Storytelling for Action at COP28
Futerra bring storytelling and culture change to COP28
We're so excited to share this announcement about our plans for COP28:
This year at COP28 UNFCCC Climate Conference in Dubai, UAE, the Bellona Foundation is hosting the Storytelling for Action Pavilion in the UNFCCC Blue Zone in partnership with BAFTA albert, Futerra, and Think-Film Impact Production.
Stories are core to human nature. We are moved by narratives with meaning and relate to one another through engaging characters. In the face of the dramatic shifts in the global climate and global economy, people are seeking truly authentic and engaging stories to provide understanding, empowerment and hope. Stories that can enable meaningful climate action.
Good storytelling has also proven to be highly effective at building public awareness and engagement on important issues, making it an underutilized opportunity for engaging millions of people worldwide at this pivotal moment in humanity’s own story.
The Storytelling for Action Pavilion will host a series of conversations that have never been had at COP between the entertainment community and the climate science & policy community on the role of storytelling in addressing global climate change. It will feature participation from major entertainment studios, broadcasters, and leading storytellers and creators to:
1 - Explore why storytelling represents a critical opportunity to engage global audiences in tackling climate change.
2 - Share how storytellers are effectively engaging audiences on both the realities and solutions to climate change and how members of the talent community can raise awareness.
3 - Bring attention to the need for greater support for storytelling capacity to enable more genuinely entertaining, engaging, and evidence-based storytelling.
Busting Barriers for Solutions Stories: How Industry is Growing Support for Climate Storytelling
Sunday, December 3rd, 2023, at 12 pm GST
Bellona Foundation Pavillion, Zone B7/88, Blue Zone, COP28
This panel looks at the impact of climate storytelling through TV and film and what more is needed to create more of it.
We will be asking:
- What climate storytelling already exists?
- What does the industry need to do to support more of these stories?
- How will these stories be financed and by who?
- What policy support and incentives can be provided by our governments?
Speakers:
- Carys Taylor, Director of Climate Content and Sustainability, BAFTA
- Samata Pattinson, CEO, Black Pearl
- Nuseir Yassin, CEO, Nas Company
Bridging Perspectives on Environmental Justice and Youth Activism
Sunday, December 3rd, 2023, at 1 pm GST
Bellona Foundation Pavillion, Zone B7/88, Blue Zone, COP28
As the climate crisis progresses, it’s become increasingly obvious that it is i exacerbating existing inequalities. There has been some progress in mobilizing resources to address these inequities in some parts of the world, including the largest-ever grant program recently announced by the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet, supporting environmental justice efforts hinges not only on funding, but also community leadership, youth empowerment , and supporting people to take control..
This panel will explore ways to engage communities and youth activists to put environmental justice at the center of the climate agenda. The conversation will draw on the perspectives of both leading private and public organizations, as well as storytelling from the front lines of the climate justice movement.
Speakers:
- Solitaire Townsend, Co-Founder & Chief Solutionist, Futerra (moderator)
- Kate Brandt, CSO, Google
- Michael S. Regan, US EPA Administrator
- Dr. Beverly Wright, Founder/CEO of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
- Joi Lee, Earthrise Studio
Listening Before Speaking: Centering Indigenous Storytelling and Lived Experience in a Just Transition
Sunday, December 3rd, 2023, at 2 pm GST
Shared Presentation Stage 4, Zone B7/88, Blue Zone, COP28
The IPCC calls for Indigenous and Traditional stories to take a role in helping navigate our way out of the climate crisis. This session will platform storytellers and policy-makers from Indigenous and Traditional communities and will also explore the role of story in enabling a just transition.
Speakers:
- Wiruunngga Dunggirr, Elder, Namba Gumbaynggar Nation
- Eric Terena, DJ, Journalist and Co-Founder, Midía Indígena
- Grand Chief Judy Wilson, Knowledge holder from the Neskonlith Indian Band
The Clash of Narratives: From Paper Straws to techno-heroes - Exploring Behaviour Change vs. System Change
Sunday, December 3rd, 2023, at 4:30 pm GST
Bellona Foundation Pavillion, Zone B7/88, Blue Zone, COP28
In a world of divisive and inaccurate narratives, public engagement and storytelling matters. Behaviour change versus techno-saviour, climate everything vs. implicit narratives.
We'll explore:
- How do we reflect the rich, grey middle grounds?
- How do we cut through disinformation?
- How do we engage the public on system change rather than plastic straws?
- What works with audiences?
Speakers:
- Solitaire Townsend, Co-Founder and Chief Solutionist, Futerra
- Will Ridgeon, Producer Director, BBC Studios
- Khadija Stewart, Founder, Ecovybz Environmental Creatives
- Thais Lazzeri, Founder at FALA; Creative and strategic director
- Renee Karunungan, Online Content Manager, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Solving Our Crisis of Imagination: Debate Between the Solutionists and the Storytellers
Tuesday, December 5th, 2023, at 1 pm GST
Bellona Foundation Pavillion, Zone B7/88, Blue Zone, COP28
Hear from a cross-sectoral panel, from across TV, film and infrastructure, about the solutions that are going to shift the needle and the stories we need to hear about them.
We'll explore:
- What are the fundamental truths about Net Zero (no fossil fuels, climate justice, electric everything, etc.)?
- What is the global public awareness of those truths?
- How can we imagine that need into reality?
- What stories work and shift the needle?
Speakers:
- David Garrido, Presenter, Sky Sports News
- Farhoud Meyboudi, Filmmaker
- Kimberly Burnick, Director, Sustainable Film Production and Content, Universal Pictures
- Lina Strandvåg Nagell, Senior Policy Manager, Bellona Europa
- Isaias Hernandez, Environmental Educator and Creative, Intersectional Environmentalist
Climate Storytelling Masterclass: Communicating Climate Action Through Story
Tuesday, December 5th, 2023, at 3 pm GST
Shared Presentation Stage 4, Zone B7/88, Blue Zone, COP28
Learn more about the power of story to reach our global sustainability targets and change our shared future. Join TED speaker, author, and sustainability expert Solitaire Townsend and a panel of thought leaders for a masterclass in compelling climate storytelling and how we can all rewrite the narrative.
Speakers:
- Solitaire Townsend, Co-Founder and Chief Solutionist, Futerra
- Tamseel Hussain, Founder and CEO, PlucTV
Organizing Partner Descriptions:
The Bellona Foundation is an international environmental NGO working on the major climate and environmental problems. Founded in 1986 as a direct action protest group, Bellona has become a recognised technology and solution-oriented organization with offices in Oslo, Brussels, Berlin, and Vilnius, and representatives in USA and several EU Member States. Frederic Hauge, founder of Bellona, was named a TIME Magazine Hero of the Environment in the award’s inaugural year 2007. In addition to Hauge, some 70 engineers, ecologists, biologists, economists, lawyers, political scientists and journalists work at Bellona.
BAFTA albert is the leading screen industry organisation for environmental sustainability. Owned and operated by BAFTA, and founded in 2011, albert supports the film and TV industry to reduce the environmental impacts of production and to create content that supports a vision for a sustainable future. The industry-backed organisation offers online tools and training, events, practical guidance and thought leadership to all screen industry professionals to help them identify and act upon opportunities on and off screen which can lead to effective climate action.
More at the albert website: http://www.wearealbert.com
Futerra is a change agency with a mission to ‘Make the Anthropocene Awesome'. We work with Hollywood studios, activist groups, broadcasters, social media creators, street artists and global brands to tell climate solution stories. Founded in 2001, our clients and partners include Google, WWF, Netflix, IKEA, TikTok, Sky, Unilever, Sierra Club and the United Nations. Futerra is majority-owned and led by women, a founding B Corp and the first agency designated a Climate Solutions Provider under the United Nations Race to Zero. Our team is based in London, New York, San Francisco and Mexico City.
Visit us at https://www.wearefuterra.com/.
Think-Film Impact Production is an Oscar-winning impact media company with specialist expertise at the cutting-edge intersection of art and social change. Founded by socio-political impact pioneer Danielle Turkov Wilson, Think-Film has worked on major movies, including 2023 Oscar and Bafta winner Navalny (Warner Media/CNN Films), championing democratic freedoms and launching sanctions against Russia, Peabody winner The Territory (National Geographic), protecting Indigenous rights in a new EU law that bans deforestation, Dark Waters (Participant Media, Mark Ruffalo, Todd Haynes), banning toxic PFAS chemicals in Europe, The Son (See Saw Films, Hugh Jackman, Florian Zeller), integrating culture into mental health policy strategies, and many more.
Visit www.tfip.org and follow on social media @thinkfilmimpact.
If you have any questions about this or would like to get involved please contact us hello@wearefuterra.com