DURHAM, N.C. – Deborah Rigling Gallagher, assistant professor of the practice of resource and environmental policy at 91’s Nicholas School of the Environment, will attend the United Nations Global Leaders Summit, June 23-25 in New York City, at which a new Web-based strategy for corporate sustainability, developed by Nicholas School students and faculty, will be presented.

More than 1,000 leaders from government, business, academia and nonprofit organizations have been invited to attend the summit, which will be chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The strategy developed by Gallagher and her team employs a Web-based interface to provide high-level corporate managers and CEOs with access to essential information they need to incorporate stewardship practices and policies into their businesses’ organizational value chain. The practices and policies shared through the interface will help businesses identify “robust, actionable” solutions to address key environmental issues such as climate change, water, energy and ecosystems conservation, Gallagher says. “It is designed to be a living, breathing resource for businesses across the globe.

“We hope that following its introduction at the summit, leaders will come to the website to seek information and take advantage of opportunities to network with other leaders in developing strategies to address critical environmental issues, such as climate change, biodiversity and water resource protection,” she says.

The strategy is posted on a website, , hosted by Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. It integrates insights from a series of webinars organized by the UN with assistance from Dan Vermeer, executive director of the Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and from detailed interviews with key firms and a survey of a broader group of UN “Caring for Climate” signatories.

Gallagher and her team first presented their work at a UN meeting in April in Geneva, Switzerland, where more than 150 climate experts, corporate practitioners and civil leaders from around the globe shared cutting-edge practices for managing risks and taking advantage of opportunities associated with climate change. Gallagher’s team refined the strategy and website based on input from the meeting.

Five Nicholas School Master of Environmental Management (MEM) students or 2010 graduates have worked with Gallagher on the project. They are Beth Boomgard, David Gordon, Hua Fan, Matt Jengsen and Martin Romero-Wolf.