Call for Action

Organizing a decentral climate conference of civil society in Berlin

When if not now? Where if not here? Who if not us? For a decentral, self-organised climate conference of people & projects in Berlin in November 2017 (parallel zur Weltklimakonferenz COP23 in Bonn)

Two crises of climate are most worrying and fueling each other. There is accelerating global warming, endangering the very possibility of good life for all in the earth’s ecosystem. Then there is our social climate, which also seems far from getting better. It seems like the world is moving away from democracy, sustainability and solidarity. It seems like it’s time for us as civil society to accelerate and intensify our own actions. What can we do here in Berlin?

In Berlin in 1995, the first annual world climate conference, the Conference of Parties (COP1), took place. Governments decided to kick-off a process to accelerate and intensify the global response to climate change. They agreed that their commitments so far were inadequate. In a decision known as the “Berlin Mandate”, they agreed to establish a process to negotiate strengthened commitments for developed countries. 23 years later, actions of governments are still inadequate. Also, the city of Berlin, a major progressive capital, is not doing enough. This year, we call for our fellow neighbors & local projects in Berlin to join co-creating the first annual climate conference of civil society in Berlin, the Conference of Berlin (COB1).

For sure, we don’t need years of negotiations. Many of us already are active for social-ecological change in various ways and many of our initiatives show that our ideas and solutions are functioning here and now. The question is: How can we catalyze broader action, move things forward and step up to multiple climate challenges? Let’s take some time – individually and collectively – to reflect, exchange, learn, strategize next steps and kick-off the process for a local leap towards sustainability. We hope that when we come together in 23 years at COB23, we can celebrate that our actions now contributed to building an inspiring example of a city’s inhabitants coming together, and helped unfolding our creativity, courage and collaboration. Let’s change the climate in Berlin and beyond!


Let us know if your project/organization would like to join: cob1@riseup.net