Jim Murphy

Public Diplomacy and climate change on the west coast

I was in Los Angeles yesterday and I'm in Salt Lake City today as part of a visit to the USA to launch a book on public diplomacy. Academics, consultants, communicators, diplomats and myself have contributed essays about how governments need to revisit the idea of public diplomacy given the new context we're doing foreign policy in: the challenges of globalisation; the opportunities of new media and IT; and the power of publics and not just governments to deliver change. You can read the book online.

With the launch of the UK's consultation on renewable energy and France's aim to get a Europe wide agreement on renewables during the French Presidency of the EU (in the next 25 weeks), I'm also talking about climate change and low carbon in the west. In the spirit of a new kind of public diplomacy, I talked to policy influencers rather than policy makers in California - like the Climate Registry which is recording and tracking businesses' emissions before federal rules in the US require it - so they're making a difference now. And in Utah I met Governor Huntsman to compare the challenges faced by a state 98% dependent on fossil fuels, and to listen to their plans on how to reshape Utah's economy.

Posted at 22:44 08 July 2008 by Jim Murphy  |  Comments[0]