UN to fund $15k for young people’s green ideas

The UN has launched a global competition to fund young peoples’ innovative green solutions. The organisation’s environment department announced Young Champions of the Earth, an initiative to provide six ‘Young […]

The UN has launched a global competition to fund young peoples’ innovative green solutions.

The organisation’s environment department announced Young Champions of the Earth, an initiative to provide six ‘Young Champions’ with $15,000 (£11,730) each in funding to help ensure their sustainable ideas can become reality.

The participants, aged between 18 and 30, will also receive intensive mentoring and training to help them create technological inventions or innovative business models to improve the planet’s health.

Six different entrants from different regions of the globe will be chosen each year.

UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim said: “As I’ve seen time and again, when young people are given opportunities and support, they can be powerful catalysts for change.

“It is our hope that Young Champions of the Earth will inspire thousands of young people around the world to develop innovative ways to tackle the environmental issues that matter to them.”

Young Champions of the Earth is sponsored by Covestro, a polymer company and proponent of innovation for environmental sustainability.

The application period opens on the 22nd of April and will close on the 18th of June.

There is reportedly little progress being made towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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