Via electronic mail
May 11, 2015
Walmart
702 S.W. 8th St.
Bentonville, AK 72716
Dear ,
We are delighted to invite you to participate in the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Governors’ Climate and
Forests Task Force (GCF) in Barcelona, Spain from June 15 – 18, 2015. The GCF is a unique subnational
collaboration between 26 states and provinces from Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Spain, and the
United States that seeks to advance jurisdictional programs for REDD+ and low emissions development and
link these programs with emerging greenhouse gas (GHG) compliance regimes, pay-for-performance
opportunities and private sector initiatives.
This year’s meeting will focus on new pathways and partnerships for the GCF members and stakeholders,
with particular attention to private sector actors and sustainable supply chain initiatives. Many of our
members have deep interest in crafting jurisdiction-wide strategies to improve agricultural production,
promote sustainable supply chains, reduce deforestation and enhance livelihoods.
At the GCF’s annual meeting last year in Rio Branco, Brazil GCF members signed a commitment to reduce
deforestation by 80% in their states and provinces by 2020, pending long-term support. One of the pillars of
the “Rio Branco Declaration” is a firm commitment to work with private sector actors to create
jurisdictional-level partnerships that reduce the impact of commodity supply chains on forested landscapes.
This year’s meeting will focus on concrete activities to implement the declaration. Your perspective and
experience would greatly enrich these important conversations and strategy sessions.
As you can see in the attached agenda, on June 16th we will have a closed session on Private Sector
Partnerships and Supply Chain Sustainability. We are inviting a select group of leading companies and
would be delighted to have Walmart at the table.
This will be a working session aimed at facilitating dialogue between the GCF member jurisdictions and
private sector representatives. Our hope is that the dialogue will identify challenges of opportunities as well
as concrete pathways for possible partnerships between early mover jurisdictions and companies.
This discussion will inform the high-level plenary session on the 17th of June, which will include Governors,
national Ministers, private sector representatives, and Indigenous People’s organizations. This will be
followed by panel discussions during the afternoon of June 17th and the morning of June 18th on various
topics, including possible synergies between jurisdictional approaches, low emissions development and
sustainable supply chain initiatives. We hope very much that you will join us and that this will be the start of
a productive dialogue and relationship between Walmart and the GCF.
We would be happy to provide additional information and assistance on registration and logistics.
Information is also available on our website: www.gcftaskforce.org.
Thank you very much for considering this invitation. We hope to see you in Barcelona!
Sincerely,
William Boyd
GCF Project Lead
Colleen Scanlan Lyons
GCF Project Director
Private Sector Participation Opportunities:
Tuesday, June 16th: Invitation-only, closed-door working session during the GCF business meeting to unite
GCF members with select private sector actors. This session will focus on the benefits and impact of a
jurisdictional approach, select cases in Brazil and Indonesia, barriers to and opportunities for public-private
partnerships, and crucial next steps for sustainable supply management and preferential sourcing
Tuesday, June 16th: Evening cocktail and welcome reception with GCF Governors and representatives from
Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Indonesia, the United States (California), Nigeria, and Spain
Wednesday, June 17th: High-level plenary session with GCF Governors, Ministerial Representatives from
Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and other European countries focusing on the Rio Branco
Declaration implementation steps, including supply chain management
Thursday, June 18th: Public panel on “New Partnerships to Promote Low Emissions Development by
Jurisdictions & Supply Chain Actors”
Thursday, June 18th: World Café for GCF stakeholders from the private sector and civil society and closing
banquet