How to live a sustainable life?

Your Sustainable Life Event at the P4G Summit

In 2018, the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) initiative has started. Its great ambition is developing a leading private-public partnership which, working under the umbrella of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Paris Agreement, aims at finding solutions towards a green economic growth.

In late October 2018, the City of Copenhagen hosted the hosted the P4G Summit,  a two days event gathering together Heads of State and representatives from business, academia and the civil society with the common goal to boost the sustainable development. Its ambition was to accelerate the partnerships for the Global Goals, namely, to work together to solve global challenges, focusing in particular on food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and the circular economy.

Over the Summit, Climate-KIC Nordic supported the P4G Ambassadors and DTU Skylab in designing a Climathon-like event for the Next Generation of P4G delegates. During their three-day programme, they visited leading Danish companies within the green transition, co-created for a day at DTU Skylab and finally demonstrated their take on partnerships for sustainability involving Copenhagen’s citizens at the City Hall Square.

In particular, for the last mentioned P4G side events, “Your Sustainable Life”, Copenhagen City Hall Square was turned into a sustainable home, thanks to a collaboration between some of the leading Danish companies like ROCKWOOL, start-ups,  young influencers invited by the SDG Student Ambassadors Copenhagen, DTU Skylab, iLoveGlobalGoals, Hansen & Ersbøll Agenda and EIT Climate-KIC Nordic.

The apartment was designed so that visitors could see the solutions to the challenges imposed by increasing urbanisation and climate change. It is fundamental for households to understand their role in the transition towards our common sustainable future and what difference they can actually make on a daily basis.

“Sustainable Development is very important because we only have one planet. We need to change the way we behave and consume, the way we think about the climate. A small change committed by each of us will make a great difference. We can live a modern life but in a sustainable way”

 Kristian Jensen, the Danish Minister of Finance

Seven of the different goals have been integrated into the life-size apartment, containing common rooms such as a kitchen, living room and so on. The (SDG) #17 – “Partnerships for the Goals” – is of the foundation for the P4G Summit, whose mantra is that we cannot reach our goals alone and we need to fight together. The kitchen area was focused on the SDG #2 – “Zero Hunger”. Here Bug Amok explained how insects can be a dietary resource as they are a tasty, healthy and most of all a green, alternative source of protein. We could also taste the responsible sushi from the Danish company Letz Sushi, as well as learn how to make it. The living room was dedicated to clean energy, the SDG #7, and here we could measure the amount of CO₂ we produce daily through a simple game. This helped people realise where they can easily reduce their carbon footprint. In the bedroom, the international company Rockwool installed an interior wall insulation solution, Rockzero, for an improved quality of living, as per SDG #3. To integrate the circular economy and the SDG #12 – “Responsible Production and Consumption” – the second-hand clothes swapping company Veras, was highlighting that the textile industry is the second most polluting industry. Turning to the bathroom, the EIT Climate-KIC supported start-up Flow Loop demonstrated with an innovative solution to save water and energy. The SDG #6 – “Clean Water and Sanitation” – may thus be fulfilled through a shower system which recovers the warm water, passes it through the filtration system and recirculates it. Finally, the SDG #11, which aims at making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, was represented in the apartment itself.

The challenges imposed by the ever-increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, demand for changes in our daily habits, but this initiative showed that is actually possible to live sustainably. Households, together with schools, governments and international organisations, play key roles in shaping the future generation and in building a carbon neutral society which looks after its citizens as well as the natural environment.