“Conference of the Economics and Business Faculty Association”

Dear students,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning for the ninth edition of the EBF Conference. The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Michael Møller, regrets very much that a personal matter prevented him from joining us today. He asked me to deliver the following message on his behalf and I quote:

“I would like to thank the Economic and Business Faculty Association for the opportunity to discuss sustainability here, in Groningen. This city is actually proved that bold leadership today really can forge a better future for a more sustainable planet. In 1977, at a time when others bet on cars and highways, Groningen’s City Council bet on bicycles and cycle paths. Forty years later, this controversial decision has borne fruit. Nearly 50% of all trips in the city are by bicycles. Groningen has the cleanest air of any Dutch city, low noise pollution and a prosperous downtown. The Groningen City Council showed remarkable leadership in 1977. Its leaders had a vision of a better future. They were willing to go against the grain. They won over the sceptics. In a way, Groningen developed a model of urbanization for the world. An example of how to build liveable cities by addressing a transportation challenge. More importantly, this city showed us what innovative leadership can do. We need this now more than ever as we face a series of challenges that cannot be met with “business as usual”.

We are living through an era of contradictions. On the one hand, the world has never been safer, healthier or better educated. Nearly a billion people have escaped extreme poverty since 1990, while maternal mortality has fallen by half. Millions of children are in school for the first time. Polio and leprosy are on the brink of extinction. The ozone layer is healing.

And yet for all its accomplishments, our global civilization faces unprecedented challenges. If trends continue, 9.6 billion people will share this planet by 2050. At that point, we will need the equivalent of three Earths to sustain current lifestyles. In 2050, three-fourths of the global population will be urban, up from around half today. Nearly all this growth will take place in developing countries, threatening to overwhelm already overburdened infrastructure. Today, some 200 million people are unemployed and yet, we will need to create 600 million new jobs by 2030 just to keep up with population growth. While some prosper economically, too many are left behind. A divide that contributes to global inequality. According to recent figures, the eight richest people in the world - all men - have more wealth than the 3.6 billion poorest – half of the world population. Finally, the environment looms large. One study by CitiGroup found that – if unaddressed – climate change alone could shave off 72 trillion dollars from the world’s gross domestic product by 2060.

After years of progress, these challenges have grown so large that they threaten to unravel hard-won victories. Following a prolonged drop in their numbers, conflicts rose again in 2016 and so did their accompanying ills. For the first time in a decade, hunger increased in 2016. Four states – Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen – faced the acute risk of famine earlier this year. All four suffer from armed conflicts. Instability and violence contribute to population flows that are often met by walls, fences and closed borders.

In the face of these challenges, we look to science and technology for solutions. This is not without reason. Renewables are now a competitive source of energy for example. And yet, technology will also bring new challenges of its own. Developments in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, 3D printing and virtual reality herald what has been called the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. This era will be marked by the advent of machines that can match and even outperform humans in nearly every field. This revolution will force us to reimagine the way we work, learn and collaborate. It will forces us to reimagine the very foundations of modern life.

All of these challenges paint a picture of a world gone awry. One where elites have failed to address – or are complicit – in the disorder. The responses of some leaders to the global financial crisis only made this worse. While billions were spent to bail out financial institutions, workers or homeowners were in many cases left to fend for themselves. Leading some to conclude that “banks may be too big to fail, but I am too small to matter”. This sentiment fuels a trust deficit in our institutions at all national and international levels, at a time when new technology has empowered the public and raises new challenges. The use of smart phones, for example, enables us all to be better informed and to hold our leaders accountable. But at the same time, it offers the possibility to spread irresponsibly misinformation. These factors make fertile ground for populists. Their instinct is to blame the problems of today on globalization. To seek salvation in the pursuit of national interests. Isolationism, however, is simply destined to fail. It cannot respond to problems that are global in nature. No state, no entity, can tackle today’s challenges alone and hence global answers are needed. Carbon emissions know no boundaries, distant conflicts lead to refugee and migration flows. Weak healthcare systems in one country – even in the most remote country - can lead to pandemics that can impact entire regions and even the entire world. Our global civilization can only survive if we learn to collaborate on a common objective.

For the first time in our modern history, we have a shared plan and common roadmap which will guide us to achieve our common objectives for a better planet: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted by the 193 Member States of the United Nations in 2015, the Agenda is built on 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These focus on issues ranging from poverty and gender equality to urban development and climate action. The product of lessons learned from decades of development work, the Goals are more than a wish list. They are universal and shall leave no one behind. They are meant to foster change through interdependence and partnerships. Allow me to elaborate.

The Agenda may be divided into 17 Goals, but it is built on the realization that progress in one area depends on action in another. In other words, the lines that divide disciplines from another narrows our field of vision. They prevent us from appreciating the interactions that shape our lives. For example, none of the SDGs is specifically focused on youth. And yet, young people are at the heart of the Agenda. The SDGs have 20 youth-specific targets spread over the following six goals: hunger, education, gender equality, decent work, inequality and climate change. Action on one goal also brings significant windfalls in another. Analysts estimate that achieving Gender Equality, for example, – Goal 5 – would generate 17 trillion dollars for the global economy, contributing to Goal 8 on Economic Growth. Second, the push for sustainability will fail if it is only led by traditional actors of development, like Member States, NGOs and International Organizations. But it will succeed if it is also built on partnerships with leaders in the private sector and from among youth.

Why? Simply put, the private sector is uniquely suited to mobilize the capital, jobs and technology needed to achieve the Goals. Consider that, in 2015, the estimated stock of financial assets worldwide stood at 290 trillion dollars, far outweighing the estimated 2.4 trillion US Dollars in additional annual investments it will take to reach the Goals. Compare the annual official development aid by States, which amounted to 135 billion US Dollars in 2012, with the estimated 2.4 trillion US Dollars needed annually to reach the SDGs, and you will realize that partnerships with and the contribution of the private sector are crucial.

Young leaders, meanwhile, are better suited than most to lead the way. They bring to bear fresh thinking, innovation and a digital native’s ease with new technologies. Last year, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth selected 17 people under the age of 30 who demonstrated leadership on the SDGs. They prove that taking up the goals not only helps heal the world, it generates lucrative businesses, successful NGOs and impactful activist movements. Allow me to share three of their stories.

Rita Kimani, from Kenya, cofounded FarmDrive, a social enterprise that has connected over 400 smallholder farmers to credit and financial markets for the first time. For his part, Rainier Mallol, from the Dominican Republic, is the cofounder of AIME, an epidemiology company that uses artificial intelligence and data analysis to predict major disease outbreaks. It has already run successful pilot projects in Brazil, Malaysia and the Philippines. Finally, Vincent Loka, from Indonesia, co-founded WaterROAM, a social enterprise developing water filtration systems for disaster-hit areas. In 2015 alone, their systems were deployed to Myanmar, Nepal and Vanuatu.

Many established companies have also shown leadership on sustainable development. Nearly 9,500 firms in 163 countries have signed up to the United Nations Global Compact on sustainable business behaviour. Many companies – such as Danone, Procter & Gamble, Crédit Suisse and General Electric – have integrated the SDGs into their operations to the benefit of both stockholders and stakeholders. Kenyan telecommunications giant Safaricom also integrated sustainable practices, leading them to create the mobile money platform M-Pesa – now used by more than 25 million people. It is in large part thanks to the efforts of private mobile money platform providers, like Safaricom, that more millions can have access to some level of financial services.

The United Nations is also changing to meet the challenges of today. Our Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, is leading the charge to make sure the UN delivers on behalf of the people it serves. To that end, he has focused the Organization on prevention and unveiled three major interlinked reform plans focusing on peace and security, development work and internal management of the UN. The first will move the UN from managing crises to better addressing volatile situations to secure political solutions. The second will retool the entire UN Development System to match the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on cross-sectorial working and partnerships. The third, will help make the UN more transparent, nimble and efficient. It will focus on decentralization, accountability and limiting micromanagement. The aim of these reforms is to adjust the UN’s structures and tools dating from 1945, when it was created, to today’s realities. We can no longer address today’s challenges with yesterday’s tools.

When the United Nations was created on the ashes of the Second World War, it was the leading actor on the few issues that transcended a country’s border. Seventy years later, we live in radically different times. Every issue is global and the United Nations cannot do it alone. Today, the UN is one among the many actors. Our collective success today and tomorrow will depend on partnerships, collective and individual leadership, you and I included. Ultimately, the coming decades will be written by those with the creativity, dedication and idealism to pursue meaningful change for a better planet. As you ride through the streets of Groningen tonight on your bicycle, remember that each of you has a role to play in promoting change in your community for a better and more sustainable planet. As entrepreneurs, leaders, and citizens. This city is a testament to that power.

Thank you very much.”