27 May 2022 – On 2 and 3 June 2022, Stockholm hosted an international environmental meeting with the theme: A healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity. Stockholm+50 will commemorate the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and celebrate 50 years of global environmental action. Its aim was to act as a springboard to accelerate the implementation of the UN Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, including the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement on climate change, the post-2020 global Biodiversity Framework, and encourage the adoption of green post-COVID-19 recovery plans.
1972 was also the year that the seminal report to the Club of Rome – The Limits to Growth – was published. This report was the first to model our planet’s interconnected systems and make clear that if growth trends in population, industrialisation, resource use and pollution continued unchanged, we would reach and then overshoot the carrying capacity of the Earth at some point in the next one hundred years. Some fifty years on, the call for a change in direction is more urgent than ever.
The Club of Rome and members of the Earth4All project took part in a number of events in and around Stockholm. Below are selected highlights of our participation and co-organised events. Representatives from Earth4All and the Club of Rome were onsite in Stockholm. Contact details for questions, speaking opportunities or media inquiries are on this page.
Global Commons Alliance: How do we become planetary stewards?
31 May 1800-1930 CEST
Hosted by We Don’t Have Time and UNDP at the spectacular multi-media venue SPACE, this event addressed the question: “How can we become planetary stewards?”.
Speakers included: scientists – Johan Rockström, Joyeeta Gupta; youth leaders – Ayisha Siddiqa, Xiye Bastida; change makers – Darío Soto-Abril, Andrew Steer, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Sandrine Dixson-Declève; pioneers – Erin Billman, Luiz Amaral, Martha Stevenson, and Turner-prize winning artist – Jeremy Deller.
Stockholm+50 – The Peoples’ Perspective
1 June 1100-1140 CEST
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UNA Sweden hosted a two-day conference prior to Stockholm+50. Earth4All researcher David Collste and Club of Rome co-president Sandrine Dixson-Decléve participated in a session on new economics for a sustainable world. David presented ideas from the recent Stockholm Resilience Centre report “Economy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet”, and Sandrine presented the five necessary turnarounds for people, planet, and prosperity. Later on the same day (1500 CEST) Anders Wijkman, Honorary President Club of Rome and Chair Climate-KIC gave a talk titled “Overconsumption risk destroying the Planet”.
Appetites for change: The power of food
1 June 1030-1730 CEST
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Nature and food systems are inextricably connected. Together they should thrive and rely on the services each provide. However, we are far from this vision. Food systems today destabilize our planet and fail to provide all people with healthy and nutritious diets that stay within planetary boundaries.
Sandrine Dixson-Decléve joined a host of experts at this event which aimed to advance our understanding of how we may contribute to sustainable food systems that deliver human and planetary prosperity.
Wellbeing Economies: A new economic approach for human and planetary health
2 June 0930-1045 CEST
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This side event organised by the Club of Rome with partners showcased the concrete measures that governments are taking to redefine the priorities for a new economic system. It discussed how to initiate and enable the transition towards wellbeing economies and what innovative policy practices look like. The event strived to encourage debate on how to reimagine our economies in respect of the planet’s ecological limits.
Speakers included: Sandrine Dixson-Declève (Club of Rome), Virginijus Sinkevičius (European Commission), Sophie Howe (Wales), Tshering Gyaltshen Penjor (Kingdom of Bhutan), Terhi Lehtonen (Finland), Jennifer del Rosario-Malonzo (IBON), Nina Gualinga (Amazon Watch), Georgina Munoz (Global Call for Action Against Poverty), Bruno Roelants (International Cooperatives Alliance), Ebrima Sall (Trust Africa), Johanna Sandahl (Swedish Society for Nature Conservation).
Rethinking economics for a safe, secure and prosperous future on a healthy planet
2 June 1230-1315 CEST
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Can the world achieve wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries? This session offered an exclusive preview of the findings from Earth4All. Earth4All is a unique international initiative that brings together leading economic thinkers and system dynamic modellers to explore global scenarios that provide wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries.
Speakers included: Andrea Hinwood, UNEP chief scientist, Earth4All project leads Owen Gaffney and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Jayati Ghosh, Professor at the College of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Eric Usher, head of UNEP Finance Initiative.
Power to the people
2 June 1630-1730
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As part of the We Don’t Have Time Stockholm+50 Climate Hub, members of Earth4All discussed their upcoming book which focuses on transformational economics and the five essential policy turnarounds needed to achieve wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries.
Speakers included Earth4All project leads Owen Gaffney and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Jayati Ghosh, Professor at the College of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Liz Wathuti, Claire Mellier, and Earth4All Campaign leader Luca Miggiano.
Sustainable Living within 1.5 degrees: innovative pathways to live better and lighter
2 June 1730-1845
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This event, organised by Hot or Cool Institute explored how our future lifestyles would need to change and presented different scenarios and pathways for sustainable living. Panelists outlined ongoing efforts to help concretely reimagine less consumptive but highly fulfilling lifestyles – mapping needed value shifts, policies to support needed interventions, innovation, infrastructure, new business models and investment priorities. Sandrine Dixson-Declève highlighted how Earth4All and the recently published International System Change Compass take a systemic approach to achieving greater wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries by 2030.