Al Gore to address global green finance conference
World-renowned climate change campaigner, Nobel Laureate and former US Vice-President Al Gore – was today confirmed as a keynote speaker at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference.
The Conference, strongly supported by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, is a leading international forum for emerging renewable energy and other low carbon markets.
Mr Gore served as Vice President of the United States with President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2006 for his work to increase knowledge about and promote actions to counteract man-made climate change. A documentary about his work, entitled “An Inconvenient Truth”, won an Oscar in 2007.
Mr Gore is a founder and current chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection, the co-founder and chair of Generation Investment Management, and a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. Gore is also a partner in the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, heading that firm's climate change solutions group.
Now in its second year, the SLCI Conference - which takes place at Edinburgh International Conference Centre on September 27 and 28 this year – will be opened by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond.
Mr Salmond said: “Scotland is a world leader in the fast-growing low carbon sectors. “Our huge clean energy resources and established industrial expertise mean we are well-placed to seize the considerable opportunities presented by the growth of low carbon industries. I am delighted that former Vice-President Gore will be attending this year’s conference and I look forward to welcoming him to Scotland.
“The conference will bring together government, finance, utilities and developers to engage directly on the opportunities and challenges presented by the global shift to low carbon economies. Since last September, inward investment decisions by world-leading wind turbine manufacturers Mitsubishi, Gamesa and Doosan, and by global power giants ABB and Alstom into our wave energy technologies, have underlined Scotland’s position as a global centre of excellence for offshore renewables.
“Scotland’s ‘2020 vision’ to generate the equivalent of 100% of our annual electricity consumption from renewables, alongside our ambitions to reduce energy demand and improve efficiency, will underpin the delivery of our world-leading targets to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The world faces both a moral obligation to act against growing climate chaos and a clear economic imperative to avoid much greater future costs – a truth that is being increasingly recognised across the world.
“These are issues which Mr Gore has long and consistently championed, with an unswerving determination to bring them to the attention of both ordinary citizens and key policy-makers around the world. His words will provide great encouragement and impetus to delegates and to others in Scotland, to strive still further and faster towards a sustainable future for all nations of the world and for the generations that follow us.”
With around a quarter of both Europe's tidal and offshore wind capacity, and 10% of its potential in wave power, as well as significant opportunities in hydro-power, onshore wind and biomass, the Scottish Government aims to ensure that Scotland has a truly world-leading renewable energy sector.
The Conference is backed by Scottish Enterprise and forms part of the economic development agency’s project to create innovation in finance and secure investment in Scotland’s growing low-carbon economy. Other key partners include Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, which is also the conference organiser.
Ron Hewitt, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: “The SLCI conference will help shape our direction, identify priorities and facilitate financial solutions and investment, highlighting and promoting Scotland’s strengths, including opportunities for investment, skills, resources, research and technical expertise on an international scale.
“The conference aims to ensure Scotland’s low carbon sector stakes its claim as a world-leader by helping innovative projects, technologies and companies access finance and funding.”
A dedicated website has been established at http://www.slciconference.com
The organisers have secured a list of international speakers which is due to be announced in the next few weeks, and hundreds of delegates from around the world are expected to attend. Scottish and UK Government Ministers will be among those attending and speaking.