The pandemic has set the world back significantly – these two years have reversed the world by several decades in terms of quality of life, accessibility of medical services, and education. Furthermore, the common desire to provide access to the benefits of civilization to as many people on the planet as possible has made the topic of sustainable development more relevant than ever.
There is a vast range of environmentally conscious projects initiated by corporations. Enel Russia, for example, has launched a program that supports and develops local communities by buying equipment for schools, reconstructing pedestrian zones, and funding scholarships for the top students to regional universities.
Rosatom is similarly making several efforts towards sustainable development through both environmental projects and social initiatives. In almost 20 cities of Rosatom, the corporation is responsible for the well-being of residents in all areas from transport and road conditions to kindergartens and holiday gifts to senior residents. And above all, we pay the greatest attention to working with youth.
In the traditional sense, there is a perception of youth as a group that is gaining experience and at some point, will be able to take the helm of business processes. However, this is certainly not the case in today’s world. Young people aged 18-25 are more sensitive to acute global challenges and uncompromising in their original, non-standard approaches to solving the tasks of sustainability. In this sense, their uncompromising nature, utmost honesty, and the willingness to seek common solutions from the older generation can create the balance that is necessary to respond to global challenges. In early December, Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom State Corporation, launched a competitive selection for the Impact Team 2050. It will bring together 15 people from different countries – the youth who are passionate about sustainable growth agenda and are ready to change the world around them. We want young people not only to consult the CEO of Rosatom but also to look for suitable sustainable development agenda projects around the world.
Rosatom operates in 12 countries, and already has hundreds of sustainable development projects implemented abroad. For example, the Rosatom office in South Africa cooperates with the local animal protection committee. This organization is fighting against the poaching of rhinos, whose horn is regarded as an expensive gift in Asia, and in Eastern medicine is used as a drug. From 2010 to 2019, more than 9,600 of 20,000 rhinos died because of poaching. Now our corporation is helping in this fight by marking rhino horns with nuclear isotopes, so poachers can no longer export horns unnoticed.
Another example is Turkey, where we are building a nuclear power plant and negotiating the construction of two more while supporting local eco-activists. In Turkey, there is a law that prohibits building technological facilities less than 3 km from olive groves. Local eco-activists helped find a location to build a nuclear power plant away from the trees.
Rosatom is also conducting a rather interesting project in Tanzania. The regional flora and fauna are extremely rich: the ecosystem has numerous populations of birds and large mammals, including 10 Red List species, as well as more than 2,000 plant species, over 300 of which are endangered. Our partner company, Mantra Tanzania Ltd., has closely studied the peculiarities of the local flora and fauna and developed a plan to preserve the biological diversity of the park at all stages of field development. It is planned to create nurseries for plants, as well as predict the alien spread and ensure wild animals do not enter the park.
These projects of Rosatom can only be carried out in cooperation with strong partners in the countries of our presence. Since its foundation, Rosatom has been contributing to changing lives in many countries and regions for the better in terms of quality of life. We strive to attract youth to this field.
Thanks to sustainable development rankings, various world companies have the opportunity to monitor their activities, compare themselves with the highest standards and learn from the best. Rosatom joined the UN Global Compact for this purpose.
Each NPP creates 1,500 jobs directly and up to 10,000 jobs via partner companies. For many countries, this leads to a serious change in the labor market structure and the education system. That is why the youth policy carried out at the level of the country or region is so important.
Harnessing the potential of youth to reach sustainable development goals we can provide a viable future they will live in.
