How the Club of Rome was born, the organization that produced the first report on sustainable development

The organization that produced the first report on sustainable development bears the name of the capital. And this rome club, FFounded in April 1968 by Italian entrepreneur Aurelio Pessei and Scottish scientist Alexander King together with Nobel laureates and political and intellectual leaders including Elizabeth Mann Borges. The group’s name comes from the fact that the first meeting took place at the headquarters of the Accademia dei Linsei in Villa Farnesina. Today, on the occasion of World Environment Day, we talk about the club.

First report on the limits of development

The Limits to Growth Report (from the book The Limits to Growth to Development), commissioned to MIT by the Club of Rome, was published in 1972 by Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers and William W. Behrens III was published. The report, based on the computer simulation World 3, predicts the consequences of continued population growth on terrestrial ecosystems and the survival of the human species. An international team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched a study on the implications of unbridled exponential growth. They examined five basic factors that determine and, in their interactions, ultimately limit development on this planet: population, agricultural production, depletion of non-renewable resources, industrial production, and pollution.

main message

Although Limits had many messages, it faced a fundamentally unchallenged paradigm of the pursuit of continuous material growth and endless economic expansion. Fifty years later, there is no doubt that humanity’s ecological footprint significantly exceeds its natural limit every year. The concerns of the Club of Rome have not lost their relevance. Today, the club is at the forefront of challenging and controversial global issues. Driven by a new mission and organizational structure, which today includes 35 national associations, the Club of Rome has today published over 45 reports. The organization consists of about 100 active full members, with a full-time secretariat in Winterthur, Switzerland, with a satellite office in Brussels, Belgium.

italian member

Member of the Italian Club of Rome Pro Eleonora Barberi Masiniwho teaches Studies on the Social Future at the Gregorian University of Rome. Professor. yugo bardoi, Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence (IT). Author of several books and articles on the subject of mineral resources and their depletion, including the 33rd report of the Club of Rome titled “Extracted” (2014) and “The Limits to Growth Revisited” (2011). He also has a blog “Cassandra’s Legacy”, where he examines among other things the “Seneca Effect”, a biophysical explanation of the collapse of complex systems. is another member Katia Bastioli, Chemist, researcher and businessman. He is the CEO of Novamont and Matraca, President of the Kyoto Club Association’s Terna Spa and President of the Italian Spring Green Chemistry Cluster, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Cariplo Foundation. also in the club of rome Gianfranco Bologna, Scientific Director and Coordinator for the Sustainability and Education Area of ​​WWF Italy. And I am Prof. Alberto Gasparini, Full Professor of Sociology at the University of Trieste and President and Founder of the International University Institute of European Studies, and Director of the Italian Journal of Future Studies “Futuribili”. is in the end Francesco Stares, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel SpA since May 2014. He held various top positions in the Enel Group in 2000. He held the position of Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel Green Power, a Group subsidiary for the production of renewable energy and one of the main players in the global renewable energy sector.