About

Award-winning director Damon Gameau embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream.

Synopsis

2040 is a hybrid feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important NOW! Drawing on the best minds from around the world to focus on climate, economics, technology, civil society, agriculture and sustainability, 2040 maps out a pathway for change that can lead us to a more ecologically sustainable and equitable future.

Motivated by his 4-year-old daughter and concern for the planet she will inherit, Damon Gameau embarks on a global journey to meet the innovators and change makers pioneering the best solutions already available to us today to improve the health of our planet and societies. Inspired by these discoveries and guided by the many children he consults with along the way, Damon interweaves dramatic sequences and high-end visual effects to conjure a positive portrait of what ‘could be’ instead of the current dystopian future we are so often presented.

Aimed at a broad audience that includes children and their parents, serious information is delivered with irreverence and humour. Experts are shrunk into scenes to emphasise a point, animation makes the invisible visible and visual effects show how scaling these solutions by 2040 will positively impact our lives and our planet.This rich visual approach combined with the structure of an intimate letter to a daughter from her father allows for lightness and cheekiness, ensuring the film is both entertaining and educational, with the end goal being to inspire action and change.

Many academics believe that people become inactive or paralysed on this topic because it all just feels too overwhelming and alarming. 2040 is an aspirational film full of hope about the possibility to make changes that will shift the course for humanity and the planet.

Meet the Experts

Paul

Paul Hawken

Environmentalist, entrepreneur, author and activist, Paul Hawken

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Kate

Kate Raworth

Climate Economist and Co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab

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Neel Tahame

Neel Tamhane

Decentralised energy access specialist, solar strategy lead at SPACE10

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Tony

Tony Seba

World-renowned thought leader, author, speaker, educator and entrepreneur

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BRIAN-VON-HERZEN

Dr Brian Von Herzen

Executive Director of The Climate Foundation

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PROF-GENEVIEVE-BELL

Professor Genevieve Bell

Cultural anthropologist, technologist and futurist

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COLIN-SEIS

Colin Seis

Innovative Regen Ag farmer

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Eric

Eric Toensmeier

Award-winning, 'Drawdown' contributor, lecturer at Yale University.

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DR-AMANDA-CAHILL

Amanda Cahill

CEO of The Next Economy and trained in Anthropology.

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HELENA-NORBERG-HODGE

Helena Norberg-Hodge

Author and filmmaker

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This is the narrative the next generation needs to see, to aspire to, and to believe is possible.

The Film Team

DamonG

Damon Gameau

Writer / Director

2

Nick Batzias

Producer

Anna Kaplan

Anna Kaplan

Producer / Impact Producer

3

Virginia Whitwell

Producer

4

Ian Darling

Executive Producer

6

Malinda Wink

Executive Producer

5

Mark Monroe

Executive Producer

7

Paul Wiegard

Executive Producer

9

William Gammon

Executive Producer

8

Justin Baird

Executive Producer

11

Hugh Miller

Director of Photography

10

Jane Usher

Editor

13

Luke Bubb

Production Designer

12

Roslyn Lawrence

Researcher & Field Producer

The Impact Team

Kim Ingles Headshot

Kim Ingles

Associate Impact Producer

Jenna Dawkins Headshot

Jenna Dawkins

Editor

Anna Charalambous

Anna Charalambous

Impact Coordinator

Allie Headshot

Dr Alison Millful

Partnerships & Communications Consultant

Donors

The 2040 impact campaign is powered by philanthropic donations and in-kind support from these generous foundations, families and individuals.

The Caledonia Foundation, Will & Jane Vicars, Mark & Louise Nelson, The Intrepid Foundation, Nine Links Foundation, Gretel Packer, Paradice Family Foundation, Wilson Foundation, William Manos, The Vine Foundation, Joan Darling, John Sevior & Rebecca Gorman, Berry Liberman & Danny Almagor, Ian & Min Darling, The Yulgilbar Foundation, Thyne Reid Foundation, Lewin Foundation, W & A Johnson Family Foundation, Andyinc Foundation, Anonymous, Debbie Dadon AM & Family, MaiTri Foundation, Ricci Swart, Burrabaroo Foundation, Simeon Rae, Tobias Partners, Georgina Byron, The Snow Foundation, Graeme Wood Foundation, Ainsworth Herschell Family, Graf family, Chasam Foundation, Future Super, Annabel Montgomery, The Humphries Family Fund, James R. Kirby, Christopher Ride, Matthew Warnken, Sue Jacobs, Penelope & Ian Ward-Ambler, Mim & Michael Bartlett, Kate Hayward, Kay/Swaney Family, John & Anna Hyles, Phillip Cornwell, Seri Renkin, Anne Jaumees, Dr Carolyn Currie, Ben McNeill & Richard Todd.

Carbon Management

To assess and mitigate our carbon footprint, we tracked our emissions and offset them with triple gold certified carbon credits. We also went a step further by planting a small native forest that could sequester up to 90 tonnes of carbon by 2040. We believe effectively tackling climate change requires systemic changes, but in the interim, carbon offsetting can help fund renewable energy and conservation projects that reduce future dependence on fossil fuels and sequester carbon into the soil.

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Carbon Management Partners

Thank you to our carbon management partners.