Young Danish climate advocates to fight climate change - 11.06.2008

17 dedicated young climate advocates, including a student from Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, have been selected for British Council’s new climate panel which will come up with green ideas for a brighter climate future

British Council has just launched Challenge Europe1, and on Monday 2 June the Danish group of climate advocates was presented at the world’s first carbon-neutral hotel, Hotel Kong Arthur in Copenhagen.

The group consists of 17 dynamic 18-to-35-year-olds from very different backgrounds, including student of natural resources from Faculty of Life Sciences, Torben Frandsen. Earlier this year he won the 1st prize for his sustainable idea in a competition sponsored by Siemens and University of Copenhagen. Together with young people from 14 other European countries, the group will be working on reducing the world’s carbon use and promoting a Low Carbon Future.

The Danish group of climate advocates offers a broad representation of skills, attitudes and ideas from all walks of life including anthropology, science, engineering, journalism, architecture and event organising. They will be working across disciplines to seek, gather, develop and then refine scores of ideas to agree just three concrete concepts. These concepts, they believe, will have real potential to bring about a Low Carbon Future through changes to public policy, business practice or public behaviour. The outcome will be a network of about 200 bold and young influencers working together across Europe to develop 42 tangible ideas that will change our carbon habits for ever.

At the launch in Copenhagen, Terry Townsend, Director of Policy Development in GLOBE International, Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment, spoke about the importance of acting now against climate change. He promised that a selection of European climate advocates will be given the opportunity to present their ideas to a group of senior legislators from G8 (Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, Great Britain and the US) and “+5” (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South America) at the planned GLOBE Forum in Copenhagen in 2009.

Project manager at British Council, Bríd Conneely says: ”Challenge Europe is an opportunity for dedicated young people to turn words into concrete action. The climate advocates represent a breath of fresh air in the climate debate. They are a selection of Denmark’s creative and bright heads who have decided that they will not inherit a climate chaos”.

Torben Frandsen, student of natural resources at the Faculty of Life Sciences, may be contacted by mail: or by tel. +45 40 91 35 15, or through Communication Officer Kirsten Jenlev at tel. +45 35 33 21 79, e-mail:

For more information or contact to other climate advocates in the project, please contact: Sine Christiane Gerstenberg, Account Manager, Plus PR, ; Tel. +45 29 42 33 63.

For an interview with project manager Bríd Conneely, please contact: Bríd Conneely, Partnerships and Projects Manager, British Council, , Tel. +45 33 36 94 03

On Challenge Europe:

Challenge Europe is a climate initiative that involves 15 countries across Europe: the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) Hungary, Ireland (the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine.

On British Council:

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational and cultural relations. British Council works to build trust and understanding between people, communities and nations in 110 countries. Each year, British Council reaches out to more than 85 million people through their work with art, crativity, education and training, science and technology, sport, good governance and human rights