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FACTS & FIGURES

Geneva became famous in 58 B.C. when Julius Caesar mentioned it in his De Bello Gallico. In 1815, after its liberation at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Geneva joined the Swiss Confederation. Situated 374 metres above sea level, Geneva is the capital of the one of the smallest cantons in Switzerland, with an area of 282 square kilometres. The canton of Geneva is home to around 440,000 inhabitants, the Genevans, most of whom are French-speakers. Situated in the heart of Europe, it is bordered by France to the North, West and South, and by the canton of Vaud to the East.

INTERNATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS

Horrified by the atrocities of the Battle of Solferino, the Geneva-born Henri Dunant founded the Red Cross in 1863 and inspired the 1864 Geneva Conventions, which set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. Since then, many more international or non-governmental organisations have chosen to establish their headquarters in Geneva. The United Nations (UN), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are but a few of the world-famous institutions that have their headquarters in the city at the end of the Lake.

Geneva is the epicentre of environmental institutions. For instance, the city is home to the International Environment House, which brings together several United Nations and volunteer organisations working to improve the state of the environment and economic development. It also hosts the headquarters of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Environment, Housing and Land Management Division and the Geneva Environment Network (GEN).

Furthermore, the Lake Geneva area is a dynamic, leading research centre on the environment. High quality institutes are based in the region, such as the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), the Lausanne Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE). Their leading experts and ambitious academic programmes make the Geneva basin a leader in the environment sector.

With so many environmental institutions based in the city, Geneva was a natural choice as host town for the Energy Pact Foundation. In addition to this environmental expertise, around a third of the oil consumed in the world is traded in Geneva, which is a major centre for natural resource trading. All these factors combined pointed to the fact that Geneva was the best place to launch the Energy Pact Conference.

To contact us :
info@energypact.org