But science and business leaders are already there, discussing the technologies and market strategies needed to ensure sustainability for future generations.

“The central challenge of the 21st century will be to replace the vast fossil-fuel infrastructure with a new economy based on low-carbon technologies,” says UC Berkeley professor Dan Kammen.

“The issue on the table is the need to finance clean energy research programs and to build markets where low-carbon technologies are rewarded.”

Speaking at the Innovation in Climate & Energy, a two day conference in Copenhagen June 18-19 2008, leaders issued a statement saying that to be successful a new global climate treaty must do two things: significantly accelerate innovation in low carbon technologies, and boost global investment in research, development and deployment of clean energy solutions.

The conference was hosted by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Copenhagen Climate Council. CITRIS, based at UC Berkeley, embraces decades of world class expertise in technology research and development. Copenhagen Climate Council is a global group of prominent climate change leaders from business, science and politics, working to make the Copenhagen UN Summit in 2009 a success.

Both parties believe that in order for this to happen there is a strong need for communication. A major transformation of the energy foundations of the global economy can only happen if decision makers in politics and business have the tools to make informed choices on where and how to invest.

At the conference, some of the world’s most renowned scientists from UC Berkeley presented a series of new studies on climate change risk management, the US biofuels programme and energy efficiency in buildings. Issues were debated in workshops with government officials, scientists from institutions around the world and CEOs of major, international companies, including Duke Energy, Novozymes, IBM, and Vestas. Keynote speeches by "Better Place Project" founder Shai Agassi, and Nobel Laureate Berkeley professor Steve Chu can be seen here.

The outcome of the conference was presented to the Danish ministers for Climate and Energy, and Science and Technology. Because the Danish government is hosting the UN Summit in Copenhagen in 2009, they will play a key role in the global negotiations on a new, global climate change treaty to follow the Kyoto-protocol.

The Conference made specific recommendations for the next international framework on climate change, and introduced the Climate Navigator program.

The Climate Navigator: An invitation to Global Collaboration and Communication
The Climate Navigator concept is a framework that seeks to bring together technical, business, and policy experts internationally to share and develop knowledge on an open source platform.

The goal is to provide a forum that will create debate and aggregate knowledge around key issues, provide analytic tools, and manage a variety of roadmaps across multiple technology domains. By doing so, it will help to provide the navigation process that international policymakers will require.

“Transformational change is key,” the group states. “Many current measures are essentially incremental, but incremental changes will not get us where we need to be. International policymaking needs to keep the need for transformational change in mind. Moreover, time is of the essence. These transformations need to happen faster than they would naturally.”

In order to foster transformational technology and business models, “Communication and sharing of knowledge is critical.” Additionally, the complex, integrated-system solutions that will be key to energy efficiency improvements will require new forms of international coordination in terms of trade agreements and technology sharing.

The result of the Climate Navigator project will be presented at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen in May 2009, hosted by the Copenhagen Climate Council.

Recommendations for new Climate Treaty
As a result of the conference, CITRIS and the Copenhagen Climate Council issued broad recommendations for a new climate treaty that is:

 - Global and ambitious, including all nations, all greenhouse gas emissions and all sectors in order to ensure the development of truly sustainable, efficient and cost-effective new solutions.

 - Includes a global emissions target that prevents dangerous changes in the global climate, including timetables for short and medium term targets. Science and business needs clear signals on the political goals and a stable, long term environment in order to invest and plan technology development.

- Contains ambitious, but achievable goals that balance mitigation with adaptation, without making it an either/or choice. Ambitious targets are needed to promote the kinds of changes to behavior and technology necessary, the group stressed, even if we presently have no well-known way to achieve those targets.

 - Puts a price on pollution. Introduction of a global emissions trading system will accelerate innovation and technology development, but arbon pricing in itself will not be sufficient. It must be supported by other policy instruments, such as energy efficiency standards, building standards, consumer information and new forms of regulation.

 - Secures significant investment into energy infrastructure in developing countries through an improved Clean Development Mechanism. We need to move fast to create green energy models, because the developing world will be installing a great deal of energy generation and use in the near future.

Business Strategies for Climate Change

By now, virtually everybody agrees that business needs to be an ally, not an adversary in the search for sustainable solutions. But the best methods for promoting responsible business involvement are still being debated. The group issued several recommendations on this point, including:

- Dramatically increasing global funding to boost innovation of low carbon technologies.

- Aiming investment at porfolios of new, promising technologies in various fields and on different maturity levels, preferably based on a global, sustainable approach and planning.

 - Shielding first-mover technology adopters from the risks implicit in trying out untested technologies. The group suggests policy measures like subsidizing pilot projects, or encouraging private insurance markets to protect against the financial risks taken by innovators.

At the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen in May 2009, the international business community will showcase successful business cases, demonstrating that business can turn the risk of climate change into new opportunities.

The scientists and business leaders assembled in Copenhagen agreed that while we need to move quickly on developing new technologies, and implementing innovative business strategies, international agreements must also have a plan for transitioning between short term and long term goals.

If these parameters are built into a new overall framework, experience shows that innovation and technology potentially can deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on both short term and long term.