Great Transition is used by the Great Transition Initiative and its predecessor, the Global Scenario Group (GSG), to describe a vision of a just and sustainable global future. The term was originally coined by Kenneth E. Boulding in The Meaning of the 20th Century – The Great Transition (1964) and describes the shift from pre-modern to post-modern culture, and the four possible courses of action that these organizations believe will allow humanity to successfully manage the Great Transition.^[1]

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. (April 2018)

Elements of the Great Transition vision include egalitarian social and ecological values, increased inter-human connectivity, improved quality of life, and a healthy planet, as well as the absence of poverty, war, and environmental destruction. The Great Transition concept was cited by Prime Minister of Bhutan Jigme Thinley,^[2] Josh Ryan-Collins of the New Economics Foundation,^[3] and the Capital Institute.^[4] It was used as a theme for the 2011 SmartCSOs conference on strategies for Civil Society Organisations in London.^[5]

The Great Transition was first introduced by the Global Scenario Group (GSG), an international body of scientists convened in 1995 by the Tellus Institute and Stockholm Environment Institute to examine the requirements for a transition to a sustainable global society. The GSG set out to describe and analyze scenarios for the future of the earth as it entered a planetary phase of civilization.^[6]

• Anthropocene
• Global Citizens Movement
• Planetary boundaries
• Transition town
• Tellus Institute