Unilever’s Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed is convinced that companies looking to tackle climate change must embrace young people’s energy and social power.

“Last month I was in Paris at the COP21 climate meeting and as I reflected there on the influence of social movements, what struck me was the power and prevalence of two groups within this collaboration revolution – that of youth and the private sector. One group had an extremely high presence in Paris, lobbying governments, pushing for ambitious change and leading from the front,” said Weed, later revealing that that group was the private sector.

Indeed, Weed noted the conspicuous absence of young people within the official ‘blue zone’, claiming that it was a missed opportunity to merge the resources of the private sector with the passion of youth.

Weed pointed to an initiative born out of the World Economic Forum that is attempting just that – Collectively.org – a Coca-Cola and Facebook-funded operation (among others) that aims to inspire young people to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.

The Unilever executive challenged business leaders to open up their organizations to young people and to listen to, and implement their ideas, at the same time imploring Millennials to be bold, and fight for change.