Future green business conference |

“Future GREEN Business” – an initiative in the form of a conference organized by the International Institute for Climate Action (IICA) is held with the primary goal of educating, informing, raising awareness and networking the business community and the financial sector in order to achieve the fastest possible transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy.

By sharing knowledge, practices, ideas and projects, we enable a significant increase in the level of social and personal responsibility in the direction of sustainability and help companies introduce new work and management models to ensure stable future growth.

This year’s “Future GREEN Business” international conference organized by the International Institute for Climate Action (IICA) entitled “EU AND USA – COOPERATION ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS” is dedicated to the business and financial sector. The theme of the conference refers to the reflection of the EU-US Summit held in October 2023 and represents a concrete action to include the economy, to which the outlined guidelines in the “EU-US summit – conclusions” are also related.

The EU and the United States are home to about 800 million people who have a strong stake in a peaceful and just world. We endeavour to uphold the UN Charter and the multilateral system while ensuring global prosperity and stability. At the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the EU and the US called on all countries and other major players to take ambitious action towards meeting the goal of dramatically increasing global renewable energy capacity and energy efficiency, and reaffirmed their readiness to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The mutual promotion of common values such as peace, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law creates the prospect of attaining the stated goals, on which all EU countries and the United States must continue to collaborate.

As a result, the Future GREEN Business conference provides an opportunity to unite the economy’s key players and consolidate our leadership in responding to pressing global challenges and their shared solutions, which the climate crisis brings with it.

Given the significance of the subject, we have the great honour of introducing this year’s Keynote speaker, Mrs. Nathalie Rayes, US Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia, in front of Vice President Kamala Harris. The ambassador has a distinguished career in public service that includes the titles of President and CEO of Latino Victory, Vice President of Public Affairs at Grupo Salinas in the USA, and Executive Director at Fundación Azteca America, as well as leading the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations, International Trade, and Protocol, among others, where she served as a distinguished member of several committees and was recognised for several contributions to public service.

Furthermore, in collaboration with CorpStage partners from Singapore, banks and companies that previously applied for the pre-selection process for the ESG World Summit & GRIT Awards event (which will be held on October 17-18, 2024), and whose sustainability reports met the criteria for exercising the right to apply for an internationally recognised award in the field of ESG, the winners of the pre-selection process will be publicly announced at the Future Green Business conference.

INTRODUCTORY SPEECH LECTURERS

Marija Pujo Tadić

President of the International Institute for Climate Action (IICA) and main organizer of the Future Green Business Conference

Marija Pujo Tadić is a climate leader and ambassador of the EU Climate Pact. As an international expert in climate change law and policy, she has spent over 25 years dedicated to environmental issues, with a focus on climate change law and policy for the past decade. With extensive knowledge of national and international institutions involved in climate change, she has become a sought-after speaker and lecturer, sharing her expertise at conferences and summits worldwide. As the founder of the International Institute for the Climate Action (IICA), which has become a key player in climate change and CO2 issues in Croatia, she was a member of the official negotiating team of Croatia on the negotiations to he Paris Agreement in Paris (COP21) and each COP’s until last in Dubai (COP28). In 2020 she took the role of coordinating the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU’s Climate Change Team.

Zrinka Ujević

Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Croatia

During her 30 years of service in Croatian diplomacy, Zrinka Ujević acquired advanced diplomatic and negotiation skills as well as advocacy skills. She systematically dealt with issues related to the EU and thus gained a true understanding of various areas of EU policies and the work of institutions. Since 2016, she has been the director of the Directorate for Europe in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. From 2000 to 2014, she played an important role in the mission of the Republic of Croatia to the EU. She was in charge of political issues, and then during the Croatian presidency of the EU, she was the head of the Office of the Chief Negotiator. After that, she was the deputy head of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Croatia to the EU, and at the same time the representative of Croatia in the Political and Security Committee. Previously, she was the deputy head of the Department for the United Nations in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In that position, she dealt with numerous international issues, including the area of security and peacekeeping. Zrinka Ujević attended the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and has been an ambassador since 2014.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER, Future GREEN Business, 2024.

Nathalie Rayes

Nathalie Rayes was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia on January 10, 2024 by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ambassador Rayes has led a distinguished career in public service and served previously as the president and CEO of Latino Victory. Prior to joining Latino Victory, Rayes was vice president of public affairs for Grupo Salinas in the United States and executive director of Fundación Azteca America. Earlier in her career, she managed the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations, International Trade, and Protocol, and established the city’s first Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Ambassador Rayes has served as a prominent member of multiple boards, to include as President Biden’s appointee to the United States Institute of Peace, President Obama’s appointee to the board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and chair of the board of directors of the Hispanic Federation and the advisory group for Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Binational Fellowship.

She has been recognized for her many contributions to public service, including the AL DÍA Archetype Ambassador Manuel Torres Award. She was named among the 25 most powerful Latinas in the United States by People en Español Magazine, and was among the Top 10 Líderes by Hispanic Executive Magazine in 2021. Rayes was recognized in the Huffington Post’s “40 Under 40 Latinos in Foreign Policy” in 2015.

Joe MacDonald

Urban A&O’s Chief Energy & Sustainability Officer Joe MacDonald is an internationally recognized executive and visionary architect, researcher, policy specialist, and climate subject matter expert advocate.

Joe founded Urban A&O in New York while serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, his alma mater.

His mission is to revolutionize global project development, management, and delivery by harnessing the power of decarbonization, digitization, and enhanced data collection, delivering buildings of the future powered by renewable energy & automation.

His practice emphasizes net-zero/positive design, decarbonization, renewable energy, climate mitigation, public policy, 4IR, and emerging sustainable material science applications. UA&O is focused on transparent, quantified measurable results, and science-based targets.

Joe has been a thought leader in the net zero space for over a decade.

He played a pioneering role in advancing smart city principles and data center innovations across Scandinavia, the Americas, and the EU. Joe was an early adopter on the net-zero community development space across America.

He lectures worldwide on impact investing, climate change, the UN’s 17 SDGs, circular economies, and the drive to net zero strategies.

Joe serves as an ambassador within the international sustainability and UNFCCC climate action spheres, delivering keynote addresses in Bangkok, Dubai, London, and Copenhagen. He champions the fusion of data and building technologies, leveraging his influential platform to forge profound connections with industry.

IICA & CORPSTAGE PARTNERSHIP

Corpstage Singapore

CorpStage Singapore, an ESG ecosystem platform that enables large and small businesses and banks to adopt sustainability, manage and comply with and report on ESG criteria, engage with stakeholders, and develop reputation with investors and consumers, is the conference partner for “Future GREEN Business”.

Thanks to the partnership, IICA organised a pre-selection for applying to the ESG Summit & GRIT Awards for medium and large banks and companies from the Republic of Croatia, so that the best ones whose sustainability reports successfully meet the application criteria could present their sustainable business and exercise the right to participate in the ESG Summit & GRIT Awards Conference in Dubai from October 17-18, 2024, and have the opportunity to win an internationally recognized award in the field of ESG.

Read more about the ESG Summit & GRIT Awards at: https://esggritawards.com/

“Future GREEN Business” panel moderator