THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION
A Review of the International Conference in Essen in June 2009
The impact of global climate change is not limited to specific areas of our lives. With its social, cultural, economic and psychological implications, climate change represents a shift towards a new era, which concerns all levels of the global community: markets and mindsets, global cooperations and democracy. To embrace this complexity three leading German research institutes (the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy) met in June 2009 with the support of Stiftung Mercator to discuss the issue at a three-day interdisciplinary conference, THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION – Climate Change as Cultural Change (Essen, 8 to 10 June 2009). The event was regarded as an important milestone in the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
Structure and Organization
Leading experts from the fields of science, politics and business broached four complex issues at the conference: the economics of climate change, global governance, cognitive dissonance (why don't we act on the basis of our knowledge?), and political participation. The four themes outline the depth and scope of the political and cultural change currently taking place in the global community: at its heart are the major issues of new market organizations, new forms of global governance, a profound shift in attitudes and a new culture of participation.
Speakers at the conference included Lord Anthony Giddens, former Director of the London School of Economics (LSE), Professor Klaus Töpfer, Deputy Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, USA, Professor Thomas Homer-Dixon, University of Waterloo, Canada, William Antholis, CEO of the Brookings Institution, USA, Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (CBE), Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, Deputy Director of the PIK, Co-Chair of the IPCC's Working Group III.
Objective
The objective of the conference was to provide scientists from different disciplines with the opportunity to meet international representatives of politics and business to discuss the depth and reach of climate change-related political and cultural change in global society.