A meeting to help the private sector ‘raise ambitions’ for climate resilience is being hosted by the Chamber of Commerce today.

Chamber chief executive Rebecca Tavioni said participants would receive a greater understanding of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) project development processes.

The GCF is a global fund created by the United Nations to assist countries adapt and mitigate to climate change.

“The impact the private sector has on achieving the Cook Islands National Sustainable Development Goals is substantial,” Tavioni said.

“The Chamber has focused on how the private sector can tap into funding sources through GCF.

“The purpose of this workshop is not only to raise awareness of the activities currently undertaken in the country but also to discuss two concept notes Chamber has drafted to progress into full pledged projects targeted at Cook Islands businesses.

“This workshop is an opportunity for us to gain some key insights from our stakeholders.”

Director for Climate Change Cook Islands, Wayne King will speak at the event along with Kelvin Passfield from non-governmental environmental group Te Ipukarea Society.

Tim Meyer, manager of Motu Villas, and owner of Circle Cook Islands Sabine Janneck will also speak at the event on how their business operates with an environment friendly approach.

King said he was interested in identifying how the private sector and the public sector could work better together to implement climate change projects.

“The workshop in my mind is one way of starting to identify those key areas,” he said.

“Climate change affects everyone of us, it’s not just affecting the government, or the private sector or just community groups, it’s everyone. So collectively we need to be able to address climate change in different areas.”

King said Climate Change Cook Islands was working on upgrading buildings to be resilient to cyclones. To do this it would need the private sectors participation in leading the building project.

He said this was an example of how the public and private sector needed to work together on climate change related issues.

King said he thought the private sector was in the stage of better understanding the impacts of climate change.

“They know the impact of what could happen, they’ve seen it in first hand evidence in fact in the last month or so.”