This past week, from June 20th to 24th, 2022, an inaugural Youth Energy Summit! event was held in conjunction with the Africa Energy Forum, in Brussels, Belgium.

Student Energy’s Director of Communications and Policy, Shakti Ramkumar, represented Student Energy at the Youth Energy Summit and Africa Energy Forum, while Sr. Director of Partnerships, Helen Watts, represented Student Energy at the Africa Energy Forum and European Development Days. Read on to learn more about Shakti’s experience!

About YES! 

EnergyNet’s new initiative, the YES! Youth Energy Summit, launched at the Africa Energy Forum this past week, acting as a springboard event before the first YES! Summit is held in 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. EnergyNet aims to create a platform and network for early career professionals, entrepreneurs, students, and educators, and to invest in the next generation of energy leaders in Africa. An inaugural delegation of young leaders primarily from Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria gathered in Brussels to join the launch of YES! and to provide ideas and feedback for next year’s official Nairobi conference.

What was Student Energy’s role? 

To bring the YES! vision to life, in addition to reaching out to young energy leaders, EnergyNet is connecting with non-profits and other organizations also working in the energy space – like Student Energy – to amplify complementary initiatives. We participated by having a Student Energy ‘pod’ space attached to the YES! theatre, speaking at the Student Workshop, and joining in the YES! programme throughout the week.

Reflections

This week’s YES! program was centered on the theme of “Beyond Privilege”:

• What is necessary for spaces like this, and the energy sector more broadly, to be open and accessible to young people who have not had the privilege of participating in them so far?
• What tangible steps can organizations like EnergyNet take to ensure that opportunities, including the upcoming YES! Summit and its related digital platforms, are made available to youth from diverse backgrounds, from across Africa? 

I appreciated the formal and informal ideation and feedback sessions that the EnergyNet team held throughout the week, to tackle these issues now, and share best practices and co-create solutions with young people, with still a year to go before the YES! Summit.

The theme of “Beyond Privilege” was more relevant than ever this week, as many young people (including members of Student Energy’s own delegation) were unable to make it to Brussels due to widespread difficulties in obtaining a visa, an unfortunately common obstacle for so many youth from Africa, Latin America, and Asia to being able to participate in international negotiations, entrepreneurship conferences, and other convening events. This is on top of the significant financial cost, language barriers, internet and information access barriers, and other hidden challenges of engaging in these spaces. It is a glaring reality that some young people face compounding barriers compared to others, and without intentionally addressing them, we risk opportunities in clean energy going to the same privileged few.

However, by working directly with young people, we can address these challenges with creative solutions, and unlock the full potential of truly global collaborative spaces. We can’t wait to see what’s next!

Event highlights

The YES! Theatre at the Africa Energy Forum venue featured a jam-packed agenda of sessions featuring incredible energy leaders from across Africa. A few highlights:

1. 1. We heard from former EnergyNet program alumni Mary Mindo and Jigisha Mandalia, both now established leaders in the clean energy sector, on the impact the program has had in building their careers. 
   2. Zeddy Bariti, host of the Power Dialogue podcast, hosted a lively interview with Habiba Ali, CEO of Sosai Renewable Energies, digging deep into Habiba’s fascinating journey to becoming an entrepreneur. 

• Raul Alfaro Pelico, Senior Director of the Global South Program, Energy Transition Academy at RMI, hosted a panel exploring how investing in young people in Africa can lift the boat of the whole energy sector, featuring speakers George Drammeh Akelola (Senior Legal Counsel at KenGen), Thuso Kuali (Investment Banking Analyst, JP Morgan), Alice Uwamaliya (Associate, SEforALL), and Maarten van Renssen (Managing Director, ESG, Globaleq).

1. We were also on a panel! Exploring the many considerations and pathways to building a career in energy, the panel was moderated by Mohammed Rali Badissy (Assistant Professor of Law, Penn State), and featured speakers Anita Otubu (Head of PMU, Nigeria Electrification Project, REA Nigeria), Joseph Obbo (Researcher, Strathmore University), Bukelwa Nzimande (PhD Candidate, UCT) and me, Shakti Ramkumar.

Learn more about YES! and the AEF here.

From April 4-8, 2022, the CEM Senior Officials’ Meeting and MI Annual Gathering took place in New Delhi, India. Student Energy’s Director of Communications and Policy, Shakti Ramkumar, represented Student Energy at this global assembly of member countries and energy leaders – read on to learn more about her experience!

Psst!: Unfamiliar with what CEM and MI are? Click here or scroll to the bottom for a quick breakdown of the terms!

The MI Annual Gathering (April 4-6) and CEM Senior Officials’ Meeting (April 6-8) invited senior leaders from the CEM and MI member countries to evaluate progress on the initiatives’ respective workstreams, and lay the groundwork for the upcoming CEM13/MI-7 ministerial in Pittsburgh.

Event highlights:

1. Youth Involvement in CEM and MI: I was happy to see the CEM and MI Secretariat continue to prioritize youth engagement, as young people typically aren’t engaged in the crucial preparatory sessions like this one – I was grateful to be able to represent Student Energy, and to contribute a youth perspective to discussions throughout the Senior Officials’ meeting. I also appreciated the chance to address the full audience as a speaker on a panel focusing on Inclusive Societies. Looking forward from New Delhi, we were excited to see the United States Department of Energy, this year’s host for CEM13/MI-7, propose plans for a comprehensive youth engagement program in Pittsburgh, with a goal of bringing together young people from member countries to participate in the forum.
2. Spotlight on India: I heard from leaders working across all parts of India’s energy sector, from coal to electricity to solar, who shed light on just how challenging the energy transition is set to be in countries with an incredibly complex energy landscape like India. India is primarily reliant on coal for energy, with millions of people still without access to basic energy services – and now the country faces the added challenge of having to decarbonize rapidly and expand renewable energy, in just a few years. With India as host of next year’s CEM/MI Ministerial, this Spotlight series was an important opportunity to learn about the specific energy, technology, deployment, and finance challenges in India.

Whenever Student Energy is invited to participate in spaces where we know there may be few other young people, we believe it is our responsibility to prepare and advocate for the things we know our global youth network cares about, to make sure we make the most of these opportunities. 

Here are some of the things I advocated for in New Delhi:

1. A lot of the discussion throughout the week centered on how member countries could be forward-thinking and bold by investing early in energy solutions that need to be developed now in order to be scaled in the future. Just like we need this type of early investment and supportive policy for technological development, we need the same bold, early investment in young people now. Mobilizing finance and tangible resources for youth-led projects, through initiatives like the Solutions Movement, are critical to accelerating the pace of the energy transition.
2. Young people hold the key to climate and energy policies garnering widespread public support, which is necessary for the long term success of these policies and for them to outlast electoral cycles and other common barriers. However, youth need to see their priorities reflected in clean energy and climate policies, and to be equal partners in decision-making around these policies.
3. The emerging skills gap in clean energy will be a barrier to accelerating the pace of the transition, so skill development and training must be made central priorities by governments and energy companies. However, training for clean energy jobs must also be financially and geographically accessible, so that young people and others who have historically been excluded from the sector can actually access these new opportunities.

Throughout the week, it was clear to me that even in spaces where we share a collective goal of addressing the climate crisis, there is still a need to balance many competing priorities and timelines – and there definitely isn’t always agreement about the path forward, the solutions that should be prioritized, or where resources should flow. But this complexity makes it all the more important that young people are consistently a part of these discussions, and that these discussions are made as transparent and open as possible to allow people to engage during key moments of decision-making. I’m grateful to have participated in this preparatory session, and look forward to seeing youth lead at CEM/MI in Pittsburgh later this year.

Let’s break down some terms!

CEM: The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is a high-level global forum and platform that aims to accelerate the transition to clean energy, share best practices, and form action coalitions between member countries. CEM is made up of 29 member countries, which together represent 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, alongside partner organizations like the International Energy Agency, Sustainable Energy for All, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The work of CEM is largely carried out through 6 ‘Workstreams’:

1. Power
2. Transport
3. Industry
4. Buildings
5. Cross-Sectoral
6. Enabling Environment

MI: Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 22 countries and the European Commission that was launched alongside the Paris Agreement in 2015, with the aim of increasing investment in Research & Development for clean energy innovation. The member countries represent 90% of global public investments in clean energy innovation, and MI is an intergovernmental platform through which governments and the private sector form alliances and joint initiatives. The work of MI is carried out through 7 ‘Missions’:

1. Green powered future
2. Zero-emission shipping
3. Clean hydrogen
4. Carbon Dioxide Removal
5. Urban Transitions
6. Net Zero Industries
7. Integrated Biorefineries

CEM13/MI-7: Coming up this September in Pittsburgh, USA, CEM13/MI-7 is the joint annual ministerial convening of the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation. Each year, the energy ministers within CEM’s 29 member countries (alongside other related government ministries responsible for climate, environment, and industry) and MI’s 23 member countries gather for the joint ministerial in a different host country.

MI Annual Gathering and CEM Senior Officials’ Meeting: The event that took place in New Delhi this April 4-8 2022, is the key preparatory session and global assembly for senior leaders in the CEM and MI member governments and leaders of workstreams to evaluate progress on their work, set goals for the future of CEM and MI, and lay the groundwork for the larger ministerial this September in Pittsburgh which will be attended by energy ministers, youth, policymakers, and members of industry. Each year, this preparatory Senior Officials’ Meeting is held in the country where the next CEM/MI will be hosted – this means India is set to host CEM14/MI-8 in 2023.

This year’s UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, took place in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31st to November 12th. The main aim of the conference this year was for countries, Parties to the Paris Agreement, to submit more ambitions Nationally Determined Contributions to rapidly reduce emissions, and to increase the ambition of national and international climate action overall. Student Energy aimed to bring a diverse global youth delegation to the conference, with the goal of advocating for young people to be meaningfully included in decision-making, and for mobilizing finance to support youth-led work.

Here’s a recap of our activities:

November 11:  Meredith Adler on the New York Times Climate Hub

Meredith Adler joined Apolitical C.E.O Robyn Scott, HALO Urban Regeneration Founder Marie Macklin, Danone C.E.O Emmanuel Faber, and Project InsideOut Founder Renée Lertzman for a New York Times Climate Hub Panel Green Upskilling: The Next Generation of Climate Skills and Leadership.

In the panel, Meredith discussed what skills are required for advancing climate action, and what are organizations doing to develop them. If deployed properly, how much of a difference can this upskilling actually make?

“We’re hearing governments and others talk about, “oh good news, this policy is going to produce x amount of jobs.” You know, the IEA says the energy transition will result in about 55 million jobs when you look at all of it together, but really very few people are focused on skill building. There’s lots of announcements around the money for deployment, but not around who will be the deployers. 

The thing that [Student Energy] works to do is how do you do training at a scale that’s globally applicable. We work really hard on teaching problem-solving skills, teaching deployment skills, and the things that people need to know in order to be able to learn and culturally adapt to what needs to happen.” — Meredith Adler, Executive Director, Student Energy

November 10: COP Resilience Hub: Latin American findings from GYEO

Student Energy hosted a dynamic session sharing the perspectives of 5000+ Latin American and Caribbean youth from the Global Youth Energy Outlook, which surveyed over 40,000 youth around the world. The panel discussed how the energy transition can be made possible in a diverse and challenging region such as Latin America.

November 5: Women Leading on Climate

Student Energy supported Catherine McKenna, former Minister for Environment and Climate Change in Canada, in launching the Women Leading on Climate initiative. The effort seeks to recognize the leadership of women and girls in advancing progress on climate action in communities around the world, broaden the network of women and girls engaged in discussions around the environment and climate change, and raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls globally and discuss innovative solutions and share best practices.

On Friday, November 5th, during COP26’s Youth and Public Empowerment Day, women and girls from around the world flooded COP26 with videos on social media using the hashtag #WomenLeadingOnClimate. This included videos from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Stanford University Managing Director Alicia Steiger, and women, girls, and gender minorities from around the world who are acting on climate.

“Student Energy has a network of over 50,000 youth, half of whom are young women. We know how important it is to provide the funding, coaching and skills training they need to lead on energy and climate solutions. We look forward to continuing to partner with Women Leading on Climate to make sure the next generation of climate leaders is ready to implement the solutions we need and curb the impact of climate change on women globally.” — Meredith Adler, Executive Director, Student Energy

https://womenleadingonclimate.com/

November 5: Breaking Barriers for Youth to lead on SDG7

Breaking Barriers for Youth to Lead on SDG7 was a side event at the SDG 7 Pavilion hosted by Student Energy and featuring UNDP Youth Focal Point for Energy and Community of Practice Facilitator on Energy, Caroline Tresise.

“We’re not only underrepresented, we’re underestimated. If we want to achieve #SDG7 we have to build capacity for youth”

– Eduarda Zoghbi 

November 5: Energy Empowering Employment

Student Energy’s Executive Director Meredith Adler was a speaker on Power for All’s panel at the SDG 7 Pavilion #PoweringJobs and scaling the Distributed Renewable Energy sector. The panel featured industry experts from GOGLA, Student Energy and CEEW. Through a facilitated dialogue, informed by the Powering Jobs study Power for All, aims to change the limited understanding of job opportunities within DRE.

“The sector is changing so fast that the main thing you can learn is how to learn.” –Meredith Adler, Executive Director, Student Energy

November 4: GYEO Launch

Student Energy launched the Global Youth Energy Outlook (GYEO) report on November 04, 2021. Featuring global and regionally specific insights collected from 40,000+ young people globally, the GYEO is a powerful data-backed advocacy tool for both youth advocates and decision-makers.

Youth are calling for leaders in all sectors to move beyond tokenism and engage with youth through equitable and meaningful partnerships. How can decision-makers work with youth to accelerate climate action and the sustainable energy transition? The Global Youth Energy Outlook presents insights on what young people envision for their energy future and how they want to work with decision-makers to get there.

The launch event broke down key insights from Student Energy’s youth-led research, and includes a tangible guide for decision-makers on how to work with young people in an equitable way. 

The GYEO Launch event featured an intergenerational and global lineup of speakers who outlined how the GYEO can be effectively mobilized at the grassroots level, within government institutions, and in the energy sector: Featured speakers included:

• Student Energy’s youth Regional Coordinators who have been leading this research in their regions throughout 2020 and 2021
• Representatives from several national governments, including Canada, Denmark, and Sweden
• Representatives from companies in the energy sector, such as DNV

“Just look at us, young people coming together from every region to engage over 42,000 of our peers to show what young people globally want from a sustainable energy future” – Arsenii Kirgizov-Barskii, Regional Coordinator for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Watch the livestream recording.

Discover the emergent findings from the report.

November 02: A business-Led Climate Resilience Initiative: Turning Aspirations into Action https://www.woodplc.com/cop26/register-for-access

November 02: BBC Scotland Debate Night: COP26 Special 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00118r8

All of COP:SDG 7 Pavilion for the People and for the Planet at COP26

   “The GYEO is a way to bridge the communications gap that exists right now between young people calling for more, and leaders who don’t seem to be hearing or understanding what they’re asking for. “

– Helen Watts, Senior Director of Global Partnerships at Student Energy

Developing the Global Youth Energy Outlook

Since Student Energy began this global data project, two things became very clear: 

1. To create an Outlook that truly represented the viewpoints of young people from around the world, the Outlook needed to be led by youth
2. We wanted the Outlook to be about systems change, looking beyond just policy, and technology, but at social dimensions to ensure we have a justice-centered approach to the energy transition. 

To achieve this, we recruited a diverse team of 12 Regional Coordinators who have been working with Student Energy over the last 18 months, conducting community outreach in their global regions, recruiting hundreds of volunteer country ambassadors, and worked with community organizations to ensure representation across countries, urban and rural regions, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The RC’s also hosted regional dialogues, expanding on the information collected from the GYEO survey, to hear qualitative insights, lived experiences, opinions, and perspectives from youth. 

Click here to view our preliminary results:

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Our launch event included an intergenerational programme where Regional Coordinators showcased key findings and regional insights from their research, as well as pathways for decision-makers to work collaboratively with youth on setting the agenda for achieving SDG7. 

Watch the full stream of our launch event:

Watch here

Key initial insights:

1. The majority of young people want their countries to take immediate and drastic climate action, commensurate to the severity and scale of the global climate crisis. This includes accelerating targets for net-zero emissions, investing and scaling solutions that transition the system away from fossil fuels, and investing skill-training and financial resources towards the young generation as leaders in climate action.

“From Regional Dialogues that I held in Southeast Asia, one line that I can derive is ‘we do not have any more time to continue with our destructive, business-as-usual path.’ We are calling for more ambitious resources, and finance mobilization towards slow carbon investment. We want to increase the renewable energy share in the global energy mix. We want to ensure universal access to affordable and clean energy. We want to see improvement in energy efficiency [moving] forward, and we would like to accelerate the decarbonization of heavy industry. As the current future work force, we aspire to have more green jobs and we demand a just and equitable transition by making sure we leave no one behind. Most importantly, we would like more adaptation actions, so we can be a climate resilient society.” 

– Nabila Putri Salsabila, Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia

2. Leaders across government and industry should actively create opportunities for young people to meaningfully engage with decision makers and in decision-making spaces. Young people want to be equal partners in developing and carrying out policies, upskilling, community organizing, and working on tangible climate solutions. It’s important for these leaders and organizations to recognize and address barriers that currently prevent young people from getting involved. 

 

“There’s a huge gap between young people’s willingness to engage and the support they feel that they get. There’s a huge opportunity for governments and businesses and organizations to support young people, like give them the funding and the skills and the mentorship they need to bring their ideas and bring their willingness to take climate action into real solutions and real actions.” 

– Linette Knudsen, Regional Coordinator for Europe

3. The GYEO highlighted important regional differences between young people from developing and emerging economies and those from higher income, developed regions. The GYEO serves as a powerful tool for governments to differentially target their strengths and shortcomings to achieve a globally just and sustainable future. 

“In Latin America, youth see [government] policies as the biggest barrier to a sustainable energy future. In Africa, it is the lack of advanced technologies. If we address all of these regional differences, we will understand that governments…can carefully use this data to enhance climate education in some regions, invest more in clean energy and renewable energy resources and advance technologies in others….We still want the same sustainable future. We still want to see net-zero goals, we may have different horizons for these goals, but we all want to see a sustainable future.” 

– Arsenii Kirgizov-Barskii, Regional Coordinator for Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Watch the full stream of our Launch Event at COP26, including an intergenerational dialogue [57:35] with Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, and Jorn Verbeeck, head of Research and Innovation for the Global Covenant of Mayors, here.

In the lead up to the United Nations High-level Dialogue on Energy in September 2021, ministers from national governments, leaders from business, cities, civil societies, and youth organizations gathered virtually for Ministerial-level Thematic Forums. The goal of this week-long program, taking place from June 21st-25th, is for stakeholders to have a chance to showcase solutions and partnerships, and set out voluntary commitments and actions.

Student Energy’s Announcement: Launching the Solutions Movement

Our big announcement this week was the Launching the Solutions Movement Energy Compact! Amidst Energy Compacts announced by large organizations like Google, the IKEA Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and member states like Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and others, we announced our ambitious, youth-led Energy Compact which aims to:

• Launch 10,000 youth-led clean energy projects by 2030.
• Directly fund and support young people around the world to scale their clean energy projects, by providing access to capital, mentorship, and skills training.
• Raise $10 million this year, and $150 million by 2030, to support this goal.

Young people at the #HLDE2021

Young people, including many from Student Energy’s global network, were a strong presence at the Ministerial segments throughout the week. These are some of the places we showed up:

Monday, June 21: Energy Access

Mihskakwan James Harper, Vice-Chair Sponsorship, SevenGen Council

Special guest speaker, Grand Opening Ceremony

Chibunna Ogbonna, Student Energy Global Youth Energy Outlook Regional Coordinator for Sub-saharan Africa

Remarks from Ministers and global leaders: Energy Access Leadership Conversation Panel

Isha Kulkarni, Associate at RMI India (India), Eduarda Zoghbi, Energy and Gender Consultant at SEforALL (Brazil), Kevin Shema, Co-founder and CEO at UMUTI Packaging (Rwanda)

Student Energy Compact: Launching the Youth Solutions Movement

Tuesday, June 22: Innovation, Technology and Data

Kayla Choi, Student Energy Global Youth Energy Outlook Regional Coordinator for OECD Pacific 

Remarks from Ministers and global leaders: Innovation, Technology and Data Leadership Conversation Panel

Wednesday, June 23: Energy Transition

Helen Watts, Senior Director of Global Partnerships, Student Energy

Presentation of the Theme Report on Innovation, Technology and Data (Side-event)

Remarks from Ministers and global leaders: Leadership Conversation on Energy Transition

Vladislav Kaim, Member of the UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, Student Energy Alumni

Panel 2: International cooperation and regional integration to advance the energy transition

Thursday, June 24: Enabling SDGs through Inclusive, Just Energy Transitions

Shakti Ramkumar, Director of Policy and Communications, Student Energy

Remarks from Ministers and global leaders: Leadership Conversation on Inclusive, Just Energy Transitions

Friday, June 25: Finance and Investment

Kabir Nadkarni, Climate Finance Advisor, Student Energy, Meredith Adler, Executive Director, Student Energy

Ministerial Segment: Energy Compact Showcase

Oluwadabira Abiola-Awe, Ventures Associate, Student Energy

Remarks from Ministers and global leaders: Leadership Conversation on Finance and Investment

​The Women of Distinction Awards is one of Canada’s most prestigious awards for women. Since 1984, @ywcavan has recognized more than 300 inspiring women and workplaces. The awards honour women whose achievements contribute to the well-being and future of the community, and businesses and organizations that proactively support the success and advancement of women in the workplace and that are champions for excellence.

Here are just a few of the reasons Meredith was recognized for her work:

• Since 2015, she has helped quadruple the organization in size to serve more than 50,000 youth in 150 countries and has grown the annual budget from $288,000 to more than $1 million in 2019.
• Meredith co-designed the Student Energy Chapters program, postsecondary level clubs that teach students practical skills to take action on energy in their communities; there are now 42 Chapters across Canada and globally.
• Meredith played a key role in developing Student Energy’s “Space for Youth” and in 2019 worked with the Government of Canada to design and launch the first-ever young leaders’ delegation in Vancouver, where 60 young people from 25 countries came to participate contributing to panels and ideation.

Transcript of Helen’s address:

Helen’s Story

My name is Helen Watts, and I am the Director of Innovation and Partnerships at Student Energy. Student Energy is a global youth-led organization empowering young people to accelerate the sustainable energy transition. We work with a network of 50,000 young people from over 120 countries to build the knowledge, skills, and networks they need to take action on energy. 

I come from a background of community grassroots organizations and global migration policy, areas that for me used to feel very disconnected from the energy technology and climate science space, until I found a platform for me to bring this knowledge to energy systems-change.

I came across Student Energy as a university student, the way that students often connect to new opportunities, through my friends and networks that felt there was something about this organization I would connect with. It was a perfect example of how effective peer-to-peer engagement is to get young people engaged on climate and clean energy solutions.

I ultimately pursued a career at Student Energy because I felt passionately about the mission of the organization. Despite my limited technical knowledge, and limited work experience as a recent graduate, Student Energy trusted me in a leadership role, where I went on to work with organizations around the world, advocate for meaningful youth engagement, and design programs with our partner and youth network.

Now at 25 years old, I have had the opportunity to design the first youth sustainability advisory board for one of the world’s big Five technology companies, I have co-founded a youth social entrepreneurship incubator for young people working on green growth solutions, and started the world’s first Global Youth Energy Outlook.

My story is one that I share with many young people in our network, to encourage young people to pursue opportunities to work on clean energy innovation regardless of their background or level of experience, and to internalize the value of bringing those diverse sources of knowledge and their own lived experiences to the challenge. 

I also look at my story as an example of how critical it is to trust young people to lead on their ideas and innovations and see them as key partners in achieving the energy transition, not simply as beneficiaries.

Importance of Empowering Youth

The fact remains that on our current trajectory we simply cannot afford to leave over 2 billion young people out of our clean energy transition. Their solutions, their lived experiences and their diverse sources of knowledge are critical to bringing new, integrated approaches to the challenge. 

Young people want to be part of delivering the solutions needed — not only the needed technological solutions but new approaches to overcoming financial and adoption barriers to scale existing solutions, identifying co-benefits between energy system change and other goals like gender equality and resilient healthcare, building public advocacy for clean energy to impact consumer behaviour, and educating children so they see energy as an exciting space to learn about climate solutions.

Student Energy has been working for over eleven years to make space for young people to lead on their clean energy solutions. We work with governments, companies, and organizations like Mission Innovation to ensure that young people are included in spaces where they can add value to our shared mission. 

I am delighted to invite all of you here today to engage with us on the next phase of this work, to leverage the opportunity of youth-led innovation. 

Over the next year Student Energy will be working to develop the Global Youth Energy Outlook that will launch at COP 26 in Glasgow. This closes a critical data gap, and will be the world’s first dataset of 50,000 youth perspectives on the energy transition through 2030. Led by 12 youth regional coordinators around the world, we are gathering the priority policy actions, technological and integrated solutions, consumer behaviour changes and social co-benefits that youth want to see in the energy transition. This will define the areas that young people want to work collaboratively with governments and organizations to achieve, and will be a breakthrough moment in equipping young people with a unified and focused call-to-action. 

We will be working with our global youth network and with actors in the energy system to facilitate effective collaboration and support youth-led innovation to accelerate our sustainable energy transition, and we hope that you will join us in this aim.”

Watch the full video:
https://youtu.be/sxqQ-lDIn5o?t=5674

A first of its kind report, the Outlook will set the baseline for what young people expect from the sustainable energy transition, and how they want to work with governments and energy industry companies to make change happen. 

Learn more about the Outlook, and the team that’s helping to make it all happen at www.studentenergy.org/outlook

Our goals

• To empower young people to effectively communicate with their elected representatives and other decision makers
• To demonstrate that young people around the world have the ability to come together in a cohesive way to imagine their energy future, making young people one of the most important partners in building a sustainable energy system
• To demystify what young people want want to see in the sustainable energy transition, and outline the principles to guide the transition

How is the Outlook being developed?

With Student Energy, twelve youth Regional Coordinators from around the world are working to engage a total of 50,000 young people in a 6-month long research process to identify young people’s priorities for their region across policy, technology, society, and finance. 

Following a two-phase research process, they will develop regional roadmaps to 2030, outlining how their region can decarbonize its energy system, and how young people want to be part of that transition. 

These regional roadmaps will be a guide for policymakers and elected representatives, companies in the energy sector, academic institutions, and other organizations to be able to form more meaningful and equitable relationships with young people in their region.

With uncertainty about the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the world’s resiliency and climate commitments, it will be more important than ever that young people are empowered and mobilized to raise ambition on the sustainable energy transition in the next decade. 

What’s next

Phase 1 Research Questionnaire

The development of the Outlook takes place in two phases: a broad questionnaire aimed at young people 18-30 from all backgrounds, followed by a Phase II that includes regional community dialogues. Fill out the questionnaire here.

Regional Coordinator Interview Series

In the next few days, we will introduce each of our Regional Coordinators through an interview series on Student Energy Stories and on our Instagram.

Partnership Launch

The Outlook development process couldn’t take place without the important contributions of our funding partners and strategic partners. Over the next few weeks, we will introduce our partners, outline the support they’re providing for the Outlook, and share new partnership opportunities.

Running until September 18th, this free online program will help young people overcome many barriers thrown up because of the coronavirus crisis, from cancelled internships to lost jobs. “This change, while necessary to help slow the spread of COVID-19, leaves many young people (particularly recent post-secondary graduates) at an unexpected pause in their career and skill-building at a crucial turning point in their professional careers,” says Shakti Ramkumar, Student Energy’s Communications Manager.

By taking part in BetterTogether’s series of fun, talent-developing challenges, participants will build important skills, gain experience, and connect with peers around the world, all while competing for the chance to win up to $25K in prizes.

BetterTogether participants will receive:

• The chance to participate in any of a series of 10 challenges, each addressing an important issue to help them become change agents through empowerment, education, and building skills;
• 50+ live AMA speaker sessions with role models, co-founders, and other inspirational figures;
• A platform to connect with over 1.5 million students and young professionals from 150+ countries;
• The opportunity to win up to $25,000 in prizes, scholarships, memberships, and other exclusive awards;
• Access to Pearson’s Workplace Behaviors Learning Programme modules;
• And more!

Student Energy’s goal is to work towards a sustainable and equitable energy future by empowering young people all over the world to take action. BetterTogether removes barriers for youth by providing a program that not only helps them build important skills for the post-COVID-19 era, but also inspires, encourages, and supports them along the way.

The BetterTogether program is delivered through a strategic partnership with Goodwall. Goodwall is the next-generation community for students and professionals to connect on shared interests, showcase themselves and discover learning and earning opportunities. Learn more about Student Energy’s strategic partnerships here.

About Goodwall

Goodwall is the next-generation community and social development network built specifically to address the needs of Gen Z and younger millennials. Goodwall aims to help students, entrepreneurs, and young professionals by giving them a unique platform to share ideas, highlight achievements, showcase talents, document experience, meet like-minded peers around the world, find jobs, internships, and scholarships, and seek & provide support.

The Goodwall community is made up of over 1.5 million members from 150+ countries around the world. With 5+ million job and internship opportunities, more than $1 million in scholarships and awards, thousands of volunteer events, and hundreds of online courses, Goodwall is well-prepared to help navigate students and young professionals through this new decade.

The purpose of the Intersectional Equity Task Force is to evaluate Student Energy’s external and internal policies and practices, and build permanent accountability mechanisms within the organization’s Board, staff, and volunteers. The task force will also develop strategies for explicitly incorporating anti-racist principles and advocacy into the work we do. The Intersectional Equity Task Force will be made up of 12 members: 3 from SE’s board, 3 staff members, and 6 current or former Student Energy program participants from around the world. The initial term of the Task Force is one year (August 2020 – 2021).

We are recruiting six (6) Student Energy program participants/alumni from around the world to be members of the task force, collaborating with SE board members and staff on organizational and program evaluation and ideation for an initial term of one year. Due to the global scope of Student Energy’s work, task force meetings and communication will be online, and primarily in English.

Task force members should:
⚡️ be 18-30 years old by August 7th, 2020
​⚡️ be currently participating in, or an alumni of, a Student Energy program
⚡️ have the capacity to commit to a 2 hour (virtual) meeting each month, with 4-6 hours of prep between meetings
⚡️ have the capacity to act as a task force member for a 1 year term (August 2020-21)
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Applications are now closed.