UNA-UK Climate Change Conference 2008
UNA-UK held two free one-day conferences in 2008 to discuss climate change from an international, national and local perspective. These events helped to generate a critical mass of support and pressure in the UK for British leadership in the global fight against climate change.
Birmingham
The first conference took place on 7 June in Birmingham. This well-attended conference had a strong interactive focus, with plenty of Q&A sessions and workshops - find out more here.
Belfast
This conference took place on 6 November in Belfast. Specialist speaker sessions were complemented by networking breaks and a panel discussion on climate change in Northern Ireland. Find out about the conference here.
Aims & objectives
The conferences considered these questions:
1. What is the role of the United Nations in finding solutions to climate change and building resilience to its impacts?
2. Is the UK government doing enough to build a low-carbon economy?
3. What can individuals do to contribute to solutions?
The conferences aimed to:
- build support among the public and business community for immediate action by the UK government to promote the shift to a low-carbon, high-growth economy
- reconfigure climate change so that it is understood as not only an environmental problem but also a threat to security, health and prosperity
- make the case that climate change needs to be understood as both a significant economic threat and an enormous economic opportunity for small and medium businesses
- consider ways in which development strategies should be calibrated to encourage low-carbon, high-growth outcomes in developing countries
- highlight the changes needed to strengthen international institutional capacity for addressing climate change
Briefings
UNA-UK has produced a set of briefings to complement the conference series, which you can read here.