UN Science Policy Business Forum 2019

Digital ecosystems to top agenda for business and policy leaders

Top business, science and policy leaders will converge on Canberra to push for improved financing and deployment of green-technology innovations

Tech giants, ground breaking start-ups, top policy experts, leading scientists and civil society will be brought to Canberra to participate in an influential new platform created by the United Nations Science Policy-Business-Forum on the Environment to facilitate the transition to a green technology future, from 4-8 November 2019. 

More than 100 influential delegates representing various key industries – energy, transport, tech, finance, space etc. – will come together over the course of two consecutive events organised by the Forum. They are to take place in the context of GEO Week 2019 Ministerial Summit organised by the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) Ministerial Summit and Geoscience Australia who are also hosting the Forum’s Working Group on Big Data and Digital Ecosystems for the Planet in the National Convention Centre Canberra from 6-8th. This is to be preceded by the Forum’s Second Scoping Meeting of the Forum’s Governing Consortium from 4-5th at the Hyatt Hotel close by.  

Through in-depth participatory dialogue, those taking part will review and map the future direction of green-tech and digital ecosystems, focusing on innovative financing, sustainable public procurement, resource efficiency, data sharing policies, Artificial Intelligence, Earth Observation, Machine Learning and nature-based solutions.

The aim of the the discussions is to come up with practical ways forward to tackle some of the greatest environmental challenges of our time, from climate change to air pollution to biodiversity loss. 

With increased coverage of environmental issues and a wave of climate change protests and activism sweeping the planet this year, society is demanding action on these issues from political and business leaders. In response, the Forum is to play a leading role in facilitating innovative solutions from across sectors for transitioning to a greener economy. 

In March 2019, in a Ministerial Declaration adopted by the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment, Ministers from 193 countries mandated the development of a UN-backed Global Environment Data Strategy by 2025.  

The outcome of the Working Group event in Canberra will contribute to the design of this UN data strategy and relevant UN-backed projects and platforms for data sharing on the environment. 

The Ministerial Declaration comes after a year of relentless work spearheaded by the Forum and UNEA to unite global efforts to leverage frontier technologies and boost access to environmental data, analytics and assessments for decision-making.

Additionally, during the Governing Consortium meeting, Forum Members and other delegates attending will review the work programme and activities of the Forum for 2020-2022, including strengthening the its contribution to the work of UNEA, as well as discussing the convening of the Forum’s Third Global Session in Paris from 1-5 September 2020. 

Organisations attending both events include: Google Earth Engine, IBM, National Geographic Society, United Nations Environment Programme, Science and Technology Australia, Alan Turing Institute, Accenture, Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative, CSIRO, Economist Intelligence Unit, Electric Vehicles Council of Australia, European Commission, amongst many others. 

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