Action for Climate Empowerment at COP21

Innovate4Climate|Leaders4Climate|Youth4Climate|Communication|Education
Action for Climate Empowerment at COP21
December 18, 2015

Young people today are growing up with effects of climate challenge and this immediate threat makes them more leaders of today rather than tomorrow.

Connect4Climate joined the UNFCCC to organize the Young and Future Generations Day on December 3. Youth were given space to add their voice to the negotiations at the morning launch, and during the flagship Intergenerational Inquiry with Christiana Figueres and Ahmad Alhendawi.

 

 

A number of other youth-focued events took place including the Connect4Climate-organized preview screening of the documentary “An Inconvenient Youth” in the German Pavilion, see the trailer below.

 

The film was introduced by Laura Tuck, World Bank Group Vice President for Sustainable Development, and was followed by a discussion on Creativity and Film for the Climate Movement with Kumi Naidoo, Bianca Jagger, Fernando Meirelles and young filmmaker Slater Jewell-Kemker, while Max Edkins moderated the discussion.

 

 

The Youth and Future Generations Day emphasized that “we cannot afford to fail this generation and future generations…nobody has the right to gamble with your future,” as stated by Ahmad Alhendawi. Throughout the day and for the rest of the conference about 500 young people wore Connect4Climate and UNFCCC T-shirts with the slogan “We Must, Can, Will Take Action Now,” encouraging the negotiators to reach an ambitious outcome.

Intergenerational Enquiry on Youth and Future Generations Day at COP21. Photo Credit: Max Thabiso Edkins

On December 4 we congratulated young leaders who submitted their videos to the UNFCCC challenge, as well as to the Connect4Climate/Vimeo Film a Day4Climate Action challenge, which received submissions from around the world. John Roome, Senior Director, Climate Change, World Bank Group, presented the awards and emphasized the need for young people to embrace climate change opportunities.

John Roome, Senior Director for Climate Change, World Bank Group, inspires young people to take on climate change and gives awards to winners Saraswati Upadhaya and Charles Batte. Photo Credit: Max Thabiso Edkins

Education, Outreach and Public Engagement

Connect4Climate joined the UNFCCC to organize the first ever Education Day on December 4 at a climate conference in support of Article 8 of the Paris agreement, to enhance climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information. The main message was that climate education is a fundamental pre-requisite to advance climate solutions to achieve a resilient, low-carbon future. Max Edkins presented the Connect4Climate strategy at the Non-formal Education side-event and announced Fiat Lux: Illuminating Our Common Home.

Connect4Climate presented as best-case study at UN Alliance Side Event on Non-Formal Climate Change Education and Innovative Approaches for Climate Change Learning. Photo Credit: UNFCCC

On December 8, a coalition convened by the World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate initiative presented a gift of contemporary public art entitled Fiat Lux: Illuminating our Common Home to Pope Francis on the opening day of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, to galvanize action and drive global attention to the importance of tackling climate change. The large-scale architectural public art installation was inspired by the themes of climate change, human dignity and the earth’s living creatures in the Encyclical “Laudato Si’” of Pope Francis. Programmed to coincide not only with the Jubilee, but also with COP21 in Paris, the historic occasion called on citizens of the world to join a global movement to protect our common home.

The cinematic event featured the work of some of the world’s most notable humanistic and nature photographers and filmmakers including Sebastião Salgado (Genesi and Contrasto), Joel Sartore (National Geographic Photo Ark), Yann Arthus Bertrand (Human), David Doubilet, Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson (Samsara), Howard Hall, Shawn Heinrichs, Greg Huglin, Chris Jordan, Steve McCurry, Paul Nicklen and Louie Schwartzberg. The projection is curated by Louie Psihoyos and Travis Threlkel, and produced by Obscura Digital. Francesco Carrozzini curated the Creative Direction for Connect4Climate. See the full experience on the Connect4Climate Vimeo channel.

 

Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group: "We are honored to be working with the Vatican to raise awareness of an issue so critical to our shared goal of ending extreme poverty. The poorest people in the world are disproportionately affected by the effects of a warming climate and are most vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme weather. This impressive initiative will draw global attention to the urgency of tackling climate change for the sake of people and our planet."

By December 9 the event had already reached 53 million impressions and 2.6K mentions and since then the event has been featured in all major news outlets. A BBC News video of it on Facebook already has more than 2 million views.

Film4Climate International Charter announced

With Connect4Climate's participation in the high-level Climate Change Communication Event on December 9 (see the recording here) we announced the Film4Climate International Charter.

The Charter has been in the making for a number of months and the emerging document is the result of lengthy discussions among film executives, film makers and film administrators at workshops and presentations around the world over the past two years, culminating in an international conference on November 25th in Paris organized by EcoProd, the environmental arm of the Ile de France Film Commission; CESAR, the Social, Economic and Environmental Council for the Ile de France and Connect4Climate.

High-level Climate Change Communication Event at COP21 with (R to L) Nick Nuttall, Kathleen Rogers, David de Rothschild, Bianca Jagger, Donald Ranvaud, Blanca Juti, Max Schorr and Angelique Kidjo. Photo Credit: Max Edkins

The aim is for the Charter to form the base for action in conjunction with COP 21 decisions where working groups will determine the details of how best to implement widespread ‘green’ production guidelines internationally, and also propagate further integration of sustainable lifestyle decisions into content and storylines.

“The document responds to a general feeling among the participants that it is something the industry can and should do universally to answer the challenges of climate change, while at the same time recognizing the importance of flexibility when t comes to specifics, specifics especially with regards to the vast differences in scale of production and regional or local customs and requirements” noted Donald Ranvaud, creative producer of Connect4Climate.

Climate Home video interview

At COP21 Max Edkins and Donald Ranvaud explained the #Youth4Climate and #Film4Climate initiatives of the Connect4Climate Program of the World Bank Group.

 

Connect4Climate is a World Bank Group Multi-Donor Trust Fund powered by Italy’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development that drives climate action through advocacy, partnerships, and creative communications.

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