A quick stop-over in the German capital is always worth it. Many participants of this year’s UN climate summit in neighbouring Poland are likely to do just that with the Dahrendorf Symposium taking place in Berlin on Thursday and Friday coinciding with the first week of the UN talks in Warsaw.

The Symposium strives to add fresh impetus to the ongoing climate negotiations asking how exactly Europe can keep spearheading the fight against climate change. Former Prime Ministers such as Italy’s Mario Monti or Ireleand’s Mary Robinson together with many other leading experts from academia, politics, and industry will be discussing how successful Europe really is in fighting climate change and the challenges lying ahead.
The Dahrendorf Symposium is a joint initiative of the Hertie School of Governance, the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as the German Mercator Foundation (Stiftung Mercator). The range of topics that will be discussed include:

• The reform of international negotiation standards and legal framework
• Europe’s strategy for climate protection after “Europe 2020”
• The potential of Europe’s cities as drivers of climate friendly behaviour
• New mechanisms of taxation and funding that could benefit economic growth as well as climate protection.

The Dahrendorf Symposium, which is hosted every two years, is taking place at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste on November 14 and 15. Founded in 2011 in the spirit of Lord Ralf Dahrendorf, the organizers say, it aims to challenge entrenched patterns of thought and argument on the future of Europe.

You can find further information about the Dahrendorf Symposium on the conference website and in the programme.

Watch a short introduction to the Dahrendorf Symposium in the conference’s very own trailer:

Author: Kerstin Schnatz

They are infamous, a great way to meet new people and loved even by state delegates: The parties of civil society groups during the yearly climate summits.
This year’s party took place on a beach in the middle of the desert, about an hour’s drive away from Doha. We went there to soak up the atmosphere as well as for some late night networking.