Clinton Global Initiative Goes to South America Late This Year

Former United States President and now global campaigner Bill Clinton recently announced that his organization, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) has chosen Latin America as the latest site of its commitments and initiatives on business, philanthropy, and politics. The CGI will be launched in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in a gathering scheduled on December 8-10, 2013.

Clinton made this very important announcement during the mid-year CGI meeting that was held in New York City in preparation for the yearly CGI conference held every September. The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes and former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Clinton during the announcement.

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

Another important initiative was announced to the CGI members in the same gathering. The first part of the mid-year session was a discussion of climate change, particularly measures that the cities of the world can implement in order to manage it. The announcement of a particular CGI commitment on the design and initiation of an assessment framework that will evaluate the risks of climate change was assigned to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Mayor Bloomberg currently holds the chairmanship of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. The C40 is a global network of cities that seek to create programs and implement actions in their respective locality that can significantly impact on climate change. The C40 was founded in 2005.

A common standard

In his introduction, Mayor Bloomberg said that this framework was intended for the use of cities everywhere in the world. This framework would detail a common standard that urban centers may use in determining the actions that they would undergo step by step in acting to mitigate climate change.

He said that there have already been instances when “we’ve caught a glimpse” of what may be in store for us in the future. And for this reason, cities cannot afford to just hope for the best. He insisted that it is impossible to manage something that cannot be measured.

The Clinton Global Initiative

The Clinton Global Initiative, launched in 2005, provides assistance to its members “to turn ideas into action.” Its mission is to bring together, inspire and empower world leaders to forge actionable solutions to our many problems.

Membership to the CGI has been extended to private, public, and civil organizations. The organization was established with the purpose of convening a powerhouse of leaders from all over the world in order to “create and implement innovative solutions” to the most urgent and relevant issues that assail the globe. The CGI has been acting towards achieving its founding objectives by driving resources toward ideas that would work, fostering and strengthening partnerships and networks, and providing advice of strategic value.

A powerhouse

The members of the Clinton Global Initiative have already made around 2,300 commitments in 180 countries. Altogether, these programs have been benefitting 400 million people. An estimate of all the commitments puts the collective value at more than US$73 billion.

Photo Credit: Clinton’s Global Initiative