In December 2009, representatives from all around the world will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the next major meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (link to UNFCCC wiki page). This represents the next major step on the part of the international community to negotiate a global agreement for addressing climate change. At the Copenhagen meeting, each country will agree on targets for its future CO2 emissions. Click here to learn more about the Copenhagen talks.

The initial version of the Climate Collaboratorium gives everyone a chance to put forward their ideas about what the world should agree to in Copenhagen. We believe that to solve a complex and broad problem like climate change, we need to harness the collective intelligence of the whole world. This will allow us to come to a better solution that any group of experts could on their own.

Our objective is to have contributors work together to develop a plan that at least 1000 people have worked on. And we hope to present this plan to negotiators the Copenhagen meeting.

Even if you are not an expert on climate change, there are several ways you can participate and make a difference:

• Look around, learn and tell others what you have learned
• Invite others to join the Collaboratorium
• View plans that others have proposed and the arguments for or against them
• Comment on vote for plans and arguments you find compelling
• Help to translate publications written by experts into plain language that can be accessible to a broader public
• Submit or suggest articles, resources, pictures, or videos that can enrich the conversation
• Help to add new features to our software
• Suggest new ways you would like to participate

If you are already familiar with the issues or are an expert with specialized knowledge, then you can do all of the above plus:

• Propose a new plan and build support for it among Collaboratorium users
• Discuss with experts from your specialty or other specialties
• Propose models that can be added to the Collaboratorium

If you are a policy maker, you can do the above plus:

• Consult the Collaboratorium to get a sense of the thinking of a broad range of people who are engaged around climate issues
• Submit an early version of a policy proposal to see how the Collaboratorium user community reacts
• Use the Collaboratorium to gain support for a real policy proposal

We hope you join us in solving Climate Change, and we are eager to hear your feedback,