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Al Gore to run Climate Project training in Cambridge

23 March 2007

Al Gore, in partnership with the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI), is delivering two training programmes in the UK on climate change. Two full-day sessions based on Gore's presentation and Oscar-winning film 'An Inconvenient Truth' will be held in Cambridge on 26 and 27 March. Attending the training will be 200 leading individuals representing the business community, national and local politics, NGOs, higher education and schools, the media, faith groups and local communities. In addition in the evenings, around 2,000 individuals, including invited guests and members of the public, will have the opportunity to hear Al Gore deliver his slide presentation at two public lectures in Cambridge.

The Climate Project is an organisation established by Al Gore to educate and challenge citizens and governments into action against the growing threats posed by climate change. The training sessions in the UK will bring together a group of leaders representing all parts of society who are committed to communicating and taking action. Al Gore's message is that climate change is the most important issue facing the world at the moment. "Scientists tell us we have as little as ten years in which to make a big, good start on this, but we do have time. What is needed is commitment and courage." Gore offers an inspirational view of the urgent need for action, according to Polly Courtice, Director of CPI. "We are honoured that Al Gore has chosen to deliver his first Climate Project training programmes in the UK with the University of Cambridge."

CPI has worked with Al Gore to tailor the training sessions to the needs of a UK audience, building on the success of the sessions that have been run in the US and Australia and using the learning models that CPI has evolved over more than a decade. Leading climate change scientists and representatives of climate action initiatives will work with delegates in the first part of the programme to achieve a common understanding of the science. During the afternoon, trainees will work in groups on actions that could be taken within their sectors and communities. The programme will conclude with presentations and discussions with Al Gore on recommended actions. The first day's programme will be chaired by Professor Sir Peter Knight FRS, Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London, and the chair of the second day will be Professor Sir Richard Friend FRS, Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge. The climate science advisor on both days will be Professor Chris Rapley, CBE, Director of the British Antarctic Survey.

Attendees at the training sessions include senior executives from companies such as Barclays Bank, BP, Johnson Matthey, Marks and Spencer and Unilever. Leading academics from Cambridge, Oxford, East Anglia and London universities will be present, along with teachers and school heads from both primary and secondary schools. MPs, senior civil servants, representatives of local government, the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies and the European Parliament will be attending, as will clerics from various faith groups and representatives from environmental action groups such as WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

About the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry

The University of Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI) aims to help leaders make sense of the social, environmental and economic context in which they work, helping them to act in ways that benefit both their organisations and society.

CPI leadership development courses, strategic dialogues and other services bring together experts and executives from private, public and not-for-profit organisations to share knowledge and experience, to address sustainability challenges and opportunities, and to develop creative responses to global challenges. A network of around 2,000 alumni from across the world, have worked with CPI and remain in touch with each other through its programmes.

CPI is a department of the University of Cambridge, and offers outstanding access to leading thinkers across the disciplines at the University of Cambridge and other universities and research bodies worldwide.

For more information, contact:

• Sheila von Rimscha, University of Cambridge Programme for Industry, 1 Trumpington St, Cambridge, CB2 1QA, Svr22@cam.ac.uk www.cpi.cam.ac.uk, Tel: 01223 342124