Pushing Boundaries Through Collective Action: How Can Citizens Drive Systems Change and Catalyze Climate Action? | Climate Solutions to Keep 1.5° Alive

This event, organized as part of the climate action series by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Office in Geneva, in partnership with the Geneva Environment Network (GEN), aims to bring to light initiatives showing how citizens around the world are catalyzing climate action, pushing for out of “business-as-usual”, and adding a transformative impetus to the political agenda. This event is also organized as part of the Geneva Environment Network's 25th anniversary series of events aiming to explore and highlight frameworks and partnerships that strengthen environmental governance.

About this Event

As part of the climate action series, organized by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Office in Geneva, in partnership with the Geneva Environment Network (GEN), this event aims to bring to light initiatives showing how citizens around the world are catalyzing climate action, pushing for out of “business-as-usual”, and adding a transformative impetus to the political agenda.

The event will deep-dive into the concept of public participation, to better understand how citizens’ actions can complement and influence the multilateral processes such as the COPs, or government-led actions. We define public participation as “any process that involves the public in problem-solving or decision-making and that uses public input to make better decisions”.

Citizens around the world have become a driving force to push for climate ambitions and are contributing their own knowledge, wisdom and creativity to challenge experts, policy makers and institutions. Many see civic engagement as a powerful approach to reframe the very process of participation – including citizens significance in policy and decision-making – to shape top-down initiatives and propose alternatives.

This event aims to learn from case studies of citizen-led initiatives from around the world that tackle climate change from different angles and from a variety of participation approaches towards policy changes to keep the 1.5° alive. We want to give an idea of the variety and evolution of collective mobilization for climate and understand how citizens’ actions complement and influence multilateral processes such as the COPs or government led actions within the institution. We want to assess the impact of climate civic engagement in the last 10 years and understand why, despite so many hurdles, citizens keep going with multiple forms of engagement to fight back the climate crisis.

We don’t want to distill division but cooperation and giving a voice to a large variety of stakeholders to express their views. The event intends to inspire participants to act, from individual steps to collective mobilization and empower them as agents of change. As such, this gathering is also organized as part of another series of events to celebrate the 25 Years of the Geneva Environment Network – the pivotal platform of international Geneva dedicated to enhancing collaboration among stakeholders in the fight against the triple planetary crisis – exploring and highlighting frameworks and partnerships that can strengthen environmental governance and inspire action across all levels.

Climate Solutions to Keep 1.5° Alive | About the Series

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) Office in Geneva, in partnership with the Geneva Environment Network (GEN), has launched in April 2024 a series of events bringing together partners, comprised of UN agencies, member states, academics, CSO and activists, to discuss the progress society has made since 2015 towards achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The current narrative on climate often focuses on the doom and gloom and catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis. The series argues that humanity is making progress, albeit not at the pace and scale needed. Hope matters. It galvanizes energy and incentivizes commitment. It creates a positive dynamic for action. As we underscore the importance of planetary boundaries and the alarming trajectory, the goal of the series is to show that humanity can take meaningful actions that are forward looking and moving the needle. The series is an informative exercise to raise awareness on the climate crisis and to encourage everyone to take an active part in finding solutions while calling for ambitious climate policies.

The series is part of a wider advocacy effort to mobilize energy towards achieving the Paris Agreement and influencing climate policies to deliver ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by UN Climate Conference COP30. Altogether, the series of events in Geneva aims at contributing to the UN Secretary-General’s global campaign advocacy to deepen efforts to keep the 1.5° goal alive.

International Geneva being at the center of numerous debates and negotiations in the fields of science, health, human rights, development, trade and green finance, employment, peacebuilding and security, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian issues, as well as new technologies and innovation, has therefore a unique cross-disciplinary expertise to move forward climate action.

Light refreshments will be available at 15:00 CET.

The event is organized back-to-back with the ICJ Oral Hearings on Climate Justice – Diplomatic Screening and Commentary | GEN @ 25 (starting at 9:00 CET in room XXIII).

GEN 25th Anniversary

The celebration of the 25 Years of the Geneva Environment Network – the pivotal platform of international Geneva dedicated to enhancing collaboration among stakeholders in the fight against the triple planetary crisis – will start with a series of events exploring and highlighting frameworks and partnerships that can strengthen environmental governance. It will conclude in early January 2025 with a closing ceremony. This approach aims to create a meaningful and impactful celebration, inspiring renewed commitment to environmental governance and collaborative action.

Speakers

By order of intervention.

Agi VERES

Director, UNDP Office in Geneva

Dana FISHER

Director, Center for Environment, Community, & Equity | Professor, School of International Service, American University

Max VOEGTLI

Swiss Youth Climate Activist | Community Mobiliser, ActNow

Anastasija ĐORĐA BOSANČIĆ

Young European Ambassador to the Western Balkans | Member of the Youth Advisory Body, UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH)

Nisreen EL SAIM

Former Chair, UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group | Junior Negotiator, African Group of Negotiators

Mohamed EL HAJJI

Youth Climate Justice Activist | Organizer. Fridays For Future Morocco

Moustapha Kamal GUEYE

Director, Priority Action Programme on Just Transitions Towards Environmentally Sustainable Economies and Societies, International Labour Organization

Nicole CURATO

Professor, Canberra University

Elisabeth STERN

Board Member. KlimaSeniorinnen

Stephanie FEENEY

Chief Growth Officer, DNAir

Ingmar RENTZHOG

CEO, We Don’t Have Time

Benjamin SCHACHTER

Coordinator, Environment and Climate Team, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Cyril DION

French Climate Activist

Jemuel PERINO

Chairman, Council of Elders, Bukidnon Umayamnon Tribe, Philippines

Juliette RASSE

Develoment Officer, Association des Centrales Villageoises

Orlane MOYNAT

Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Institute of Sociological Research, University of Geneva

Dominic ROHNER

Co-Director, Hoffmann Centre for Global Sustainability at the Geneva Graduate Institute

Claire RANSOM

Assistant Scientific Officer, Climate Monitoring and Policy Division, World Meteorological Organization | Moderator

Highlights

#Live now!

Citizen-led #ClimateAction contributes to keeping 1.5° alive & helps reshape participation towards more bottom-up decision-making. Join this #GEN25 celebration event highlighting examples from around the world.

▶️ https://t.co/mt9tVhedUw
📹 https://t.co/KhYdpGG5sy pic.twitter.com/0X0yNZcQvA
— GENeva Environment Network (@GENetwork) December 2, 2024

Video

Live from Palais des Nations, through the We Don’t Have Time.

Registration

This event is taking place in-person at Palais des Nations, Room XVII. Kindly register through the Indico form.