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Zapatero Inaugurates the IV Global Sustainability Forum

The IV Global Sustainability Forum Held in Madrid is One of the Forums of the UN Conferences on Climate Change

July 15th, 2015
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More than 350 experts from all around the world debated new policies and business strategies on sustainability for two days in Madrid at the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-21) in the fourth Global Sustainability Forum organized by Ernst & Young and SEGIB (Iberoamerican General Secretariat). The event took place on the 1st and 2nd of July 2015.

The event was inaugurated in the presence of the former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who said "We must start talking about cooperative social commitment instead of corporate social responsibility”. Companies must look more like the society in which they want to work, and there are no incompatibilities for not working with the environment. In his speech he also referred to the recent encyclical 'Laudato Si' Environment, published by Pope Francisco, as a "magnificent document that warns of the risks between sustainability and development, a relationship in which there was some tension before”.

Zapatero has defended the development of renewable energy despite the "inefficiencies" generated at the beginning when they need assistance, and called for greater investment in R+D+i to generate sustainable growth. Regarding the concept of sustainability, he stressed that it "has begun to invade everything" and is a term that now has tremendous value. There is a social consciousness no longer disputed by anyone, global warming is unquestionable and it is the greatest historical challenge. We make a move away from the carbon-intensive economy or we will compromise the global consciousness of the planet.

The Ambassador of France, Bérengčre Quincy, said that every country wants to participate and all are invited. High-level politicians were needed at the meeting in Paris because it is the best way to engage countries to achieve an ambitious and legally binding agreement in the long-term. This conference must be the starting point, the world must reach full decarbonisation by 2100.

The conference also included Pablo Saavedra, Secretary of State for the Environment, who said that the climate summit in Paris is a historic opportunity to achieve an international agreement which will give a response to the challenge of climate change and move towards a world decarbonized with neutral emissions to combat climate change which will also entail economic opportunities and will generate employment.