Road to Copenhagen and Beyond

Road to Copenhagen and Beyond was the umbrella-programme for GlobalFOCUS’ engagements leading up to COP-15 in December 2009. Sweden chaired the EU during the important climate negotiations in Copenhagen, making it particularly important for us, an organization with our roots in Sweden, to be actively involved in the proceedings. The project itself includes a wide range of initiatives – sub-projects that are lead by young climate entrepreneurs in our network. These include: Imagine, From Coal to Culture, Heroes of Our Time, Policy Task Force.


IMAGINE!
"Imagine!” is a global competition for climate entrepreneurs that present positive visions of a bright new future where people live rich and fruitful lives without harming the planet. The best visions for a sustainable future will be collected and presented primarily to media, politicians and climate negotiators. What is considered realistic today is certainly not what will take us to the world of tomorrow. 

From Coal to Culture
Climate change is a scientific fact, but a cultural, economic and social problem. Accordingly, solutions to climate change must also be found within the fields of culture, economy and social science. While the economical and social responses to climate change are at least beginning to be developed, the cultural responses to climate change remain underdeveloped. This project focuses climate and culture in two ways. The first is about involving the cultural sector in the run up to Copenhagen and using cultural expression as a tool to reach more people. The second is about looking in to what this sector will gain in the change from a coal-consuming society to a culture-consuming society. Who are the winners in the transition and what decisions are needed to take us there?


 Heroes of Our Time
This project will give you some of the brightest, most interesting and colorful ideas on how to stop global warming - and the people who brought them to action. We believe that the world is in need of great examples of people who can lead our way to a sustainable future. At the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen in December, we published a report with a selection of the extraordinary persons we have identified during the project.


Policy Task Force
The climate change discourse has evolved from being a subject mainly discussed from a scientific perspective to an issue of much wider interest. We need economics, social science, behavioral science, philosophy, statistics and many other disciplines to understand the strategies for change, and to be able to effectively implement them. In response to this need, we have gathered a group of students and climate entrepreneurs chosen for their expertise and diversity. During regular sessions, they will work as a think tank and share knowledge and ideas.



Project Leader: Caroline Matsson, Contact Info: caroline.matsson[at]globalfocus.net