Alan AtKisson
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
Alan AtKisson works as Assistant Director-General for Partnership and Innovation at Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The views expressed here are his own.He has nearly 30 years of experience and was inducted into the International Sustainability Hall of Fame in 2013 in recognition of his many contributions to the field, including bestselling books ("Believing Cassandra," "Sustainability is for Everyone"), widely used tools and planning methods, training processes for "sustainability change agents" and founding several sustainability businesses and voluntary initiatives. AtKisson has given hundreds of speeches and seminars around the world. He is also known as a professional singer, songwriter and guitarist who sometimes blends music into his presentations. He has been advising the United Nations Secretariat in New York since 2009, and he served on the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council of the European Commission (2014-2015). Working through the international consultancy he founded in 1992, the AtKisson Group, he has consulted for many years with large corporations (such as Levi’s, EY, and Nike) as well as many governments and international agencies. He is a past president of the Balaton Group, and a full member of the Club of Rome. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Sweden, AtKisson lives in Stockholm.For information on his books and music, visit www.AlanAtKisson.com.
With the SDGs, everything is connected
One set of challenges, indivisible, with sustainability and resilience for all. Read More
Why 'ocean is the new climate,' and what it means for business
It’s time to take our life-giving oceans more seriously, including tuning into the emerging “blue economy.” Read More
Why I used crowdfunding to bring a truckload of plastic trash to Stockholm
It’s one thing to read about huge plastic gyres in the middle of the Pacific. It’s another thing to stare the actual plastic in the face. Read More
The SDGs: How can we sustain our optimism?
The email came from an 82-year-old activist in Vermont. She was hoping for answers to questions she was hearing from others, about the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. She wanted to write an article — not for The New York Times or even for a local newspaper, but for her friends, neighbors and the various experts she meets and talks to.She wanted to be able to explain some basic things about the SDGs, to people who often seem skeptical. Read More
Why progressive sustainability ultimately will win
Given the ringing success of the SDGs and Paris Agreement, don't be surprised that the nationalist right is rising up now. Read More
Why the SDGs are leading a global transformation
After only one year, there is substantial evidence of shifting values due to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Read More
Conservation vs green growth: Which is going to win?
Sustainability professionals talk about conserving nature or green growth. It is hard to accomplish both. Read More
'Conservation' meets 'green growth': The Push-Me-Pull-You problem
Remember Dr. Dolittle? He was a vet who could talk to animals. One of the rarest was the “pushmi-pullyu,” a llama with two heads (one head was where the tail ought to be).The pushmi-pullyu was a gentle creature that did not like to be stared at. And yet the other animals in Africa convinced him to go with the good Dr., and be put on display in Europe, because Dr. Dolittle was a kind soul who needed money to look after all the animals in his care. Read More
What's your #SDG move?
You've heard about the Sustainable Development Goals, but did you know the SDGs have their own music video and Twitter hashtag campaign? Read More
What integrated sustainability really means
To transform the world, we first have to wrap our brains around two big concepts — and work green thinking into them. Read More
