Resolution of the Global Assembly
of the Club of Rome at Amsterdam
October 2009
The Club of Rome calls for urgent action to avert the growing risk of catastrophic climate change. The most recent scientific data presented to the Assembly by the world’s top climate scientists demonstrate the accelerating impacts of climate change on the natural systems of the planet.
"We should not aim to recover to the pre-crisis path of economic growth, which leads towards disaster. We call on governments and the business community to recognize the reality and urgency of the problems we face and to provide the leadership and sustained commitment to resolve the challenges of the 21st entury so as to leave a decent future to our children and grandchildren. The simultaneous and apparently sudden emergence of multiple economic and ecological global crises is not a coincidence. There is now an extraordinary opportunity for nations, businesses, civil society and individuals to unite in the common efforts required to solve them.
Today’s global challenges – climate change, endemic and pervasive poverty, the loss of biodiversity and species extinction, resource depletion, energy security, ocean degradation and acidification, numerous other environmental breakdowns, growing food and water insecurity and, indeed, the collapse of the global financial system – all largely stem from the same fundamental causes: our profligate consumption patterns, our inefficient and wasteful production systems, our inadequately designed and poorly regulated financial institutions and the weak and influence-ridden structures that govern our affairs.
The underlying causes are systemic and intensely connected. No one of these challenges can be resolved alone. They lie principally in obsolete social and economic models which drive our civilization: these can and must be changed. The root causes must be addressed now and they must be addressed together. The UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen will be the next opportunity to demonstrate the world’s commitment to take meaningful action. And this action on climate change must resolve its underlying social and economic causes, not focus on its symptoms. The Club of Rome urges governments to adopt a strong climate treaty that will be fair, that will contribute to energy and economic security, that will respond to the growing urgency of the risks of catastrophic climate change. Governments must therefore put in place the mechanisms and the stable policy frameworks needed to reinforce the provisions of the Treaty, including a high and stable carbon price to drive innovation.