Alexander A. Likhotal

Alexander Likhotal served as adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev for many years and is currently the President of Geneva-based Green Cross International. He is a member of the Club of Rome, the Climate Change Task Force, the International Council for the Earth Charter, the Board of Directors of the Universal Forum of Cultures, Adviser to the Club of Madrid, and has launched internationally acclaimed initiatives such as the Earth Dialogues Forum and Green Cross International's global campaign for the Right to Water.

Professor Likhotal served as policy adviser to the President of the USSR and has held academic positions at Northeastern University (Boston), the Institute of European Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), and Security Dialogue Journal (Oslo). He has utilized his political acumen in swaying governments about the importance of environmental agenda and, under his leadership, Green Cross International has grown into the world's leading environmental organization with 30 national organizations around the world.

As an insider of the process that brought the cold war to its end and as an influential environmental leader on the world stage, Professor Likhotal is ideally positioned to advise organizations around the world on how to lead the change in today's crisis ridden world. The biggest challenge in the next ten years will be our ability to offset our systemic crisis with comprehensive solutions based on scientific knowledge, focusing on the problem itself and not on usual political agendas.

Tailoring his engaging presentations to focus on clients' objectives, Likhotal uses numerous examples of strong leadership and effective decision making to inspire and challenge audiences the world over.

Topics

Are You Leading Change or Is Change Leading You?

With business the direct or indirect cause of most ecological challenges, it is becoming increasingly evident that it is also the only institution left on the planet that is large enough, well-managed enough, and resourceful enough to solve the problems facing us. Businesses must now ask themselves: Are we a barrier to sustainability? Or are we its greatest hope?

The Competitive Advantage of Sustainability

The agenda of sustainability and corporate responsibility is not only central to business strategy, but it is becoming a critical driver of business growth. How well and how quickly businesses respond to this agenda will determine which companies succeed and which will fail in the next few decades. We have come a long way since the early 1980s when the godfather of free market economics Milton Friedman proudly proclaimed that the only obligation which business has to society was "to make a profit and pay its taxes."

Seizing the Opportunity of the Climate Change Crisis

Winston Churchill famously said that "a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Seized as an opportunity, the climate change crisis could be the catalyst for a new era of market-driven innovation in alternative energy, conservation, sustainable development, and international cooperation. Thankfully, the business community is increasingly ready to be the movers and shakers in this process, and will play a role in shaping the future, rather than waiting to be pushed into it.

Transforming Threats Into Opportunities: Climate Change and Its Political and Business Implications

It is clear that leaders – and the general public – are exposed to conflicting views and are thus confused about the realities of climate change, about the validity of climate science, about the economic costs and benefits of action, and about the human and social implications for the future. This confusion arises partly from the difficulty of explaining the complex realities of climate change to non-scientists, but it cannot be resolved by increasingly sophisticated presentations of the science. Keynote speaker Alexander Likhotal explains that what is needed is an authoritative explanation of the realities, of the risks and of the opportunities ahead, and of the action required in terms that ordinary people (including most politicians) can understand.

Growth in Transition: Sustainable Development - Fiction or Challenge?

In this fascinating speech, Alexander Likhotal explains that we are at an inflection point in the world today. There is a convergence of themes – seemingly disconnected – that is now being understood to be integral and urgent to our very survival. The world is headed into a perfect storm of an interconnected financial, ecological, and social crisis. Almost all forward-looking assessments of emerging issues and threats demonstrate that business as usual and incremental improvements will not be sufficient to take us to a world blessed by equitable prosperity, safety, security, and contentment. And time is not on our side.

The Global Water Crisis: Lacking Resources or Missing Vision?

Every year, more people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. Water played a key role in 37 wars during the last 60 years. By 2025, a third of the world's population will lack water. However the world's water crisis is not related to the physical scarcity of water, but to unbalanced power relations, poverty, and related inequalities. Environmental speaker Alexander Likhotal explains that the problem of overcoming the water crisis comprises many complex and controversial issues, including such questions as:

    How to secure the basic water needs of communities worldwide?

    How to make water a right and not a privilege?

    What is the role of the private sector in the efforts of providing safe water?

Do We Need a Change?

Until recently, this question seemed to be more of a tribute to political correctness at various high-level forums in the western hemisphere. Living in Vienna or London seemed so secure, comfortable, and predictable. So why change?

This cozy "societe de plaisir" atmosphere is gone almost overnight. We've got a wakeup call as even the affluent nations have all been badly affected at the same time by the sum of several crises, creating a spiral of need for changes which, if not implemented, will take us to collective chaos, but which, if they are assumed, can elevate us to a higher level of civilization.

Green Energy: Indulging in Daydream or Escaping a Nightmare?

In this talk, environmental speaker Alexander Likhotal addresses:

    What shifting dynamics of energy mean for governments, corporations, society and the international community;

    The hidden messages of $80+ oil;

    The strategic challenges for a global energy market;

    Economic and geological reasons for transition to a low-carbon, green economy; and

    How to sustain future growth by curbing energy and carbon intensity of economy.

Know Your Enemy! Global Security Challenges

20 years after the end of the Cold War seemed to herald a new era of peace, security concerns are once more at the top of the world's agenda. Increasing tensions on the world scene, escalating terrorism, religious intolerance, relentless environmental degradation, and the systematic violation of human rights all demonstrate now more than ever the need to understand the diverse roots of conflicts, as well as the links between peace and security, poverty, and environmental deterioration.

These "problems without passports" are likely to worsen in the years ahead, says Likhotal, unless the world arrives at a new global vision of common values and the world leaders stop trying to respond to the challenges with incremental "managerialism" instead of demonstrating bold and transformational leadership.