Tuesday, January 29, 2019 – TPIC - Bancom Room, 3rd Floor Asian Institute of Management, Makati City. The Asian Institute of Management TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Leadership (AIMTEC) recently co-organized with Earth Security Group (ESG), AIM Zuellig School of Development Management (ZSDM) and Philippine Business for the Environment (PBE) the “Business Action for Climate Resilience Workshop,” last 29 January 2019 at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). Over 60 green business leaders and practitioners from 35 companies and organizations came together to share their initiatives’ progress and identify next steps for increasing ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) investments in the Philippines.

Following the success of the first network meeting in July 2018, the Earth Security Group (ESG), Philippine Business for the Environment, and the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) re-convened partners to discuss key areas of work on Ecosystem Restoration, Sustainable Finance, Sustainable Insurance, and Corporate Investments in Ecosystem Services. Workshop participants also brainstormed implementation strategies for the network’s three core climate resilience initiatives: 1) developing a Coastal Resilience Insurance Fund, 2) developing a Conservation Fund for Ecosystem Services in the Philippines, and 3) developing an Innovation Hub for Climate Resilience.

The Innovation Hub for Climate Resilience, which will serve as an incubator for public-private EbA ventures, will be housed at AIM. It will be a collaboration between the School of Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship, the Stephen Zuellig Graduate School of Development Management, the Washington SyCip Graduate School of Business, and the TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Leadership that will also launch a new Fellowship called Bridging Leaders Initiative for Climate Resilience and Sustainability.

“The innovation hub for climate resilience and the Fellowship program will allow us to develop a new pipeline of emerging Bridging Leaders from the both the public and private sector that would generate social innovations for the complex challenges of climate change and resilience. Economic and public value derived from the development of EbAs will highlight the collaboration among sectors in this pioneering fellowship program which will identify leaders coming from areas that are most vulnerable to climate change,” explained Prof. Manuel De Vera, Executive Director of the AIM TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Leadership (AIMTEC).

Alejandro Litovsky, Founder & CEO of the London-based Earth Security Group, shared, “The Asian Institute of Management has consistently shown that the quality of its people, the calibre of its leaders, and it’s commitment to drive innovation make it a key player in a region that is grappling with rapid economic, social and environmental change. Our partnership with AIM is an important pillar to our work in strategically mobilising business and investors to play a role in building climate resilience in the Philippines and the broader region.”

The workshop represents the next step in ESG’s 2-year project which aims to engage companies and private banks in scaling up support for climate resilience and ecosystem-based adaptation called “Developing business-policy cooperation platforms to scale private sector support for climate resilience and ecosystem- based adaptation in the Philippines”. The project is funded by the German government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI).