Terms and Conditions

The Fifth Element content

The Fifth Element content is protected by copyright, and unless otherwise stated is owned by The Club of Rome. To ensure wide dissemination of our content, we are committed to making our own content freely available and encourage the use, reproduction and dissemination of the text, multimedia and data presented. All The Fifth Element content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. It may be translated, copied, printed and downloaded for private study, research and teaching purposes, and for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgment of The Fifth Element as the source is given and that The Fifth Element or its partners’ endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not stated or implied in any way. No written permission is required for such use.

Specific restrictions and/or conditions may apply to specific materials within the Fifth Element site, which will be clearly marked.

The Fifth Element also permits the incorporation of parts of its publications into other works or publications in printed, electronic, or any other media, provided these are for non-commercial research or teaching purposes and the used material is appropriately attributed to the initiative. No written permission is required for such use.

However, if the materials copyrighted to The Fifth Element or its partners are intended to be used for commercial purposes, written permission is required.

Requests for permission must be made in writing and:

Clearly identify what material you would like to copy, and

Briefly explain the intended use of the material.

Please send all requests to info@clubofrome.org titled “Copyright and permissions”.

Non-The Fifth Element content

The Fifth Element website may include third party copyright material for which rights and permissions must be obtained from the copyright holder(s) indicated. We have made every reasonable effort to locate, contact and acknowledge rights holders and to correctly apply terms and conditions to these materials. Under no circumstances shall The Fifth Element or its partners be held responsible for any copyright infringements arising from the use of third-party content.

Links to other websites

This website may contain links and references to third-party websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.

User-submitted blog content

We may accept blog articles or opinion pieces for publication on this website.

By submitting content, you confirm that:

• You are the author or have the right to submit it
  The content is original, accurate to the best of your knowledge and does not infringe any rights
  Any personal data included has been shared with appropriate consent

All submissions are subject to editorial review. We reserve the right to accept, reject, edit or remove content at our sole discretion. Submission does not guarantee publication.

Published articles reflect the views of the author and not necessarily those of this website or its affiliated organisations.

By submitting content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to edit, publish and distribute it across our website and related communication channels.

Certain pages of this website may enable users to submit comments. By submitting a comment, you agree to the following terms.

Submission of information

To submit a comment, you may be required to provide personal information such as your name, email address and organisation. You confirm that:

• The information you provide is accurate and not misleading
• You are authorised to share the name of the organisation you list
• The content of your comment is your own or you have the right to publish it
  We may collect and process this information in accordance with our Privacy policy.

Moderation and approval

All comments are subject to review before publication. Comments will not appear on the website until they have been approved.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to:

• Approve or reject any comment
• Edit comments for clarity, length or compliance with these terms
• Remove comments at any time after publication
• Disable the comment function on any page

We are under no obligation to publish any comment.

Acceptable content

Comments must not:

• Be unlawful, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory or misleading
• Infringe intellectual property or other legal rights
• Contain promotional, commercial or spam content
• Include personal data about others without their consent

We may refuse or remove content that is inconsistent with the purpose and values of this website.

Responsibility and licence

Comments reflect the views of the individual author and do not necessarily represent the views of this website or its affiliated organisations.

By submitting a comment, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to publish, reproduce, edit and display your comment on this website and related communication channels.

You remain solely responsible for the content you submit.

When you attend an event organised by The Fifth Element your data is processed for the purpose of effective management of the event. This may include the use of your data for receiving email messages and updates regarding the event, management and distribution of reports, visit follow-up and sharing of event related information. For the purpose of the event organisation, the Club of Rome might need to share the personal data provided with the event partners. Please note that partners in countries outside the EU may not provide the same level of data protection.

Photographs, audio, and video may be captured during the event. By attending, participants grant The Fifth Element permission to photograph and/or record them and distribute (both now and in the future) the attendee’s image or voice in photographs, videotapes, electronic reproductions, and audiotapes of such events and activities. Additionally, presentations, interventions, or comments made during the event may be used on The Fifth Element website and for further publicity in relation to the event.

If you need any further information or want to withdraw this consent please email enquiry@thefifthelement.earth 

Zoom

The Club of Rome uses Zoom to host teleconferences, online meetings, video conferences and/or webinars. Please see the full privacy policy for more details.

The information, products, and services contained on this site is provided “as is” without any warranties. The information presented does not necessarily reflect the views of the partner organisations or funders.

The Fifth Element and partners accept no responsibility for losses, damages, costs, and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from the use of this website and any information or material available from them. Nor does it guarantee that use of the information is free of any claims of copyright infringement.

The mention of names of specific companies, products, or services on the site does not imply any endorsement or recommendation.

If you would like to use the Fifth Element logo please contact pbaumgartner@clubofrome.org. 

In order to resolve a complaint regarding the Site or to receive further information regarding use of the Site, please contact us at:

The Club of Rome
Lagerhausstrasse 9
Winterthur, Zurich 8400
Switzerland
info@clubofrome.org

These conditions are governed by and interpreted following the laws of Switzerland, and the use of the United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is expressly excluded. If your habitual residence is in the EU, and you are a consumer, you additionally possess the protection provided to you by obligatory provisions of the law of your country of residence. The Club of Rome and yourself both agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Zurich, which means that you may make a claim to defend your consumer protection rights in regards to these Conditions of Use in Switzerland, or in the EU country in which you reside.

At The Fifth Element, we recognise the profound implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for society, the environment, and the future of human knowledge. As a platform that champions systems transformation and intergenerational wellbeing, we approach AI with caution, curiosity, and responsibility.

Principles

Human-centred: We believe AI should serve human judgement—not replace it. All public-facing content remains subject to human review and authorship.

Ethical and ecological: We are mindful of the environmental impact and ethical risks of AI, including energy use, bias, and exploitation. We prioritise tools that align with our values of justice and planetary boundaries.

Transparent: When AI is used in our work (e.g., for summarising content or supporting visual production), we disclose its role and ensure the final product reflects human intention and editorial care.

Inclusive: AI cannot replace lived experience, indigenous wisdom, or systems thinking. We use it to assist, not erase, plural forms of knowledge.

We do not:

• Use AI for surveillance, profiling, or automated decision-making.
• Rely on AI to speak on behalf of the organisation without human oversight.
• Create misleading or deceptive content using AI tools.

Looking ahead

As the landscape evolves, we continue to monitor the ethical and systemic impacts of AI. We welcome dialogue and critique from our community to ensure our approach remains just, transparent, and future-fit.

Responsible party

The responsible party for data processing on this website is:
Club of Rome
Lagerhausstrasse 9
8400 Winterthur
Switzerland

info@clubofrome.org 

Personal Data

While using the Club of Rome website, or other websites managed by the Club of Rome, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

• Email address
• Usage data

Use of your personal data

The Fifth Element will use your personal data for the following purposes:

• To provide and maintain The Fifth Element website, including to monitor the usage of the website.
• To contact you by email or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application’s push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
• To provide you with news, and general information about events unless you have opted not to receive such information. When you subscribe to receive information from The Fifth Element you grant your consent to the collection and use of personal data on the form for receiving information about The Fifth Element, including general information, newsletters, publications and events. The Fifth Element will keep all personal data strictly confidential. We will not share your personal information with or sell it to third-party marketers. When signing up for our mailing lists, we may use the third-party service provider mailchimp.com to process and store your data for the purpose above.
• To manage and attend to your requests to us.

Usage Data – Website

Usage Data is collected automatically when using this website.

Usage Data may include information such as your device’s internet protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of The Fifth Element website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When you access the website by or through a mobile device, we may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of your mobile device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you access The Fifth Element website by or through a mobile device.

Cookies and Scripts

Please see the full Cookie Policy here: https://www.clubofrome.org/cookie-policy/ 

Usage Data – Zoom

The Fifth Element uses “Zoom” to host teleconferences, online-meetings, video conferences and/or webinars (herein after “online-meetings”). “Zoom” is a service of the Zoom Video Communications, Inc., with its headquarters in the USA. The following personal data is being processed: Information of the participant: First name, Last name, Telephone (optional), Password, Profile Picture (optional), Department (optional) Meeting Metadata: Topic, Description (optional), Participant IP-Addresses, Device/Hardware Information. When Recorded (optional): MP4-File of all Video-, Audio- and Presentations recordings, M4A-Files of all audio recordings, text file of the meeting chat. When dialling in with a phone: information about the incoming and outgoing telephone number, country, name, start and end time. “Zoom” is a company with headquarters in the USA. Data processing therefore also happens in a third country. When attending a Club of Rome webinar via Zoom you agree to the terms of event attendance referenced in our Terms of Use.

Retention of your personal data

The Fifth Element will retain and use your personal data until the purpose for processing the data no longer applies and to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

Transfer of your personal data

Your information, including personal data, is processed at The Fifth Element’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this privacy policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

The Fifth Element will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy and no transfer of your personal data will take place to an organisation or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Security of your personal data

The security of your personal data is important to us, but no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Your rights

You have a right to request your stored personal data, its source and recipients, as well as a right to rectification, a right to data portability (this means you have the right to receive the personal data you provided us in a commonly used and machine-readable format. It also gives you the right to request that we transfer that data directly to another controller), a right to object to personal data processing, and a right to restriction of processing and blocking or erasure of your personal data at any time.

Please direct all requests to enquiry@thefifthelement.earth 

What are cookies?

This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are and how we use them, the types of cookies we use i.e, the information we collect using cookies and how that information is used, and how to manage the cookie settings.

Cookies are small text files that are used to store small pieces of information. They are stored on your device when the website is loaded on your browser. These cookies help us make the website function properly, make it more secure, provide better user experience, and understand how the website performs and to analyze what works and where it needs improvement.

How do we use cookies?

As most of the online services, our website uses first-party and third-party cookies for several purposes. First-party cookies are mostly necessary for the website to function the right way, and they do not collect any of your personally identifiable data.

The third-party cookies used on our website are mainly for understanding how the website performs, how you interact with our website, keeping our services secure, providing advertisements that are relevant to you, and all in all providing you with a better and improved user experience and help speed up your future interactions with our website.

Types of Cookies we use

Necessary

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

Functional 

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. 

Analytics 

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. 

Advertisement 

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customised ads. 

Others 

Other uncategorised cookies are those that are being analysed and have not been classified into a category as yet. 

Manage cookie preferences 

Cookie Settings 

You can change your cookie preferences any time by clicking the above button. This will let you revisit the cookie consent banner and change your preferences or withdraw your consent right away. 

In addition to this, different browsers provide different methods to block and delete cookies used by websites. You can change the settings of your browser to block/delete the cookies. Listed below are the links to the support documents on how to manage and delete cookies from the major web browsers. 

Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050 

Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac 

Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox?redirectslug=delete-cookies-remove-info-websites-stored&redirectlocale=en-US 

Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer-bca9446f-d873-78de-77ba-d42645fa52fc 

If you are using any other web browser, please visit your browser’s official support documents. 

Cookie Policy Generated By CookieYes – Cookie Policy Generator.