On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Club of Rome, the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research, the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences hosted the opening event of the event series on 2 June.
On IDOS’ side, the programme was organised by Dr Andreas Stamm. The lecture by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, former member of the German Bundestag and former member and co-president of the Club of Rome (2012-2018), and the subsequent discussion with Prof. Dr Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director of IDOS, and Prof. Dr Matin Qaim, Director of ZEF, showed that the transformation process to ensure the global common good within the limits of the planet, today as then, requires intensive social debate on the question of ‚what future do we want‘. Anna-Katharina Hornidge pointed out that the necessary acceleration of change will only succeed if we create discursive spaces that promote (1) democratic contestation, if (2) decision-making power and policy-making are clearly defined, and if (3) institutional and (4) cultural change takes place. The ‚turning point‘ (Zeitenwende) shows that the Paris Agreement itself is not enough. Rather, it is about the interplay of ecological change processes, social organisation and acceptance, and geopolitical negotiation processes.
