Summary of Club of Rome Salon on "Shaping a Sustainable World: International Collaboration & Transformation for a Healthy Planet", hybrid (on-site and online), co-hosted by Club of Rome Germany and Arts & Nature Social Club (Hotel de Rome, Berlin, March 18, 2024).
Panellists:
• Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President, The Club of Rome; Co-Author, Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity
• Luisa Neubauer, Climate Protection Activist and a Main Organizer of Fridays for Future in Germany
• Axel Berger, Chief Sustainability Officer, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH
Welcome Remarks:
• Dr. Christian Reisinger, Managing Director, ConClimate GmbH
• Joerg Geier, Member, Club of Rome and Program Chair, ANSC
(Program Curation & Moderation)
The evening was musically accompanied by Berlin Metropol Trio featuring Batila.
Premium partners:
Hotel de Rome (Berlin); ConClimate
Supporting partners:
Fulbright Germany; FairPlanet; Falling Walls Foundation/Berlin Science Week
Technology partners:
Clever Elements; EasyLivestream; electric-eyes
Description:
Where are we headed? Our planet is on fire - literally and metaphorically. The 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community states that "climate hazards such as extreme weather, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, sea level rise, soil degradation, and acidifying oceans are intensifying, threatening infrastructure, health, and water and food security. Irreversible damage to ecosystems and habitats will undermine the economic benefits they provide, worsened by air, soil, water, and marine pollution." Consequently, societies remain extremely vulnerable to economic, health, humanitarian, geopolitical and environmental shocks.
The U.S.'s Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s European Green Deal are regulatory frameworks that counter some of these negative effects. Our global economies have fallen short of balancing economic considerations with planetary health & social equity. Only if economic activities can be decoupled from resource use, will we be able to reach our ambitious targets as agreed during climate & biodiversity negotiations, most notably the Paris Agreement. The world’s eyes have been focused on whether the past COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai and the one this year in Azerbaijan will live up to climate protagonists’ expectations, deliver tangible results and create the basis for collaboration.
Everything is interconnected. How can independent actors - nation states, civil society and multinational corporations alike - collaborate massively to safeguard the well-being of our species? How can we transform our failing economic operating systems and come out more resilient? Can companies realize the necessary cooperation faster than politics driven by national interests?
Earth4All, an economic foresight initiative under the leadership of several research institutes and think tanks (Club of Rome, Norwegian Business School, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), set out to address some of these questions, culminating in Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity (2022), a Report to The Club of Rome. The analysis focused on two scenarios ("Too Little Too Late" and "Giant Leap") - for the world to 2100:
Sandrine Dixson-Declève is Co-President of The Club of Rome and co-author of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity. She currently chairs the European Commission’s Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR) and sits on the European Commission Mission on Climate Change & Adaptation. She also sits on several Non-Executives & Advisory Boards.
Luisa Neubauer is an activist for climate protection and a main organizer of Fridays for Future in Germany. She advocates a climate policy that complies with and surpasses the Paris Agreement and endorses de-growth. Luisa Neubauer is a member of Alliance 90/The Greens. She is the host of "1,5 Grad" ("1.5 Degrees C") climate podcast and a guest author at Huffington Post.
Axel Berger is responsible for sustainability at Haniel, a family-owned company (EUR 4.2B in revenue (2022); over 20,000 employees). He supports the family investment arm’s portfolio companies in improving not only their operating performance, but also their ecological and social impact.
The speakers' impulse statements were followed by a conversation
moderated by Joerg Geier to further explore the topic.
25 авг 2024
