Sustainability is just a word. Putting it in front of another word, like finance or business, does not make either truly sustainable. Sustainability - and even more so global sustainability - should be clearly defined, research based, and practical to have an impact. Many of the grand challenges faced by humanity are inter-connected. They range from environmental destruction, climate modification, threats on democracy and peace, surging inequalities and persisting poverty – all those interacting and often mutually aggravating each other.
Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute, opened the event with a speech celebrating the history of the centre, which traces back to the Centre for International Environmental Studies (CIES) and before it, the André Hoffmann Chair for Environmental Economics. The new Hoffman Centre for Global Sustainability hopes to build on this legacy, further developing its work to meet the unique challenges of our contemporary and ever-evolving world.
Of her hopes for the Centre, she said, “I am convinced that the Hoffmann Centre and the collaboration with André Hoffmann are going to make it possible to expand the range, the reach, and the impact of the research and expertise we produce, but also of the talents that come out, each year, of the Institute in the form of our alumni and alumnae. This is an important combination – producing knowledge and expertise to help transform the paradigm that defines our relationship with nature and with each other and training new generations that carry this new vision into the world of international policy.”
André Hoffmann and Peter Vanham, Editorial Director at Fortune, sat down for a one-to-one chat following Marie-Laure Salles’ speech. The two co-authored The New Nature of Business: The Path to Prosperity and Sustainability earlier this year. In their discussion, they explored how companies need to transform to achieve sustainable prosperity, as the current approach is failing and humankind’s prosperity is not sustainable, in regards to longevity, humankind, and the planet. Hoffmann underlined his concern for the future of humanity and underlined that he hopes the new Hoffmann Centre for Global Sustainability will serve the global community in providing a safe space with no hidden agendas, for academics and students to find new solutions. “The Geneva Graduate Institute is an engine where you can fabricate new ideas,” he said.
A panel discussion followed, moderated by Marie-Laure Salles and featuring André Hoffmann, Patrick Odier, President of Swiss Sustainable Finance and Chairman of Building Bridges; Dominic Rohner, André Hoffmann Chair in Political Economics and Governance and Co-Director of the Hoffmann Centre for Global Sustainability; Mark Salway, Chief Operations Officer of International Union for Conservation of Nature; and Béatrice Weder di Mauro, André Hoffmann Chair of Global Economics, Climate and Nature Finance and Co-Director of the Hoffmann Centre for Global Sustainability, Geneva Graduate Institute.
All agreed that the planet is facing an existential crisis. Biodiversity and nature are at risk. Humans are at risk. Mark Salway drew attention to the fact that there are currently 400-500 million displaced people around the world, a number that has skyrocketed and is continuing to grow due not only to conflicts but, increasingly, to the effects of climate change. Beatrice Weder di Mauro emphasised that as temperatures continue to rise, the planet will survive, the life on it will not.
While all the panellists shared the enthusiasm for treating sustainability in the academic setting of the Geneva Graduate Institute, Beatrice Weder di Mauro and Dominic Rohner especially emphasised the exciting potential of treating the topic academically, bringing an unprecedented concentration of interdisciplinarity together to study sustainability and find new, practical solutions. They also celebrated the enthusiasm of the Institute’s students for the new centre.
