Your Public Value welcomes outside experts to discuss the most pressing issues of our times, such as the upcoming climate conference on Earth Day. We support the initiative #WeDontHaveTime and efforts to create a counter-power to any business or political decision that would not be environment-friendly. On 22 April, #WeDontHaveTime organize a free conference to join voices and denounce the danger of climate change. As a solution to the current drama, #WeDontHaveTime is developing a platform that will help citizens tag their local politician or business leader and demand ‪climate action. Here’s what Ingmar Rentzhog, CEO and Founder of #WeDontHaveTime, tells us today:

“Seeing coverage of recent global climate conferences, it’s hard not to be struck by the irony of all those earnest environmentalists, scientists, policymakers and journalists who have flown many thousands of miles to get there — and stamped their giant carbon footprint onto the event.

So it’s refreshing to welcome the world’s first global no-fly climate conference, which takes place this coming Earth Day, 22 April 2018.

Although there will be local attendees at the conference in Stockholm, they will be arriving either by bike, in electric vehicles or on public transport. Any fossil-fuel vehicle use will be offset, as will carbon emissions from hosting the conference, the food and drinks served and the studio production.

The vast majority of participants, including keynote speakers, will be virtual attendees joining the live streaming broadcast on YouTube Live, Facebook Live and Twitter Periscope.

There’s no cost to attend the event and everyone is welcome to watch the free, four-hour webcast, which features a host of well-known climate leaders, scientists, environmentalists and entrepreneurs.

What’s it all about?

The 100% carbon neutral conference is part of a new climate initiative called We Don’t Have Time, which will focus on the need for urgent action to avert a climate crisis.

We Don’t Have Time is both a social movement and a tech start-up, which aims to use the power of social media to hold decision-makers and business leaders accountable for their climate change actions.

The conference is part of the launch of this new social media movement, and is organized around three key themes: Reality, Solutions and Action.

Facing the reality of climate change

The reality segment aims to sound the alarm bell on our current situation. Presenting facts, statistics, climate effects and risks, an impressive list of guest speakers will highlight the severity of the issue.

If you have any questions about the connection between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, or between rising temperatures and abnormal weather phenomena, this is where you can find the answers.

During the live event, participants can use twitter hashtag #WeDontHaveTime to put questions directly to the panel.

Experts will also highlight the risks of reaching “tipping points” and discuss the potentially disastrous effects of failing to halt global warming.

Finding solutions to the climate crisis

Having clearly set out and understood the scale of the problem, the second segment will present some possible solutions to the climate crisis.

Experts will explore how we can cut emissions, and change our patterns of consumption, transportation and production to meet our climate goals.

Presentations and case studies will help identify which policies and international agreements might be most effective, and shed light on issues such as how to accelerate the transition to green technology, and how corporations can become more competitive through sustainability.

Time to take action

If you have a passion for the planet, and want to play your part to avoid a climate crisis, don’t miss the third and final segment, which will discuss how to mobilize global action on climate change.

All the scientific evidence warns of impending climate crisis and We Don’t Have Time believes that the time has come to act.

The action segment will discuss how a powerful, global climate movement could reach out to politicians, the business community and religious leaders to raise awareness of the issues and begin to demand change.

Who’s involved?

The conference has attracted a strong cast of experts, including the world-renowned Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, who has twice been named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. The New York Times called him, “probably the most important economist in the world,” and he is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership.

The conference will be hosted by Swedish meteorologist Martin Hedberg, who has delivered more than 700 public lectures on climate change, and TV host and producer Julia Messelt, who has previously won the Environmental Journalist of the Year award.

Anyone who is interested in addressing the biggest challenge we face today — the climate — will find food for thought in the four-hour conference program.

We Don’t Have Time is aiming to create a social media platform that will enable millions of members to put pressure on leaders, politicians and corporations to act for the climate. The conference will equip participants with the knowledge and motivation to demand the right course of action from those best placed to tackle the problem.

Send climate love and climate bombs

For conference participants who are inspired to take action, We Don’t Have Time is developing a platform to help make a direct link between individual citizens and decision-makers.

Tools in the pipeline include an app that allows people to ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ climate change initiatives — replacing the like button with climate hearts and the dislike with CO2-bombs.

Users will be able to register and use a purpose-built tool to react to statements that politicians, business leaders or organizations make on social media. The organization describes this as “sending climate love and climate bombs to the people in power”.

We Don’t Have Time aims to recruit at least 100 million users in order to become a powerful voice on the climate issue. Use the ratings’ system, users can put pressure on leaders, politicians and companies to quicken the transition to a low carbon world.

If you believe we don’t have time to wait, act now to fight the climate crisis and save the date: Earth Day, 22 April 2018, 15:00–19:00, Central European Time.”

Your Public Value invites experts to share their views on the future of ethical business, business integrity, public value, and on business approaches to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Please add your comment to the post of Ingmar Rentzhog or contact us to share your thoughts on our blog page.