Local Representatives Will Host a Copenhagen 101 Briefing for Journalists

For immediate release: December 1, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — More than four dozen representatives of Midwestern utilities, cities, agencies, youth, and environmental organizations will join individuals from 193 countries in Copenhagen, Denmark in attending the United Nations Climate Summit known as COP15. The summit, held from December 7-18, 2009, is expected to lay the groundwork for a binding accord on climate policy to be ratified by the world’s nations. Midwesterners will meet with world leaders to ensure that local solutions are included that capitalize on the region’s great advantages in educated workforce, advanced technology, and the potential for renewable and low-carbon energy resources.

“We need a portfolio approach to tackling the climate policy problem, and we need it now. The industrialized world needs to take a leadership position, and we need specific commitments from developing countries as well,” said Rolf Nordstrom, Executive Director of the Great Plains Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who is one of the Midwesterners attending COP15.

Private companies, legislators, and organizations attending the briefing include American Electric Power, South Dakota Farmers Union, Fresh Energy, Great Plains Institute, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Rep. Kate Knuth (DFL-New Brighton), and the Will Steger Foundation. These organizations will host a briefing on how the Copenhagen negotiations will take place and why each of them is going.

What: Briefing on how Copenhagen negotiations will proceed
When: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 1 p.m. CST
Who: Representatives of utilities, agencies, legislators, youth, and environmental organizations headed to Copenhagen for COP15
Why: To explain COP15 process and lay out individual goals of each group
How: In-person at the Great Plains Institute (2801 21st Avenue South, Suite 220) and by phone, 1-866-740-1260, password: 7267572

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- More than four dozen representatives of Midwestern utilities, cities, agencies, youth, and environmental organizations will join individuals from 193 countries in Copenhagen, Denmark in attending the United Nations Climate Summit known as COP15.