The Australian Climate Emergency Summit 14-15 February 2020

The Australian National Climate Emergency Summit was held on 14-15 February 2020 at Melbourne Town Hall. There were 2,000 in attendance. Tickets sold out early. More seats were added and sold out again.

While there were a number of nationally- and internationally recognisable names on stage, the agenda and outcomes were, for the most part, true to the emergency perspective driven by grassroots campaigners. A key outcome was that the policymakers on stage who may not have reached the emergency camp at the opening of the conference, were most likely there by the end. 

The closing plenary, led by Ian Dunlop (a former senior executive in the oil, gas and coal industry), set out a climate emergency declaration that groups and individuals can sign on to. Initial signatories to the declaration included Ian Dunlop, Carmen Lawrence, John Hewson, Tim Costello and Kerryn Phelps. This was covered in an article by The Guardian. 

CACE’s Adrian Whitehead and Bryony Edwards were on panels in three breakout sessions, including: Beyond the Declarations (Adrian); The Activism Gap (Adrian); Australia Declares (Bryony). Philip Sutton spoke on the main stage (Justice and Rights in the Emergency) and a number of breakout sessions.
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Some videos of the main stage events and podcasts of the smaller breakout events have been made available here.