About
Cooperatives Europe is a business representative organisation for co-operative enterprises from across Europe and as such is the European Regional Organisation of the International Co-operative Alliance (http://ica.coop/). It is a non-profit association under Belgian law. It represents 171 individual co-operative organisations and includes 37 countries out of 42 countries of the European Region and 6 European sector organisations out of 7. It presents a force for economic and social change with a network of 250 000 co-operative enterprises, 160 million members, and 5.4 million jobs.
Strategy
Co-operatives Europe launched the Addressing Climate Threat (ACT)! campaign on the 21st of September 2009 with its new website: www.actonclimate.coop. Some co-operatives are already doing many things to address the climate threat, but usually on their own. ACT! was launched to encourage more co-operatives to be the leaders and do more, and to do it together within a framework. This way, the co-operative economy will have more impact and will also achieve recognition for its contribution.
The campaign will consist of an online petition, 10:10 pledge along with web facilities such as a co-operative case study collection of climate projects and networking facilities such as a blog. Details of these campaigns are below.
What will ACT! try to do?
1) Provide a European framework to encourage co-operatives to do more:
• To reduce their own energy consumption and carbon emissions.
• To inform, educate and motivate their members and workers to reduce their own consumption and emissions.
• To lobby politicians to do the right things, especially in the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009.
2) Lobby and campaign with the European Unoin (EU) institutions, and seek funding.
• The EU sets many laws and targets that directly affect many of our co-operatives and their members (recognising that some countries represented in Co-operatives Europe are not members of the EU). The EU will be an important contributor at the Copenhagen Conference, it is therefore vital that our collective voice is heard by, and has an impact on, our political leaders.
3) Provide information and guidance to help co-operative enterprises to do these things not only more easily but more effectively, and with maximum impact from doing them together.
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