Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the interim government, has called on the world to harness the intellectual, financial and youth power to lay the foundation for a new civilization that is self-defensive and self-empowering.
He said this in his speech at the COP-29 conference in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Wednesday (November 13). The COP-29 conference, titled 'World Leaders' Action Summit', is scheduled to be held from November 12 to 13 and is expected to be attended by heads of government from more than 90 countries.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus advised world leaders at the conference to develop a new lifestyle based on 'zero waste and zero carbon' to save the world from climate disaster.
He said, "To survive, we need to build another culture. We need to build another counter-culture based on a different lifestyle. It will be based on zero waste. This culture will limit the use of everyday products, leaving no waste.
Professor Dr. Yunus said that this lifestyle will also be based on zero carbon where there will be no fossil fuels, only renewable energy. It will have an economy that will be primarily based on zero profit at the personal level like social businesses.
Defining social business as a non-dividend business to solve social and environmental problems, he said that a large part of social business will focus on protecting the environment and humanity.
The chief adviser said that through affordable healthcare and education, people's lives will not only be protected, but will also be qualitatively improved. This will make it easier for the youth to become entrepreneurs. The youth will be prepared through new education to become entrepreneurs. Education to create job seekers will be replaced by entrepreneurship-focused education.
Stating the need for a new lifestyle to protect the environment, Dr. Yunus said that the new lifestyle will not be imposed, it will be a choice.
He said that the youth will choose that lifestyle as a choice. Every youth will grow up as a person with three zeros. These are - zero net carbon emissions, zero wealth concentration through building only social businesses and zero unemployment through becoming entrepreneurs.
He further said, every person will grow up as a person with three zeros and will remain a person with three zeros throughout their lives. This will build a new civilization.
Professor Yunus said, I hope you will join me in dreaming this dream. If we dream together, it will be possible.
On global climate change, the chief adviser said, the climate crisis is intensifying and because of that, human civilization is at serious risk. People continue to promote self-destructive values.
He said, we need to harness our intellectual, financial and youth power to lay the foundation for a new civilization that is self-defensive and self-empowering.
Stating the reasons for the destruction of this planet by human inhabitants, Professor Yunus said, humans are deliberately damaging this planet and they have chosen a lifestyle that works against the environment. They justify it with an economic framework, which is considered as natural as this planetary system.