Henry Jackson Society - “Climate Change: The Road to Copenhagen”

  • 17 Nov 2009
  • 1:00 PM
  • Committee Room 16, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

“Climate Change: The Road to Copenhagen”

Larry Schweiger and Barbara Bramble

President and CEO and Director of International Affairs respectively of the U.S. National Wildlife Federation 

1-2pm, Tuesday 17th November 2009

Committee Room 16, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA 

To attend, please RSVP to george.grant@henryjacksonsociety.org

With a new leader in the White House, the world has looked to the United States to reverse its course of the past eight years and become actively engaged in addressing climate change. The recent Nobel Peace prize awarded to Barack Obama has given added weight to this call, in the run up to Copenhagen, to ensure a strong post-Kyoto international climate agreement. But will Obama get the law he wants passed before the Copenhagen summit, and will the meeting generate a new treaty?

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States’ largest conservation organisation, with over four million members and supporters. NWF works with a coalition of environmental groups around the world to push for the adoption of a new international climate change agreement at Copenhagen, under which all nations cooperate to avoid global warming.  NWF and its partners had an influential role in shaping the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which was passed in the US House of Representatives in May. NWF is currently working with its many partners in the environmental, faith and sporting communities to promote the passage of a strong climate bill in the US Senate.  The status of the bill in the Senate, as well as existing US energy and pollution laws, will be central to the position the US takes in Copenhagen. A successful agreement there will depend on maneuvering among high level officials on the two big issues of emission reduction targets and financing commitments to developing countries. The UK has taken measures to address climate change at a national level, with its own 2008 Climate Change Act; it is also active in the EU climate policy. Internationally, it has taken a leading role in calling for  an agreement at Copenhagen, and in international financing for developing countries to meet commitments to abating climate change. There is wide consensus that the US must be on board as the next phase of the climate agreement is shaped, but little clarity about how to navigate the shoals between US Senate and UN negotiations, which are on different timetables.

By kind invitation of Graham Stuart MP, the Henry Jackson Society is pleased to be able to invite you to a discussion with Larry Schweiger, President & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation and Barbara Bramble, Director of International Affairs at the National Wildlife Federation. Mr Schweiger and Ms Bramble will be discussing the latest developments in the US Senate and how this will impact negotiations in Copenhagen. They will be drawing on several years’ experience working at the very heart of the movement to address climate change and will be providing their own unique insights and experiences for what will prove to be a fascinating and extremely timely meeting.

TIME: 1-2pm

DATE: Tuesday 17th November 2009

VENUE: Committee Room 16, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA   

To attend, please RSVP to george.grant@henryjacksonsociety.org

Larry Schweiger is President and CEO of NWF. He also serves on the board of directors of the Alliance for Climate Protection. Prior to rejoining NWF, Mr Schweiger was president and CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and he was with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Earlier in his career, Schweiger headed the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee for the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In his recently published book, Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth, Mr Schweiger breaks down the science behind global climate change and takes us from Lake Erie to the icebergs of Greenland, and from Congress to America's classrooms and farmlands. He shares with us how the clean energy economy can provide the solutions we need to avert the worst consequences of global warming and he uses scientific facts and common sense to appeal to the minds and hearts of readers. Mr Schweiger has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Distinguished Service Award for Special Conservation Achievement from NWF in June 1995, and the Conservation Service Award from the Christian Environmental Association in September of the same year. He has led the NWF since March 2004.

Barbara Bramble founded and directed NWF’s International Affairs department, and over the past two decades has helped to place sustainable development, biodiversity conservation and other environmental issues in the centre of economic decision-making. She built international citizen campaigns to reform the environmental and social policies of international financial institutions such as the World Bank, and to advocate for international trade agreements that promote, rather than frustrate, sustainable development. In addition, Ms. Bramble has helped develop voluntary certification (“green label”) systems to promote sustainable forest and agriculture products and is currently the chair of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels. She served on the committee to organize the NGO Forum, one of the central events of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and then the Rio + 5 Conference in 1997. Ms. Bramble serves on the boards of several NGOs in Mexico, Brazil and the U.S. She is the immediate past chair of the Board of the (Forest Stewardship Council) of the U.S., which promotes responsible forest management through a respected certification system for timber and other forest products.

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