#LeadTheLeap
An Opportunity for Long-Term Sustainable Growth

Leapfrogging the Industrial Revolution.

The goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming to pre-industrial levels. In 2020, the United States GDP was $20 trillion dollars in mostly carbon-driven goods and services. However, “Countries that we’ve commonly referred to as ‘underdeveloped’ now have an extraordinary opportunity to leapfrog the industrial revolution into the decarbonized circular economy of the current millennium,” explains Seth Warren Rose, Founding Director of Eneref Institute. “While some see this as aspirational, in fact it’s urgently necessary.”

The Entire World Will Benefit.

The commercial world wants to gain entry to the enormous mineral resources of slightly-developed countries, but this can and should be done sustainably. “Lightly-industrialized nations are the envy of the world in terms of mineral resources, and we invite the world to benefit,” says Abdullah Khodadad, Director of Eneref Institute’s Lead the Leap campaign. “However, in opening vast resources to the world, our aim is to bring in international impact investors who are committed to non-toxicity, energy efficiency, and 100% clean power generation.”

9Million Metric Tons
  • CO2

Carbon Emissions

Today, fossil fuels emissions from lightly-industrialized countries are only a tiny fraction of the total

Net-zero growth
can keep emissions low.

Afghanistan is now the first lightly-industrialized nation committed to the Eneref Institute ‘Lead The Leap’ campaign, which calls for leapfrogging industrialization into the new millennium’s green economy.

“We commit to working with Eneref Institute to develop legislation that can achieve the goals set forth in the Lead The Leap campaign.”

Read full text of letter.
LEAD THE LEAP

Alliance Team Fellows and Advisors

Campaign Director | Lead The Leap

Abdullah Khodadad
ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Ahmad Zia Massoud
SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Kazim Homayoon
SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Fawzia Koofi
SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Mohammad Alam Izdyar
ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Mohammad Esa Mesbah
ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Massoud Hossaini, Photojournalist
ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

HE Dr Mohammad Mirwais Balkhi
ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Ahmad Naser Sarmast
SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Riaz Sediqi
Campaign Director | Lead The Leap

Abdullah Khodadad

Abdullah is a Director of the Lead The Leap campaign. Well-know for his political activism against corruption, Abdullah Khodadad is the current Campaign Director for Rebrand Afghanistan initiative. He was an Afghanistan embassy diplomat in Washington DC as the liaison for Think Tank Affairs, He is also media and communication expert, who speaks fluent English, Farsi/Dari/Tajiki (Cyrillic), Pashto, Urdu/Hindi, as well as some Russian.

Phone:+1-202-221-8440 ext 227

ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Ahmad Zia Massoud

Ahmad is a Senior Advisor for the Lead The Leap campaign. Ahmad Zia Massoud ( احمد ضیاء مسعود‎) was the Vice President of Afghanistan in the first elected administration of President Hamid Karzai, from December 2004 to November 2009. In December 2001 President Hamid Karzai named Massoud as ambassador to the Russian Federation. He is the brother of famed resistance-fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud.

SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Kazim Homayoon

Kazim is a Senior Fellow for the Lead The Leap campaign. Mohammad Kazim Homayoon, is the planning director at the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) of Afghanistan.

SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Fawzia Koofi

Fawzia is a Senior Fellow for the Lead The Leap campaign. Fawzia Koofi is an award-winning peace activist, Member of Afghanistan Parliament and Vice President of the National Assembly. Koofi began her political career promoting the right to education of girls in her “Back to School” campaign. In Parliament, she has focused primarily on women’s rights, but she also has legislated for the building of roads to connect remote villages to educational and health facilities. Fawzia Koofi’s memoir, The Favored Daughter: One Woman’s Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future, is an autobiographical memoir written by Fawzia Koofi with the aid of Nadene Ghouri.

SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Mohammad Alam Izdyar

Alam is an Senior Fellow for the Lead The Leap campaign. Alhaj Mohammad Alam Izedyar was selected to represent Panjshir Province in Afghanistan’s Meshrano Jirga, the upper house of its National Legislature, in 2005.

ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Mohammad Esa Mesbah

Esa is a Senior Advisor for the Lead The Leap campaign. Mohammad Esa Mesbah is the former Ambassador of Afghanistan to Kyrgyzstan.

ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Massoud Hossaini, Photojournalist

Massoud is an Advisor for the Lead The Leap campaign.

Massoud Hossaini is the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Hossaini joined Agence France-Presse (AFP) in 2007, and covered the war in Afghanistan, part of the time embedded with US troops. In doing this, he traveled to isolated villages, where he also documented local life. Hossaini’s work has twice been exhibited in Berlin, and he is currently still an AFP photographer in Afghanistan.

ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

HE Dr Mohammad Mirwais Balkhi

Mirwais is a Senior Advisor for the Lead The Leap campaign. Dr Mohammad Mirwais Balkhi Joined the Ministry of Education of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2018 as the acting Minister of Education. Mirwais Balkhi holds a PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi India. He has published numerous academic articles including the books ‘Saudi Arab’s Foreign Policy towards Afghanistan; 1991-2014’ and ‘A Critique on Afghanistan’s Regional Integration’. Dr Balkhi has worked as the Deputy Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in New Delhi and previously as the head of Africa and Middle East Desk in the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) and as the Chief Editor of the CSS’ Quarterly Journal of Strategic Studies. Prior to joining the CSS, Dr Balkhi was a lecturer at the Law and Political Science Faculty.

ADVISOR | LEAD THE LEAP

Ahmad Naser Sarmast

Ahmad is a Senior Advisor for the Lead The Leap campaign. Ahmad Sarmast, Director of Afghanistan National Institute of Music is a pioneering institute open to girls and boys, women and men from all backgrounds.

SENIOR FELLOW | LEAD THE LEAP

Riaz Sediqi

Riaz is a Senior Fellow for the Lead The Leap campaign. Riaz Sediqi is a Director of Non-Governmental Organizations at Ministry of Economy, Afghanistan, A-SDGs Board Member at Ministry of Economy, Afghanistan and ‎‎عضو بورد ملی رقابت‎ at Ministry of Commerce and Industries.

What Actions Can We Take to Make a Difference?

What to Do
What to Say

Right now we need to make unprecedented changes to ensure a sustainable and equitable society. Countries should create energy performance targets with three goals:

  1. Achieving universal access to energy
  2. Reducing impacts of air pollution
  3. Mitigating climate change

To avert the worst consequences of climate change, Eneref Institute is encouraging slightly-developed countries to engage with heavily-developed with a net-zero carbon growth strategy.

What can you do? Contact your governing agencies and demand that they support the efforts of less-industrial countries to reinvent their future with a mission to become world leaders in carbon-neutral growth. #LeadTheLeap.

  1. A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT SUPPLIES THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

    People in developing countries greatly depend on the natural environment for their health and livelihoods — for water, food, and air. The natural environment also provides resources for economic growth as well as the means to fight natural hazards. The well-being of developing countries is often linked to the state of the natural environment and the opportunities it offers.

  2. INDUSTRY AND GROWTH HEAT THE ATMOSPHERE

    Climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet. The central aim of the Paris Agreement seeks to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere began to grow as a direct result of industrialization, from about 260 ppm to well over 400 ppm today.

  3. LIGHTLY-INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS CAN LEAPFROG INDUSTRIALIZATION

    The enormous resources of slightly-developed countries have an extraordinary opportunity to leapfrog the industrialized nations into the decarbonized circular economy of the current millennium. “While some see this as aspirational, in fact it’s urgently necessary,” explains Seth Warren Rose, Founding Director of Eneref Institute.

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