The first steps towards the building of a global climate community were launched during the High-Level India-EU Seminar on Climate Change and Sustainable Development held in Potsdam - Cecilienhof, 27th - 29th May 2008. Gathered at this prestigious occasion were political, scientific, business, NGO and Institute experts from across India and Europe.

Click here to see the full list of attendees

The Potsdam seminar, jointly organised by Action for a Global Climate Community and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and supported by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the European Environment Agency, explored the following key issues:

- Fairness and Burden-Sharing

- Market Mechanisms, Financing and Development

- Institutional Considerations

Click here to see the full programme of the seminar

The intended outcomes of the Potsdam seminar were to identify ways in which the developed and developing world can jointly bear the costs of maintaining sustainable economic growth using renewable energy, while also cooperating on urgent adaptation programmes necessary to save human life and environmental integrity. The implementation of these proposals by India and the EU, acting in partnership, could lead to the creation of a north-south climate community within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and would be open to any and all countries willing to join.

Twelve research papers were written to provide further understanding of the seminar and the key issues at stake. AGCC is most grateful to The Energy and Resources Institute, the New Economics Foundation, EcoEquity and the Stockholm Environment Institute for their invaluable contribution.

Click here to access to the 12 research papers

After intense and open discussions, the following conclusions were offered by the Co-Chairs Nitin Desai and Sir Crispin Tickell:

Climate change is the greatest risk now facing humanity;

Climate destabilisation is a result of accumulating carbon and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere;

Industrialised countries enjoyed prosperity by the use of energy derived from fossil fuels and should bear an appropriate cost of enabling poorer countries to harness energy from clean and renewable sources;

EU and India are the ideal partners for initiating a co-operation to ensure a long term development without damage for the planet and on the basis of fairness, equality, and equal per capita emissions;

A new initiative supporting the Bali road map process within the UNFCCC framework will accelerate progress on climate mitigation and adaptation, by bringing new impetus to tackle climate change and maintaining momentum towards sustainable development;

An India-Europe Working Group should be set up  to explore a joint and equitable approach to the challenges of climate change and development;

A further High-Level Seminar should be organised in Delhi within 8 months to consider proposals based upon research undertaken by the Working Group.

Click here to read the full text

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Click here to read the final report (rapporteurs: Nick Mabey, Tom Spencer, David Stephen and Robert Whitfield).