The Carbon Show 2011 will open with a keynote address from Lord Heseltine, Chairman, Haymarket Group. Speaking at last year's event, Lord Heseltine remarked that "The Carbon Show is well timed. Now more than ever it is critical that business leaders commit to revolutionising their organisations to ensure they can compete in the future low-carbon market place."

Lord Heseltine will be joined by Yvo de Boer, Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability, KPMG, Andrew Miller MP, Chair, Science and Technology Select Committee, and Dr. Laura Altinger, Advisor, Climate change and green economy, United Nations.

Prior to joining KPMG, Mr de Boer was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - the body responsible for a multi-lateral response to the climate change challenge. He has also held the positions of Director for International Affairs of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of the Netherlands, Deputy Director-General for Environmental Protection in the same Ministry, worked for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT) and has worked in the fields of housing and public information.

Andrew Miller MP began his career as a technician in geology at the Portsmouth Polytechnic, where he developed an XRF and XRD laboratory.  He then moved into industrial relations and was an official for the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union where he represented many scientists and engineers working in leading companies from 1977 until he was elected to Parliament in 1992.

As Labour Member of Parliament for Ellesmere Port and Neston, Mr Miller represents just under  70,000 electors.  As well as dealing with numerous widely diverse issues at constituency level, Mr Miller is also Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee; Chair of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee; Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (PITCOM) and a Member of the Liaison Committee.  Between 1992 and 2001 he was also a member of the House of Commons Information Committee and has served on many other parliamentary committees.

Laura Altinger is an advisor on climate change and green economy in the Office of the Director of the Environment, Housing and Land Management Division at UNECE. She joined UNECE in September 2000 after the completion of her ph.D in Economics. She has held positions in the World Economic Forum and developed the first Humanitarian Response Index, an initiative supported by Kofi Annan, which benchmarked humanitarian donors.

A significant breakthrough in climate change negotiations and national action needs to happen now in order to start confronting the enormous challenges posed by global warming. However, as the international climate talks continue to be dogged by political infighting, the time has come for business to tackle these environmental issues head on. From the small company that understands the need to use natural resources more efficiently, to the giant corporation that wants to take advantage of emerging green technologies – business needs to taking notice that to succeed in the 21st century it will need to be able to perform in a more carbon-constrained world.

This panel will address the critical steps that need to be taken in order for businesses to fully commit to sustainability and guarantee a low carbon future.