EYL Alumni meeting – Climate action: talking the talk and walking the walk

Past event

Climate, Energy & Natural Resources

18Oct2019

starts 09:45

ends 14:30

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Summary

As young people around the world swap classrooms for street protest to demand action in response to the climate emergency, the incoming President of the European Commission has promised to make a Green Deal her top priority. Ursula von der Leyen says she’s heeding the voice of youth and aims to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent. She plans a European Climate Law to give legal certainty to the drive to carbon neutrality by 2050. The EC is talking the talk on climate, but can it walk the walk? The meeting of alumni from Friends of Europe’s European Young Leaders Programme focused on how to ensure the proposed Green Deal can be an effective tool, rather than just another bumper sticker. It examined how other public institutions, the private sector, civil society and us all as individuals can take action that works to save the planet from the ravages of climate change.

About

In yet another clear sign of the climate emergency we are facing, July 2019 has set a record as the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. As temperatures reached 46°C in France this summer, scientists report that Europe is warming even faster than climate models predicted. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns for an eventual sea level rise of more than four metres in the worst case, an outcome that would redraw the map of the world and harm billions of people. Even if heating is restricted to just 2°C, scientists expect the impact of sea level rise to cause several trillion dollars of damage a year, and result in many millions of migrants.

Meanwhile, the EU and national governments seem to be caught in another political vortex of the day and vested interests often reign supreme in boards of companies and legislatures. Brussels is at the forefront of talking the big talk on climate change, but cementing its rhetoric is often a tougher slog. Schoolchildren, on the other hand, are not looking away. Faced with personal carbon budgets a fraction the size of those of their parents and grandparents, they are taking to the streets in great numbers. While this generation seems more aware of the urgency of the situation and is impatiently waiting to take over leadership positions, they demand immediate action from the current leadership. The policy choices that will be made by the new EU mandate will profoundly impact the pace at which Europe chooses to deal with the climate urgency and will set an example world-wide.

Taking place three weeks after the UN Climate Action Summit, the European Young Leaders will engage in a reflection on turning individual commitments into extensive action. This Alumni Meeting offers an opportunity to not only talk the talk by identifying current problems, but will aim to also walk the walk by coming up with practical and achievable solutions with the help of scientific, legal and institutional experts.

This event is exclusively organised for our European Young Leaders

PHOTO CREDIT: Markus Spiske on Pexels

Schedule

10.15 11.15

Part I – From the Paris agreement to the green deal

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As the picture of a warming world becomes ever more bleak, this introductory session aims to explore where the Paris Agreement has brought us. Working from our Vision for Europe, what should be done to ensure that Ursula von der Leyen’s Green Deal becomes an effective instrument and not another bumper sticker slogan? What are the most important levers to spur governments into action?

Speaker

Daniela Jacob

Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5°C and Director of the Climate Service Center Germany

Facilitated by

Dharmendra Kanani

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Spokesperson of Friends of Europe

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11.15 12.00

Part II – Turning the tables with climate litigation

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All around the globe, citizens, investors and activist shareholders are increasingly pursuing climate litigation. The lawsuits, built around human rights and scientific evidence, are targeting governments and companies. What is climate change litigation contributing to the fight against global warming? Will lawsuits push companies to make climate protection a key component of their business strategy?

Speaker

Doug Ruley

Chief Counsel ClientEarth

Yui Kamikawa

Senior Manager for Global Sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company

Facilitated by

Dharmendra Kanani

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Spokesperson of Friends of Europe

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12.30 13.30

Part III – Rewriting the climate change narrative

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Chances are that when you think about climate change, you picture a distraught polar bear on an iceberg float. As many people don’t feel a close connection to polar bears, climate change can feel like a distant problem. However, a record seven million people were displaced from their homes in the first half of 2019 due to climate change-related disasters. What can be done to instil a personal connection to climate change in citizens and policymakers?

Speaker

Artur Runge-Metzger

Director for Climate Strategy, Governance and Emissions from Non-Trading Sectors at the European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action

Facilitated by

Dharmendra Kanani

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Spokesperson of Friends of Europe

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Speakers

Daniela is Director of the Climate Service Center Germany and visiting professor at Leuphana University, Faculty of Sustainability. She serves as a member of the European Commission’s Mission Board on ‘Adaptation to Climate Change including Societal Transformation’ and was one of the coordinating lead authors of the IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above preindustrial level and one of the lead authors of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Additionally, she serves as the Chair of the German Committee for Sustainability and she is a member of several other committees. Daniela is also Editor-in-Chief of ‘Climate Services’, a scientific journal she founded together with the Elsevier publishing house.

Yui is part of the Global Sustainability Team at The Coca-Cola Company, leading on climate change, climate risk and resilience strategy. He also works on strategy development and disclosure. Yui has a passion for innovation in the space of climate change, packaging and sustainability. He has worked in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America and has worked in The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling system for 7 years. He is based in London with a background in Engineering from Princeton University.

Doug joined ClientEarth as General Counsel in 2017, where he is responsible for ClientEarth’s programmes and for guiding and expanding ClientEarth’s successful public interest law practice in the EU and around the world. Doug has 30 years of experience in environmental law and litigation in the United States, which have included serving as a staff attorney for Earthjustice in Alaska, as managing attorney for the Asheville office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, as the Director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School, and as counsel to a private law firm. He has litigated many cases involving forests and biodiversity, marine resources, endangered species, transportation and land use, and air and water pollution.

Artur is Director at the European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action. His work ranges from international and EU climate strategy to EU domestic legislative initiatives related to households, land transport, waste, agriculture and forestry. Artur has been the Vice-President of the UNFCCC Bureau for two years and Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, preparing the Paris Agreement. He also has experience in DG Development and DG Environment, where he worked on a wide range of environmental issues, particularly climate change in developing countries.

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