The Enniscorthy Forum is a civil society non-profit organisation established in 2021 as a subsidiary of the Enniscorthy and District Chamber of Commerce to support the United Nations sustainable development agenda. The Forum works with locally-focused initiatives around the world to strengthen their global impact. The Enniscorthy Forum works to develop initiatives on sustainability in Buildings, Energy, Diplomacy, Education, and Health.

Buildings Action Coalition

As of 2023 the Enniscorthy Forum is coordinating several networks of actors working on buildings and the built environment and Forum has engaged in a close collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The Enniscorthy Forum applied for membership in the GlobalABC and, following a successful due diligence assessment and consideration by the GlobalABC Steering Committee, that application was approved. The substantial programme set forth by the Forum on buildings complements ongoing activities of the GlobalABC, notably in the areas of research, education, and community centric activities, and the co-chairs of the GlobalABC Steering Committee approved the signing of the MOU enthusiastically. The Forum’s work is conceived to UNEP hosts the Secretariat for the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), a voluntary partnership launched in 2015 and comprising national and local governments, inter- governmental organisations, businesses, associations, networks and think tanks committed to a common vision: a zero-emission, efficient and resilient buildings and construction sector. The GlobalABC brings together initiatives and actors focusing on the buildings and construction sector. The GlobalABC network currently includes over 130 members, among which are 29 countries. drive carbon emissions reduction and development in support of global quality of life aspirations with progress in the built environment through action oriented programs that:

• Recruit, develop and coordinate community-centric hubs to engage local professional and political ecosystems to advance the principles of high performance buildings

• Assemble knowledge, ideas, best practices, and data

• Disseminate new learnings and best practices globally

• Undertake financed projects to advance the concepts of high performance buildings

• Provide webinars, podcasts, conferences, symposia and tailored meetings. The Building Action Coalition is presented in fuller detail in its dedicated webpages on this site.

The Buildings Action Coalition is presented in fuller detail in its dedicated webpages on this site.

Energy Futures

Given that energy is the golden thread woven throughout the UN’s sustainable development agenda, the Enniscorthy Forum will launch its Energy Futures programme shortly to explore the strategic options available to the world’s energy industries and their clients. The exploration will be undertaken as a collaboration among recognised thought leaders and leading CEOs. Key challenges include addressing climate change, producing and using resources sustainably, protecting the natural environment, and delivering on quality of life aspirations globally. Complicating the challenges are the social and political implications of the transitions, since transforming the energy system could be extremely disruptive for traditional communities. Further complicating the challenges are the competing technology options that present a range of technical and economic performance profiles with possibly geopolitical consequences. In order to be supported at global scale despite the complications, transitions must be supported in national political processes.

In much of the developed world, energy transitions are focused on decarbonization to meet the challenge of climate change. The world has agreed to a broad objective of keeping temperature rises well below 2°C with an aspiration to limit them to 1.5°C. The world is struggling to deliver on its political commitments with real results as it tries to balance energy security, economic performance, and climate. Recent developments and current trends point to rapidly rising temperatures and the proximity of tipping points that put the world at serious risk of much higher temperatures and climatic catastrophes.

Further, most of the world’s population in both the developed and developing world may be concerned with climate change, but they have what they consider to be more pressing immediate concerns related to health, nutrition, and quality of life generally. For them the challenges of energy relate to availability, accessibility, security (including health), and affordability. Energy transitions are considered to present risks for employment, local economies, and even the social foundations of communities. As a consequence the pursuit of transformation is not at the scale or speed required to deliver meaningful results.

Traditional analytical and policy frameworks supporting technology and business model choices generally suffer from cognitive biases that lead to specific, self-promoting pathways – advancing renewables as THE solution to reducing the carbon intensities of the energy sector or supporting electric vehicles as THE decarbonized choice for mobility, and so forth. The perceived challenges on energy are availability, accessibility, security, affordability, employment, local economies, and social cohesion. In a post-COVID era overshadowed by war in Ukraine and deteriorating relations with Russia, supply-side options no longer guarantee energy security. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has led to significant concerns that oil and gas supplies could be at risk, and the world has rushed to replace the missing supplies. The conflict followed closely after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down human activity around the world. At the time of the pandemic there was a view that the world could benefit from a reprieve and had an opportunity to build back better notably with new ways of organizing life. Unfortunately, the world very quickly reverted to its pre-COVID-19 trajectory and appears to have lost sight of the opportunity with which it was presented. Juxtaposing the conflict with the lessons from the pandemic leads to a question if energy security is best delivered with supply-side options.

The Energy Futures programme will explore the range of short-term and longer-term policy, strategy, business model, and technology choices to deliver energy for sustainable development in its broadest conception considering economic, environmental, and social dimensions. The objective is to ensure consideration of agnostic and pragmatic approaches to support investment decisions that deliver real results. The Energy Futures programme explicitly places the demand for energy services at the heart of human activity. This approach differs substantially from other fora and analytical frameworks that are centered on energy supply.

The Energy Futures programme will have four elements:

1. Annual CEO Symposium – Providing outstanding briefings and peer-driven discussion exploring secular trends, strategic choices, and investment options.  The symposium will step over politically correct business models and decarbonization pathways to analyze the all-of-the-above realities of energy sources and technologies. The Energy Futures orientation looks beyond segmented analytics of security, supply and reliability to the end goal – customer  quality of life and how energy-based services can contribute.  The agenda will be prepared in consultation with participants and their staff, with provision made for follow-on exercises on strategic options of special interest.

 2. Energy Futures Annual Outlook – A world-class annual publication at the heart of the CEO Symposium and providing the foundation for strategic engagement.  The Energy Futures Outlook will explore energy systems of the future that are realistic, pragmatic, and open to technological options and effective pathways for delivering on the world’s development agenda while meeting the climate challenge.  The Energy Futures Outlook will explore both short- and long-term policy and technology options under alternative strategic scenarios, assessing demand and deliverables in energy services across the world economy.  The Energy Futures Outlook will offer novel perspectives for a new vision of global energy.

3. Market Seminars – Periodic roundtables on real-time market dynamics tailored to participants’ immediate and mid-term needs in planning for change.

4. Strategic Industry Advisory – Energy industries advisory programme providing strategic perspectives to companies based on assessments of markets, alternative strategic options, and opportunities for change tailored for senior decision makers, covering regulatory frameworks, market structures, proposals for change, and scenarios for the future.

Diplomacy, Education, and Health

The Enniscorthy Forum initiatives on diplomacy, education, and health are under development and will be presented in due course.

Staff

Robert Cavey

Senior Advisor

Board of Directors

Rita Martin

Bill O’Connor

Institutional Partners

Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction

Ongoing Engagements

Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Government of Ireland

United Nations Office at Geneva