On November 1, 2016, ASPI President Kevin Rudd delivered the plenary address at the 2016 Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Conference, calling for bold leadership to tackle climate change. Following his address, Rudd answered live questions from conference participants and from Twitter.

In his address, Rudd touched on the need for climate finance, warning that "without finance, effective action on climate change is a dead letter." He also pointed out that "China has moved from the margins to the absolute center of everything, every major policy question in the world, not least of which is climate change." Therefore, Rudd argued, if the world is concerned about climate change and the future of global sustainability, "China has to be the place where you begin." (42. min., 34 sec.)