Sustainability Creates New Prosperity

Since the report to The Club of Rome Limits of Growth was published some 30 years ago, the question is still open which approach we must take with our planet. Three factors will have the most influence on the global development of the environment: demographic and climate development and the potential for innovation. The concept of sustainability requires long-term thinking in order to use natural resources in such a way that future generations have the same opportunities we do. This message is confirmed in this review by the members of the Club of Rome's European Forum on Sustainability, which was founded in autumn 2002 in Vienna by the European Support Centre of the Club of Rome in co-operation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labour and in partnership with the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, together with high-level experts and scientists. An immediate and extensive global course correction across the board would, however, be required. Thus far in fact, the price paid for the success of globalisation has been very high - environmental degradation and a global social split. This review presents as potential solutions a new economic model, an international treaty between the North and the South, a fundamental right to food and the principles of a sustainable retirement reform.