Ida Margrete Meier Auken (born 22 April 1978, in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

) is a Danish politician and member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

for the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

political party. She has been a member of parliament since 2007. She was Minister for the Environment of Denmark from 2011 to 2014. Until 2014 she was a member of the Socialist People's Party, after which she moved to the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party ( da, Radikale Venstre, , Radical Left) is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Historically, the centrist party has played a centra ...

. In 2021, she switched to the

Background

Her mother is

Margrete Auken Margrete Helle Auken (born 6 January 1945) is a Danish politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2004. She is a member of the Socialistisk Folkeparti, part of the European Green Party. She was also former ...

and her late uncle was Svend Auken. Like her mother, she is a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

of the

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

having graduated with a Master's degree in theology from the University of Copenhagen in 2006. Auken is member of the

advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...

of Vigga.us, a Danish company that produces organic children's clothing after the

circular Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation) ** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement * Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy * Circula ...

idea, so that the clothes can be rented and reused. Auken is also a member of Old Brick's advisory board, which is a Danish company that cleans and recycles used bricks. Auken is also member of the advisory board of EMG, an international CSR and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

consultancy founded in

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, which advises in

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

and

Cradle to Cradle Cradle-to-cradle design (also referred to as 2CC2, C2C, cradle 2 cradle, or regenerative design) is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutri ...

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

products.

Political career

Originally a member of the Socialist People's Party, she switched to the Social Liberal Party in 2014. In 2016, Auken wrote a piece for the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

(WEF), later republished by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', in which she imagined how technology could improve our lives by 2030 if the United Nations

sustainable development goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

(SDG) were realized through a fusion of technologies. In the presented scenario, the emergence and application of new digitized technologies to sectors such as communication, energy, transportation, and accommodation would result in greater access and decreased cost (ultimately leading to a complete elimination of cost), eventually leading to the end of "lifestyle diseases, climate change, the refugee crisis,

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

, completely congested cities, water pollution, air pollution, social unrest and unemployment" as well as other early 21st century crises. By the scenario's 2030 endpoint, anything that had once been a product was now a freely available service, obviating any need for personal ownership of goods or real estate. The article, originally titled "Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better", has been criticized as portraying an unrealistic utopia at the cost of privacy and contained a clear logical error where she uses the phrase "my bike" after explaining that ownership does not exist in 2030. In response, Auken added an author's note in which she said that the article merely represented a potential future scenario rather than any personal utopia of her own and that it was intended to "start a discussion about some of the pros and cons of the current technological development" in a way that she claimed conventional reports could not, while the article itself was renamed to "Here's how life could change in my city by the year 2030". Both versions of the article describe the loss of privacy as being undesirable. Auken's article, and an associated WEF video on predictions for 2030 in which the article was summarized as "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy. Whatever you want you'll rent and it'll be delivered by drone", would later form part of conspiracy theories about the WEF, particularly following the announcement of a "

Great Reset The Great Reset Initiative is an economic recovery plan drawn up by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was launched in June 2020, with a video featuring the then Prince of Wales Charles released to ma ...

" in 2020. In 2019, Auken gained international attention when she recorded a Twitter and Facebook video countering

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

's statements about

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

. In 2021, Auken switched from the Social Liberal Party to the Social Democrats, stating the party had moved too far from the center. She was re-elected in the

2022 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Folketing, 175 w ...

, receiving 9,879 personal votes.

Other activities

* Deutsche Post Stiftung, Member of the Scientific Council * World Economic Forum (WEF), Member of the Global Future Council on the Future of Future of Cities and Urbanization * World Economic Forum (WEF), Member of the Europe Policy Group (since 2017)Europe Policy Group

Bibliography

* ''Dansk'' (''Danish'') (2018) * ''Livet efter døden i de store verdensreligioner'' (''Life after Death in the World's Major Religions'') (2006) * ''Jesus går til filmen - Jesusfiguren i moderne film'' (''Jesus Goes into Films – the Jesus Figure in Modern Films'') (2007) * ''Konstellationer - kirkerne og det europæiske projekt'' (''Constellations – the Church and the European Project'') (2007)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auken, Ida 1978 births Living people People from Frederiksberg Socialist People's Party (Denmark) politicians Danish Social Liberal Party politicians Social Democrats (Denmark) politicians Women members of the Folketing 21st-century Danish women politicians Government ministers of Denmark Women government ministers of Denmark Danish Ministers for the Environment Danish Lutheran clergy Women Lutheran clergy Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Members of the Folketing 2022–2026