Reaching Out to Youth In Search of Fresh Ideas About Environment

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 28 /CSRwire/ – For the second year running, materials manufacturer Covestro and UN Environment are calling on young innovators across the globe to submit their creative solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash

Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash

Representing every global region, seven applicants with the most promising solutions will be recognized as Young Champions of the Earth. The world’s pre-eminent environmental honor for young people was awarded last year for the first time. Each winner will receive $15,000 in seed funding, customized training, participation in a high-level U.N. meeting and global publicity.

In parallel, up to 50 applicants will be granted privileged access to an online mentoring program. A community of experts drawn from 16,000 Covestro employees will become mentors dedicated to strengthening the viability and impact of the mentees’ ideas.

By providing such technical and financial support, Covestro and UN Environment will help young people scale up their big ideas into real workable solutions for environmental problems and, in doing so, inspire others to take action.

“It’s not just a pleasure for us to continue to support UN Environment with the Young Champions of the Earth program, but a necessity because sustainability, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, play such a huge part in what we do every single day at Covestro to tackle some of the complex environmental challenges we all face,” says Patrick Thomas, Covestro CEO.

“There is not a single environmental problem today that we cannot innovate our way out of. It’s therefore essential that we do our best to empower and inspire young entrepreneurs,” says Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.

“When we tap into that creativity, we can unearth fresh thinking and new possibilities for the sustainable future of our Earth. Young people are the leaders of today, not just tomorrow. They are the key to a clean, green and pollution-free planet.”

Interested environmentalists between the ages of 18 and 30 are encouraged to submit their big ideas here by midnight GMT on 2 April 2018.

For further information see http://web.unep.org/youngchampions/.

Eric Novak

About Eric Novak

Eric Novak is a father of 4 who also thinks that environmental stewardship is a requisite of parenting. He's not a professional Dad nor is he an environmental scientist, but he's someone who gives a damn and is trying to make the right decisions as he lives his life as a father, environmentalist, part time professor and business owner. Eric has 4 children and resides in Ajax, Ontario.