Regeneration agency Yorkshire Forward is set to join the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg later this month.

The organisation aims to bring back tips for the region's businesses.

Alice Owen, Yorkshire Forward's head of sustainable development, will fly to the South African city on August 27 as part of an international delegation.

She hopes to establish contacts with other businesses and organisations which can deliver sustainable development projects within the region and share best practice.

The event has been criticised because of the environmental cost of flying in more than 66,000 delegates.

Because of this Alice Owen has donated $65 to the summit's Legacy Programme to cover the 6.5 tonnes of CO2 emitted by her flight and stay.

The Legacy Programme aims to recoup the environmental cost of hosting the summit, money raised will be used in carbon-reducing projects across South Africa. Alice Owen says it is vital that Yorkshire and Humber learns lessons from the World Summit.

She said: "Our agenda will be to focus on delivering partnerships with governmental, non-governmental and sustainable business interests to invest in key projects within the region.

"We are looking for projects that can make best use of our environmental assets and partners who can deliver sustainable development projects.

"Businesses in the region will be able to find out more about what sustainable development means for them when we bring back lessons from the summit to our own regional conference."

She added: "The Trust's funds spent in the region will be matched by Yorkshire Forward, providing practical advice and capital grants to help reduce energy demand amongst the region's companies and disadvantaged communities.

"Similarly we are working with Envirowise to provide help and advice for companies to reduce their waste, increase recycling and pollution control."

Yorkshire Forward will hold an event on November 21 to at the Harrogate International Centre to talk about the lessons learned for the Summit.

For further information contact events@yorkshire-forward.com.