Niina Aagaard, Head of Communications for the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council moderating at the Nordic pavilion in Sharm El-Sheikh at the COP27 in Egypt. Photo: Nordic Council of Ministers

16 Nov 2022

COP27: Nordic pavilion encourages awareness

During the two weeks of the 27th Conference of the Parties in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the Nordic pavilion arranged and live-streamed over 50 events discussing Nordic solutions and challenges on how to build sustainable societies. The Nordic pavilion is organised by the Nordic Co-operation in partnership with the Nordic institutions.

“We provide a platform for all the Nordic actors to come together and to also showcase our own perspectives and regional aspects. We have events with multiple stakeholders from civil society, youth organizations, politics, science, and business. Most of them are co-financing the pavilion with us, but we have also invited youth representatives and NGOs that don’t have the money, so those we invite and provide for. We engage our young representatives in our panel discussions every day, and they are also invited as experts to other events at the COP27,” says Niina Aagaard, Head of Communications for the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council.

“That is the most important aspect, that we create a place to meet.”

Those following the activities in the Nordic pavilion online or in Sharm El-Sheikh will have noticed a growing number of blue painted lines on the white surfaces of the walls. This is a participatory art project named “Breathe with me” conceptualised by artist Jeppe Hein, that invites audiences to paint their own breath exhale in long downward brushstrokes. “By gathering together the painted breath of every participant, the artwork visualises not only awareness of ourselves, but also our communities, societies and environment,” the artist writes in his brochure.

“We have received a lot of positive reactions on our decoration and layout of our pavilion, and that we have included art from Jeppe Hein. That has really been quite surprisingly popular, and there are so many questions about it, even a TV channel from India will come and film, so this is something that makes people smile and wonder and want to participate,” says Aagaard. “The art concept is about individuals need for fresh air and society’s responsibility to deliver that – in other words the very idea of COP.”

Previously, the Nordic Council of Ministers has arranged Nordic pavilions at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow in 2021, COP25 in Madrid with a hub in Stockholm, COP24 in Katowice, COP23 in Bonn, COP22 in Marrakech and COP21 in Paris. The Nordic Council of Ministers, based in Copenhagen, was also present at the COP15 organised there in 2009. NIB has been a partner of the Nordic pavilion since COP21.