The Enniscorthy Forum was established with support of the Irish government to advance the UN’s sustainable development agenda. It has a formal collaborative relationship with the UN Environment Programme focusing especially on buildings and the built environment to drive transformation to high performance at global scale, according to Geocase.

"Through the Forum’s Buildings Action Coalition (BAC), the Forum works with partners in leading universities and community-focused centers of excellence to educate, develop the workforce, and share policy options and best industry practices.

The BAC’s 2024 Summit is being held in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, 8 - 10 April. Speakers at the Summit will include Victor Kipiani, Chair of Geocase, a leading geopolitical research institution in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Dr. David Chikvaidze, a Geocase board member and former Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the Director-General at the United Nations Office at Geneva. On Monday, April 8, at 2 PM, Mr. Kipiani will speak on Headwinds to Sustainability in the South Caucasus, providing a status report on the challenges to sustainability policy facing Georgia and the South Caucasus region – geopolitical, economic, and social.

Mr. Kapiani’s address will shed light on the region-by-region diversity of obstacles to achieving global sustainability. He is joining Alliance to Save Energy President Lisa Glover, Penn State’s Architectural Engineering Department Head James Freihaut, the head of the Passive House Institute training department Susanne Winkel, Irish architectural firm MosArt’s managing director Tomas O’Leary, and Enniscorthy Forum Senior Advisor Scott Foster, former Director of Sustainable Energy at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, to explore developments in US and EU built environment policy and the practice and certification of building retrofit for high performance. On Tuesday, April 9 at 1 PM, Dr. Chikvaidze will speak on the Global Conditions for Action on Buildings and the Built Environment. Failure to achieve sustainability has been identified by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as an existential global threat.

Dr. Chikvaidze will explore how international conflicts, and failure of member states to harness the potential of the United Nations to resolve those conflicts, are distracting global policy makers from the collaboration required to reverse trends in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. He will be joined by Penn State Executive Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz who will address the meeting remotely from the United States on Knowledge and Action: Universities for a Sustainable Age," Geocase said in a statement.