The Basque Government´s Department of the Environment and Land Planning intends to arrange an encounter in Bilbao between experts in Climate Change worldwide at the "International Conference on Climate Change" on 23 and 24 April 2007 at the Euskalduna Music and Conference Hall, Bilbao.

The conference forms part of a number of initiatives which the Basque Government´s Department of the Environment is arranging as part of environmental policy. The Basque Government´s Head of Environmental Affairs, Esther Larrañaga, has focused on the fight against Climate Change as one of the government´s priorities, based on reduction of the causes of greenhouse gases and adaptation of the harmful effects of climatic distortions in our country.

This international encounter is being arranged with the maxim "CO2, last chance for change", and targets experts all over the world in relation to climate change and its effects, and all public and private agents - representatives of governments, companies, the academic world, residents´ , associations and ecologists - with an interest in the current situation of the planet´s climate, which is set to undergo substantial changes in the near future.

The objective of the "International Conference on Climate Change" is to present the progress made in the fight against climate change within an international context, and debate possible future courses of action in this field. The conference will constitute the perfect framework for presentation of the Basque Climate Change Office and the Basque Climate Change Plan now being finalised by the Basque Government´s Department of the Environment and Land Planning, in close cooperation with other Basque Government Departments - Industry, Agriculture, Transport, Education and Housing.

National and international experts will debate the issues in relation to possible responses to climate change by the authorities, business and the general public. All conclusions drawn from the debates and exposés submitted at this international forum will be analysed and added to the Basque Climate Change Plan.

Greening the Conference

The main impact on the environment and the climate during the Conference are the CO2 emissions caused by the participants' journeys to and from the venue and the transfers within Bilbao. We recommend the compensation of unavoidable CO2 emissions.

Compensation means the offsetting of unavoidable CO2 emissions through support of climate-protection projects in developing countries.

The organisation team for the International Conference on Climate Change has actively been working on the minimisation of the negative local and global impacts produced by this event. Visit the stand from the initiative Ekopass at the venue to offset your travel-related CO2 emissions.