About

We have developed a practical way to understand how the Great Transition from an agrarian to an urban industrialised society which began 250 years ago and will continue at least another 100 years affects every sector and area of human activity; it is called the 4Waves Framework. Now 4Waves is committed to developing a new civilizational 100-year perspective and roadmap for policymakers. Civilizational collapse looks likely this century. Only a roadmap that has a 100-year perspective, that looks beyond a single symptom (Climate Change), and that acknowledges the long-term civilizational trends and give us a chance to avoid collapse.

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Live webinars & podcasts

We are inviting leading experts to present both high-level strategic and in-depth sector specific webinars.

Motivated community

We are building a community of analysts, business leaders, and academics to answer a single question - how can we avoid civilizational collapse this century?

Courses

We have developed an online course with clearly presented materials for quickly understanding thumanity's ongoing transition from an agrarian to an urban industrialised society.

Newsletter

We share stories and studies that may not make front page news, but describe developments fundamentally changing society and the economy.

Our focus is to answer one single question - how to avoid civilizational collapse in the 21st century. We need an answer in the context of the continuation and completion of the Great Transition. A transition that will result in +4 or more degrees increase in global average temperatures, inevitable continued rising global consumption, ever greater pressures on the biosphere, and more. The long-term megatrends driving the 21st century are entirely predictable. Our response is not.

Our teachers

Meet our instructors

Ugo Bardi

Founder, STUDY PEAK OIL ITALY

Professor in Physical Chemistry, author of the Club of Rome's 33rd Report Extracted and The Limits to Growth Revisited (an update to the Club of Rome’s most renown report), and the founder of the Italian section of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil. Ugo spent his career working on resource depletion, system dynamics modelling, climate science, and renewable energy.

Michael Berkowitz

former MAnAGING DiRECTOR, Rockefeller Foundation

Michael has built a formidable career in risk management and resilience. He was the Founding President of "100 Resilient Cities", global head of Operational Risk Management (ORM) at Deutsche Bank, the head of CSBC in APAC, and editor of Emergency Preparedness News, a Washington, DC-based newsletter for emergency management professionals.

Alexander Chikunov

4Waves Founder

Longevity investor, former business leader at world's 6th largest energy company, and 4Waves Founder. He explains very practically what the data tells us about the global population explosion and massive creation of wealth in third and fourth wave countries means for business leaders and investors.

Ashok Gadgil

UC Berkeley, Inventor Live Saving tech

Physicist Ashok Gadgil has helped over 100 million people across four continents by making efficient electric lighting affordable, water safe to drink, and designing energy efficient stoves. Today, at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Gadgil continues to research ways to improve the water and energy supply of people in need.

Amory Lovins

Father of Clean Energy Tech

He is the Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Rocky Mountain Institute and one of the most respected figures in the renewable energy industry. He is also an energy advisor to major firms and governments in 65+ countries for 40+ years; author of 31 books and more than 600 papers; and an integrative designer of superefficient buildings, factories, and vehicles.

Anastassia Makarieva

Co-Author Biotic Regulation Concept

She is the world's leading authority on Biotic regulation, which in simple terms is a radical new approach to how forests regulate the climate. The Nuclear Physicist from Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI) supports our courses on forests and climate change.

Eric Pruyt

World leading systems modeller, FOUNDER PARTNER AT PEAS.center

Erik recently received the System

Dynamics Society Outstanding Service Award. He is the founder of the PEAS.center, before which he was Associate Professor of Policy Modelling and System Dynamics Modelling at Delft University of Technology. He is also Director of the Policy Modelling Lab, the Institute for Grand Challenges, and the Center for Systems Thinking

John Richardson

Distinguished Professor, Founder of the Social Science Research Laboratory

He is Emeritus Professor at the School of International Service, American University in Washington, D.C. and visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. At American University, John founded and directed the Social Science Research Laboratory. He is a pioneer in the fields of global modelling and system dynamics at the Club of Rome. In 1982 he was named by the Society for Computer Simulation as "one of the twenty most effective decision makers in the world".

Harald Sverdrup

WORLD6 MODELLER AND BUSINESS LEADER

He is the World’s Bookkeeper. Harald developed the World6 model to understand what resources remain in the planet, how much can be extracted, and how much we will need. He has become a world-leading authority on the topic. He is also a business leader whose businesses include the world's most advance metals recycling plant.

Anders Wijkman

Former MEP, Honorary President of the Club of Rome

Anders Wijkman is an opinionmaker and author. He has held many different posts, including as President of the Club of Rome, a Member of the Swedish Parliament, Member of the European Parliament, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Policy Director of UNDP, Secretary-General of the Swedish Red Cross, and Director General of the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries. As of March 2017 Anders is chairman of the Governing Board of Climate-KIC – the largest public-private partnership on innovation for low-carbon solutions in the EU.

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On a mission to help humanity manage the fundamental challenges of the 21st century.