Obama to lead climate change conference in Porto

Former US president Barack Obama will lead a conference on climate change in Porto on 6 July, which aims to unite the wine industry in a collaborative approach towards tackling climate change.

Former US President Barack Obama will be a keynote speaker at the Climate Change Leadership Summit in Porto in July

Taking place at the Coliseu Porto Ageas on 6 July, Obama will headline the Climate Change Leadership Summit and will take to the stage at 3pm to speak on the impacts and challenges of climate change around the world.

Organised by Pancho Campo, also speaking at the conference is Irina Bokova, former director general of UNSECO, who will speak on how climate change is affecting World Heritage Sites and what can be done to protect them.

The setting of the conference in Porto is apt, as it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Nobel Peace Prize winner of professor of sustainable development Mohan Munasinghe will open the summit with a speech on tangible solutions to climate change.

Campo describes the summit as a “call to action” that “intends to unite the wine industry worldwide to help wineries start their journey towards helping solve climate change or advancing their ongoing initiatives”.

The summit will take place in Porto in Portugal, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

During the summit attendees will have the chance to sign the ‘Porto Protocol’ – a written commitment that the wine industry will work harder and more collaboratively towards tackling climate change.

In addition to Campo, a number of other companies have been involved in organising the conference, including Port house Taylor’s and the Advanced Leadership Foundation.

“We want to talk to people about the solutions to climate change, not just the problems.

“We all have a responsibility towards tackling climate change and I think the wine industry should play a leading role,” Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership, told db.

“Wine is the only real branded agricultural industry left on a broad scale and the industry is in a unique position as it talks directly to consumers who care about environmental issues and the fact that we’re making a natural product,” he added.

The summit will be followed by a solutions conference in March 2019, and Bridge says he’s “not ruling out Al Gore” as a speaker.

As for how much Obama’s fee was to speak at the conference, Bridge said: “He recently signed a $65 million book deal, so this wasn’t about the money; he cares passionately about climate change.”

In Obama’s State of the Union Address on 20 January 2015, he spoke candidly about the issue of climate change, saying: “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change”.

“I don’t want to get paralysed by the magnitude of this thing. I’m a big believer that imagination can solve problems,” he added.