Michael de Laine

By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 19 May 2009

Denmark has boosted initiatives for a broader popular debate on climate change.

The Danish government today launched a number of web initiatives to promote popular debate on the climate ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15), which will take place in Copenhagen in December.

Three initiatives aim at reaching out and encouraging a global debate on climate change.

A Climate Quiz allows visitors to the COP15 conference website to test their climate knowledge and compare their climate knowledge with friends.

Climate Thoughts is a unique visual representation of climate opinions from visitors to cop15.dk and from well-known climate thinkers.

The Climate Game lets www.cop15.dk visitors experiment with CO2 reductions in an entertaining environment.

In addition, visitors to www.cop15.dk can get information about climate issues and participate in the climate debate in other ways.

The Climate Thinkers Blog presents opinions from some of the world’s foremost climate opinion-makers, and visitors to the site can read and comment on them.

On Facebook, it is possible to become a fan of the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 at www.facebook.cop15.dk.

On Twitter, the Danish government posts regular news updates on climate change at www.twitter.cop15.dk.

“The government expects to step up its web-based outreach efforts for COP15 in the period leading up to the conference,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which co-ordinates the COP15-related websites. “All activities are focused on allowing visitors to www.cop15.dk to interact with each other, to gain better understanding of climate change issues, and to allow visitors of the website to interact with participants of the climate change conference.”