Without young people, there is no sustainability: how to rethink the social project

“The absence of a social project prevents young people from having a vision, and the qualitative and quantitative inadequacy of educational, occupational, and associative models distances them from the process of building common well-being.”

This is one of the passages from an interview given by Professor Gianpaolo Cesaretti to Futura Network magazine towards the end of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic (you can read the entire interview here). It is a statement that makes us reflect on the fact that, if this is the case, we must admit that sustainability, real sustainability, not the kind discussed at conferences, cannot be limited to environmental protection or economic efficiency. It must include intergenerational justice as an operational criterion.

Since its inception, the Simone Cesaretti ets Foundation has identified overcoming generational dumping as a necessary condition for truly sustainable development. Generational dumping means transferring the costs and imbalances produced by short-sighted choices to the younger generations: job insecurity, structural unemployment, underinvestment in education, delays in the ecological transition, self-referential decision-making models.

It is a form of outsourcing the future, the very opposite of investing in the younger generations! Sustainability, then, is not just a question of natural resources. Instead, it involves investing human, social, and institutional capital. It is a question of vision.

Generational dumping as a structural barrier to development

To understand the scope of the problem, we need to move beyond rhetoric. In recent decades, market globalization has not been accompanied by a parallel globalization of rights and rules. As a result, there has been an increase in inequality, not only between countries but also between age groups.

Young people have paid the highest price for systemic precariousness: above-average unemployment rates, intermittent contracts, delayed paths to economic independence, and difficulties in accessing credit and housing. Added to this is public investment in training and research that is often insufficient compared to European standards.

The paradox is clear: it is precisely the most qualified, innovative, and potentially sustainability-oriented component that is marginalized in decision-making processes. This weakens the productive system's ability to regenerate itself and compromises the quality of growth.

Sustainability, in the view of the Simone Cesaretti ets Foundation, requires an “integrated vision” of well-being: the availability of adequate goods and services, equitable access to opportunities, and investment in human, natural, economic, and social capital. Without this integration, growth remains fragile and unbalanced.

Training and work: the strategic crux of the transition

If sustainability implies a paradigm shift—from linearity to circularity in economic processes, from short-sighted competition to responsible cooperation—then the training system becomes a strategic infrastructure.

It is not enough to increase resources; we need to rethink all models. Today, there is still a disconnect between educational pathways and the demand for emerging professional skills, particularly in sectors linked to the ecological and digital transition. Without adequately trained human capital, even the most ambitious investments risk failing to produce multiplier effects.

However, education is not just about acquiring technical skills but also about building a mindset. With this in mind, the principles of sustainability must become the operating philosophy of institutions, businesses, and families. This implies a rethinking of educational content, teaching methods, and assessment criteria. It is not a question of certifying skills but of generating critical awareness and the ability to interpret the future.

On the employment front, the right to access the labor market must be understood as a substantive right. Activation policies, efficient employment services, incentives aimed at youth employment, support for business creation, and continuing education are indispensable tools for reducing labor market dualism and combating the NEET phenomenon.

A young person who is properly trained and stably integrated into the productive system is not only a beneficiary of public policies. They are a multiplier of economic and social value. They contribute to the social security system, public spending, and territorial cohesion. In systemic terms, they become the cornerstone of society.

Towards a Youth Society: changing decision-making models

The most radical point of the analysis that emerges from the interview concerns decision-making models. All stakeholders—institutions, businesses, the knowledge system, families—are involved in the generational issue. A “youth quota” in decision-making processes? Not exactly: it is instead a question of rethinking the entire architecture of the latter.

Sustainability requires a symmetrical combination of ethics, economic efficiency, and intra- and intergenerational equity. This means evaluating public policies not only in terms of their immediate impact, but also in terms of their long-term effects on the younger generations. It means including young people in governance, strengthening their participation in representative bodies, and recognizing their role as co-protagonists in defining development strategies.

The Foundation's advocacy moves in this direction: advanced training, scientific publishing, support for policy makers, and promotion of a culture of sustainability capable of influencing collective behavior. The goal is clear: to build a Youth's Society, a society in which young people are not passive recipients of others' decisions but active vectors of sustainable well-being.

Ultimately, the question we started with remains on the table: can a society that does not allow its young people to imagine and build the future be considered sustainable? The answer, if we want to be rigorous, is no. Sustainability is an intergenerational pact. And every pact, to be credible, must guarantee reciprocity, responsibility, and a shared vision. Without this, the word remains. The project, on the other hand, does not come to fruition.