Business involvement

These sustainable development pursuits will require investment and innovation, and it is here that business can play a role. "Technologies are generally conceived, developed, deployed and later bought and sold by business, not countries, so engagement with business will be crucial," said Stigson, who has decades of business experiences at a series of global companies, such as ABB and Flakt Group.

Since becoming president of WBCSD in 1995, he has been devoted to making it a platform for companies to explore sustainable development, share knowledge, experiences and best practices, and to advocate business positions on these issues in a variety of forums.

So far, three large Chinese companies - Sinopec, Baosteel and COSCO - have joined WBCSD. "That's not a good number, given China's economic size and compared with 68 from the European Union, 42 from North America and 24 from Japan (on the council)," he said, adding that the council was keen for more Chinese companies to sign up.

In addition to enhancing cooperation among members, the council has initiated low-carbon projects in various sectors to offer cooperation opportunities for businesses around the world, including Chinese companies.

He took the cement industry as an example. Demand for building materials is increasing globally along with urbanization, while producing cement also produces CO2, leading the cement industry to account for approximately 5 percent of current global man-made CO2 emissions.