On April 5th, 2023, the Club of Rome and the Centre for Finance and Development (CFD) launched their joint series of events on ‘What Needs Transformation?’
On April 5th, 2023, the Club of Rome and the Centre for Finance and Development (CFD) launched their new joint series of events on ‘What Needs Transformation?’
The panel discussion focused on the conditions necessary for the co-creation of regenerative economies which prioritize contributing to equitable human well-being within healthy ecosystems – now, as well as in the future.
Our world stands at a crossroads of challenges. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 are coming up on a deadline in a matter of years, and we must act now if we are to ensure a healthy planet and equity between all human beings. To achieve such goals, radical thought leadership based on empathy and a willingness to understand others despite one’s differences can be transformative to the way that we try to come up with solutions.
The event was moderated by Beris Gwynne, Founder and Director of Incitare. She underlined the importance of starting conversations between individuals of different backgrounds and experience, and introduced the concept of ‘futures thinking’ as a tool for us to ‘look more profoundly at the narratives, systems and structures that have locked us into what are widening gaps between the wealthy and the desperately poor.’
Present at the event was also Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute, Marie-Laure Salles, who emphasized the synergies between the Club of Rome and the Institute. ‘At the heart of our DNA, we both have a conviction that the most pressing, acute challenges that need to be addressed are global, complex, and systemic – and that international collaboration as a consequence is necessary.’
Carlos Álvarez Pereira, the Vice-President of the Club of Rome, also highlighted the importance of such a joint series of events with the Centre for Finance and Development. Throughout their history, both the Club of Rome and the Geneva Graduate Institute have aimed at asking relevant questions such as how to support human well-being within a biosphere consisting of finite resources, and how to achieve sustainable outcomes.
The other two panelists voiced ideas from their own research and professional experience. Grégoire Mallard, Director of Research at the Institute, argued that sanction law could be a possible tool in disincentivizing companies from getting involved in activities previously connected to ecocide.
Finally, Arthur Wood, Founding Partner at TOTAL Impact Capital and at Equity4Humanity, noted that by restructuring our tax systems towards rewarding high social outcomes with higher economic returns, we can incentivize private actors to do good.
The second event of the CFD-Club of Rome Series on Socially Responsible Banking: Money as a Vehicle for Social Change will be held on Wednesday May 10th, 2023 from 6:15pm to 8pm at Maison de la paix (chemin Eugène Rigot 2, 1202 Geneva).