Governing climate change: a multi-level approach to energy system transformation
Greifswald and Berlin | Germany
IKEM Academy 2015 brought together experts from 28 different countries to address today’s climate challenges from a multi-level policy and action perspective. Fighting climate change will require ambitious policy and coordinated interdisciplinary action at both international and local levels.
Around the world, governments are announcing ambitious targets to cut greenhouse gases, and record numbers of people around the world marched against climate change in the run-up to the 2014 Lima climate talks. The climate movement has gathered unprecedented momentum, and the need for action has never been more widely recognised. But will this global need for action translate into coherent, results-driven policy? What are the driving forces for the international community to reach a consensus – and, more importantly, what are the main obstacles? In the absence of an effective global framework, what opportunities are there for action at national, regional, and community levels? Can bottom-up approaches pick up the slack when top-down approaches fail?
Academy participants considered these and other questions over the six- day programme. The Academy was held in the coastal city of Greifswald from 19–21 July, and in Berlin from 21–24 July. In Greifswald, the Academy opened with a reception and, over the next few days, offered visits to key regional energy sites, like the decommissioned Lubmin nuclear plant, and toured of one of the largest wind energy farms in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. In Berlin, the Academy continued with a series of seminars on climate change, the energy system transformation, and international and local policy challenges.