Climate change and how business can thrive with the right moves

Climate change is taking the world by storm; it is expected to increase the intensity and frequency of natural disasters such as tropical storms and severe droughts and floods, increase sea level rise and coastal inundation, and create higher frequency of forest fires, problems in water supply, stresses on crop production and aquaculture, damage to infrastructure and incidence of heat-related and infectious diseases.

Reason enough that the organisers of the 24th Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry Conference and Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2010, to be held from 5-7th July at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo, dedicated a session to invite speakers to share their views on the importance of climate change mitigation and adaptation to ensure the region’s sustained economic growth.

The session titled ‘Climate Change: Mitigating its Impact on Business and Economic Development’ aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding climate change and their implications for business and economic development, and recommend policy measures and stimulate actions that need to be taken by the private and public sectors to reduce those impacts.

The session will also examine how business can play a key role in the mitigation of climate change, through decisions to invest in researching and implementing new energy technologies and energy efficiency measures, among others. The panel of speakers at this plenary session, Takashi Hongo, Renton de Alwis, Ms. Shiranee Yasaratne, Robert Dobias and Annisul Huq.