Let’s build a world with zero waste

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has called for making a world where there is zero waste.

“We have created an economic framework based on consume, consume, and consume, and it only generates waste, waste and waste. We need to create a world of zero waste,” he said in his address to the World Leaders Action Summit at the COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday.

Leaders of 200 nations and territories attended the event.

The Nobel laureate also called for mobilising the intellectual, financial, and youth power to lay the foundation for a new civilization. He said the current civilization is at grave risk because of its “self-destructive values”.

“We justify this with an economic framework which is considered as natural as the planetary system. That economic framework thrives on limitless consumption. The more you consume, the more you grow. The more you grow, the more money you make.

“The maximisation of profit is treated as the force of gravity which lets everything in the system to play its role according to our desire.”

He said in order to survive, humans need to create another culture based on a different life-style, which will limit consumption to essential needs, leaving no residual waste.

Yunus proposed an economy based primarily on zero personal profit, for example, on social business, which is defined as a non-dividend business addressed to solve social and environmental problems. Thus, human lives will not only be protected but also qualitatively enhanced through affordable healthcare and education.

“It will facilitate entrepreneurship for the youth. Young people will get prepared through new education on entrepreneurship … .”

This life-style would not be imposed, it will be a choice, and young people love this life-style, Prof Yunus said, adding, “Each young person will grow up as a three zero person — zero net carbon emissions, zero wealth concentration by building social businesses only, and zero unemployment by turning themselves into entrepreneurs.

Yesterday, in an interview with AFP, the 84-year-old micro-finance pioneer likened the haggling at the COP29 climate summit to a “fish market”.

“I think that’s very humiliating, for nations to come and ask for money to fix… [the] problem that others caused for them,” he said.

“Why should we be dragged here to negotiate? You know the problem.”

Nations hope to land a deal at COP29 that boosts funding for climate action in developing nations like Bangladesh, which are least responsible for global warming, but most at its mercy.

Yunus said his riverine homeland had been smashed by six punishing floods, “each one worse than the previous”, in the short time since he took over.

Hundreds of thousands of people were forced into emergency shelters in the floods, which also destroyed rice crops.

Bangladesh is among the world’s most vulnerable nations to climate change, with large areas made up of deltas where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers wind towards the sea.

The country of 170 million is particularly at risk of devastating floods and cyclones — disasters that only stand to accelerate as the planet keeps warming.

Yunus said it was “not a secret” that rich nations would have to help poorer ones adapt, and they should “figure out how much is needed — not me”.

“This is not something we are demanding out of your generosity. We’re asking because you are the cause of this problem,” he said bluntly.

Yunus said juggling a peaceful democratic transition and a flood response was “difficult” enough and adding a flight to Baku to feud over climate finance did not help.

Addressing an LDC high-level meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Prof Yunus said the COP climate conference should not be held every year as it is time-consuming.

“We know what the world needs, and we should make a long-term plan for that. It should be country by country. And we have to make the plan for long-term mitigation,” he said.

He called for a new approach to climate negotiations, saying the current approach has largely failed to meet the needs of much of the world.

Guterres said the LDCs faced the greatest injustice as far as climate change is concerned.

“We want to tell you that we care about you,” Guterres said, adding that the LDCs need to do hard negotiations and “serious mechanism” to secure a bigger fund for climate adaptation and mitigation.

At a meeting with the Social Business Group on the sidelines, Prof Yunus called for creating a South Asia grid to share hydroelectricity generated by Nepal and Bhutan.

He said much of the hydroelectricity potentials of the Himalayan nations remain untapped due to a lack of electricity grids connecting Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Nepal has the potential to generate 40,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity, which can help lessen the reliance on fossil fuels in countries like India and Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh can easily bring hydroelectricity from Nepal as it is only 40 miles from Bangladesh. Nepalese hydroelectricity will also be cheap,” Prof Yunus said.

He said Bangladesh has put the highest priority on water management to prevent floods and to make the best use of water to boost the country’s economic growth.

He said the Bangladesh government is putting emphasis on youth development and reforming the country’s education system, and that the government would hold a festival for the youth in January when the country’s cricket board will hold its annual T20 BPL cricket tournament.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach are expected to join the festival. A tournament for women football is also being planned.

Prof Yunus is scheduled to return home today.

LondonGBDESK//