Why are non-scientists leading the world’s largest companies’ sustainability efforts?

Why are non-scientists leading the world’s largest companies’ sustainability efforts?

08 March 2023 - Some 23% of Fortune 500 corporations claim to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals framework. Yet, a peer-reviewed study found that a measly 0.2% have developed concrete methods and tools to evaluate their progress toward relevant SDGs. This ...
COP is not fit for purpose. Here’s how the UN can reform it.

COP is not fit for purpose. Here’s how the UN can reform it.

08 March 2023 - The yearly COP is the highlight of the climate calendar. Yet, as emissions continue to climb and the impacts of climate change worsen, it is time we asked what the COP process is really achieving and how it can be overhauled to ensure it helps to deliver a safe ...
For humanity and the planet to thrive, we need to empower women

For humanity and the planet to thrive, we need to empower women

07 March 2023 - There’s a golden rule for humanity, common across all major religions and societies: treat others as you would like to be treated. It is the bedrock of democracy and just legal systems. But when it comes to one part of society, this rule, it seems, does not ...
How to achieve a higher wellbeing for the global majority towards 2100?

How to achieve a higher wellbeing for the global majority towards 2100?

24 February 2023 - NOT IMPOSSIBLY EXPENSIVE BUT IT REQUIRES AN ACTIVE AND WELL-FUNDED STATE Over the last 15 years, my colleagues and I have studied possible paths for human wellbeing on planet Earth in the 21st century. Our perspective is that of past and future growth in ...
Transforming our food systems

Transforming our food systems

09 February 2023 - Land use is responsible for about 22% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which is why it is important to reduce emissions from land systems, for example related to deforestation and the conversion of other intact ecosystems to agricultural land. However, ...
While Exxon rakes in record profits, extreme poverty is on the rise

While Exxon rakes in record profits, extreme poverty is on the rise

01 February 2023 - Exxon Mobil has just announced it made $56 billion in profits in 2022, smashing not only its previous record of $45.2 billion in 2008, but setting a historic high for the Western oil industry. Chevron reported record profits of $35.5 billion last week, while ...
Why we need some long-term thinking at Davos

Why we need some long-term thinking at Davos

17 January 2023 - Europe needs to be leading the charge to a more sustainable world, but is being held back by short-termism and poor policymaking, argues Systemiq's Janez Potočnik. "Co-operation in a fragmented world" is the title of the gathering of the great and the good at ...
Davos Man must pay

Davos Man must pay

16 January 2023 - To mitigate the worst effects of climate change and prevent societal breakdown, we must shift to renewable energies and reduce extreme inequality. But doing so would require massive increases in public spending, which is why governments must overhaul their ...
Transformation in the poly-crisis age: From permacrisis to positive peace

Transformation in the poly-crisis age: From permacrisis to positive peace

27 December 2022 - Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ESIR group advocated the need for the EU institutions to avoid relying exclusively on short-termism, and instead adopt a “protect, prepare and transform” (PPT) approach for resilience. “Protect”, through a swift ...
Transforming the world requires transforming ourselves: A pledge for more authenticity 

Transforming the world requires transforming ourselves: A pledge for more authenticity 

22 December 2022 - Our planet is on fire – literally and metaphorically. Natural disasters range from climate change, biodiversity loss, species and plant extinction to the degradation of natural ecosystems. Economic development, meant to lift millions if not billions of people out ...
The Club of Rome’s plan for a systems change and a just solar revolution

The Club of Rome’s plan for a systems change and a just solar revolution

20 December 2022 - The transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a clean energy economy is underway. In 2021, wind and solar accounted for 10% of all electricity production in the world, compared to just 5% in 2016.1 Doubling at this pace means wind and solar could account for ...
Learning what we already know on the 50th anniversary of The Limits to Growth

Learning what we already know on the 50th anniversary of The Limits to Growth

12 December 2022 - 50 years after the first report to the Club of Rome, humanity is in dire straits. The financial crisis in 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are brutal signals of collapse. They originate in a wider landscape of self-inflicted existential threats: ...
Club of Rome Logo