Power Shift

Power Shift

Logo for the New Zealand-Pacific 2012 Event
Date	November 2–5, 2007 (US) February 27 – March 2, 2009(US) July 11–13, 2009(AUS) October 9–12, 2009 (UK) October 23–26, 2009 (CA) December 7th-9th, 2012 (NZ)
Location	London, Ottawa, Sydney, Washington D.C. & Auckland
Participants	Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Energy Action Coalition, Indian Youth Climate Network, UK Youth Climate Coalition, 350.org Aotearoa
Website	http://www.powershift.org.nz

Power Shift is an annual youth summit which has been held in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other Power Shift Conferences are also being organised by members of the International Youth Climate Movement including Africa, Japan and India. The focus of the events is on climate change policy.

The first Power Shift conference was held from November 2 to 5 2007, in Washington D.C., and was organised by the Energy Action Coalition. The second American conference occurred two years later on February 27 to March 2, 2009.

Following on from the success of the American format, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition organised a Power Shift event in Sydney, Australia on July 11 to July 13, 2009. Similarly, the UK Youth Climate Coalition has scheduled the first British version of the event to run from October 9 to October 12, 2009. The first New Zealand Power Shift will be run between the 7th and 9 December 2012 in Auckland.

The aim of the Power Shift Conferences is to build the youth climate movement in their respective nations, which is achieved through workshops, expert panel discussions, keynote speakers, and a lobby day or a "Day of Action" as it is alternatively known.

The first Power Shift Conference took place from November 2 to 5 in 2007 with between 5,000 and 6,000 students and young people in attendance. It is claimed that due to the number of young people who attended the conference, it became the largest activist youth event on climate change in history. At the University of Maryland, College Park, a rally of between 2,000 and 3,000 people on the steps of the Capitol building and a Lobby Day. The event was also attended by a number of keynote speakers which included Al Gore. The main aim of the first conference was to urge elected officials to pass legislation which would include three planks taken from the platform of the climate advocacy coalition 1Sky: