At a time where our global priority is to achieve sustainability, tourists are making a bad situation worse. City-centers are getting overcrowded and CO2 emissions increase due to tourists. Imagine if we could transform tourism into a force that would help humanity on a faster track towards sustainability. Imagine if your travel was also about being part of a movement for global sustainability. Hello! In 2015 I took office as CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen. We promote and develop the greater Copenhagen area as tourist destination. I have grown up with Copenhagen - from when it was poor, dirty and with little hope until today’s modern, green and top-ranked international Copenhagen. I am both excited and anxious to see what comes next. How the city will be influenced by, and influence right back, a still more interdependent urban World - heading towards 1,8 billion int. tourist arrivals in 2030.
Somehow, I became 46 years old. I commenced university in 1992, the year when World leaders committed to sustainable development by adopting for instance the UN Climate Convention. For 15 years I have been working for sustainable development locally and internationally in various positions, such as Director of the Environmental Department in the City of Copenhagen, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Danish Ministry for the Environment and Chairman of OECD’s Environmental Policy Committee. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx