“People, the planet is burning”, Club of Rome Co-President Sandrine Dixson-Declève tells the audience at the outset of her riveting DLD talk. In her presentation, she highlights many interconnected global challenges – from climate change and environmental issues like floods, fires and biodiversity loss to increasing inequality and socio-economic issues.
“We’ve got the compound effects of the pandemic, climate tipping points, biodiversity loss and species loss”, Dixson-Declève says. “And we’ve got a political system that’s going increasingly to the right.”
To address these massive challenges, she calls for a paradigm shift – away from an extractive economy and business culture that primarily looks at GDP. Instead, she argues, the focus should be on aspects like well-being, empowerment and addressing inequality.
“We need to move away from just counting on profit and look at social and environmental aspects of financial and economic decision making”, Dixson-Declève says. “We need to expand our perspective of public goods.”
Digital technology and AI can support this transition, Dixson-Declève says, but only if it is used to serve people and planet. Watch her full talk to learn how this “giant leap” to a sustainable future can be managed.
