Anand Mahindra reaches out to activist Greta Thunberg

Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, has reached out to teenage activist Greta Thunberg. In a tweet, Mr Mahindra said that creating wealth out of environment-friendly solutions will benefit more than pitching profit against sustainability.

16-year-old Greta from Sweden has made headlines around the world after she made a passionate speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in which she scolded world leaders, accusing them of betraying her generation by failing to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!- Greta Thunberg, Climate activist

Greta, who is open about the fact that she has autism, has even taken a year off from studies to campaign for the cause of climate change.

In his message, Mr Mahindra says he understood her anger. “I leave New York with optimism because of young people like Greta Thunberg Greta, we understand your anger, but I urge you to support the message that it’s not sustainability OR profit but that sustainability can CREATE wealth. This will lead to collaborative solutions”.

Speaking at the UN Global Compact Private Sector Forum in New York, Mr Mahindra also said that more business heads are becoming aware that sustainability and profit go together, and that climate action represents the biggest business opportunity of the next few decades.

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