Another very interesting session I thoroughly enjoyed attending was about Sustainia.   According to their website:

Sustainia is a concept for communicating a sustainable future based on concrete and tangible know-how and technologies - a global collaborative platform for building a model and vision for a sustainable future. The model of Sustainia represents best practice, knowledge and technologies that already exist. It is inspired and designed by world leading companies, institutions and experts. It is a clear demonstration of the society we could create if sectors, companies, scientists, politicians and civil society worked together towards a common goal.

In essence, they are all about positive communications and workable solutions that will make an impact and are unique to specific geographies and regions.  This week they will be unveiling the Sustainia100, a catalog of 100 solutions that are already available to help move cities and countries towards a sustainable future.  They recently released a Guide to Copenhagen 2025, which provides a glimpse into the future in which Copenhagen may become the first carbon neutral city. 

The way they describe their work is that they enable co-creation of innovative solutions by linking various dimensions of development.  The resultant solutions need to be easy, fast to deploy and inexpensive.  By positioning themselves as a one-stop toolbox for sustainable execution, they are enabling a self-service model in which governments, businesses, NGOs and citizens can all get involved, gather information they need, share best practices, innovate solutions together and execute effectively.

They base their work on three key pillars:

1. Create concrete solutions - This is the basis of the Sustainia100 announcement

2. Generate content that explains in a clear and simple manner what your city, home, energy system and transportation could be like in 2020. More sectors will be added as they expand - for example food, health, fashion and resources.

3. A virtual model that allows everyone with internet access to engage and have access to a vision of the future that is achievable and truly sustainable.

They have a lot of momentum with major partners like Cisco, Microsoft, Ikea, UBS, Philips, GE, Vestas and others.....not to mention the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger is spearheading their "awards committee."  Furthermore, any group that is dedicated to encouraging the sharing of sustainability best practices and empowering groups to work together towards a more sustainable future is OK in my book. Here's to a Sustainia future.