Sustainable Development is not a “nice to have” or directive to report on, it’s the very backbone of human and earth common future. Since Rachel Carson (1962), the Club or Rome (1972) and Brundtland (1987) Sustainable Development as evolved in manifold, its however still overused and underdefined. After the SDGs were mainstreaming Sustainable Development from 2015 onward, it dramatically fall off the global agenda early 2025. Meanwhile the “undercurrent” stays vibrant but explores new attitudes and directions to work with the new geo-political realities. Are we at the end or a new beginning of a socio-ecological era? A masterclass about the history and future of the Club of Rome and SEKEM in Egypt, will shape the ground for the Round Table Evening. An informal dinner will create exchange and network opportunities for all participants.

Program:

13:00 – 16:30 Masterclass on the Story and Learnings from: 

• Club of Rome: its history and future by Carlos Alvarez Pareira (General Secretary) and Till Kellerhof (Program Director)
• SEKEM in Egypt: "Champion of the Earth 2024" Laureate of the United Nations Environmental Programme by Rembert Biemond (Board Member SEKEM and Social Entrepreneur)
• Social Change for Sustainable Development, Katharina Serafimova (Sustainble Finance and Social Entrepreneur)

Hosted by:

• Johannes Kronenberg (Research Associate Sustainable Development, Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum)
• Friederike Mainz (Lawyer and Associate of the World Goetheanum Forum)

17:00 – 18:30 Informal network dinner in Kulturpark

18:30 – 21:00 Round Table Evening "Emerging Narratives of Sustainable Development – are we at the end or a new beginning of a socio-ecological era?"

• Interactive Round Table on stage with:
  • Carlos Alvarez Pareira (General Secretary, Club of Rome)
  • Rembert Biemond (Social Entrepreneur and board member, SEKEM in Egypt),
  • Katharina Serafimova (Social Entrepreneur)
  • Johannes Kronenberg (Research Associate Sustainable Development, Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum)
  • Friederike Mainz (Laywer and Associate World Goetheanum Association)
  • Andrea Valdinocci (Director, World Goetheanum Association)
  • Open interaction with the audience.
     
• Presentation of the publication "On the Earth We Want to Live – Anthroposophy`s Contributions to Sustainable Development" in the World Sustainability Series of Springer Nature:
• https://link.springer.com/book/9783031987571

Tickets incl. dinner:

Supporter: CHF 125.–
Regular CHF 75.–
Reduces CHF 35.–

Registration 

About the Masterclass contributors:

The Club of Rome
Founded in 1968 by Aurelio Peccei and Alexander King, the Club of Rome is an influential, international think tank and network of prominent leaders—scientists, economists, policymakers—focused on addressing intertwined global crises through systems thinking, research, and bold policy proposals. A zenith of its influence was the 1972 report The Limits to Growth, which warned of the consequences of unchecked economic expansion and resource depletion—a landmark publication that catapulted sustainability concerns into the public sphere.

SEKEM in Egypt
Founded in 1977 by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in the Egyptian desert, SEKEM exemplifies a visionary, holistic model of sustainable development—integrating ecology, economy, society, and culture. Over the decades, SEKEM has grown into a multifaceted social enterprise, encompassing organic, Biodynamic agro-industrial businesses, educational institutions (including Heliopolis University), a medical center, and community development programs serving tenthousends of people. In 2024 they were awarded both the United Nation Environmental Programmes Champions of the Earth and the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity.

Katharina Serafimova
Katharina Serafimova is a natural-science graduate (ETH Zurich, 2004) turned social entrepreneur, working at the nexus of agriculture, regeneration, and meaningful finance. She co-founded Foodnetworks.ch in Switzerland and Terra Sintrópica in Portugal, initiatives that aim to reconnect urban and rural communities through food and ecological stewardship. She has also developed the Shareitt app—a human-to-human marketplace with over 76,000 users—and leads regenerative agriculture projects in the Lake Constance region, striving to reimagine monetary systems aligned with community and ecological well-being.