Day: 22th February, 2023 | Wednesday
Time: 10:30 pm to 12:00 pm IST | Click here for time in your location

Mainstreaming Sustainable Development and Climate in Finance

Introduction

The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship multi-stakeholder convening by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Instituted in 2001 as Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, the Summit series has marked more than 20 years in its journey of making ‘sustainable development’ a globally shared goal. Over the years, the Summit series has brought together 54 Heads of State and Government, 13 Nobel Laureates, 103 Ministers, 1888 Business Leaders, 2745 Speakers, and 38280 Delegates.

With a legacy of over two decades, WSDS is the only independently convened Summit based in the Global South that is organised at this scale for pioneering conversations to nudge ambition and action on sustainable development and climate solutions. The platform strives to provide long-term solutions for the benefit of global communities by assembling the world’s most enlightened leaders and thinkers on a single platform. In addition to providing a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogues, a knowledge initiative titled ‘Act4Earth’ was launched during the Valedictory Session of WSDS 2022.

WSDS activities are enshrined in the theory of constructivism, according to which, socialization leads to emergence, cascading and internalization of norms. When stakeholders from various spheres come together and reflect upon their experiences, they build their own representations and incorporate new information into their pre-existing knowledge. By playing a constructivist role, the initiative seeks to drive vision and reinforce commitments at all levels to enhance ambition and action to create a more sustainable and equitable world for present and future generations.

About the Theme

The world is approaching the crucial midpoint of the 2030 Agenda and the sustainable development goals. It is time for the global community to accelerate actions on sustainable development and climate resilience. It has been more than 50 years since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, popularly known as the 1972 Stockholm Conference. Since then, the world has made many strides in bringing to the forefront the issues related to the environment, biodiversity loss, climate change, and has achieved many milestones in integrating sustainable development into the public, private and societal discourses. But we still have a long way to go especially in terms of horizontal and vertical integration of sustainable development across spheres. With this rationale, the Summit is being organized under the umbrella theme: Mainstreaming Sustainable Development and Climate Resilience for Collective Action.

About the Session

The Inaugural Session of the World Sustainable Development Summit 2023 will set the stage for the Summit deliberations. This year, India is holding the Presidency of G20. This is a golden opportunity to further the voice of the Global South on issues related to sustainable development and climate action. The year will also see the important process of global stocktake at the climate negotiations at COP28. Setting the stage, TERI will highlight the significance of stakeholder engagement by bringing together leaders from international organisations, government, business & industries, research & academia, civil society, and youth to deliberate on the modus operandi required for mainstreaming sustainable development and climate resilience for collective action.