Potocnik Event: Video Highlights

UNEP POTOCNIK from United Nations on Vimeo.

Video highlights and reactions to the event with Commissioner Potočnik (full video and report below)

Commissioner Janez Potočnik: What will today’s interns be doing in 2030?

Commissioner Potočnik participated in a fascinating event on Thursday with interns from all different institutions across Brussels. The topic of the event was ‘What will you be doing in 2030?’ The skills and expertise young professionals will need to tackle future environmental challenges. The Commissioner answered questions from the moderator, Carmen Păun, from European Youth Press, and then took two video questions from young professionals in Denmark and the Philippines, before fielding questions from some of the 100 interns present.

The Commissioner shared his experiences of how he got to where he is today and what he recommended to young interns starting out: ‘keep your feet on the ground, fight those above you, and don’t be afraid of having people smarter that you below you’.  He said that in the future, whilst there would certainly be more jobs in fields directly related to environmental challenges such as air and water quality, the growth of resource efficiency in Europe will mean that ‘all jobs will be “green jobs”’.

The Commissioner said that today the environment was a feature in every facet of policy making, ‘energy policy is environment policy, fishing policy is environment policy, trade policy is environment policy, development policy is environment policy. You cannot avoid it.’

Registration for Commissioner Potocnik Event closed, Debate Open

Registration for the event on Thursday 2 May with Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik is now closed. If you have not received a confirmation email you have not been registered for the event.

The online debate has begun! To participate please go to: http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2013/04/26/what-skills-will-young-professionals-need-for-green-jobs/

Please check back here at 2:30pm CET on 2 May for a link to the live streaming of the event.

For more information, contact unep-eu-assistant4@unep.org

What Will You be Doing in 2030?

Special intern-only event with
Janez Potočnik European Commissioner for Environment

This is the second in the Round Tables with Round Cakes series, which bring together people-who-have-made-it with people-who-are-starting-out to discuss pressing issues that will frame the career opportunities for young professionals. It gives a chance to “young professionals” to showcase their ideas to high-level people and network over a cup of tea… & homemade cupcakes. This event, with Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, is on:

What Will You be Doing in 2030?
The skills and expertise young professionals will need to tackle future environmental challenges

When? 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm on 2 May 2013

Where? UN House, Rue Montoyer 14, Brussels

To register, complete the form before 25th April. Places strictly limited

We will be gathering questions online before, during and after the event, using the hashtag #RTRC

Our partner Debating Europe will also be holding an online debate, starting a week before the debate, with the title: ‘“What skills will young professionals need for green jobs?”

Details for live web streaming for the event coming soon

Connie Hedegaard on Post Doha: the role of young professionals in climate change talks

 

Discussing the future of our global climate alongside careers for young professionals was the aim of an event hosted by UNEP in Brussels on 13 December. In the wake of climate change COP18 in Qatar, interns from all walks of Brussels life dialogued with the Commissioner on both the substance of negotiations and their place in the process. As well as giving her views on the recent talks, Commissioner Hedegaard said that she was proud to have many young people in their 20s and 30s on the EU team, who benefit from those who have been involved in the complex negotiations for many years. When asked about which sectors young professionals should get involved in to support the kind of agreements she expected in the 2015 global deal, the Commissioner “all sectors plus more.” “We have to make a more fundamental shift in our economy,” she said, adding that how we make growth in the future will be a decisive factor in the fight against climate change.

The event was organised by UNEP in partnership with the European Youth Press and Debating Europe. To continue the debate online join the follow-up discussion on the DebatingEurope website here. If you would like to stay in touch with news from the European Youth Press, you can subscribe  via youthpress.org or like the Facebook page.

Lemon poppy seed muffins recipe

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup poppy seeds
The grated rind of 2 lemons
100 grams butter
2 eggs, large
1 cup milk

Directions

1.  Put the flour, sugar and seeds into a bowl and mix with a fork (if you haven’t got a sieve). Add the lemon rind to the mixture and mix.
2.  In another bowl, beat together the butter, milk and eggs.
3. Fold the butter/milk/egg mixture into the dry ingredients. (“Fold” means mix it with a wooden spoon until it’s just combined — should still be able to see some floury bits which will disappear in the oven.)
4. Put spoonfuls into a muffin tin and bake at 200 degrees celcius for 10-15 minutes.
5. Take the muffins out of oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes or so, then leave them to cool on a wire rack.
6. Make a kind-of lemon jam by boiling lemon juice and loads of sugar until it’s thick. Turn it off and as it cools it will thicken. Put on the muffins.

Registration closed

Event is over-subscribed. We will notify registered participants today (Monday, 10th Dec) with a confirmation email.

Post-Doha: the role of young professionals in climate change talks

Special intern-only event with
Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action

The Round Table with Round Cakes series of events bring together people-who-have-made-it with people-who-are-starting-out to discuss pressing global issues that will frame the career opportunities for young professionals. It gives a chance to “young professionals” to showcase their ideas to high-level people and network over a cup of tea… & homemade cupcakes.

When? 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm on 13 December
Where? UN House, Rue Montoyer 14

To reserve, send your name, intern title & organization to unep-eu-assistant4@unep.org before 10th December. Places strictly limited.

We will be gathering questions online before, during and after the event, using the hashtag #RTRC

Details for live web streaming coming soon