From local to global stage: How one young man's focus on sustainability led him to COP30 talks

In August 2022, Mr Safafisalam Bohari Jaon quit his job in the insurance industry amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with just a dream to help communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

- Ang Qing Correspondent

Mr Safsafisalam Bohari Jaon, an economics and social impact consultant who sees sustainability as an existential issue for the planet, will be leading a group of youth delegates from Singapore during the first week of the UN climate meeting held in Belem, Brazil. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

(DESMOND FOO)

Then 26, he had been inspired by one of the projects he worked on to raise health literacy among Vietnamese women to find a career that goes beyond the “typical profit-making kind of metrics”.

“Unfortunately, my community — the Malay/Muslim community - is disproportionately impacted by climate change,” said Mr Safafisalam, who is now an economics and social impact consultant.

“When you talk about rising heat levels, they particularly affect those living in rental flats and delivery riders, quite a number of whom are Malay/Muslim.”

He managed to land a strategy consultant role by December that year, and three years later, the 29-year-old is taking his aspirations to new heights as he leads a group of youth delegates from Singapore during the first week of the UN climate meeting held in Belem, Brazil, the gateway to the Amazon jungle — the world’s biggest tropical rainforest.

Diplomats, companies and activists from nearly 200 countries are expected to attend the 30th annual meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, more commonly known as COP30.