Global Leaders Convene at the GLC to Advance Partnerships for the Green and Digital Transitions
The Special Session of the GenU Global Leadership Council on the sidelines of UNGA79 saw Canada and Qatar join GenU as Lead Government Partners with an $80 million combined commitment
New York, September 2024 — On the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Generation Unlimited’s Global Leadership Council (GLC) convened a diverse group of global leaders from governments, business, foundations, multilateral organizations, civil society, and youth, to advance global partnerships to empower youth for climate action and for a digital future, with a specific focus on AI.
Co-hosted by the Governments of Canada and Qatar, and chaired by GLC Co-chairs Bob Moritz, former Global Chair of PwC, and Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, the GLC brought together public and private sectors with young entrepreneurs and changemakers to explore global partnerships that can empower youth for the green transition and the digital, AI-driven world of the future.
The 2024 Sustainable Development Report revealed that only 16% of SDG targets are on track. Climate-related goals, including those on climate action, responsible consumption and land protection are stagnating. The GLC recognizes that accelerating progress on the SDGs requires global, multi-sector collaboration for holistic solutions to tackle the global skills crisis, tackle climate change, and foster environments that improve access to decent livelihoods for young people.
Victory Ashaka, Nigerian youth slam poet and member of GenU's Young People's Action Team, opened the GLC with an extraordinary performance capturing stories of hope, resilience, and echoing the aspirations of an unlimited generation eager for change.
In a landmark announcement, Canada and the State of Qatar announced they are joining Generation Unlimited (GenU) as Lead Government Partners, taking on a global leadership role and championing new and expanded partnerships and programmes. Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, Canada and H.E. Lolwah bint Rashid Al-Khater, Minister of State for International Cooperation, Qatar, also announced a combined financial commitment to GenU from Canada and Qatar totaling $80 million, which paves the way for expanded programmes to ensure young people have the skills and access to opportunities to thrive in the digital and green economies. The contribution of $40 million from each country was made possible by a framework for cooperation signed by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Qatar’s Education Above All Foundation (EAA) to co-fund development projects in the education sector.
"This focus on climate and access to digital skills is crucial for young people to prepare for the future. These two priorities reflect what Generation Unlimited and UNICEF are all about, and we are excited to be working together."
"We are pleased to support Generation Unlimited, a global Public-Private-Youth Partnership, which aims to skill and connect the world’s 1.8 billion young people."
The Green and Digital Transitions
Partners at the GLC showed that green and digital transitions are not distant futures but current realities shaped by today's actions. The convergence of green initiatives and digital innovation across sectors also highlights their close interconnection.
Yet, projections show that more than 60% of youth, or 830 million, will lack the basic skills that will be required in 2030. This highlights the urgent need for collective action to make the green and digital transitions inclusive and beneficial for all, with green and digital skills being placed center stage.
Green Rising, our flagship youth climate action initiative — shaped by public-private-youth collaboration at GLC meetings over the past two years — was created to ensure that young people, especially girls, have the skills and opportunities to be empowered in and contribute to a just green transition.
At the GLC, we announced that in its first year alone, Green Rising surpassed its three-year target of mobilizing 10 million young people to take green actions and is now operational in more than 30 countries. We set a new ambitious goal of mobilizing more than 20 million young people by the end of 2026 through volunteerism, advocacy, and green skills, jobs and entrepreneurship.
"Education is a critical topic – but it's equally important to transition from education to livelihoods. Young people need jobs, and this is where the public and private sectors have a key role in facilitating this shift and creating employment opportunities.”
"The green and digital transitions are transforming the way we work and live. The rapid rise of AI could affect an estimated 40% of all global jobs. This has risks and opportunity. Our job is to turn potential risks to opportunities for youth empowerment and economic opportunity."
A highlight of the event was the young green entrepreneurs who showcased their green ventures and demonstrated that their efforts are practical, measurable and concrete, with potential to catalyze systems-level change.
The young leaders brought their passion and creativity to the forefront, inspiring dignitaries with ventures and prototypes ranging from a highway wind turbine in Bangladesh that harnesses wind energy from fast-moving vehicles, an eco-toilet that biodegrades waste in rural areas of Kenya and converts it into agricultural fertilizer, and a bio-modification initiative that modifies local plants in Egypt to produce sustainable, low-carbon-footprint raw materials. Made possible through the Green Rising initiative, these ventures are rooted in local communities and are directly contributing to the green transition.
During the Young Innovators Showcase session moderated by Rebecca Marmot, Chief Sustainability Officer, Unilever, partners including Aiman Ezzat, CEO, Capgemini; Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, Canada; Fahad Al-Sulaiti, CEO, Education Above All Foundation; Carlos Sanvee, Secretary-General, World YMCA; and Vicky Aridi, Youth Representative, GenU Board, engaged in a discussion with the young innovators and offered a holistic exploration of the broader landscape of green business innovation. The leaders also highlighted the role of green ventures in tackling climate change and discussed strategies to expand the ventures' impact on more communities.
Preparing Youth for Work in an AI-Powered World
A year ago, GenU and partners at the GLC started examining the GenAI revolution, its implications for skills, and how we can ensure that young people everywhere are empowered with both the GenAI and uniquely human skills they need to lead, innovate, solve problems and thrive in the industries of the future.
With vital Public-Private-Youth contributions from GLC members, alongside insights from 30 organizations and 53,878 young voices from 184 countries, we launched “Time to Act: Preparing Youth for an AI-Powered World. The report analyzes the emerging threats and opportunities facing youth as they transition from learning to earning in the GenAI era and lays out clear calls to action which focus on mitigating and bridging the digital divide, developing and deploying foundational GenAI skills at scale, and building resilient multi-sector coalitions that ensure every young person can thrive in this new digital landscape.
The report was introduced by Kate Behncken, Corporate Vice President & Global Lead, Microsoft Philanthropies, whereas Mihnea Moldoveanu, Director of Desaultels Centre for Integrative Thinking and the Marcel Desautels Professor of Integrative Thinking (lead author of the AI Report) summarized the report’s finding and recommendations.
The GLC’s fireside session 'Partnering to Prepare Youth for a Digital and AI-Powered World of Work’ focused on collaborative strategies to unlock opportunities for youth skilling and livelihoods. Moderated by Leonardo Framil, CEO of Accenture's Growth Markets; the session included remarks by H.E. Salima Bah, Minister of Communication, Technology & Innovation of Sierra Leone; Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, Canada; and Dr. Sonia Jaffar, CEO of Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation; the session highlighted the critical need to improve digital infrastructure and connectivity for youth development in AI, while also enabling inclusive digital literacy and providing more upskilling opportunities for young people in the field of AI.
Partners further emphasized that without strong digital frameworks, young people will struggle to access essential opportunities in an AI-driven job market, and explored solutions to address the gaps identified in our AI report.
At GenU, we know that accelerating progress on the SDGs in the limited remaining time requires global partnerships and collaboration, particularly to address the global learning and skills crisis.
GenU exemplifies this belief by harnessing diverse knowledge of young people and our ecosystem of Public-Private-Youth partners, showing that the only way to ensure a just and inclusive green and digital transition is global, cross-sector partnerships.
GenU's diverse partnerships are enabling programmes such as Green Rising and Passport 2 Earning to scale globally and create pathways to livelihoods for millions of young people by connecting them with meaningful opportunities and equipping them with the knowledge and tools to thrive.
As we head into our next strategic planning cycle, GenU looks forward to working together with our partners to ensure that all young people, wherever they may be, will benefit from the opportunities of the future.
Explore more updates from the GLC Meeting
Victory Ashaka, a youth advocate and poet from Nigeria, delivered a rousing spoken word performance that invigorated the audience and set the tone for the meeting.
In a passionate address, Bob Rae, Canada's Permanent Representative to the United Nations captured the urgency of the moment and the importance of education for young people.
Watch parties hosted by UNICEF country offices in Mexico, Egypt, Rwanda and more saw groups of young people tune in to follow the GLC.
