Panel conversation with Farhana Yamin (International Lawyer and Climate Justice Activist) and Henrike Lindemann (Managing Director, Green Legal Impact), moderated by Coral Ruz (Positive Planet Kino)
The Paris Agreement was celebrated as a milestone by the climate movement and beyond. Much has happened since then. Yet climate change often seems to have slipped from the center of public urgency — exemplified in Germany by policy rollbacks, and more broadly by the actions of the Trump administration. At the same time, important advances have been achieved, such as the recent ICJ advisory opinion, which signals that the climate agenda continues to move forward.
Filmed between COP26 (Glasgow) and COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh), the documentary Temperature Rising follows three powerful activists from Southern Africa as they stand up against fossil fuels, fracking, and government inaction. Their stories remind us that the fight for climate justice is as urgent as ever—and that courageous grassroots movements continue to rise, despite formidable obstacles.
The evening will begin at 7pm with a panel discussion featuring leading voices from different fronts of climate activism—as activists, lawyers, and researchers. Together, we will reflect on the state of climate activism today:
• How do we understand the current moment?
• What opportunities and hopeful signs are emerging?
• What seeds of future activism are already sprouting?
• And how do we sustain ourselves—and each other—in this ongoing work?
Panel Guests:
Farhana Yamin is an international lawyer and climate justice activist who has advised vulnerable countries in UN climate talks for over 30 years. She played a key role in the negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol as well the 2015 Paris Agreement ensuring it contained the goal of net-zero emissions, an idea she put forward in 2013. She has founded or shaped several global coalitions and movements, including the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the High Ambition Coalition and Culture COP. As Director of Impatience, she currently leads the Climate Justice and Just Transition Collective, helping philanthropy understand intersectionality & the need to shift power and resources to frontline communities. Her work has earned her numerous accolades & awards, including being named No. 2 on the BBC’s 2020 Power List, where judges described her as a “powerhouse of climate justice.” Farhana is currently an Honororay Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at the Bosch Academy, Berlin
Henrike Lindemann
Henrike Lindemann is Managing Director of Green Legal Impact Germany, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening civil society’s use of law for climate and environmental protection. A lawyer by training, she has led legal campaigns, advised NGOs, and developed strategies to expand access to justice for climate defenders. Earlier, she worked on anti-coal litigation at Deutsche Umwelthilfe. In 2010, she co-founded Impuls – Agency for Applied Utopianism in response to the failed Copenhagen Climate Summit, creating participatory projects and workshops to help communities “practice change from within.” Combining legal expertise with imaginative activism, she empowers organizations and movements to advance transformative climate action.
Positive Planet Kino is a film event dedicated to presenting short films, documentaries, and feature films that approach climate change, sustainability, and related topics through a distinctly positive lens. The conversation will be moderated by Coral Ruz, co-founder of Positive Planet Kino.
