FACTSHEET – FOR MORE INFO CHECK: WWW.SUSTAINIA.ME
Sustainia: Building the world of tomorrow
WHAT IS SUSTAINIA?
It’s a new and needed approach to sustainable growth, based on concrete and tangible know-how and
technologies. It’s a global collaborative platform building the first holistic model and realistic vision for a
sustainable future. The model of Sustainia represents best practice, knowledge and technologies that
already exist. It’s inspired and designed by world leading companies, institutions and experts. It is a clear
demonstration of the society we can create when sectors, companies, scientists, politicians and civil society
worked together towards a common goal.
WHY SUSTAINIA?
For forty years we’ve taken the same approach. Progress from this approach is very slow. If you keep doing
what you have always done, you will keep getting what you always got.
The world needs something to inspire. A vision of something to aim for. A picture of a place we want to
live. Motivation based on excitement, not fear or prevention. We have lacked this until now.
The lack of a clear and tangible picture of the sustainable society is an important reason why environmental
legislation, global agreements, and dissemination of technologies is not happening at the pace and on the
scale needed. It is a major obstacle to ambitious action on all levels – civil society, political, technological
etc. The partners behind Sustainia aim to make sustainability more tangible and easier to grasp for both
decision makers and citizens by developing a new narrative and language to communicate about a
desirable sustainable future. Sustainia is a concrete vision, while also being an innovation platform for
companies, experts and thought leaders.
WHO IS BEHIND SUSTAINIA?
Sustainia is a community of civil society, businesses, and experts. The concept of “Sustainia” is developed
by the Scandinavian think tank Monday Morning in a collaborative effort with Scandinavian companies and
partners (Realdania, DONG Energy, DNV and Novo Nordisk) and 20 global companies and foundations
(Microsoft, GE, Philips Lighting, Tetra Pak, Cisco, Interface Flor, BIG Architects, Knoll, IKEA, Vestas, Velux,
Realdania, Scandinavian Airlines SAS, Ramboll, UBS Investment Bank and others) organisations and experts.
Key organisational partners are the UN Global Compact and R20 - Regions of Climate Action. R20 is Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s new climate initiative, working to help sub-national governments around the world
create low carbon and climate resilient economic development.
The Sustainia Committee is chaired by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Honorary Chair of the Committee), Ms.
Connie Hedegaard (European Commissioner for Climate Action), Gro Harlem Brundtland (former Prime
Minister of Norway and Member of the UN Secretary-General's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability)
and Dr. Pachauri (Chair of the IPCC). The Sustainia Committee is heading the Sustainia Award.
More partners will join as we expand and develop the Sustainia model further.
HOW WILL WE BUILD SUSTAINIA?
With our community – global collaboration with the world’s people,
sustainability organizations, and companies. We will continually expand our model by continually
unearthing the world’s solutions. We’ll communicate it through dialogue. We will illustrate it in real-life
examples (city guides, expos, and videos from our community). We will provide tools (Sustainia100) and
awards (Sustainia Award).
The community will build the Sustainia focusing on three key elements:
1) Identifying the solutions, ideas, and technologies
2) Building the model/vision
3) Communicating the model/vision and engaging across sectors, borders, cultures.
WHAT ARE YOUR PRODUCTS?
GUIDE TO SUSTAINIA: Our flagship work. It describes the vision of Sustainia, and connects our homes,
cities, transportation, and energy sources, as they could look by 2020. More sectors will be added in
subsequent editions. It is written and illustrated in a way completely new to the “green” sector – simple,
clear, appealing to the eye.
CITY GUIDES: In the same manner as Guide to Sustainia, but based on real plans from real cities. Our first is
Guide to Copenhagen 2025. More editions to follow.
SUSTAINIA100: A pool of 100 ready & available technologies and solutions – which hold special potential
for accessibility and scalability – that will take us to Sustainia. Accumulated from our community.
Sustainia100 will be launched during the Rio+20 at a high level event on June 20th. We plan annual
editions.
THE SUSTAINIA AWARD: Chosen from the Sustainia100, the Sustainia Award will help create global
awareness around successful sustainable solutions. It is a monetary prize to push the solution forward.
THE SUSTAINIA INDEX: The worlds first way to measure and rank countries according to social, economic,
and environmental sustainability together. The most holistic sustainability index to date. At most, other
indexes have only included two of the three. You need all three to work together for real sustainable
growth.
VIRTUAL WORLD: Under development. We are building a virtual Sustainia with real city planners, which
anyone with an internet connection will be able visit, and see the parts of Sustainia – the solutions that
exist today – working together.