Successful Transatlantic Media Dialogue Ahead of Copenhagen Climate Summit
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- Participants Alexander Ochs, Hans Jakob Eriksen, David Catarious and Michael Mehling
- (© Sören Haffer, Ecologic Institute)
From November 9 to 11, around 25 German and U.S. journalists and climate policy experts met at the Aspen Wye Conference Center on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to discuss the climate policy in Europe and the U.S. in view of the upcoming Copenhagen climate summit. The event was part of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge, and it not only aimed at providing journalists with the latest facts and figures on the summit but gave the participants the opportunity to exchange their views on the public debate in their respective countries, the status quo of the legislative process in Germany and the U.S., and the impact of climate change and respective policies on the economy and the international security, among others.
Short presentations by experts introduced the participants to various aspects of the challenges of climate change and climate policies. The presentations were followed by lively discussions among the German and US participants.
The climate policy expert of the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington provided an insight in the Danish perspective as host of the summit, and presentations on the German climate and energy policy and the status quo of the legislative progress on climate in the US Congress followed. They were complemented by analyses of their consequences for the success of the summit.
The consequences of climate change for international security, as well as the economic and financial impacts of the bills that are currently discussed in the US also played a major role in the discussions.
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- Participants on an excursion to the shore of the Chesapeake Bay
- (© Sören Haffer, Ecologic Institute)
The regional climate policies adopted in the US such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and existing fields of cooperation between decision makers on local and regional levels between the US and Germany were also among the topics discussed. Another subject that drew the attention of the participants was the role of the media and of non-governmental organizations in building public ecological awareness and discourse on environmental policy in society.
The seminar was complemented with an introduction to the ecological challenges of the Chesapeake Bay and the respective methods of resolution. The participants made an excursion to an ecological information center located on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay and to an agricultural research station. In addition, some interesting experiences from a regional adaption program at the German Baltic Sea coast that faces similar ecologic challenges as the Chesapeake Bay were presented.
Participants Report
Article by Monique A. Hitchings, Editor-in-Chief of FUEL
"Climate Change Economics; ‘Big Ticket’ Items for Copenhagen" [pdf, 453.35k]
Blog postings by Tom Schueneman, Editor/Publisher of GlobalWarmingisReal.com
