Overview of the Copenhagen climate talks

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).

The Copenhagen meeting represents the next big step in efforts by the international community to develop a roadmap for action to address climate change.

In Copenhagen, the parties will seek to negotiate an agreement on targets for reducing CO2 emissions and deforestation. To learn more, go to Background on Copenhagen.

Copenhagen challenge

The Collaboratorium has been created in the hope that if the collective intelligence of the whole world can be harnessed, it will lead to the development of better solutions to climate change that any group of experts could arrive at on their own.

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.

The Copenhagen challenge is a contest that seeks to focus the efforts of the Collaboratorium community on the development of high quality plans for what the negotiators should agree to at the meetings in December.

How the contest works

The contest will have two rounds:

• Preliminary round, September 20 to November 15
  • The 3 plans with the most votes as of 11:59 pm Eastern time on Sunday, November 15 will be named preliminary round winners.
  • The creators of preliminary round winning plans can have their names and pictures posted on the Collaboratorium home page, and their status as preliminary round winners will be highlighted on their profiles (user profiles will be available soon). Any winners who prefer to remain anonymous may choose to do so.

• Final round, November 16 to November 30
  • After the preliminary round, all the votes will be reset.
  • The top three plans from the preliminary round will be noted as preliminary winners on those plans' "Description" page
  • Plan creators will be able to modify existing plans and create new plans, starting on November 16
  • The 3 plans with the most votes between 12.01 am Eastern time on Monday, November 16 and 11:59 pm Eastern time on Monday, November 30 will be named final round winners.
  • The creators of final round winning plans will have their names and pictures posted on the Collaboratorium home page, and their status as final round winners will be highlighted on their profiles (user profiles will be available soon). Any winners who prefer to remain anonymous may choose to do so.

How you can participate

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

To learn more, go to How can you help?

Return to About the Climate Collaboratorium