What's happening to Greenland will affect the whole world - and our leaders need to understand why.

• Author: Dutton, John
• Position: Report

Byline: John Dutton and Silje Ditlefsen

"The stability of nature can no longer be taken for granted," David Attenborough said recently. If anyone still thought they could ignore the climate crisis, recent reports and drastic changes to our planet should shatter that perception. Nowhere is this more visible than in Greenland. Today a group of 20 Young Global Leaders heads for Greenland to witness devastating local changes that have global consequences, and commit to being part of a movement to reverse these trends.

Why Greenland?

Because it's essentially one big sheet of ice - the second largest ice sheet in the world in fact. Covering 81% of the island, and 2.3 km thick, it makes Greenland the keeper of roughly 8% of all of Earth's freshwater, and contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 7.3 metres, threatening to inundate many of the world's biggest coastal cities. Between 1993 and 2016, this ice sheet lost an average of 286 billion tonnes of ice per year, and April 2019 has just been acknowledged as the month when sea ice in the Arctic shrunk to a record low as early as April. With Arctic air temperatures rising twice as fast as anywhere else, this ice sheet is critical to our survival. What happens in Greenland will not stay in Greenland: it affects people everywhere.

Despite these undeniable facts, many global leaders have yet to awaken to the climate crisis and what needs to be done. But younger generations know that their future is at stake and have shown over the last 10 months that they are up for the fight and will hold our leaders accountable for their policies and decision-making. Nonetheless, more people in leadership positions need to take these younger generations seriously, to step up and act. We need to champion leaders who are strong-willed and interested in taking the lead, in order to make a difference in this dash for human survival.

The Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGLs) every year highlights 100 global leaders under the age of 40 who have showcased strong ethical and responsible leadership in their fields. From Catherine Howarth, who is working to make investment a force for good and ensure investors take responsibility for where they put their money, to Rhea Mazumdar Singhal, who took on the single-use plastic market in India, this community is already pushing boundaries and represents an unparalleled cadre of impact-oriented leaders. The five-year leadership programme equips next-generation leaders to...