Was the Copenhagen Summit doomed from the start? Some insights from Green IS research

At the 2009 Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, COP15, so many contradictory demands were apparent that it is doubtful whether it produced many useful outcomes. In this paper we question whether it, and summits like it, may be inherently doomed to fall short of expectations. With its experience of the intrinsic contradictions within socio-technical systems, the Information System’s profession may provide some insights into complex issues such as climate change. IS research has often demonstrated that imposed top-down solutions rarely provide the most promising way to approach highly complex problems. On the other hand, bottom-up emergent processes, though less politically acceptable, may take us in the direction we need to go. This paper reviews and reports Green IS research to make a case for a multifaceted approach to the climate change problem, with the suggestion that the IS experience may inform global approaches to finding bottom-up solutions to climate change.