World Leaders to Gather in Seoul to Identify Solutions for Urgent Environmental Action

·        B4E Summit to take place in Seoul, South Korea, in April 2010

·        Attracting over 1,000 delegates representing 300 companies from approximately 35 countries

·        UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Academy Award-winner, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore to address B4E audience

·        Academy Award-winning film director, James Cameron to speak at B4E Summit

·        2010 marks the International Year of Biodiversity, a key agenda item for the 2010 B4E Summit

Seoul (Republic of Korea) 30 March 2010— Leaders from business, government, NGOs and international agencies will gather in Seoul, South Korea to tackle and identify solutions for some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues at the 4^th annual Business for the Environment (B4E) summit. Hosted by UNEP, the UN Global Compact, and WWF, the summit will coincide with Earth Day 2010, running from April 21-23.

B4E 2010 is co-hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea through the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Presidential Commission on Green Growth.

Participants will engage in multi-stakeholder conversations around solutions including: biodiversity, climate change, resource & energy efficiency, renewables, and new green business models. Innovative low-carbon solutions, critical towards stabilizing the global temperature increases, will be a main focus during the Summit. 

With an expected 1,000 participants to attend from more than 35 countries, B4E is the leading international conference for dialogue and business-driven action for the environment.

“B4E is a critical event to advance environmental action, innovation and advocacy,” states Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “What makes this event truly valuable is that it brings together the public and private sectors at the highest levels.”

The 2010 B4E summit features an impressive roster of expert speakers from various sectors. High profile international business leaders will lead the dialogue including Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group as well as CEOs and top executives from Clarins, Coca-Cola, The Dow Chemical Company, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, McKinsey & Co, Puma, Siemens and SIG AG.

Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Republic of Guyana, and Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives, will share their national low carbon development plans and Academy Award-winning film director James Cameron will speak on biodiversity and leading the world towards a low carbon future.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Nobel Prize winner and Academy Award recipient, former Vice President Al Gore will participate in the summit via video-link alongside other leaders attending in Seoul such as Ashok Khosla, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and James Leape, Director General of WWF International.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Governments have a central role in fostering a Green Economy by sending the right market signals and by implementing imaginative market mechanism reforms. The challenge for business is how to translate this evolving landscape into low carbon, resource efficient goods and services. This is the kind of creativity, innovation and acumen that B4E will be catalyzing and showcasing in 2010.”

B4E will be webcast worldwide and be open to live comments and questions for speakers at the Summit in Seoul via Twitter. Organizers will ensure that the event is green in practice by providing a paper-free media centre, local transportation through hybrid vehicles and materials derived from sustainably produced sources.

For more information please visit the new B4E website (www.b4esummit.com).

B4E is supported by The Dow Chemical Company, LG Electronics, SIG, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens, Evonik, Hyundai and Nalco and global broadcast and media partners CNN, Fortune and TIME.

About the United Nations Environment Programme (www.unep.org)

UNEP is the United Nations agency for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action.

About United Nations Global Compact (www.unglobalcompact.org)

Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector – in partnership with other social actors – can help realize a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.

About the World Wild Life Fund (http://www.worldwildlife.org/)

WWF is the world’s leading conservation organization, working in 100 countries for nearly half a century. With the support of almost 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat climate change in ways that benefit people and nature alike. Visit www.worldwildlife.org to learn more.

For more information please contact:

Nicolle Kuritsky

Edelman Korea

Tel: +82 2 2022 8217

Email: nicolle.kuritsky@edelman.com

Monica Kim

Edelman Korea

Tel: +82 2 2022 8244

Email: monica.kim@edelman.com

Yong-jin Kim, Duri-Yim (+82-2-2110-7909) / International Cooperation Offcie, the Ministry of Environment