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Crown Prince Haakon today kicked off  the CC9 International Climate Change conference, which was jointly arranged by the Club de Madrid, the Norwegian ulitity Hafslund ASA, and Bellona.

Haakon spoke in his opening words about a trip he had recently taken to Greenland, where fishermen know the effects of climate change first hand.

“Because of the melting ice, the fish have changed their habitats and moved to new areas,” said Haakon.

“But in the Arctic, we see not only the consequences, but we can also find some of the answers to how the climate develops,” he added.

What will the future look like?
[picture1 left] Haakon spoke futher about the challenges of finding the best possible solutions based on technologies that already exists.

“What will the further look like? I think we have much to look forward to. Many new jobs, and cars will use electricity or other forms of renewable energy,” said Haakon. “This is a future I look forward to giving to my children and grandchildren.”

Input for Copenhagen
The CC9 conference will be taking place Thursday and Firday in Sarpsborg, Norway, and is entitled “Green Technology and Finance – Striking a Fair Climate Deal”. The goal of the conference is to contribute concrete suggestions to a proper climate agreement in Copenhagen that is hoped to be reached in negotiations in September. These suggestions will include putting weight on the spread of climate technologies, and financing the fight against global climate change in poorer countries.
 [picture2 right] A Children’s Climate Call will also be laid forth, said Herman Furberg on behalf of the students at Oslo’s International School.

“We represent the children who cannot vote or decide,” he said, and challenged politicians to have the courage to make decisions that are not necessarily popular for the benefit of the climate.

“We know it is complicated to make unpopular decisions, but those of you who do nothing now will be even more unpopular to the next generation,” Furberg said. “So, please, do something now.”

What has happened since last year
In his introductory remarks, Bellona President Frederic Hauge spoke of what had been accomplished since last year’s CC8 climate conference, where Bellona put forth is scenario for the future.

“Since the conference last year, Bellona has worked hard to take our scenario even further to a carbon negative by combining carbon capture and storage and biomass,” said Hauge. (Read Bellona’s scenario here).

“To fight global warming and poverty Bellona implies bringing together politicians, the business community, technology experts and organisations who can find new solutions. These various backgrounds are one of the strengths of this conference,” said Hauge.

“The coming negotiations in Copenhagen in December are the most important negotiations of our time. Many of us define this as an opportunity to bring the climate struggle back to the right questions after all of these years of working against it and  ignoring it,” said Hauge.

Bellona’s CC9 press contacts:
Anne Karin Sæther: +47 902 05 520
Tone Foss Aspevoll: +47 917 20 267