On November 4, 2020, GLOBE EU hosted guest speaker Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
On November 26, 2020, GLOBE EU hosted guest speaker Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of The Club of Rome.
On December 16, 2020, GLOBE EU hosted Tim Palmer, Royal Society Professor of Climate Physics at Oxford University.
Letter Tim Palmer to Von der Leyen & Timmermans
Commission reply to Tim Palmer’s letter
On January 19, 2021, GLOBE EU hosted Maja Göpel, research director at the New Institute
On February 11, 2021, GLOBE EU hosted Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General at the World Meteorological Organization.
On March 23, 2021, GLOBE EU hosted Betsy Otto, Director of the World Resources Institute’s Global Water Program.
On April 28, 2021, GLOBE EU hosted Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The WBCSD has asked GLOBE EU not to publish a recording of the event but instead recommends visiting https://timetotransform.biz/reinvention/. If you would like to receive a copy of the presentation, however, please contact rjam@globe-eu.org.
On June 10, 2021, GLOBE EU hosted Dr. Jem Bendell, Professor of Sustainability Leadership with the University of Cumbria.
Jem Bendell is the author of “Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy”, in which he argues that humanity needs to prepare for climate-driven societal collapse, as environmental change increasingly disrupts social, economic, and political systems. Unlike climate change adaptation, which aims to adapt societies gradually to the effects of climate change, deep adaptation accepts that abrupt transformations of the environment are imminent.
On 18 January, 2022, GLOBE EU hosted as its guest speaker Jason Hickel, who authored “Less is More: How Degrowth will save the World”. Dr. Hickel addressed the reality of climate change and what he believes to be the true root of the problem: Capitalism. He explained that, if we truly wish to overcome the largest issue humanity has ever faced, there is only one solution and that is degrowth.
On March 22, 2022, World Water Day, GLOBE EU welcomed Cate Lamb as its guest speaker. Ms Lamb is Global Director Water Security with the CDP and High-Level Climate Champion Lead for Water, UNFCCC. The event was sponsored by Ecolab, a member of the Bee Group.
On June 21, 2022, GLOBE EU hosted a WakeUp Call with Richard Heinberg. Richard is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost educators on the need to transition society off fossil fuels. He spoke on the 50th anniversary of the publication of “The Limits to Growth”.
On September 28, 2022, GLOBE EU welcomed Laura Cozzi, Chief Energy Modeller with the International Energy Agency. Laura addressed the current EU energy crisis and explained how Putin’s threat to cut off gas supplies to Member States could be used to boost clean energy and build a resilient & affordable EU energy system.
On April 12, 2023, Sirpa Pietikäinen and Ville Niinistö welcomed former GLOBE EU President and honorary member Anders Wijkman and former EU Commissioner and co-chair of the International Resource Panel Janez Potočnik. The Club of Rome presented its landmark “Limits to Growth“ report 50 years ago, warning of the potential resource depletion caused by population growth and the unlimited quest for material goods on a finite planet. Anders and Janez have since released a follow–up report exploring how to provide the majority of the world population with a decent standard of living while staying within planetary boundaries. Anders explained the five major turnarounds identified by the report, including addressing poverty and inequality, empowering women, transforming food and energy systems, and reducing material consumption, particularly in industrialized countries. Janez mentioned that the International Resource Panel had identified resource use as the root of the triple planetary crisis, driving 90% of land–related biodiversity loss, 50% of greenhouse gas emissions, and one-third of health–related pollution impacts. He also mentioned the three major blind spots identified by The Club of Rome, Systemiq, and Open Sciences Foundations in the EU’s efforts to implement the European Green Deal: lack of holistic system change approach, lack of focus on natural resource use, and market signals, and lack of demand–side focus in policy attention. He explained that to address these issues, we must prioritize human needs over economic growth, create an economy that acknowledges our embeddedness in nature, and reform our governance structures. Economically, we must change market signals to incentivize sustainable resource use and reward innovative and responsible ways of meeting human needs. This transition can be achieved by changing tax structures and using public money and subsidies to support it, as well as service provisioning, technology, and financial assistance. Janez concluded by emphasizing that a green future is necessary for there to be any future at all.
On October 11, 2023, Professor Thomas Elmqvist from the Stockholm Resilience Center presented a SAPEA paper on crisis management. Thomas discussed the increase in extreme wildfires on a global scale and the concerning trend of wildfires occurring in areas where they have not typically happened. He mentioned specific examples of increased wildfire events in Europe, Canada, and Greece, and the significant carbon emissions resulting from these fires. He further explored the need for proactive measures and funding allocation towards wildfire prevention and reduction of risks rather than focusing primarily on emergency responses. Thomas introduced the concept of response diversity, which emphasizes the necessity of diverse ways of responding to shocks in order to maintain the functionality of the system as a whole. He highlighted the trade-off between efficiency and response diversity and emphasized the importance of considering scale while acknowledging the potential consequences of increasing efficiency and simplification on a global level. He concluded by discussing the trajectory of coping capacity, adaptive capacity, and transformative capacity in the face of cascading crises, and the increasing need for response diversity policy management.