Challenge Europe project

Challenge Europe at COP15: making the most of international networking

MEETING CARBON MASTERS: The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen lasted more than a week. The highlight for the British Council Climate Advocates was the day-long networking event on December 14. Our Climate Advocates got an opportunity to meet with 38 International Carbon Masters students from Edinburgh University and to hear from Scottish government ministers and experts what Scotland is doing to combat climate change.

The first part of the event was organised by the British Council in cooperation with Edinburgh University and brought together the Advocates and university students. Four Climate Advocates and four students showcased their project work and gave each other critical feedback. They then split into eight mixed groups to discuss questions related to the Jezersko Principles for Climate Action which in a nutshell are the priorities for climate change as formulated during the Climate camp, a networking event organised by the British Council in Slovenia in September 2009. The outcomes were then fed back to the whole group and also to the Scottish Climate Change Minister, Stewart Stevenson MSP. He also addressed the group on Scotland's ambitions regarding carbon emission reduction. The feedback was generally positive and Jeremy Mohr, President of Edinburgh University Carbon Masters Society said: "My highlight of COP15 was the Scottish Day - from the morning session right through the last presentation and drinks." Akos Lukac, Hungarian Climate Advocate, added: "I was very happy to meet the other Advocates and also the Champions from Asia, and all over the world; thanks to the British Council for organising us around the COP15. I think we had quite a big work done in Jezersko, same that the COP15 was trying to do, to reach agreement on climate change. So I checked the Jezersko Principles, and I would like to make everyone aware that some of the points were succesfully executed in Copenhagen. As a conclusion I think we have built very good capacities on global and Europan climate change topics in Jezersko, that I would emphasise as a success of all Advocates."

MEETING EXPERTS
The second part of the day gave Climate Advocates the chance to question ten Scottish experts. Two panel discussions concentrated on the topics of energy and climate justice. The first panel included the Climate Change Minister, the CEO of Scottish and Southern Energy, Ian Marchant, the Chief Executive of Scottish Business in the Community, Jane Wood, and the Executive Chair of Scottish European Green Energy Centre, Duncan Botting. The second panel allowed the Climate Advocates to hear from Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on climate justice and what civil society can do. The panel also included Duncan MacLaren, Head of Friends of the Earth Scotland and Professor Alan Millar, Chair of Scottish Human Rights Commission.
COP15 gave the Climate Advocates an opportunity to further discuss their projects with many climate change experts and it was also a great opportunity for spreading the word about the British Council’s work in the field of climate change.

Slovenian Climate Advocates introduced a competition to encourage employees to use bicycles instead of cars to get to work and in turn reduce CO2 emissions.