On 3 June, the European Commission organized an event that brought together celebrities, former politicians, business leaders, media and other personalities, and some of the world’s leading NGOs to discuss why we haven’t collectively made the necessary breakthroughs and how we might do so in the future. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner participated with a TEDx-style talk.

On 4 June, UNEP held a high-level panel discussion on green economy, finance and sustainable production and consumption in Small Island Developing States. UNEP was also involved in a number of sessions, including in the launch of the International Resource Panel (IRP) assessment report "Decoupling in practice".

The following side sessions were held, with UNEP and UNEP-hosted IRP representatives: “Gearing up cities for the circular economy” (with IRP member Maarten Hajer), “Resource efficiency: how to get investors on board?” (with Charles Anderson, Director, UNEP Finance Initiative), “International dimension: resource efficiency in the Sustainable Development Goals” (with George C. Varughese, President of Development Alternatives and IRP member; Prof. Stefan Bringezu, Wuppertal Institute and IRP member; and Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Co-Chair of IRP, Co-President of The Club of Rome and lead author of the Decoupling II report), and “Building the knowledge base for a greener economy” (with Joy A. Kim, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UNEP/Division of Technology, Industry and Economics).

More Information see: New Environmentalism Summit and Green Week