More than ninety people, including scientists, policy-makers, negotiators, campaigners, and corporate leaders, participated in a five-hour conversation aimed at bringing the essential questions for the negotiations on climate change to the fore.
 
The Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 is one of the most important negotiations in modern history. The challenges and obstacles that face the negotiators are daunting. These stem partly from the overwhelming complexity of the subject matters involved (ranging from climate science and ecosystem interdependencies to the intricacies of financial instruments and legal frameworks), but also from the conflicts of interests and opposing positions. The agenda for the Copenhagen summit may be climate change, but the outcome of the negotiations will have far-reaching implications for managing other sustainability-related challenges.

This was the starting point of the Tällberg Conversation in Washington DC on 16 October 2008 at the House of Sweden, organized by the Tällberg Foundation in co-operation with the Embassy of Sweden, building on this summer’s Tällberg Forum, and the Tällberg Foundation’s on-going projects in the field.
 
Ambassador Jonas Hafström opened the program pointing to Sweden’s role as EU President next fall. Bo Ekman, chairman of the Tällberg Foundation then set the stage by challenging the Copenhagen process: were the right questions being asked.

Tällberg resident Hans Jensen and the new mayor of Leksand, Ulrika Liljeberg, then brought the global climate issue into concrete local perspectives, the mayor adding:"What we do locally matters globally".

Johan Rockström, director of Stockholm Environment Institute, then presented the current findings on the new Planetary Boundaries concept of abrupt human induced global environmental change. Rockström clearly showed how climate is just one several “boundary conditions” that pose catastrophic threats to life on Earth, conditions not yet part of the Copenhagen process.

Andrew Jones of the Sustainability Institute presented the climate simulation tool that they have developed with MIT to help professional negotiators and lay people grasp the scale of greenhouse gas reductions are required to meet specific targets: 550, 450 and 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. The exercise provided both the understanding that massive reductions are in order, but also revealed a critical deviation of approaches to the necessary solution, when Dr. James Hansen, director of NASA GISS, voiced his criticism of the “percentage/year” approach versus targeting the fossil fuel source, ie. coal. The various percentage plans, such 80% by 2050, are recipes for disaster, in his opinion. A moratorium on new coal power plants and phase out of all coal by 2030 would be the only effective means to keep CO2 levels under 450 ppm.

The heart of the conversation was a two hour panel with Hansen, Rockström, Christine Loh the CEO of Civic Exchange in Hong Kong, Martin Lees, Secretary General of the Club of Rome and Robert W. Corell, director of the Global Change Program, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, moderated by Alexander Crawford of the Tällberg Foundation. The talk was preceded by a video update on the negotiations by Anders Wijkman, MEP.

The discussion cited the need for a new kind of conversation on climate, from the local to the global, integrating both social and whole ecosystem realities into the debate. The need to get beyond the science itself and into the mainstream cultural consciousness, side by side with economics and other immediate concerns. In addition, how can China and the US enter into a new level of discussion and engagement?

The event concluded with remarks from Jeremy Osborne from 350.org who told his story of grassroots mobilization in the US and now around the world. Bo Ekman then closed the afternoon on a thoughtfully concerned note that we must stay with the “bad news” in order to understand fully the whole systems problem we need to face and resolve together.

As always in a Tällberg event, the session was preceded by an outing into nature, a walk on Theodore Roosevelt Island, a national park just across the Potomac from the House of Sweden, and punctuated by Swedish folk music played fiddlers from Minnesota.

The afternoon at the House of Sweden was lauded by the chairman on America’s largest climate action movement – OneSky – as the finest she had participated in, and it served to reinforce the insight that large-scale systems change comes through well-crafted conversations that stimulate unplanned meetings between people leading to new ideas and action.

Thursday, October 16: The program in pdf

11:00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.	NATURE WALK (OPTIONAL) Theodore Roosevelt Island National Park -          Jim Wine, Tällberg Foundation (Including light lunch and transport back to House of Sweden)
from 1.00 p.m.	Registration and coffee Before entering Nobel Hall
1:30 p.m.	WELCOME and INTRODUCTION Welcome (with music) -          Jonas Hafström, Ambassador of Sweden to the US -          Bo Ekman, Chairman, Tällberg Foundation, Sweden
1.50 p.m.	THE VIEW FROM TÄLLBERG -          Hans Jensen, Village of Tällberg, Sweden -          Ulrika Liljeberg, Mayor of Leksand, Sweden
2.00 p.m.	OUR PLANETARY BOUNDARIES -          Johan Rockström, Director, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden
2.20 p.m.	AN UPDATE ON THE CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS -          Anders Wijkman, Member of the European Parliament, Sweden VIDEO,
2.30 p.m.	“COPENHAGEN CLIMATE EXERCIZE” – understanding climate negotiations -          Introduced by Robert W. Corell, Director Global Change Program, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, US -          Facilitated by Andrew P. Jones, Sustainability Institute and Tom Fiddaman, Ventana Systems and Alexander Crawford, Tällberg Foundation
3.30 p.m.	Break, coffee
4.00 p.m.	STATING THE PROBLEM – Panel conversation -          James Hansen, Director, NASA GISS, US -          Martin Lees, Rector Emeritus, University for Peace, Costa Rica -          Christine Loh, CEO, Civic Exchange, Hong Kong, China -          Johan Rockström, Director, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden -          Moderated by Alexander Crawford, Tällberg Foundation (includes Q&A)
5.15 p.m.	Conversations around round tables
6.00 p.m.	Concluding reflections -          Robert W. Corell, Director Global Change Program, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, US -          Bo Ekman, founder, Tällberg Foundation, Sweden -          Jeremy Osborn, coordinator, 350.org -          (Music)
6.30 p.m.	Session concludes
Followed by	Reception at the House of Sweden (outside Nobel Hall)