A Think Tank With Global Perspective

The Club of Rome, which sponsored the major 1972 study “The Limits to Growth,” had been founded four years earlier in the Italian capital.

Italian industrialist Aurelio Peccei, who held top positions with both the Fiat and Olivetti corporations, played a major role in organizing the society, which committed itself “to adopt a global perspective in examining issues and situations . . . beyond the capacity of individual countries to solve.”

Its several dozen members included scientists, economists, educators, businessmen and specialists in systems analysis from Europe, Japan and North and South America. Early funding came from Italian and West German foundations.

The Club of Rome now has 100 members from 52 nations. Its executive committee includes former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers; Yotaro Kobayashi, president of Fuji Xerox; and Nobel-winning chemist Ilya Prigogine of Belgium.

Since “The Limits to Growth,” it has sponsored 21 other studies in areas including education, energy and governance. “The Club . . . tends normally to adopt a low profile,” its mission statement says. “. . . We are sometimes more effective when we work behind the scenes.”