Gunter Pauli is an entrepreneur, economist, and author born in 1956 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

). He is best known for his main work, '' The Blue Economy''. He has lived on 4 continents, is fluent in 7 languages, is a resident of Japan since 1994 and spends most of his time in South Africa.

Biography

Gunter Pauli holds a degree in economics from Loyola University (today University of Antwerp) in 1979 in Belgium and an MBA from INSEAD at Fontainebleau (France) in 1982. Pauli’s entrepreneurial activities span culture, science, politics, business and the environment. He is also a member of The Club of Rome and served three years since 2017 as an elected member of the Executive Committee. Gunter Pauli has served as an advisor for governments in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

He has also worked as an author, notably of The Blue Economy. He assisted Aurelio Peccei, founder of the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

from 1979 to 1984 and later wrote a biography about him. In 1989 he was elected as an independent substitute to the European Parliament, but never took up the seat. Former chairman of Ecover, an ecological detergent company, before realizing in 1990 that its components – palm oil in particular – destroy primary forests, he is nicknamed the "Steve Jobs of sustainable development", or even the "Che Guevara of biodiversity ”, or “the apostle of sustainable growth ”.

Blue Economy

Gunter Pauli is committed to design and implement a competitive business model which respond to people’s needs using what is locally available. He introduced “The Blue Economy” philosophy in 1994 when asked by the United Nations to reflect on the business models of the future in preparation for COP 3 in Japan where the Kyoto Protocol was decided.

ZERI (Zero Emission Research Initiatives)

In 1994 Pauli founded the Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI).

Controversy

In particular, the ZERI Foundation signed an agreement in 2016 with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Quimper to develop the concept of blue economy on the territory of the CCI. The CCI thus planned to pay €500,000 to the foundation for the identification and development of projects and job creation on the territory. In July 2018, the CCI announced the end of the agreement with the Foundation, questioning the content of the service provided by the Foundation. In 2020 he made the headlines in the Italian press for controversial statements on the coronavirus, including those – lacking scientific evidence – that see the 5G network connected to the Covid-19 epidemic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauli, Gunter Living people 1956 births Belgian businesspeople Belgian environmentalists INSEAD alumni Belgian economists