


, where young people are equal citizens and are encouraged and supported to achieve their fullest potential as global citizens.

Education
An educated population can fuel innovation, foster inclusive and equitable growth, and find solutions to our greatest challenges to harness the opportunities of the future.
Soft skills should have a more prominent place in instruction, in order to increase adaptability
These soft skills should be developed early, in basic education, and then later refined at colleges and universities - as well as, ideally, during lifelong learning as an adult. By providing a strong base of soft skills, an educational system can serve as a catalyst not only for an increased adaptability to future jobs, but also for a generally improved quality of life. However, shifting demand for skills across industries will require that curricula be updated and adapted on a regular basis - because they are naturally informed by the evolution of labour markets.

Future of the Environment
Biodiversity is probably not top of mind if you live in a city. There’s so much going on. Getting on the subway, rushing to work, coordinating your life. It can be hard to remember that we are biodiversity, too. Nevertheless, if you like humans and humanity, if you care about the miracle that is us, our living conditions deserve some love.
Global energy investment is poised to rebound post-pandemic, but more must be directed at the clean energy transition
Amid growing political interest in infrastructure investment as a means to boost productivity and create jobs, the appeal of sustainable infrastructure has long seemed poised to grow. However, there have been troubling signs; a political shift in the US in recent years, for example, resulted in the withdrawal of money promised to the United Nations-backed Green Climate Fund (the US has since promised to make good on its funding pledges). The continued, healthy expansion of sustainable infrastructure will require a new architecture of public-private investment, supported by overseas development assistance, government spending, and sovereign wealth funds.
Much of the interest in green bond issuance has been driven by China, as the Bank of China and the Shanghai-based New Development Bank began issuing their first green bonds in 2016. However, investment in renewable energy technology has disappointed recently, according to the International Energy Agency. Policies and investments are not consistently moving in the right direction. While there were record renewable power capacity additions in 2022, the year also saw the highest levels of fossil fuel subsidies ever, as many governments sought to cushion the blow of high energy prices for consumers and businesses. Global investments across all energy transition technologies reached a record high of USD 1.3 trillion in 2022, yet fossil fuel capital investments were almost twice those of renewable energy investments. With renewables and energy efficiency best placed to meet climate commitments - as well as energy security and energy affordability objectives – governments need to redouble their efforts to ensure investments are on the right track.

Media, Entertainment
& SPORTS
Digital content of every type can deliver value that goes beyond the monetary, by serving as a social glue. The use of digital platforms to effectively distribute everything from streamed matches to social messages. This is having a direct impact on the molding of cultures and societies.
The vast amounts of user data generated daily for media industry consumption create regulatory challenges
There are hundreds of millions of photos and videos published on Instagram, a significantly higher number of published tweets, and an even far greater number of YouTube video views on a daily basis. Governing this content only becomes more difficult as the ease with which anyone can create and share it increases. While trending hashtags and engaging content might enable users to reach a wide audience, they can also spur calls for closer regulation - the inflammatory misinformation posted online prior to the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 is a case in point. Despite repeated urgent requests for the removal of such content prior to the riot, it has only relatively recently received greater scrutiny on mainstream platforms. Live video streaming has also exposed wrongdoing - such as when Philando Castile was shot by a policeman in the US in 2016 as his girlfriend filmed. Facebook has used artificial intelligence as well as human moderators to try to combat the spread of violent content and fake news, and its efforts (along with those of other online platforms) will be crucial as people increasingly go to the internet for their news and information.
Governments have taken varied approaches to regulating content. After bombings in Sri Lanka in April 2019 left nearly 300 people dead in churches and hotels, that country’s government moved swiftly to temporarily ban social media sites and services including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Viber - in an effort to curb the spread of inflammatory misinformation. In China, the country’s roughly 1,900 newspapers, 2,600 radio stations and 9,000 magazines are all owned by the government, and operate under the watchful eyes of 2 million people employed as censors. Whether regulation is applied by governments or popular platforms themselves, a respect for legitimate free speech is critical. Net neutrality, the principle that any lawful content should be made readily available online without bias or interference from an internet service provider, has become a hotly-debated topic - as governments could theoretically allow service providers to inhibit content presenting controversial viewpoints, while content providers could start paying for preferential treatment for their own sites and services. While efforts to restrict net neutrality gained traction in the US during the Trump administration, India approved regulations in 2018 that support net neutrality and bar any type of online data restriction.

Social Justice
Despite the aspirations of human rights activists and policy-makers, humanity still has not realized its collective talent potential - as significant parts of the population remain effectively excluded from disruption as a means to design workplaces that genuinely serve everyone’s needs.
Failing to address root problems like a lack of security and disease undermines the rule of law
Generations of idealists have sought to establish a global system of governance that creates the conditions necessary for peace, security and prosperity to prevail. The work of the United Nations, a manifestation of this idealism, is replicated in regional arrangements that seek collective security, and in other institutions (like customs unions) that work towards greater global cooperation through trade. Conflict is the unfortunate backdrop for many such attempts throughout history; decolonization, achieved progressively since the end of World War II, has yielded many independent countries still configured along lines drawn on maps centuries ago to delineate spheres of interest among competing colonial powers. International law has deemed these boundaries sacrosanct, despite their often random nature - which has frequently placed many different ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups under a single flag. Successful states have been able to bring communities together to create stability, while in others ethnic tensions and historic antagonisms boost the odds of violent extremism, and war, both within and beyond national boundaries. Vulnerability and a lack of security continue to undermine aspirations for peace and security.
The global arms trade and the proliferation of weapons often hasten the breakdown of the rule of law - but failures to address root problems, like disease, food and water insecurity, and a lack of meaningful employment and education, are also factors. Entrenched poverty and the competition for scarce resources create existential tension, enabling conflict to fester. Climate injustice, long suffered most acutely by those farthest from power, has boosted migratory flows - as have armed conflicts. Humanitarian actors have struggled to meet growing needs, and to engender a spirit of cooperation and collaboration, while policy-makers, activists and experts have toiled to draw sufficient attention to the climate catastrophe and the need to help ensure a better future for the planet. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals - and specifically the related “Leave No One Behind” principle - have generated a vision of a more peaceful world; not necessarily through avoiding war or better arranging for collective security, but based on addressing basic human vulnerability alongside planetary concerns, and by redesigning underlying systems in ways most likely to yield greater stability.

Civic Participation
Bottom-up civic participation is flourishing in many parts of the world, as technology helps bring people together in significant numbers to take direct action and at the same time, top-down forms are also gaining traction .
The average citizen is being given more decision-making power, though that may not always be a good thing
Traditionally, people in power have been cautious about participatory processes they cannot control. But the tide is turning. Decision-makers around the world, both in the public and private sectors, are becoming increasingly open to hearing public voices. Granting more decision-making power to the average person can sometimes be viewed as a less-than-optimal course of action; in some situations, it might even damage economic and political stability. One example might be public support in the US for taking a more aggressive stance on trade with China - which ended up causing problems in the same regions of the country where tariffs on Chinese goods were ultimately imposed. While giving the public more say might have drawbacks, like economic instability or misuse (the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom is another example), there is growing acknowledgment that participatory tools spread knowledge and enhance legitimacy. Opening up the political sphere is a complex, delicate process, particularly during unrest. In democracies, using executive power to impose stability can hinder progress, and simply informing the citizenry is no longer enough. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, has stressed that democracy is “more than voting in elections.”
Social media influencers have considerable sway in terms of shaping public perception, and social media companies themselves, and their executives, impact public discourse through content-moderation policies and the spread of information (and disinformation). This impact resonates most notably during elections, raising the question: who should hold dominion over digital tools? The answer depends on who is doing the influencing, and on which platforms. Leading tech companies and startups in places like Silicon Valley and China are at the forefront of developing cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence - and their decisions related to research, development, and investment in these areas can shape public discourse. They can also command authority over user data. The private sector therefore wields considerable influence over the framing of global communication, alongside powerful nations, sometimes guided by self-interest. However, the bulk of decision-making when it comes to technology platforms should rest with those most directly impacted by resulting outcomes. It is imperative to consider the perspectives of those most affected, and amplify both effectiveness and equity. The ascent of AI-driven decision-making has only introduced more unpredictability into the equation, potentially impacting our choices in ways that are yet to be fully comprehended.