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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Co-MCing Sustainia 2014 Awards Ceremony

John Elkington · 31 October 2014 · Leave a Comment

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Great few days with Sustainia in Copenhagen, including wonderful experience of co-compering the Sustainia 2014 Awards Ceremony with former Danish environment minister Ida Auken.

Stunning presentations from people like poet Sarah Kay, model-turned photographer Helena Christensen, Georg Kell of the UN Global Compact, Erik Rasmussen of Sustainia and Monday Morning, and Connie Hedegaard, on her last night as EU Commissioner for Climate Action.

Something of a whirlwind, with dazzling inputs from the likes of The Pastels, rap artist Stik Op Jakob and The Bottle Boys (you really have to see these guys!). Huge fun – and some deeply serious messages communicated at the same time.

And the 10 finalists from the #100solutions competition were outstanding. The winner, Wecyclers, hit all the buttons, economic, social and environmental. And great that the bicycle, one of our species’ greatest-ever inventions, is at the heart of all they do. The winner of the Sustainia Community Award was Fairphone, the award being picked up by Fairphone’s Chief Sustainability Oficer Sean Ansett.

The day before, I co-facilitated (with Sustainia’s Laura Storm) a high-level workshop on the business case for saving the world, out at the Carlsberg Academy. This is housed in the home that the brewery company gave Niels Bohr after he won his Nobel Prize. Intriguingly, the house had a direct (and free) beer pipeline from the nearby brewery. No wonder Bohr and Einstein had such great conversations there! But the downside would have been that there were no bottles for The Bottle Boys of the day …

The mood, though, was relentlessly upbeat, focused on opportunities and potential. So I ended up fizzing, regardless off how much beer I drank. All of which confirmed my long-standing conviction that “Ich bin ein Sustainian” (see English version here and Danish here).

And a couple of stray photos:

Image taken before the Carlsberg academy session
Image taken before the Carlsberg academy session
Reversed
Reversed

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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