As a communications professional, this experience opened my eyes to how communications can be a powerful tool for mobilising social change on a global scale. It wasn’t just about crafting messages—it was about connecting ideas, people, and movements to inspire action and hope.

The first few months of the fellowship were dedicated to understanding the organisation’s goals and finding my place within the team. This process was made seamless by the warm and supportive environment the team fostered. Everyone was incredibly encouraging, and I quickly transitioned from feeling like an outsider to becoming an integral part of the group. The collaborative spirit was one of the highlights of my experience. Whether I was handling large projects or experimenting with new forms of media, I was given the freedom to ideate, pitch, execute, and analyse initiatives. This end-to-end involvement—from the conception of an idea to its execution and impact assessment—was one of the most rewarding aspects of the fellowship. Few organisations offer fellows such comprehensive access and opportunities.

Unlike many other communications roles that can feel like a never-ending cycle of “daily firefighting,” this fellowship struck a balance between daily tasks and strategic, meaningful learning. I wasn’t confined to a single medium; instead, I explored a variety of formats—editing videos, planning video series, conducting member interviews, and writing blog articles. This freedom to experiment, coupled with the team’s expertise, helped me learn from both successes and challenges. The integrated nature of the communications team within the larger organisation was another standout feature. I had the chance to collaborate with other teams on projects, such as contributing to reports and campaigns. This flexibility not only broadened my perspective but also reinforced how essential it is for communications professionals to work across disciplines.

Kabir presenting their report to team members during the AGM.

One of the most transformative moments of the fellowship was attending The Club of Rome’s Annual General Assembly in Brussels. Meeting the team in person, along with the organisation’s members—many of whom are influencing policy decisions and shaping global narratives—was an unforgettable experience. The conversations I had during this event were eye-opening and inspiring. They gave me hope that there are talented, dedicated individuals working tirelessly to create a better, more equitable world. It was humbling to witness such passion and focus, and it left a lasting impression on me.

The mentorship I received during the fellowship was invaluable, particularly in understanding how to communicate sustainability and social impact to a global audience. At this early stage in my career, this guidance was instrumental. From conceptualising multimedia projects to executing them and evaluating their success, I gained hands-on experience that has already begun shaping my approach to communications. The fellowship also provided a supportive environment for growth, with ample handholding at the beginning and increasing autonomy as I became more confident. This balance was critical in helping me navigate challenges and make the most of every opportunity.

This fellowship was more than just a role—it was a journey of discovery, growth, and purpose. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone seeking to learn about communications on a global scale and aspiring to become a thought leader advocating for meaningful change. For me, The Club of Rome’s values and vision will remain a guiding force as I continue to use communications as a tool to contribute to a more just and equitable world.

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The Club of Rome is unique and different from other nonprofit organisations because it looks at things holistically. I believe, to address the complex challenges we are facing – some call it a polycrisis – systems thinking is at the heart of identifying solutions. And applying it in the right way can help open new doors, to look at the problem from novel perspectives. That’s the most significant learning from my 20-year association with the organisation. In the early 2000s I met Professor Raoul Weiler, then a member of the Club of Rome Executive Committee, at an event I was organising. This inspired me to join Think Tank 30, then the youth arm of The Club of Rome. Later, from 2005 until 2008, I served as the Club of Rome’s Deputy Secretary General and became an associate member after that.

What is your vision for the future and how do you contribute towards making it a reality?

Every day we are inundated with negative reports of all kinds. I believe we need to create more positive visions of the future and positive narratives. Storytelling is an important way to do that.

I co-founded Purpose Driven Innovation Ecosystem (PDIE), a company that enables sustainable ecosystems and advises green startups. We assist promising entrepreneurs with the identification of funding sources, primarily investors, with the goal of co-creating a better tomorrow. Focus areas include important verticals such as decarbonisation, biodiversity loss, circular economy, green smart cities, and others.

We also put on supporting events such as the Future of Climate Summit during Climate Week NYC, and more recently, an event on Sustainability and AI in Davos during the World Economic Forum. Such events provide great opportunities to identify relevant stakeholders to the start-ups we’ve been working with. We’ve supported and nominated a few of the finalists and winners of the esteemed Earthshot Prize, which supports innovators to tackle the greatest environmental challenges we face.

Along with PDIE, I’m proud of the work being done by Arts and Nature Social Club (ANSC), a non-profit I co-founded and am the programme chair of. Its mission is to create empathy for nature and to perceive ourselves as an integral part of it. In line with the goal to connect the arts, science and entrepreneurship with a sustainability perspective, ANSC hosts high-level salon events with a diverse range of decision makers and opinion formers, showcasing more sustainable pathways and positive future narratives. Hereby, the arts serve as a vehicle to highlight the opportunities – financial and otherwise – that more sustainable lifestyles offer. This helps our audience to understand and experience sustainability from another angle.

What role do young people play in creating a positive future? 

Young people are essential in redefining our perspective on a liveable future. Look at the huge impact that Fridays for Future has had around the globe.  But it is not only young people’s voices that matter; young people convincing their parents to go along to their demonstrations also has a huge impact. Parents that may not have thought about sustainability before get to learn more about today’s challenges and empathise with the vision and experiences of young people. Young people’s voices are critical and their collaboration with older generations is what really makes a difference.

What do you believe is most crucial to help business leaders young and old convey their sustainability efforts to different audiences? 

I believe mentorship is essential and this often implies older people working together with younger people. It’s not just mentorship from one side to the other, there’s a lot both sides can learn from each other, including historical knowledge and novel viewpoints.
I hope that through my own mentorship work I can make a difference at multiple levels such as with more mature scientists or young professionals building up their own businesses. The essence of my approach is to encourage cross-learning from different disciplines and ask the right questions to help teams explore different aspects of creating a successful solution or technology.

Where do you think we can draw the most inspiration to reduce our impact on the planet – in terms of technological innovation or traditional and indigenous knowledge? 

First, I think it’s very important to draw inspiration from very different sources. Technology is great and I think it can make a difference. But we must think about the solution from a systemic perspective. Because often if you come up with a solution, it may solve one problem, but if you’re not careful, it can create multiple other problems. Addressing the issue from different angles is crucial. For example, there’s a lot of wisdom that comes with indigenous insights. Indigenous leaders share unique knowledge that predate their own lives and goes back many generations. This is so important when considering complex and vital areas such as guardianship of the Amazon.

Multistakeholder dialogues are crucial to help us come up with solutions that address issues from various perspectives. An example for a potential trade-off may be the displacement of indigenous people resulting from the exploitation of natural resources, such as lithium, that are a necessary ingredient for the energy transition and thereby drive green innovation. Both perspectives have the potential to cross-fertilise and inspire each other. As a result, in the medium to long term, answers will hopefully address challenges in a more holistic and consequently more effective way.

What does sustainability mean to you – is it self-defined or is there a common goal? 

There are important aspects of sustainability which are universal that we all need to adopt. For instance, we should all adhere to the resolutions of Conference of Party (COP) meetings, both for climate and biodiversity. At the same time, there are also very personal aspects about sustainability. I think that we should listen to ourselves deep inside and figure out what sustainability really means to us and how we can live a more sustainable life. Areas such as philosophy and the humanities aren’t mentioned often in the context of sustainable development, but I think they can nurture our souls and allow us to contribute more to our collective wellbeing as a result.

Ultimately, I believe that sustainability should always be about a more positive future.

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50 years since The Limits to Growth called time on unbridled economic expansion on a finite planet, Earth for All proposes an emergency to-do list: global policy levers that must now be pulled fast and decisively to prevent ecological and societal collapse. The 2023 report to the Club of Rome outlines ambitious pathways for system change – but stops short of addressing the human inner dimension of necessary collective action. Who must pull these levers – and most importantly at this late hour, what’s stopping us? Despite having the necessary policy tools, technological innovations and resources, humanity has consistently failed to take action at the rate, scale and depth necessary to prevent catastrophe. Seven co-authors, all experts at the intersection of inner-outer change, have come together to ask why. Their recent ‘deep-dive’ paper highlights the profound transformations we require not only in our socioeconomic structures, but also in the very fabric of human cognition and culture. 

The inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation are endlessly overshadowed by material priorities in high-level policy discussions, yet are fundamental in both creating and perpetuating our current crises. From the rise of consumerism fuelled by materialist values and evolutionary impulses, to the fragmentation of collective identity and the innate biases steering our perceptions and political behaviour, inner factors are constantly at work, subtly pulling the levers of our external world. Indeed it is this level of mindsets – that Donella Meadows, lead author of The Limits to Growth, described as the ‘deepest leverage point for change’.  

At the very root of failing societal systems is a particular system of thought, with origins in the European ‘Enlightenment’. This dominant mindset has underpinned modern scientific advancement, bringing extraordinary material comfort to large parts of the world. At the same time its reductionist tendency has shaped over centuries a mass culture of alienation and exploitation on a planetary scale, setting human civilisation on a trajectory for collapse. This same reductive materialism has likewise influenced a widespread de-prioritisation of inner life – as such our understanding of human drives, impulses, resistances and potentials is often remarkably poor and drastically over-simplified. 

We may hesitate at the concept of ‘intervention’ in inner life – yet human wellbeing is indisputably served by the fuller realisation of innate inner capacities; particularly in a world where material ‘progress’ is pursued at all costs, while inner wealth has been sorely neglected. More alarmingly, our inner lives are routinely manipulated by commercial and political interests, which shape public opinion and consumer behaviour in ways that contribute directly to our polycrisis. It’s now essential that we integrate understanding and cultivation of the inner – individual and collective – into systems approaches. Wisdom traditions and scientific research alike show that we are capable of understanding, nurturing, and transforming our inner landscapes in ways that support the flourishing of all life. A burgeoning evidence base supports methods for necessary inner development at individual, group and societal levels. 

The authors explore important ‘elements of the inner’ absent from much systems thinking, within two broad categories. First, the role of collective beliefs and systems of meaning – mental models co-created by groups and replicated in culture – in shaping societal behaviour. They discuss the primacy of mindsets, core narratives, and constellations of identity that reinforce narrow individualism or sensitivity to collective interdependence. Next, attention turns to less abstract aspects of human experience. Transient subjective states and enduring psychological traits drive behaviour and influence meaning-making at individual and collective levels. Accordingly, transformative capacities of heart and mind can be cultivated to support collective action and shift foundational attitudes over time: from deeper awareness of our cognitive biases and threat behaviours, to resilience and adaptability at both individual and community levels, and modes of cognition and imagination fit for the complexities of our changing world. 

Finally the essay introduces leading approaches in inner-outer transformation already integrating factors such as core narratives, psychological mechanisms and inner capacities into meaningful action toward system transformation. Innovators and researchers are evolving theory and practice in this territory at all scales. Prominent models focus on capacity development for leaders, mindset shifts in teams, organisations and systems, and integrated initiatives for individual, societal and planetary flourishing. 

The authors call not for a shift in emphasis away from material solutions, but for a holistic reimagining of our approaches to systemic change; integrating outer with inner dimensions. Transformative change must involve a dual approach: shifting the visible, external structures of society and the invisible, internal landscapes of the human mind and heart.  

The Earth for All report advocates five ‘extraordinary turnarounds’ in policy. In response this deep-dive paper insists on a sixth, widespread turn towards the under-appreciated inner in all system thinking, discourse, policies, allocation of resources and strategies for change. Without such a turn, we may expect that systems solutions of the necessary depth will continue to evade us. To achieve it, however, could open the field of possibility not only to adequate crisis response, but to a level of flourishing and quality of life that we have not yet learned collectively to hope for.

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One line of evidence for the Australian Government’s seriousness about climate–security risks is government activity, but there is little to see. The government’s most valuable initiative, the Office of National Intelligence risk assessment, has been buried. There have been no significant or specific announcements on climate-related security issues since the report was finished, and the government has not responded to a number of requests made by ASLCG for the report’s release of any of its key findings.

Climate was mentioned only in passing in the Defence Security Review (DSR) and the National Defence Strategy did no better.

Ministers visiting the Pacific say that Australia recognises climate is a big issue for Pacific nations and takes that seriously, whilst simultaneously overseeing a major expansion of the gas industry. The Pacific pitch is designed to meld small Pacific states into the bigger anti-China strategic alliance led by the United States, and to disrupt Chinese influence in the region. But climate, not China, is the greatest risk to our future.

A government that verbally recognises the “existential” nature of the climate–security threat would also accept the responsibility to educate Australian people on this threat and take actions necessary to address it.

When a government identifies a large threat to Australian security, their usual mode is to build the case to act by going out of their way to talk about it. For example, both the government and the opposition have given inordinate attention to talking up the “China threat”; AUKUS is in practical terms about the “China threat”, and “Indo-Pacific” a codeword for “contest with China”. Looking back, there was an all-out effort by the Howard government to convince Australians that Iraq’s (mythical) weapons of mass destruction justified going to war. And before that the much-vaunted “domino theory” was used to justify Australia’s participation in the Vietnam War.

But the climate threat? Not a priority. An analysis of the number of discrete media events (speeches, media transcripts, media releases and statements) by Defence Minister Marles in which he has referenced China (and related codewords), compared to climate, is revealing.

To early March 2024, Marles had referenced the Indo-Pacific on 158 occasions, China 221, America 129 and AUKUS 202. By way of comparison, climate change appears 49 times, the word existential 12 times, and sea-level rise — the greatest climate concern of the Pacific — on just two occasions.

The DSR, co-chaired by a former Labor foreign minister, included a section on climate change of just 252 words, most related to minimising any increased role for the Defence Force in disaster relief. There were no recommendations bar those relating to getting Defence out of emergency responses and using more renewable energy. On the big climate-security picture — described by Chatham House as cascading climate impacts that will drive political instability and fuel regional and international conflict — there was not a single recommendation.

Climate as a primary security issue? Not in this “strategic” review.

The government’s climate communications strategy is clear. In the international arena, make China the big story and climate a subsidiary one. Domestically, it is even more stark. The government is making the climate story about renewable energy and jobs, along with the “strategic” importance of gas expansion, whilst talking about the actual and projected climate impacts as little as possible.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has referred to renewable energy on 373 occasions (up to 10 March 2024), with big numbers for battery (133), storage (165), hydrogen (143), coal (172), pumped hydro (32) and renewable energy superpower (105).

The climate emergency rated 32 mentions and extreme weather or heat 15. But drill down to the specific impacts of climate change and the cupboard is bare. Sea levels get nine mentions, Antarctica — one of the fastest warming places on Earth and where Australia claims a large territory — rated four mentions, and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), now in a death spiral, just one. Words relating to key climate systems — tipping points, permafrost, the slowing Atlantic circulation, the Amazon and extinction — score zero mentions.

In February and March 2024, the GBR experienced the most severe bleaching and coral death on record due to unprecedented hot ocean temperatures. Bleaching after bleaching, the World-Heritage-listed reef is dying. And what did the responsible minister, Tanya Plibersek, say about these global news-worthy events? Not a word. Her ministerial website records just three mentions of the reef over those two months — all in the first half of February — and they related to the appointment of a “New Chair for Reef 2050 Independent Expert Panel”, the delivery of a progress report on the Reef to UNESCO, and Great Barrier Reef Wetlands Strategy; all of which are part of ongoing political contortions to avoid the reef being placed on the UNESCO “endangered” list, when in reality it is dying.

There is good evidence that we need to be honest and forthright about the climate problem. Counterposing “fear” and “hope” narratives is a false dichotomy, because both are needed. Public health promotion campaigns such as “quit smoking” show that the messages that work best combine a personally relevant description of the threat (fear), and a clear exposition of the solution with a clear path of achievable actions to address it (hope).

Research also shows that increased commitment to taking action can be achieved by just reading a climate message that forthrightly describes the seriousness of our situation. Strong fear messages have been found to be more effective than weak fear messages; when fear is combined with hope, this can create an emotional drive that motivates a change of habit. And climate anxiety is an important driver for climate action.

And the lesson? You can’t solve a problem — in this case the biggest threat humanity has ever faced — without talking about it honestly and leading the conversation. The Australian government is certainly not doing that.

First published in Pearls and Irritations. 

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The focus of your chapter is the concept of Solidarity Capitalism. Can you explain what that means? 

In the previous understanding of capitalism, the point of a business’s existence was the pursuit of profits. We have taken a significant shift in consciousness since then, with many people moving towards a belief that the value of a corporate entity is also inextricably linked to its ability to create value for its stakeholders, society, the economy and the natural environment. My reference to Solidarity Capitalism in the chapter was a way of bringing that consciousness and that awareness to the fore. I also wanted to specifically reference indigenous knowledge systems and connect them to prevalent economic systems like capitalism to find a blend that creates a more holistic and sustainable future.   

Can you expand on what indigenous knowledge systems can teach us about creating a sustainable economy? 

The thinking that I am describing is not new. These approaches and intuitive knowledge have always been embedded in the cultural heritage of many African jurisdictions, kingdoms, and concepts like Ubuntu or Umunne/a. For example, the way the Igbo describe culture— “Omenala” and “Omanani”— references “Ala” and “Ani”, meaning the Earth. There is an understanding that the Earth is a core stakeholder in how we should live, how we should think and how we should do business. A lot of African culture has been oral tradition, not necessarily captured in writing. When talking about Solidarity Capitalism in my chapter, I wanted to capture the elements of this holistic thinking that is inherent in where I come from.   

How can we imagine putting these ideas into practice? 

A practical approach that I’ve used in my previous work is the Seven Pillars to Sustainability, which has been used by several large corporations in Africa, such as the Growing Businesses Foundation, Dangote, and MTN. The Seven Pillars approach views sustainability holistically from a financial, operational, institutional, economic, social and environmental perspective. The governance, or the board, establishes the tone at the top of the organisation. Through that tone, the entire organisation with all of its different facets, departments, and data owners come together to define what sustainability for that entity means, how to measure it, how to monitor it, how to report it, and more importantly, how it helps define its culture and purpose. 

You are currently a member of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) at the IFRS Foundation. Can you talk about how the ISSB relates to the concept of Solidarity Capitalism? 

At the ISSB we are trying to create one common language of sustainability-related disclosures that are geared towards investors, so they can get the necessary information that allows them to consider sustainability and climate-related risks as part of decision-making. By enabling these disclosures, we are able to put together the appropriate indicators that allow investors to channel capital towards more sustainable businesses. This takes us closer to the concept of Solidarity Capitalism where we are all working together to build a healthy ecosystem where everyone can thrive.  

How has your work at The Club of Rome supported this transformation? 

My journey with The Club of Rome started about 20 years ago and I was on the Executive Committee for the last three years. On the committee, we were constantly questioning the thinking that underlies our thinking to make sure that we are not trapped in a specific mindset and that we are opening up our possibilities by considering what could be derived from cultural best practices, intergenerational and cultural perspectives. We have achieved many things during this time, such as establishing The 50 Percent to help intergenerational dialogue come alive, publishing Towards New Narratives of Hope for Fostering Transformative African Futures contributing an African point of view to the global dialogue, and developing The Fifth Element initiative, supporting a new way of looking at challenges and working our way around them in an inclusive and forward-looking manner.  

Limits and Beyond is a collection of essays from world-renowned thinkers, scientists, and economists from across the globe, grappling with the most acute issues of our time. Published on the 50th anniversary of The Limits to Growth, it explores what we learnt and where we go from here. 

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Sustainability and climate change are political matters, and I have always been a political activist. But the choice of The Club of Rome was an accident of history. I happened to live in Cape Town when Gunter Pauli, who grew up professionally in The Club of Rome, introduced me to the organisation. At first, I thought it was irrelevant to me because The Club of Rome was perceived to be made up of old, white European and American men. While those are the historic roots of The Club of Rome, we have grown beyond that. Gunter talked to me about some of the things the organisation was beginning to do. So, I got interested and joined.  

What did you aspire to change when you become co-president? 

My aspiration was to change the culture of The Club of Rome from white male Eurocentrism to a more diverse pluri-versal view of the world that celebrates the richness diversity brings to institutions and the world to make ours a better world.  I was perturbed by the gross under-representation of Africa – the Mother Continent.  I am glad that the number of Africans and their voices have grown to shape the thrust of the work of The Club of Rome. 

What would you say are the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the world today, and how can we address them in a transformative way?  

I believe humanity’s inability to understand and learn from Mother Nature about how living systems work and change is the greatest challenge facing the world today. Human beings are inextricably linked to one another within the web of life, and we can only survive through understanding that human beings are part of nature, not apart from it.  The focus must be on promoting greater equity and wellbeing for all.  

How can African countries balance sustainable development goals with the pressing challenge of climate change?   

African countries need to move away from emulating Western development models and adopt holistic approaches to development.  These must be in line with indigenous knowledge that values ecosystems. We must work towards promoting equity and wellbeing for all by embracing the values that nurture servant leadership and treating one another with respect and dignity.  

How can we navigate the challenges of creating effective partnerships between governments, businesses, and civil society in promoting sustainable development?  

Partnerships are possible when we have a consciousness of the interconnectedness and mutual dependence that exist between all of us, and a realisation of the value of pooling resources rather than working in competition. Consciousness of the essence of being human which is our interconnectedness and interdependence would promote values that nurture serving others and promoting wellbeing for all.  

What does a shift from a consumption-based economy to a needs-based economy entail, and how can it be achieved?  

We must return to the essence of what it means to be human and fill the void inside that drives over-consumption through love, solidarity, and better relationships. We need to stop chasing material benefits and embrace our cultural and artistic sides as enough in of themselves. An increasing consciousness of the importance of valuing intangibles would drive us towards a more joyous and fulfilling life.  

As you come to the end of your term as The Club of Rome co-president and looking towards the future, what gives you hope for creating a more sustainable world, and what areas of progress do you see as most promising?  

Looking towards the future, I have hope for the creation of a more sustainable world through a human revolution called for by Aurelio Peccei, the founder of The Club of Rome. A Human Revolution is all about closing the gap between knowing and doing. We can achieve a human revolution by traveling inside ourselves to find out our essence – who we are. This essence would be the leading edge that drives our engagements in working together to create global equity for a healthy planet.  

I believe that young people are leading the charge in liberating themselves and the future they desire. The establishment of the Youth Leadership and Intergenerational Dialogues Impact Hub is one of the proudest achievements for The Club of Rome. We have created conditions for young people to shape the future they want, which is the future we yearn for. 

What would you say has changed in the last five years at The Club of Rome and what could you single out as your biggest achievement?  

Over the past five years, there have been many changes at The Club of Rome. One significant change is the increase in diversity among its members, who come from different parts of the world, bringing new perspectives and views to the organisation. Having two women as co-presidents was a seminal moment in the history of The Club of Rome.  With several other members we published a paper entitled – New Narratives of Hope that is gaining popularity in influencing changing business practices in companies such as Mastercard Africa. Additionally, the Afrik Akili Declaration has put Africa’s own vision of itself on the map.  Young people from Latin America were inspired by the Afrik-Akili and forged the Costa Rica Declaration to express their dreams of the Latin America Region. These achievements have come through the power, energy, creativity, and insights of young people. The Club of Rome aims to support these younger generations in shaping the future we want. 

What would you like to see happening in The Club of Rome, and how would you like the legacy to continue?  

The Club of Rome should strive to be even more diverse. We need to bring in perspectives from other continents that constitute Most of the World to shape our perspectives. This will enhance the organisation’s role as a thought leader that advances an understanding of how living systems work and change, while adding value to what it means to be human and to celebrate the beauty of Mother Earth and her abundance. 

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Visit The Fifth Element website

The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element, led by The Club of Rome, is a platform that facilitates the mutual transformation of communities, academics and policymakers to bring the unique perspective of systems transformation for a regenerative future.

It does this by convening  individuals and organisations working together to sense the challenges, blindspots, dissonances and opportunities experienced in respective spheres of knowledge. This has led to identifying new questions and developing a better framing of how to respond to the issues.

The Afrik-Akili Declaration

The Afrik-Akili Declaration is a contribution to an African sense (Swahili: Akili). It is a celebration of the African continent, its people, its ecological richness and its place in the world. 

Building on the 2021 paper Towards New Narratives of Hope for Fostering Transformative African Futures and in the face of the multiple crisis we face today, the declaration provides a platform for conversations about Africa, reminding Africans and the world about the continent’s role as the cradle of humanity and the birthplace of the first civilisations. As defined in its ten principles it seeks to unite all people in an awareness of Africa’s value, to inspire and raise consciousness challenging dominant narratives of universality and Afro-pessimism.

Read the full declaration

Learn more about Bridges

UNESCO BRIDGES COALITION FOR SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCES

The BRIDGES Coalition for Sustainability Sciences supported by UNESCO, and The Club of Rome are exploring how the role of research can be reframed to better align with society and nature. 

The Club of Rome is the only non-academic hub of the coalition and looks to investigate how transdisciplinary models of thinking and community-driven research can be incorporated into the academic research paradigm. 

The Earth-Humanity Coalition

Enabling the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development 2024-2033 (IDSSD) in collaboration with UNESCO.  The Club of Rome is a  critical contributor to this  global bottom-up network that connects and mobilises all kinds of organisations worldwide in support of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD).

The coalition seeks to foster transformative action at multiple scales and leverage existing efforts, with dynamism, agility, and effectiveness. It partners and complements  with UNESCO, the International Science Council and other organisations to achieve the ambitious goals of the IDSSD.

 

Learn more about the Earth-Humanity Coalition

Learn more about No Limits to Hope

NO LIMITS TO HOPE

No Limits to Hope is an initiative launched by The Fifth Element (a programme of The Club of Rome) and the WEEC Network to inspire educators, learners and citizens to pursue a global shift in learning paradigms to address humanity’s most pressing challenges.

Building on the legacy of the 1979 report to The Club of Rome, No Limits to Learning, this project seeks to bridge the “human gap” between knowledge and action and re-examine humanity’s quest for meaning and a good life.

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In the Emerging New Civilisations Initiative (ENCI) of The Club of Rome, we have become much more sensitive to our own blind spots in the many engagements with people at various levels of human society across geographies of our world. We are often reminded to be a lot more alert to the reality that English is the lingua franca of elites, who are a minority segment of the total human population in the world. English is not a lingua franca of the world. Our engagements with human beings from a diversity of contexts have raised our levels of consciousness about the power of language, and the unsaid meaning of words.

I would like to simply list and comment a little on the common pitfalls we should be mindful of:

• Universal is often thrown in to assert claims that a statement made expresses a commonly held point of view. When one is asked why we think, so we become defensive. What is said to be universal is not necessarily regarded as such by most people in the world who may have an entirely contrary view. This was brought home to us as members of the Club of Rome Africa Region as we were preparing the paper, New Narratives of Hope in 2020. A common example is the view of “family”, which in much of the Western world is about the nuclear family, whereas for most people in the world, including Africa, family consciously includes extended members – siblings and their children and children’s children! Pluriversal is a more appropriate word to reflect our consciousness of diversity and plurality of views points. We need to embrace pluriversality to enrich our understanding of what it means to be human and to signal our sensitivity to the views of others as members of one human race.
• Developed/Developing – What are the assumptions underlying what it means to be regarded as ‘Developed versus Developing’? Western countries have coined these terms using their dominance of International Development Finance Institutions such as the International Monetary fund (IMF)/ World Bank (WB) to embed a certain hierarchy in development speak. Does it mean that being income-poor is a marker of not being developed? Or how is one to be measured as being in the process of developing? What is the standard of development that is acceptable to humanity to declare completion of the development process? Carlos Álvarez Pereira, vice president of the Club of Rome, Club of Rome, draws our attention to the need to ask the question: what is the shift we need to move fast towards human societies where High Well-being @ Low Footprint is achieved in an equitable manner? In practical terms, this means that we must pursue two different paths of evolution, depending on the starting point of each country or community: i.e., Higher Well-being @ Low Footprint or Lower Footprint @ High Well-being. No country can be said to have arrived at development if we embrace this way of thinking. We all have to strive for well-being for all for a healthy planet from where we are. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as standard bearers of development in the UN context, are not adequate for the task of helping us as a global human family to achieve the equity essential to well-being for all for a healthy planet. The assumptions embedded in the SDGs is that low-income countries have to play catch up with high-income countries which continue to merrily consume at unsustainable levels that make global equity unattainable.
• First and Third worlds. What are the assumptions behind labelling one set of countries First and others Third? If one were to use scientific records of how our world evolved, Africa is a now undisputed Cradle of humanity. It is also the place where the first human civilisation is memorialised by archaeological artefacts as well as the towering Pyramids of Egypt and Nubia. What is the basis on which the definition of dominant economic powers as constituting the First World? Do these designations not reflect a certain arrogance from regions that extracted the wealth of now poor countries designated as Third World countries by those basking in the glory of being First World? Take the example of Haiti, a tiny island that was forced into paying reparations for daring to free themselves from slavery and colonial rule by France! The extraordinary imposition on a people to repay their slave masters for the temerity of daring to free themselves continues to reverberate in the grinding poverty and chaos in governance in Haiti. How can we build a global equitable human community without attending to such historical wounds that are unlikely to heal without acknowledgement?
• Rest of the World versus Most of the World quantitative measures used in many institutions, including by respectable scholars, often focus on statistics of Consumption, Population Profiles, Educational Attainment etc. in Western countries, are often accompanied by throw-away references to the ‘rest of the world.’ The irony is that dominant Western countries represent just over 15% of the world population, whilst the ‘rest of the world’ includes Asia, which alone represents 60% of the world population, followed by Africa with 17.5%. The “Rest of the World” reference cannot, therefore, be referring to the numbers of people but suggests something else – a residual category after dominant regions have been dealt with.
• International is another word that is a code word for Western countries of Europe and the USA. This is particularly prevalent among those working in institutions based in powerful western institutions. Research that is done in those dominant areas is deemed to be international, whereas work done in countries in large regions of Asia and Africa is seen as local or peculiar to those areas. This is the mother of blind spots in scholars and public servants who should know better.
• The Poor is a common expression among development workers, opinion makers and influencers, including scholars. People are poor, but that does not define their humanity. Human beings have inherent dignity that cannot be undervalued by the poverty that has befallen them due to the structural inequalities of our current global socio-economic system. The designation of people as ‘the poor’ submerges their identity as human beings in an economic status, not of their choosing. Indian economist C T Kurien reminds us that poverty is the carcass left after wealth acquisition. The biggest problem of our world today is not people who are poor but the nature of wealth acquisition that generates poverty and our normalisation of these inequitable relationships. Without tackling the systems that generate wealth for very few at the expense of many people, talk of poverty alleviation or reduction is symptomatic treatment. Uprooting poverty can only be done by eradicating the deadly disease of extractive economic relationships that continue to undermine the well-being of all and threaten our biosphere.
• Global Equity versus Growing Private Equity for the few at the expense of the many. Global equity is about promoting the Common Good to be enjoyed by all equally in relationships of trust generated by human-to-human conversations that co-create shared goals and purposes. Imagine a world in which the pursuit of growing global equity shifts the mindsets of those preoccupied with their own ‘private equity’ often at the expense of the Common Good!

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We now recognise the inherent fragility of our highly technological and globalized societies in ways that would have been unthinkable in a pre-Covid-19 world.

And yet in the midst of these challenges, new positive ways of working and thinking have emerged which could help define a new future and contribute towards new narratives of hope. This is where we would like to weigh in, with cumulative and new African voices—old and young—to consciously co-create an emerging present that places values such as entrepreneurship, sustainability, community, empathy, compassion, circularity and resilience, inter alia, at the centre of our focus.

Authors: Rika Preiser, Mark Swilling, Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, Mamphela Ramphele

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