Countries
Statkraft CEO awards grants to young entrepreneurs
Christian Rynning-Tønnesen awarded more than 80,000 euros of grants to ClimateSHAPE projects during a World Economic Forum initiative in Tianjin, China this week.
The winner project is an online platform that allows local rubbish collectors in India to collaborate with businesses and individuals on schemes to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. The impact of the initiative is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 25-40 percent from the landfills targeted and the funding is expected to help scale the project towards other communities.
The ClimateSHAPE competition was launched by the World Economic Forum as a challenge to today’s youth to help develop and scale up projects in their local communities that will have an impact on climate change. Global Shapers Hubs that presented the most innovative and impactful projects were awarded 100,000 CHF (approx. 83,000 euro) in grants.
Projects were submitted by 60 Hubs from 44 countries. The grand prize winner was awarded 50,000 CHF and the other finalist hubs received 10,000 CHF.
Read more about the finalist projects
The finalists as well as the grand prize winner were selected by a high-level jury led by Statkraft CEO Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, who also was instrumental in creating ClimateSHAPE. Other jury members included H.R.H. Crowne Princess Mette-Marit of Norway and Ken Berlin, President and CEO of The Climate Reality Project, the initiative founded by Al Gore.
The event in Tianjin saw the end of the initiative launched by Rynning-Tønnesen and World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year.
The Global Shapers Community is a network of city-based Hubs developed and led by young leaders between 20 and 30 years old who want to develop their leadership potential towards serving society.
The World Economic Forum is an international institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation in the spirit of global citizenship. It engages with business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.