takes a trip
to the
Pacific to see that climate
change
isn't a hypothetical.
And you don't
have to know anything about
the signs
or even have an argument
about the
science to have someone from
one of
the Pacific island nations
take you to
a place they used to play as
a child on the coast and show
you where they used to stand
and now where the water
rises.
>> Underwater.
Yeah.
>>
And so I don't think we have
to do it
all with words when we can
just simply show what's
happening as the images that
we watched in the beginning
have
shown.
And so when -- where do you
take it after there?
I think then
it's a matter of saying that
you don't
have to take power by acting
on climate change.
There's nothing to
fear about your individual
political status.
Actually this is about
beginning on the right side
of history.
Do you want to be a leader
that you look back in time
and say
that you were on the wrong
side of the argument when the
world was crying out for a
solution.
And it's as simple as that I
think.
>> Yeah, well said.
Well said.
>> (Applause).
>>
Yeah.
Yeah.
Annan when you and I
were together at the summit
on
climate, the horrible iconic
storm of
a hurricane was hitting the
east coast
of the U.S.
At the same time an even
more powerful typhoon, same
kind of
storm, was hitting the
Philippines and
then onward to Hong Kong.
And then
the fires were breaking out
in California.
Every night on the
television news is like a
nature hike
through the Book of
Revelation now it
is just astonishing but in
India
you've had your share of
these climate
related disasters.
Is that having an
impact on public opinion in
India?
>> It certainly is, we've
been
accustomed to these storms
for awhile.
And particularly in some of
the geographies but I have
absolutely no
doubt right now that when a
natural
calamity occurs, and they're
occurring
with greater frequency than
they used
to.
There is no reaction in
India
whether it's by the lay
population,
whether it's by business
people or by
policymakers.
There's no reaction
which is regressive and
says, oh,
well, we've had these
before.
>>
Yeah.
>> India are somehow for
being fatalistic and
accepting and I think there
are good things about
being accepting about life
and about our fate but this
is not one of the
things I think India is
taking as simply an act of
fate and again, I to
believe that the business
community
once again, you brought them
up, we
were earlier last year
coconspired to
make a call for action and I
think at
that time about 330
companies had
committed to following
science based
targets.
For meeting the Paris
agreement goals.
And I'm happy to
tell you you and I both
called for
more, our target was 500.
We are now
at 515 companies who signed
up so
there are many who believe
us.
There's not that many
disbelievers.
That's the good news.
In India I have
not come across anyone who
does not
recognize the dangers.
I live in
Mumbai.
It was meant to be
underwater.
I live on the coast as
well.
For India, it's about
staying alive, it's not just
about politics,
it's not just about business
as I said
earlier.
It really is a question of
staying alive.
>> Yeah and just to
make one other point with
India as an
example I can use my own
country as
well.
The same fuels that are
burned that great the global
warming pollution and the
climate crisis also
at the same time, create the
kind of
air pollution that makes
people sick.
And India has a particular
challenge
with air pollution in
cities.
And in
my country we have this as
well.
And
in many places, China and
India are
well nine  -- known but
there are
quite a few other countries
that know
this.
This is also a motivating
factor in saying we want
cleaner air
and cleaner water.
And so linking the
health consequences of our
dependence
on fossil fuels to the
solutions to
the climate crisis I think
is a step
forward.
>> Absolutely.
And young people as you know
India is one of the
youngest countries in the
world and the vast majority
of people are under
25 years old.
They understand that it
is a matter of survival.
You use that
wonderful phrase, Sir David,
about
this is our home and that's
a message every young person
in India has
received from people who
have some
wisdom about this that,
look, treat
this like your home.
This is not a
hotel.
Neither you nor your
successors are going to be
able to check out of here and
I think everybody's got that
message.
>> Yeah and of course Japan
and the -- you wanted to
comment on that?
>>
Thank you.
I'd like to if I can.
Reverse the question to all
of you
because we as young people,
we know it
is a matter and it is the
crisis we need to work on and
for example we are already
doing so much in our own
capacity for example myself
coming from a very rural
community already working on
the zero waste that we have
already achieved up to 80%
that's how
much we can do as a very
small group
of the people.
At the same time I
also respect how much you
have already
worked on climate change and
all these
issues but I see the gap
between the
young people doing so much
in their
capacity between how we can
also get
your buttons for our
generation to be
passed on at the same time
how can we
bridge this generation also
transitioning so that we can
also have the capacity to get
all of you to
actually moving forward, to
make
change.
What's that advice?
>>
Yeah.
Well, I think --
>> Run for
office.
>> -- take inspiration from
your generation and move
forward much,
much faster.
This is a challenge
unlike any other but the
fact that we
have the solutions now as
was said
earlier makes it
particularly
frustrating for people who
want to
push for faster action but I
do think
that we are making slow
progress.
Now I qualify that because
we've gone for
three years with no increase
in
emissions.
But what's year the
emissions started increasing
again.
Actually in 2017, and then
last year
even more.
So this is a warning sign.
The Paris agreement was a
great
success.
But one of the reasons why
it's so important that the
World Economic Forum has
featured this
session and has so many
sessions on
climate this week is that
this year
kicks off the cycle of
increased
commitments and in the fall
of this
year the secretary general
of the
United Nations who will also
be here
this week is holding a
special U.N.
summit following up on the
IPCC
report.
And then the following year,
that's when every nation is
going to
be called onto increase its
ambition.
So the old cliche is you
have to walk
before you can run.
We are seeing the
beginnings of progress but
we have to
accelerate that progress
dramatically.
Sir David, I'm going to ask
you the
same question I asked the
prime minister if you could
have a heart to
heart with a head of state
who is not yet doing anything
on this, what would
you say?
>> Think of the children.
Think of your children and
your
children's children.
And what we are
doing to the planet at the
moment.
And could you look them in
the eye and
say, I knew what could be
done to stop
the degradation of the
environment and
of the climate but it was
too difficult and rather
boring.
>>
Yeah.
>> And I failed to do it.
And you are now going to
take the
consequences.
>> Yeah.
Yeah.
Sort
of the ghost of Christmas
future.
Take a look, do you want to
be able --
do you want to have to say
that?
So
we're running out of time
here but
prime minister, I want to
talk about
economic impact because
sometimes
there is this cartoonish
view that we
have to choose between the
climate and
the environment on the one
hand and
the economy and jobs on the
other.
We talked earlier about how
many new jobs
can be created and are being
created
but with the sustainability
revolution.
But you have a unique
initiative that's part of
what's
called a just transition.
>> Yes.
>> With the men and women who
have been employed in the
carbon fuel sector.
You think that part of the
world's approach to solving
the
climate crisis has to
include an
intense focus on a just
transition for
them.
What are you doing in that
regard in.
>> Actually what we're
inclined to believe is that
any -- any
economy needs to start
thinking about
our measures of success
beyond just
our economic success.
And the
traditional forms of
measuring that
are of course tended to be
GDP and
growth.
And for us that just doesn't
tell an entire story.
You can have
for instance, a country
that's
perceived to be thriving
while their
environment is degrading
while they're
contributing to our global
missions
and that's why we started
looking at
doing things differently.
Not just
having a scorecard but this
year, for
the first time and I see our
minister
of finance who's having to
do all the
hard work I'm just the
Johnny come
lately we're embedding that
notion of
making decisions that aren't
just
about growth for growth's
sake but how
are our people feeling,
how's their
overall well-being.
How is our waste
in our state of growth and
these are
the measures I think of as a
true
sense of our success and
then we need
to factor in, as we
transition our
economy how our people are
feeling in
their terms of well-being
and
capacity.
We have a region in New
Zealand that has
traditionally be an
area for oil and gas
exploration.
We
announced last year if we
are to be honest with
ourselves about our future
we need to transition away
from oil
and gas and fossil fuels so
we have
seized to offer anymore
permits for
oil and gas exploration for
New
Zealand offshore.
That was for us
about anticipating where we
need to
move in saying -- unless we
anticipate
that change, make that
decision now,
there will be a very jarring
experience for the people
currently
employed in those
industries.
And
that's what a just
transition is all
about.
And so now we're using
things like our green
investment funds, we're
using other mechanisms we've
created
around provincial growth
instead of
investing in ideas like
hydrogen and
so onto start transitioning
our
economies and again, feed
into those
overall measures of
well-being.
>> That's great leadership
and thank you
very much and Akira --
>> You know
how we go.
>> I'm going to give you
the last word but beforehand
I want to ask Annan, going
from the nation state
level to the company level,
you've
made this very impressive
pledge.
You
have to have a vision of how
you can
safeguard the jobs of the
people,
women and men who work for
you and so
you must see new
opportunities opening
up.
>> Yes, vice president,
linked
to the point I made earlier
about this
being the next few decades
biggest
business opportunity and you
also
eluded to the fact that
right here
yesterday I think you
mentioned but
even earlier in the last few
weeks there's this kind of
opinion that's been simmering
and coming up now that
we are possibly facing a
recession.
And there are many sane
voices now
talking about that.
They're not
doomsday predictors and
frankly a lot
of that might be
self-inflicted.
It didn't have to be that
way.
The world was on a good
path.
If somebody came
to me and said, can you come
up with one good idea that
could serve as a
trigger for reigniting
growth?
I
would say the opportunity's
in climate
change.
Why does it take so much,
you know, rocket scientist's
brain power
to come to that conclusion?
Happily I
think investors and insurers
are
beginning to demand that
from companies.
I think there's an answer
to the jobs crisis.
It is dealing
with climate change.
There's an onset
to recession, it's dealing
with
climate change.
I think we're almost
upon that recognition.
>> Yeah.
Well thank you so much and
I take comfort from the old
cliche story
about the  economist who
predicted
twelve of the last five
recessions.
Maybe we'll escape.
So let me close
by asking Akira to tell us
about a
very unique initiative that
the global
shapers are taking, voice
for the
planet.
Tell us about it.
>> Yes.
Thank you very much.
So we've already
heard the science has never
been so
clear, as urgent as now,
that we need
to take action now for the
climate
change and no one question
that.
So
as a young generation, the
global
community, we'd like to
welcome every
one of you here to join our
pledge
which is the voice for the
planet.
To up your voice and to
contribute
yourself to the action for
the climate
change.
So this is the pledge that
started us as a global
shapers
community that we initiated
and as
young people I already
mentioned, for
us, taking action for the
climate
change is as important and
as natural as just breathing.
And that I believe
everyone should be on the
same place.
Should be on the same stage
and then
that's what I'd like to
present.
So
go to the website, voice for
the planet.org.
Please bring out your phone
now.
Go to the website.
Voicefor theplanet.org and
please bring your
voice and your commitment
and share so
that not only everyone in
this room
but everyone around you also
joined
this pledge and then
together I'm sure we
can safeguard our planet.
Thank you
very much.
>> Well thank you very
much.
Congratulations on, you
know,
the -- the global shapers
have done
such wonderful work and
thank you for
this initiative and it's
voice for the
planet.org and it's hashtag
also?
>> As well we use, yeah.
>> On twitter.
Very good.
So ladies and
gentlemen, I'm going to
close this
panel by thanking our
participants but
I want to say in advance
that we want
you to stay in your seats
because
we're going to leave and
then they're
going to reset the stage and
we're
going to have the great
pleasure of
hearing Sir David show us
some more
highlights of this fantastic
new
series.
But I think this has been a
great panel and I want to
ask you all
to join me in thanking Sir
David,
prime minister Jacinda,
Annan, and Akira.
Thank you, all, very much.
