PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International Herald Tribune (IHT) announced today the prime minister of Portugal, H. E. José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, will open the IHT Global Clean Energy Forum, taking place at the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon on September 30 and October 1, 2010.

Jointly convened with Diário Económico, this prestigious international conference will bring together heads of industry, financiers, policy makers and thought leaders from around the world to discuss the future financing of leading-edge technology and the current status of the global clean energy race in the buildup to COP 16, the United Nations climate change conference.

Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, publisher of the IHT, said, “Our award-winning Business of Green series connects the dots and exposes the divides between government policy and business needs in the world of clean energy, so it was a logical step to bring together the most influential business and policy leaders to debate the critical issues face to face. Portugal has often taken a leading position in clean energy policy, making Lisbon a great place to host this exciting international event.”

To ensure a wide spectrum of renewable and clean energy thinking and expertise, the two-day program features 45 speakers from the highest echelons of government and business, including:

• Yvo de Boer, former executive secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency
• Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Jeremy Rifkin, founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends
• Tulsi Tanti, chairman and managing director of Suzlon
• José Manuel Entrecanales, chairman and C.E.O. of Acciona
• Ola Alterå, State Secretary to the Minister for Enterprise and Energy, Sweden
• Lord Browne of Madingley, managing director of Riverstone Holdings
• Philip Lowe, director-general of the Energy DG, European Commission
• Fritz Vahrenholt, C.E.O. of RWE Innogy
• Shai Weiss, founding partner, Virgin Green Fund
• Gerhard Knies, director of DESERTEC

Devised with input from an advisory board of industry experts, the program for the IHT Global Clean Energy Forum includes panel debates addressing pertinent questions, such as:

• What is the true market potential for renewable energy?
• How quickly is renewable energy technology developing and how fast are costs falling?
• Where does nuclear fit in the future energy mix?
• In the absence of a global carbon price, can renewables ever compete commercially?
• Who are the leaders in renewable energy and who are the laggards?
• What sort of outcome should be anticipated from COP 16?

For full details of the speaker lineup and session topics go to IHTcleanenergy.com.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About the International Herald Tribune (global.nytimes.com)

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) is the premier international newspaper for opinion leaders and decision-makers around the globe. It combines the extensive resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times, is printed at 38 sites throughout the world and is for sale in more than 180 countries. Based in Paris since 1887, the IHT is owned by The New York Times Company. For more information about the IHT, visit ihtinfo.com.

About The New York Times Company (nytco.com)

The New York Times Company, a leading media company with 2009 revenues of $2.4 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

Diário Económico (http://economico.sapo.pt)

Diário Económico is a leader in the Portuguese economic information market and is a brand which has transcended the limits of its print edition and has become a guarantee of content excellence in different distribution platforms and in different dimensions, seeking to respond to the needs of its clients. The present and future development of this project is underpinned by a pioneering history of success going back more than two decades.

Diário Económico has extended its influence from the press to the Internet with its innovative site which has asserted itself as a true information aggregator. It then moved into television with the setting-up of a corporate television and the project by Económico TV, the first Portuguese television channel dedicated to economic and political information.