Despite the extensive efforts being undertaken today to address the world’s pressing issues of sustainable development, it is clear that tomorrow’s leaders will be left with a heritage of huge challenges in preserving the environment and social cohesion.
Traditional actors in this field, mainly governments, international organisations and NGOs, can no longer tackle these challenges alone. In the past decade, they have been joined by the private sector, which has begun to take an active stance on Corporate Social Responsibility in order to improve the way they do business.
But also, a new breed of actors has engaged on sustainability, namely Green Entrepreneurs – throughout the planet, individuals are coming together and turning environmental and social challenges of poverty, climate change, education, pollution and social exclusion, to name but a few, into business opportunities. Driven by business values to address societal needs, green entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly important in furthering the innovation required to effectively harness sustainability.
But are we currently preparing tomorrow’s leaders to be strong entrepreneurs? Are we providing them with the skills and knowledge to adequately drive business into addressing sustainable development? Are policies and support structures effective in encouraging and supporting the development of green enterprises?
In light of the recent inability of governments to agree on a strong commitment to curb climate change in Copenhagen, we feel it is urgent to look at equipping tomorrow’s leaders with the skills, values and political environment to foster social and environmental entrepreneurship.
The Generation Europe Youth Summit 2010 will do just that: by bringing together young people, entrepreneurs, policy makers, non‐profit organisations, the private sector and academia, we aim to facilitate dialogue and provide concrete support and orientation for today’s and tomorrow’s green entrepreneurs.
The Summit is organised in cooperation with DG Industry & Entrepreneurship of the European Commission and with the support of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
