'Eat and have a job': Moldovan youth advisor lays out economic basis for climate action

(Reuters, 8 Feb 2021) Young economist Vladislav Kaim, who advises the UN chief, worries his generation will face a huge burden of debt from COVID-19 spending, lack of jobs and growing climate threats.

While many young climate activists aim to cool an overheating planet and protect nature, Vladislav Kaim worries about another threat in a warming world: debt-laden economies with few jobs for his generation and workers trapped in dying industries.

"Of course we want to save our planet. It is in everyone's enlightened self-interest," said the 25-year-old Moldovan, one of a group of youth advisors to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on climate change and sustainability.

"But we also want to eat and have a job and have a guarantee our children will live better than we do," said Kaim, who earned an economics degree in Moscow and is now working on a master's at Sweden's Lund University.

Kaim has a better view than many young activists of the economic threats of climate change - and the risks of wresting the global economy onto a low-carbon path that leaves old-industry workers behind.

External link

Reuters, 8 Feb 2021: 'Eat and have a job': Moldovan youth advisor lays out economic basis for climate action

More Related News

Just transition

23 Nov 2023: Czechia will use EU’s Just Transition Fund for large ‘risky’ projects

21 Nov 2023: Indian farmers rack up carbon credits with climate-conscious ways

17 Nov 2023: Could COP28 help protect Africans from growing modern slavery?

13 Nov 2023: Can Indonesia deliver a green power plan for the people?

8 Sep 2023: The balance between expanding renewable projects and feeding India’s population

26 Jun 2023: New Global Financial Pact takes small steps towards climate justice

23 Jun 2023: World Bank offers developing countries debt pauses if hit by climate crisis

23 Jun 2023: ‘Women bear the biggest brunt of climate change,’ says climate scientist Susan Chomba

19 Jun 2023: 'Invisible' informal workers rally for a role in green movement

16 Jun 2023: UK lagging behind in global race to decarbonise, says TUC leader

9 Mar 2023: What is slowing Vietnam’s just energy transition?

Green recovery

31 Jan 2022: Stalled 'Build Back Better' package threatens U.S. climate influence

20 Dec 2021: Manchin delivers potential fatal blow to Biden's $1.75 trillion spending bill

18 Oct 2021: How to tackle COVID-19 jobs crisis and climate change? Invest in clean energy

2 Sep 2021: Pandemic a lost opportunity to speed energy transition, consultancy says

26 Aug 2021: Scottish Green Party announces plan with Government to build a green economic recovery

20 Jul 2021: Emissions will hit record high by 2023 if green recovery fails, says IEA

15 Jul 2021: Trillions of dollars spent on Covid recovery in ways that harm environment

11 Jun 2021: Hard-hit by COVID-19, Latin America seen skimping on climate cash

31 May 2021: EU, Japan seal ‘green alliance’ in bid for climate neutrality

26 Apr 2021: Clean energy shift a chance to 'raise' people and the economy, Biden says

20 Apr 2021: Green stimulus plan could create 1.2m UK jobs in two years, research finds