Young people invited to Combat Climate Change

The National Geographic Society and Vattenfall jointly invite school pupils in five European countries to a competition on energy solutions for the future in order to encourage their engagement in global climate issues. The competition is part of a pan European multi media campaign, named Combat Climate Change.

School children aged 14-19 years old in five European countries – Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland – will be asked to consider the current climate and energy issues of the day in relation to the three pillars of Sustainable Development – environment, economy and society. Entrants will then have to devise a solution that can be applied at a local level.

The overall winner will get an all expenses paid study trip to Washington D.C., home of the National Geographic Society, to meet leading environment and energy experts. There are also prizes for the winners in each of the participating markets. The schools that generate the most entries will receive cash donations to help further fund geography and climate studies.

The competition constitutes part of a major multi-media pan European campaign intended to convey the increasingly important issues of global climate change and the need for viable energy alternatives. The campaign will deploy all of the media assets of National Geographic – magazines, television and digital media. It is being announced by National Geographic Magazines, National Geographic Television and National Geographic Digital Media in partnership with Vattenfall. It will also include a Direct Mail promotion to 30,500 European schools inviting competition entries. Activity will run from March-June 2007 with further special Winners Announcement activity scheduled for November 2007.

Lars G. Josefsson, President & CEO of Vattenfall, said:

”Climate change is the overriding environmental problem of our times and solving it will be the biggest challenge for mankind in the 21st century. It is of utmost importance that the youth of Europe has profound knowledge of the climate change issue and contributes with its creativity to the quest for a solution. We at Vattenfall are proud to be co-operating with National Geographic on this crucial issue.”

Declan Moore, Vice President and International Publisher, National Geographic Magazine, said:

“The Combat Climate Change program represents a wonderful opportunity for thousands of school students across Europe to enter an exciting competition and find out more about the facts and issues surrounding the debate. At National Geographic, our mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. The Combat Climate Change competition, supported by Vattenfall, is a fun and stimulating way for the future stewards of our planet to learn about current climate and energy issues. Solving the problem of climate change depends on everyone making careful choices about our energy use.”

Information, quizzes, games and activities can be found at www.nationalgeographic.com/combatclimatechange


For further information regarding Vattenfall’s sponsoring, please contact:
Martin May, Head of Group Media Relations, Vattenfall, phone: +46 (0) 8 739 52 70.
Stefan Nerpin, Head of Group Marketing Communication, +46 (0) 70 555 2073.


For further information regarding the competition, please contact:
Germany: Sandra Pickert, National Geographic Deutschland, telephone +49-(0) 40-3703-5504.
pickert.sandra@nationalgeographic.de

Poland: Anna Gawrys, National Geographic Polska, telephone: +48 22 607 02 63-64.
Gawrys.a@gjpoland.com.pl

Finland : Pia Korpisaari, National Geographic Finland, telephone: +358 3 225 6292.
pia.korpisaari@ngsuomi.com

Denmark & Sweden: Karen Gunn, National Geographic Nordic, telephone. +45 39 17 20 68.
karen.gunn@nationalgeographic.dk


From Vattenfall's Press Office, telephone: +46 (0)8-739 50 10.


National Geographic
Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organiza-tions. Its mission is to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting conservation of the world’s cultural and natural resources. National Geographic reflects the world through its five magazines, television programs, films, radio, books, videos, maps, interactive media and merchandise. National Geographic magazine, the Society’s official journal, published in English and 28 local-language editions, is read by 40 million people each month in every country in the world. The National Geographic Channel reaches more than 285 million households in 27 languages in 163 countries. Nationalgeographic.com averages around 60 million page views per month. National Geographic has funded more than 8,000 scientific research pro-jects and supports an education program combating geography illiteracy. For more information, log on to
www.nationalgeographic.com AOL Keyword: NatGeo.

Vattenfall
Vattenfall is the fourth largest power generator and the leading heat producer in Europe. With headquarters in Sweden, Vat-tenfall operates in Germany, Scandinavia and Poland; the company employs some 32,000 employees. Vattenfall’s President and CEO Lars G. Josefsson has gained global credit for encouraging the business community to actively tackle climate change. TIME Magazine made him a “European Hero 2005”and the German government recently nominated Mr Josefsson as their senior advisor on climate change. More information on Vattenfall can be found at www.vattenfall.com