Why is social bookmarking useful?

Social bookmarking is an online service which allows you to save and
categorize website pages by tagging them with keywords and share them with
others.

It enables you to refer to your bookmarks in the future and view the
bookmarks of other people with similar interests.

Why is a RSS feed useful for me?

Subscribing to a RSS feed automatically keeps you up to date with newly
added content and enables you to choose when to check it. It is quicker
than revisiting the web page all the time and avoids you ever receiving
any emails alerting you of new content.

You need software called a "news reader" to subscribe to an RSS feed.
Most internet browsers will have a news reader already installed but if
yours does not then you will need to choose one that will work with your
computer.

When you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in
various ways, including by dragging the URL of the new feed into your news
reader or by cutting and pasting the URL as a new feed in your news
reader.

Unique Opportunity to influence the post-2012 agreement

This is a unique politically endorsed initiative that brings together key stakeholders in both the real and virtual world to contribute to and help shape the post 2012 climate change negotiations.

Background

The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.  If we are to have a new global agreement in place by the end of 2012 we need to reach agreement by 2009 at the latest to allow time for ratification and implementation.  The next 2 years are therefore critical for global action on climate change.  The critical steps to 2009 are the annual UN conferences on climate change that take place in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, Poznan, Poland in 2008 and Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.

The first critical step was Bali and it is here that we saw an agreement from all countries to begin inclusive and binding negotiations on a post-2012 framework, with a view to completing those negotiations by 2009. At Bali a communiqué developed as a result of this initiative was handed directly to Yvo de Boer, Chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, by Elliot Morley, President of GLOBE International.

Business and civil society do not have a seat at the formal UN negotiations.  And yet climate change is an issue that affects us all and, if we are to be successful in combating climate change, we all have a role to play.The Road to Copenhagen initiative was created in response to the need for business and key stakeholders to participate in and influence the process leading up to the post 2012 agreement beingadopted.

Road to Copenhagen Initiative

By invitation of EU Commission Vice President Margot Wallström, Club of Madrid, Globe Europe and Respect Table joined forces to create the Road to Copenhagen. The initiative builds upon the Global Leadership for Climate Action project launched in 2007 by the Club of Madrid and the United Nations Foundation and the ongoing work of GLOBE with legislators and Respect Table with the business community.

The aim of Road to Copenhagen is to ensure that business and other key stakeholders have a direct input into the post 2012 agreement process via inputs to the policy process at strategically important times.

We will achieve this through inviting open debate and editing of policy submissions, including top-level communiqués and detailed policy interventions on the key issues such as adaptation, technology, finance and mitigation via an interactive website.

The Road to Copenhagen initiative is hosted by EU Vice President Margot Wallström, Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Mary Robinson, Vice President of Club of Madrid and member of GLCA. They have decided to take the debate to the virtual world to ensure wider input and enable more interactive participation from stakeholders.

In the virtual world, their avatars host this interactive website and encourage users to participate. The website was launched on the 6 November 2007.  It was followed by a one-day conference in Brussels on the 23 November 2007 which was co-chaired by Margot Wallström, Gro Harlem Brundtland and Mary Robinson.

The website will continuously be developed, updated and will be online until the UN Conference in Copenhagen in 2009.

The key points at which we will be making inputs to the political process include:

Contact Us

We are looking forward to receiving your views and suggestions. To give us feedback or for more information please contact us.