New York hosted the biggest climate event in the world from 23 to 29 September, as the UN Climate Action Summit played out against a dramatic backdrop of ever-heightening awareness of the threat of climate change.
The summit was attended by heads of state and government, high-profile climate change activists, and delegates from the NGO community and business.
LeasePlan played an active part in the event, leading the debate on how to lower emissions from road transport and lead the transition to zero-emission mobility. Here’s an overview of what we got up to…
September 22
Mike Lightfoot, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at LeasePlan, was a panellist at “The Circular Lifecycle for Cars” panel at the United Nations headquarters at the beginning of the UN Climate Summit.
On Monday, LeasePlan also announced its commitment to the Three Percent Club, a collaboration of governments and organisations committed to working together to put the world on a path to 3% annual energy efficiency improvement.
On Tuesday, Mike Lightfoot attended the launch of the Global Electric Vehicle Battery Alliance meeting, a public-private collaboration platform seeking to create a sustainable battery chain by 2030.
On Tuesday, LeasePlan attended the annual gathering of EV100 members, a global initiative bringing together forward-looking companies committed to accelerating the transition to EVs, and making electric transport the new normal by 2030.
After Wednesday’s panel on “The Rise of Electric Vehicles”, Mike Lightfoot talked to Helen Clarkson, CEO at The Climate Group about the progress of the EV100 initiative. Watch the panel discussion on YouTube:
He was also a panellist at “The Rise of Electric Vehicles” on Wednesday, where he talked about the advantages of long-term EV strategies.
As a founding member of EV100, we’re also leading by example — transitioning our own employee fleet to electric vehicles by 2021. Starting electric is one of the easiest ways to tackle climate change, but only if everyone rises to the EV challenge.