The Fenwick Forum aims to ensure Covid-19 economic recovery benefits natural capital
The Aotearoa Circle, a group of public and private-sector leaders, has announced the Fenwick Forum on 11 June to ensure COVID-19 economic recovery opportunities benefit natural capital.
Named after the Circle’s co-founder Sir Rob Fenwick, who passed away in March, the forum will be hosted by its patron, Her Excellency Dame Patsy Reddy, the Governor General of New Zealand.
The Aotearoa Circle chief executive Vicki Watson said the Fenwick Forum will bring together Government and business leaders to ensure alignment between COVID-19 economic recovery and nature. The forum will incorporate the voice of youth from secondary schools, universities and charity groups.
“Our big goal is sustainable prosperity for all through restoring and sustainably managing New Zealand’s natural capital,” said Ms Watson.
The specific goals of the forum include:
Identification of the most impactful business investment to support sustainable prosperity
Identification of the most impactful policy changes, legislative enablers and Government investment to support sustainable prosperity
Identification of joint investment between business and Government
Identification of the most impactful enablers
Ms Watson said the forum will focus on a few sectors that cut across natural capital assets (eg: water, soil and land) where integrated change can be made. Whilst still in design, priority sectors for the forum could include food and transport.
“We will also be engaging with youth to get their perspectives. We have a unique opportunity to rethink our future as we focus on our recovery from COVID-19. The voice of youth is critical because they will inherit the changes we make and secondly they view our world through a different lens unencumbered by our current systems and orthodoxies.”
Ms Watson said the output of the forum will be a report to inform COVID-19 recovery plans for Government agencies and businesses, political party policies and investment plans.
The Aotearoa Circle was founded last year on the coat tails of the Environment Aotearoa state of the environment report, which showed all New Zealand’s stocks of natural capital – soils, fresh water, the climate, biodiversity and the marine environment – were in decline.
The Aotearoa Circle’s draft Sustainable Finance Forum interim report released in October last year was the first step towards designing a sustainable finance roadmap to 2030, which will be published in November 2020.
The Aotearoa Circle, whose partners include ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac banks, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Ministry for the Environment, Department for Conservation, MBIE, Auckland Council, Local Government New Zealand, Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PWC, has also initiated Marine and Biodiversity workstreams developing system change programmes.