At the climate conference in Bali in December 2007, countries agreed to create a new global climate agreement by the end of 2009, when international climate negotiators will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark.  This deadline presents a significant challenge for climate policy leaders, particularly those in the United States, given the new U.S. President will not take office until the beginning of 2009 and the U.S. Congress might not pass a comprehensive program to limit emissions causing climate change before the 2009 conference in Copenhagen.

The July meetings hosted by GMF offered European climate policy leaders insights into the status of the American climate policy debate on Capitol Hill and what to expect from a new U.S. administration during the international climate negotiations in 2009 and beyond.   The meetings also provided the European climate negotiators the opportunity to share their views with leaders in the U.S. climate policy community relating to top negotiation issues that need resolution to reach agreement on a new international climate framework.

These events represent the first in a series of transatlantic discussions that GMF plans to facilitate to help link climate policy experts in Europe to those in the United States to develop a common vision on key elements of a global climate deal and to strengthen transatlantic cooperation to find solutions to climate change.

The list of senior European policy-makers who participate in the GMF climate dialogue meetings in July is provided below. 

To supplement the meetings, GMF's Climate & Energy Program Director Cathleen Kelly sat down with three of the European climate negotiators to discuss the state of the climate negotiations, a new U.S. administration stance on climate change come 2009, and what needs to be on the table at the next exchange in Copenhagen. The participants included Michael Starbaek Christiansen, Senior Adviser on Climate Change in the Office of the Danish Prime Minister; Gloria Visconti, Chief of Staff for the Director General of the Italian Ministry of Environment; and Dr. Karsten Sach, Deputy Director General of International Cooperation at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety.

European Participants:

Mr. Peter Betts, Director of International Climate Change, Department for Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs, United Kingdom

Mr. Georg Borsting, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Environment, Norway

Mr. Hans Jakob Erikson, Special Advisor to the Minister, Danish Ministry of the Climate and Energy

Mr. Mariano Morazzo, Senior Negotiator, Climate Unit, Ministry of the Environment, Italy

Dr. Karsten Sach, Deputy Director General, International Cooperation, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, Germany

Mr. Artur Runge-Metzger, Head of Unit, Climate Strategy, International Negotiations, and Monitoring EU Action, the European Commission

Mr. Michael Starbaek Christensen, Senior Advisor, Prime Minister's Office, Denmark

Mr. Anders Turesson, Deputy Head of Swedish Climate Delegation, Senior Advisor to the Swedish Ministry of Environment

Antoine Michon, Political Counselor, Embassy of France

Ms. Gloria Visconti, Chief of Staff for the Director General, Environment Ministry, Italy