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test. Similar procedures already exist in
companies for ensuring their practices
are compliant with gender- parity or di-
versity standards, or their human- rights
impact across the entire supply chain. We
should now measure the effect that any
and all policies and business decisions
have across generations. One such study
in Australia, for example, showed that
government policies were in great part re-
sponsible for the widening gap in home-
ownership between the old and the young.
Having more such intergenerational-
impact tests available would help elimi-
nate many discriminatory practices that
are currently still in vogue. It would re-
direct government resources, for exam-
ple, from deficit spending on current
accounts to investments in green infra-
structure that will last for generations.
And it would mean investors divest their
fossil-fuel portfolio and build up a green-
energy one—another initiative that’s
under way under auspices of the World
Economic Forum.
This is what ultimately gives me hope:
that the world as we know it today doesn’t
need to be the one we leave behind for
young people. We can create a more in-
clusive and sustainable world if we com-
mit ourselves to doing so.
What we need is an ideological frame-
work that leads to economic development
and social progress. The stakeholder con-
cept, which the forum has promoted over
the past 50 years, stipulates that govern-
ment, business and civil society are stake-
holders of our global future and that we
have a shared responsibility to shape this
future in collaborative ways.
The median age of the world is less
than 30 years old, which means that young
people are actually the most important—
and most affected— stakeholders when
talking about our global future. These
are also the people who have the most
innovative ideas and energy to build a
better society for tomorrow. We should
move away from a narrative of production
and consumption to one of sharing and
caring. Young people are the best placed
to lead this change. Let’s give them that
opportunity.Schwab is the founder and executive
chair of the World Economic Forumis right in being so indignantGreta Thunberg’s generationties are no law of nature. Throughout history, societies have
corrected their course many times. Just think about how we
ended the acid-rain crisis that was threatening our forests and
cities, or how the creation of the European Union put a perma-
nent end to war among its member states.
But the current cycle of intergenerational injustice won’t end
by itself. If we don’t act now to alter course and repair inter-
generational inequity, a crisis between generations may become
inevitable. The system we have created today is still a zero-sum
game where at least one side wins. But when generations quarrel
instead of collaborate, lose-lose may become the norm.
So what can be done? Three actions come to mind. The first
is to make sure youth get a seat at the table in decision making.
Greta Thunberg and her Fridays for Future movement didn’t
ask for permission—they just went ahead and joined the con-
versation on climate change. Given how impactful this move-
ment has been, we should now integrate such involvement at
every level of decisionmaking.
We are committed to doing our part. At our annual meeting
in Davos, we have added 12 changemakers under 20 years of age
as part of our youth participants—next to 50 “Global Shapers”
who are under 30 and dozens of “Young Global Leaders” who
are under 40. In other meetings too, whether global, national
or local, the voice of this new generation must be heard. Inter-
generational parity matters.
In Finland, the new coalition government shows that such
generational representation can be achieved in politics at the
highest level. Prime Minister Sanna Marin is 34, and three of the
four other leaders of her coalition government—who all happen
to be women—are also under 35. But the government equally
counts several senior ministers who are over 55 years of age, en-
suring diversity in the Finnish government not only in gender,
ideology and language, but in age too.
The second step is to have a grand future debate and foster
an intergenerational mind-set. If the U.S. Social Security system
is no longer funded beyond the next 15 years, as is currently the
projected case, all societal partners should make a pact to en-
sure its future funding. If we have only a few years left to avoid
cataclysmic climate change, all parties should accordingly pri-
oritize their efforts and reorient their energy toward the climate
crisis. And if social mobility and wealth transfers have stalled,
we should act to structurally change that.
Some countries are already experimenting with a more inter-
generational mind-set in decision making. In Austria, notably,
the new government brings together the conservatives with the
green party, a first for such a coalition in Europe. “It is possi-
ble to slash taxes and make environment- friendly tax policies,”
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz commented. “It is possible to protect
the environment and protect the borders.” The government in
this way is bringing together the interests of the typically older
conservative voters with those of the typically younger green
voters. It is as if the GOP in the U.S. came together with the
architects of the Green New Deal.
And third, we should ensure that all policymaking and busi-
ness decisions go through and pass an intergenerational- impact