Danish team in finals of climate competition

4 February 2009

The Danish team of law students competing in the Copenhagen Competition can breathe a sigh of relief. Against stiff competition from leading international universities, the four students from the University of Copenhagen have gone through to the oral round of negotiations in the international climate competition.

The competition, a type of negotiation game, is held in the days leading up to the climate congress in Copenhagen, a major scientific conference being held from 10–12 March. The competition involves law students from all over the world presenting their proposals for the contents of a new global climate agreement.

Of the fourteen universities that sent a written article to the competition in December, eight teams have qualified for the final oral round. In order to have a realistic picture of the different areas of the world's visions for climate problems and reduction of CO2 emissions, the eight teams in the finals are evenly divided between universities from countries that have already obligated themselves to a maximum ceiling for CO2 emissions (known as Annex-I countries) and countries without a CO2 emission ceiling. In the finals are teams from USA, Australia, India, Singapore, Chile, South Africa and Denmark.

Global challenges Copenhagen Competition is arranged by the Faculty of Law at University of Copenhagen. The competition gives law students the chance to train their negotiation techniques and practice drawing up legal documents, both of which are skills they will need in their professional careers. The competition will also help to give an idea of how future generations will tackle global climate challenges. In that way the competition also provides an exciting taste of the challenges that face world leaders when they meet in Copenhagen in December for the UN's annual climate conference.

Final contestants Australian National University (Australia); University of California, Berkeley (USA); University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and New York University (USA) (Annex-I countries). University of Cape Town (South Africa); Universidad de Chile (Chile); Gujarat National Law University (India); and National University of Singapore (Singapore) (Non Annex-I countries).