The Group of Eight (G8) was an inter-governmental political forum from 1997 until 2014. It had formed from incorporating Russia into the Group of Seven, or G7, and returned to its previous name after Russia was expelled in 2014.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became CEO of political consultancy Rasmussen Global and founded the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. He serves as a senior adviser to Citigroup. He also served as a senior advisor at The Boston Consulting Group.
In politics, a lame duck or outgoing politician is an elected official whose successor has already been elected or will be soon. An outgoing politician is often seen as having less influence with other politicians due to their limited time left in office. Conversely, a lame duck is free to make decisions that exercise the standard powers with little fear of consequence, such as issuing executive orders, pardons, or other controversial edicts. Lame duck politicians result from term limits, planned retirement, or electoral losses, and are especially noticeable where political systems build in a delay between the announcement of results and the taking of office by election winners. Even at the local level, politicians who do not seek re-election can lose credibility and influence. Uncompleted projects may fall to the wayside as their influence diminishes.
Charles Hendry is a British Conservative Party politician. Formerly the member of parliament for High Peak between the 1992 and 1997 general elections, he was returned as the MP for Wealden in 2001. In May 2010 he was appointed Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change and served until 2012. He stood down at the 2015 general election.
Green Alliance is a charity and independent think tank based in central London, United Kingdom (UK).
The Climate Group is a non-profit organisation that works with businesses and government leaders aiming to address climate change. The Group has programmes focusing on renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The 32nd G8 summit was held on 15–17 July 2006 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The venue was the Constantine Palace, which is located in Strelna on the Gulf of Finland. This was the first time Russia served as host nation for a G8 summit; and the nation's status as a full member of the G8 was confirmed.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of US$5.2 trillion (2023). The BIMSTEC member states – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – are among the countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal.
The Inter-American Dialogue, also known as the Dialogue or IAD, is a U.S.-based think tank in the field of international affairs primarily related to the Western Hemisphere. Headquartered in Washington, D.C it intends to "foster democratic governance, prosperity, and social equity in Latin America and the Caribbean". The Dialogue's research areas focus on the rule of law, education, migration, remittances, energy, climate change and extractive industries.
The Group of Eight + Five (G8+5) was an international group that consisted of the leaders of the heads of government from the G8 nations, plus the heads of government of the five leading emerging economies. In March 2014, Russia was cast out of the Group of 8 due to its involvement in the 2014 Crimea crisis in Ukraine, so the G8+5 in its original form is unlikely to reconvene with Russia present.
Jeremy Leggett is a British social entrepreneur and writer. He founded and was a board director of Solarcentury from 1997 to 2020, an international solar solutions company, and founded and was chair of SolarAid, a charity funded with 5% of Solarcentury's annual profits that helps solar-lighting entrepreneurs get started in Africa (2006–2020). SolarAid owns a retail brand SunnyMoney that was for a time Africa's top-seller of solar lighting, having sold well over a million solar lights, all profits recycled to the cause of eradicating the kerosene lantern from Africa.
The Elders is an international non-governmental organisation of public figures noted as senior statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates, who were brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007. They describe themselves as "independent global leaders working together for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet". The goal Mandela set for The Elders was to use their "almost 1,000 years of collective experience" to work on solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems such as climate change, HIV/AIDS, and poverty, as well as to "use their political independence to help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts".
Robert Nigel (Bob) Peirce is a British-American former diplomat, international policing consultant and author. Until July 2009 he was a British diplomat, serving as British Consul-General in Los Angeles. A former secretary for external affairs in the Hong Kong Government, he was a key negotiator with China on Hong Kong from the early 1980s through the handover in June 1997.
Strong foreign relations exist between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom. The Embassy of United Kingdom in Baku opened in 1992. The Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in London opened in 1994. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) was launched on March 28, 2009. The MEF is intended to facilitate a candid dialogue among major developed and developing economies, help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the December UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Denmark, in its capacity as the President of the December 2009 Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United Nations have also participated in this dialogue along with Observers.
José Luis Espinosa Piña is a Mexican politician—member of the National Action Party (PAN)—and current Director-General of the Latin American Institute of Educational Communication.
Avoided Deforestation Partners, or AD Partners, is a non-profit organization under the auspices of the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C. AD Partners is involved in the global effort to solve climate change by working to end deforestation in tropical rainforest countries. By avoiding the practice of deforestation, i.e., clearing forests to provide inexpensive farmland, the world gains the significant climate benefits of not releasing carbon into the atmosphere. In addition, avoiding deforestation also allows forests to sequester carbon and scrub the air of pollutants. Beyond protecting the Earth's air quality, tropical forests facilitate conditions for rain, replenish water sources, provide habitats for myriad plant and animal species, and sustain the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people globally. Leading scientists and economists say that ending deforestation is the most cost effective and scalable method of reducing greenhouse gases. In fact, they believe that ending deforestation will cut the timeframe for solving the climate crisis in half.
Arctic Circle is an organization founded by former President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, former Alaska Dispatch Publisher Alice Rogoff, former Premier of Greenland Kuupik Kleist and other partners. The organization's mission is to facilitate dialogue among political and business leaders, environmental experts, scientists, indigenous representatives, and other international stakeholders to address issues facing the Arctic as a result of climate change and melting sea ice. The Arctic Circle styles itself as an international organization with a Secretariat based in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Women Political Leaders (WPL) is a non-profit foundation that operates as a global network of female political leaders at national level, including the European Parliament, of whom there are currently around 9,000. WPL provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences and best practices between female political leaders who push for positive change for the world.
Polar Research and Policy Initiative, commonly known as PRPI or The Polar Connection, is an independent, international foreign policy think tank dedicated primarily to the Arctic, Nordic, Baltic and Antarctic regions, as well as energy and environment issues. PRPI is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and has an international presence across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, notably through the geographic distribution of its Fellows, Advisors and Affiliates. PRPI, operates principally in the international area and is committed to supporting sustainable regional development through multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral and multi-national dialogue and cooperation.
