Bonn Conference: New international conference series for sustainable action kicks off in May

Starting this year, the United Nations post-2015 agenda sets new global goals that apply to all states equally, be they rich or poor, developing or industrialised. If we want to achieve these goals, we all have to work together in the process. In the face of pollution, climate change and ever growing disparities in wealth distribution, this is a conviction that is now shared by many people around the globe.

With this international conference series, the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have created a platform that essentially sets out to do one thing: find practicable strategies and solutions.

The Bonn Conference for Global Transformation
is scheduled to take place on 12 and 13 May 2015
in the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB).

Senior experts and decision-makers from around the globe will come together in Bonn, including Hannelore Kraft, Premier of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Jeffrey Sachs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s Special Adviser on the Millennium Development Goals, and Vandana Shiva, an Indian scientist, environmental activist and recipient of the Alternative Nobel Prize. The guiding theme of the first conference will be ‘From Politics to Implementation’.

Beginning this year, the Bonn Conference for Global Transformation will take place every two years – alternating with GIZ’s Eschborn Dialogue – and will gather together several hundred representatives from the fields of business, academia, civil society and politics to discuss the major challenges of our time. This year, attention will be focused on the topics of energy (Green Transformation), inequality (Inclusive Transformation), and the implementation of practical approaches and solutions. What are the hallmarks of a viable and sustainable energy supply? How does a city become smart? How can economic growth help reduce inequality? Which experiences are transferable? And which alliances offer the best way forward?