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As organizations move
forward with strategies to deal with climate change, adaptation will be
an integral part of ongoing strategic and operational decision-making.
Climate risk management must promote resilience and incorporate sound
adaptation planning that addresses actual or potential impacts, aligns
with organizational objectives, identifies vulnerabilities and
capitalizes on the potential opportunities presented by climate change.
To this end, the ACCO
Adaptation Working Group will conduct focused intelligence gathering on
the state of adaptation science and decision support methods to inform
membership, both internationally and domestically, promote adaptation
educational opportunities, help act as a bridge for adaptation into the
mandate of other ACCO working groups and external organizations, and
advise decision-makers on the implications of adaptation policy making,
climate risk analysis, and related activities.
The Working Group will
initially focus on three areas:
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Effectively
communicating climate science and climate change impacts;
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Integrating adaptation
into business and operating risk management; and
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Assisting members in the
development of regional adaptation strategies.
To initiate this process,
the Adaptation Working Group will be conducting a survey of climate
practitioners, sustainability officers and senior executives / officials
in industry, Federal and sub-national government, academia and the
non-profit community on climate change impacts, decision support
methods, adaptation measures and priority needs.
Adaptation Working Group Co-Chairs
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Brad May –
Program Manager, Adaptation, Environment Canada
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Michael Fanning –
Manager, Env. Policy & Programs, U.S. Postal Service
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Christine Baglin –
Principal, AEA Group-Project Performance Corporation
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Melissa Stults –
Climate Director, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA
About
ACCO Working Groups
Since January 2009, ACCO has
fostered collaboration amongst climate practitioners and thought leaders
on areas of convergent interest. ACCO’s cross-sector working groups are
being formed to enable members to collaborate on challenging issues
pertaining to climate change and related policy. These groups will
collaborate with ACCO, with industry and government stakeholders, and
with other interested NGOs to exchange, publish and/or promote findings.
All working group members must be members of ACCO in good standing.
Staffing
and Infrastructure
ACCO supports working groups
through dedicated staff, interns and partnerships. Additionally, the
adaptation working group will be supported by a dedicated fellowship,
funded by Environment Canada. The fellowship’s primary responsibilities
will include supporting and facilitating the working group’s activities,
conducting research on behalf of the group’s co-chairs, authoring draft
content, performing administrative support functions and serving as a
liaison between the group’s co-chairs, ACCO leadership and external
interested organizations.
The working group will be further supported by ACCO’s IT infrastructure,
which includes CCO ConnectTM, a peer-to-peer collaboration
network enabling ACCO groups to collaborate, task, calendar and share.
Working group members will have exclusive access to materials and
communications related to the group’s efforts. Additionally, ACCO will
support regular meetings of the working group leveraging its partnership
with Cisco WebEx, enabling web conference calls as frequently as
necessary.
Eligibility Requirements
The public meeting is open
to all parties interested in participating in the working group.
After the first meeting, participation in the working group requires
that individuals meet at least one of the following criteria:
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An individual member of
ACCO;
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An employee of an ACCO
charter member;
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An employee designated
for participation by an ACCO partner;
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An employee of the
corresponding working group sponsor;
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An ACCO Board of
Advisory Board member; or
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Invited to participate
by an authorized representative of ACCO.
For more information, please
contact:
Daniel Kreeger (dkreeger@ACCOonline.org)
at 202-496-7390. |
