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Home NATIONALThree-day Global Cleantech Summit begins in Helsinki
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Wed, 09 Sep, 2015 01:05:13 AM
FTimes Report, Sep 9
 
The three-day Global Cleantech Summit 2015 begun in Helsinki at Kalastajatorppa on Tuesday with 800 participants.  
 
Minister of Economic Affairs of Finland Dr Olli Rehn opened the summit offering new viewpoints, contacts, and a possibility for a dialogue on global solutions and technological success stories considered as the keys for the sustainable growth, according to a press release of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy issued on the day.
 
About 250 influencers, corporate directors, and researchers from 25 different countries joined the conference on the first day.
 
“We already have a toolbox of technological solutions and financial instruments available and a far-reaching commitment to battle the climate change and other environmental problems that are threatening sustainable development. The time of talking needs to come to an end; what we need now is action on global, national and local levels,” said Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn.
 
While some still argue that making the necessary changes would be costly a process, doing nothing would be not only irresponsible but also even more costly and would shake the very foundations of their way of living, prosperity and wellbeing - even global stability and security, according to Rehn.
 
“The good news, however, is that clean technologies and right policies can provide hope and solutions,” the minister said. 
 
“The very basic human driver throughout ages has been the wish to give our children a better life. However, global environmental challenges have questioned this wish.”
 
The keynote speakers were Professor Anil K. Gupta of the University of Maryland, Hashim Yamani, CEO of K.A.Care (King Abdullah City of Atomic and Renewable Energy) in Saudi-Arabia and Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme.
 
In the Ministerial Talks session, the keynote was given by the Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar of Iran, on how Iran was responding to the climate challenge.
 
Finland's Minister of Agriculture and the Environment Kimmo Tiilikainen, and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka took part in the panel discussions.
 
“As the Minister of the Economy, I am honoured to meet on a regular basis women and men who are creating innovative solutions to our problems. But the challenge we face is so great, the transformation required so rapid, that they cannot do it alone. And thus it is our duty as policymakers to step in and make the change happen,” Rehn summed.  
 
Targeted for corporate executives, political decision-makers, investors, researchers, the media, and other stakeholders, the Summit is organised by the Cleantech Strategic Programme of the Finnish government, in collaboration with front-line players in the Finnish cleantech.  
 
The public conference, which takes place on 9-10 September in Finlandia Hall, will feature presentations by the internationally recognised cleantech specialists.
 
The conference will focus on cleantech business on 9 September. The global industrial revolution and division of industrial work, key enabling technologies, smart mobility of the future and cleantech success stories will be discussed there.
 
On 10 September, the focus will be on cleantech innovation in the minerals production, discussing the ideas of the future mines, integrated material chains and industrial symbiosis, as well as the role of metals in the circular economy.
 
The agenda also includes special questions related to the production of minerals in the Arctic and Barents regions.
 
Alternatively, the conference guests will have an opportunity on the concluding day on 10 September to take part in Smart Visits to see examples on how clean technologies are applied in Finnish companies.
 
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