Meet The Climate Change Leaders

The first of our climate change leader series

In November 2015, negotiators from nearly 200 countriesgathered in Paris to conclude a global climate change agreement. The ParisAgreement’s aim is to “strengthen the global response to the threat of climatechange by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degreesCelsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit thetemperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” As its part, NewZealand made a bold commitment: 30 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissionsbelow 2005 levels by 2030.

In 2018, Parties will take stock of the collective effortsin relation to progress towards the goal set in the Paris Agreement and to informthe preparation of NDCs.

Come and hear Jo Tyndall, co-Chair of the Ad-hoc WorkingGroup on the Paris Agreement (APA) and New Zealand’s immediate past ClimateChange Ambassador, and Kay Harrison who leads New Zealand’s InternationalCarbon Markets team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in conversationwith Hon David Caygill, Chair of the BusinessNZ Energy Council. Jo and Kay willeach reflect on the drive to achieving the Paris Agreement goals, negotiatingdynamics and what it all means for New Zealand.

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SPEAKER

Jo Tyndall is co-Chair of the Ad-hoc Working Group on theParis Agreement (APA). Jo is New Zealand’s former Climate Change Ambassador andhead of delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations with the Ministryof Foreign Affairs and Trade, holding this position between July 2010 and March2016. Prior to this, Jo held a range of roles including her Vice Presidentposition on the Bureau of the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange, representing the regional grouping of Western European and OtherStates, in 2014 and 2015.

Kay Harrison is Lead Negotiator, International CarbonMarkets for the Ministry for the Environment. She and her project team areco-located at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Formerly DirectorClimate Change, Kay is leading a project to develop international carbon marketpartnerships for New Zealand. The team’s work also encompasses negotiations oncarbon markets under the Paris Agreement as well as New Zealand initiativessuch as the Asia Pacific Carbon Markets Roundtable.

FACILITATOR

Hon David Caygill is currently Chair of the BusinessNZEnergy Council and Deputy Chair of Environment Canterbury. David is a formerMember of Parliament and served as Minister of Finance between 1988 and 1990.David left Parliament in 1996 and has since practiced as a lawyer. David hasserved on several governance boards including as Chair of the ACC and theElectricity Commission and as Deputy Chair of the Commerce Commission.