Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Susan Burns and Mathis Wackernagel
Change(s) Addressed: Environmental Sustainability, Institutional Responsibility

(Click here to print)

DESCRIPTION:

Mathis Wackernagel’s father introduced him to The Limits to Growth when he was 10, and he grew up with a vivid awareness of the potential for global ecological collapse. He became an engineer to advance the theme of “small is beautiful” and renewable energy. He developed the Ecological Footprint while completing his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. He has worked on sustainability issues with businesses, academics, NGOs and governments around the world. Susan Burns, also an engineer, is a lifelong nature enthusiast and founder of Natural Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm. She created a business case for sustainability and promoted groundbreaking concepts in pollution prevention and industrial ecology. The couple launched Global Footprint Network (GFN) in 2003 to advance the Ecological Footprint, coordinate research, develop methodology standards and provide decision makers with resource accounts to help humans operate within the Earth’s ecological limits.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS OF 2010

• Six countries have formally adopted the Ecological Footprint as a measure of the sustainability of their economies, the latest being Ecuador. Ecuador has created a Presidential Mandate to reverse its ecological deficit by 2013 and is examining its national budget to meet this goal.
• Working with Global Footprint Network since 2006, the United Arab Emirates has redirected $15 billion into alternative energy and $22 billion into Masdar City, the first carbon-neutral, no-waste community. The Masdar Institute is working with Global Footprint Network and the government to transform key sectors.
• Key partner World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is mobilizing around a second, new “meta goal” (after conservation): by 2050, humanity’s global footprint will be and remain within the earth’s capacity to sustain life. WWF is reorienting conservation and advocacy efforts through its global network of 49 national organizations to achieve this ambitious goal.