With only 2 days to go before #COP27 begins, Student Energy is preparing to share youth perspectives toward climate action and empower the road to Net-zero together.

Student Energy Team at COP 27

Student Energy will be speaking, facilitating, or hosting events during COP 27. 

Meredith Adler – Executive Director

Helen Watts – Senior Director of Partnerships

Shakti Ramkumar – Director of Communications & Policy

Abdullah Khair – Partnerships Manager

Grace Young – Alumni & Community Manager

Eduarda Zhogbi – Student Energy Senior Advisor

Vaughn-Xavier Jameer – Chapters Associate

Oluwadabira Abiola-Awe – Partnerships Associate

Danielle Kehler – SevenGen Manager

If you are heading to COP 27, Student Energy would love to connect with you. Send Helen, Shakti, or Grace an email at helen@studentenergy.org, shakti@studentenergy.org, or grace@studentenergy.org and we would be happy to meet!

Student Energy Delegation in Sharm El Sheikh

Student Energy is working with key partners, including Sustainable Energy for All, the Government of Canada, and NYU Abu Dhabi, to make sure that youth can participate in person at COP 27 Sharm El Sheikh. Student Energy will be having a delegation of 16 Student Energy young leaders who will be working with us on side events and bringing key messages to world leaders while participating in programming throughout the blue zone. Countries represented will include Canada, India, Jordan, Brazil, Paraguay, Nigeria, Trinidad, Uganda, Spain, UAE, Poland, and the UK.

Currently, SEforALL is supporting a delegation of ten young women from developing economies to attend dedicated programs at the SDG 7 Pavilion and throughout the blue zone.

Energy Transition Skills Report Initial Findings Launch

Student Energy, in partnership with Ørsted, will launch initial findings from the Energy Transition Skills Report at COP 27. The report contains survey results and recommendations from 5,000 young people around the world on how to create more accessible and inclusive entry points for youth to enter and stay in careers that accelerate the global energy transition. The findings will be delivered by Shakti Ramkumar, Student Energy’s Director of Communications & Policy, at the Danish Pavilion on November 16 from 8:00 – 9:00.

The Energy Transition Skills Project was launched in 2022 to identify the needs of ready young people for energy transition jobs. 

Youth Impact Framework Initial Findings Launch

With the recent developments of the Youth Impact Framework in place, Student Energy, with the Global Covenant of Mayors, will be sharing the initial findings at COP 27. The findings will be discussed by Shakti at the UNFCCC Innovation Zone on November 10 from 14:00 – 16:00.

The Youth Impact Framework is a set of impact measurement tools and indicators to help youth climate advocates, project leaders, and founders measure and communicate the impact of their initiatives to incorporate youth-inclusive project design principles, by recognizing the impact of youth contributions to SDG 7 and across the Sustainable Development Goals.

International Student Energy Summit 2023 Abu Dhabi Announcement

More than 1,000 young people have already pre-registered for the International Student Energy Summit 2023 (SES 2023) during the first week beginning the summit’s launch last October 27. The Student Energy Summit team will be announcing the International Student Energy Summit 2023 at the Youth Pavilion on November 15. This will be followed by The Student Energy Summit 2023 Abu Dhabi: Uniting the Energy Transition happening at the UEA Pavilion from 14:00 – 14:45. 

Global Youth Energy Outlook Final Report Launch

In 2020, Student Energy launched the Global Youth Energy Outlook, the first youth-led research project of its kind to collect youth perspectives on energy. An online survey and a series of Regional Dialogues have engaged 41,652 young people, aged 18-30, from 181 countries and territories around the world. Now, the final report will be launched at COP 27. 

Find out what else we’re doing at COP 27!

November 8 

How can clean energy mitigate climate change, accelerate development, and support food security? 

• Shakti will be speaking at the Danish Pavilion from 12:00 to 12:45 with the event hosted by the Danish Chamber of Commerce

November 9

Youth Financing Done Right: How to best structure youth-financing program in developing countries

• Abdullah Khair, Student Energy’s Partnerships Manager, will be speaking at the Side Event Room 3 – HATSHEPSUTI from 11:30 – 12:30. The event hosted by YOUNGO

Just Sustainability, Circular Economy and Social Justice: employment and social policies to support a just green transition across the globe

• Shakti is speaking at the EU Pavilion from 19:00 – 20:00

November 10

Youth in the Energy Transition – Panel Discussion 

• Abdullah will be speaking at the Atoms4Climate Pavilion on November 10 from 9:00 – 10:00. This event is hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency

Launch of the Energy Transition Commission

• Vaughn-Xavier Jameer, Student Energy’s Chapters Associate, will be speaking at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 10:30 – 11:30. The event is hosted by SEforALL 

Empowering Youth in Climate and Sustainable Energy

• Abdullah will be speaking at the Green Zone on November 10 from 13:00 – 14:00. The event is hosted by Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

Investing in Youth for a Just Energy Transition

• Eduarda Zoghbi, Student Energy’s Senior Advisor, will be speaking on this event, with Grace Young, Student Energy’s Alumni and Community Manager, moderating at the SDG 7 Pavilion on November 10 at 13:30 – 14:30

Fireside Chat with Simon, CEO of GEAPP and Dabira

• Oluwadabira Abiola-Awe, Student Energy’s Partnership Associate, will be speaking on this event happening at the GEAPP Office from 14:00 – 14:30

November 11

UNDP COP 27 Hour

• Dabira will be speaking at the UN Broadcast Center from 11:30 – 11:55. The event is hosted by UNDP

Global Alliance for Sustainable Energy Event

• Meredith Adler, Student Energy’s Executive Director, will be moderating this event happening at the Wind and Solar Pavilion Zone D from 14:00 – 15:30. The event is hosted by the Enel Foundation

Panel Discussion – Energy Transition, Green Jobs and Skills

• Dabira will be speaking on this event at the WMB Pavilion, hosted by the National Grid

High Level Panel Discussion with Matchmaking Session and Dinner

• Helen Watts, Student Energy’s Senior Director of Partnerships, will be speaking at the event from 17:20 – 20:00

November 12

There is No Food Security Without Clean Cooking

• Shakti will be speaking in this event, hosted by the Clean Cooking Alliance, happening at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 9:00 – 10:00

Achieving NDC Targets through Clean Cooking Action

• The event will take place at the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub from 13:00 – 14:00, hosted by the Clean Cooking Alliance

Capacity Building: Energy Literacy to Power a Greener Future (The Commonwealth Secretariat)

• Helen will be speaking at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 16:30 – 17:30, hosted by The Commonwealth Secretariat

November 14

Where is the Money for a Gender Just Transition?

• Dabira will be speaking at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 10:30 – 11:30, hosted by UNIDO

November 15

Game Changers Accelerating the Global Energy Transition

• Eduarda will be speaking at the Climate Action Rooms from 10:00 – 12:00

Unlocking Potential: Working with Young People for a Just Transition

• Happening at the We Mean Business Pavilion from 10:30 – 11:30, Student Energy will be co-hosting this event with We Mean Business

Africa’s Just Energy Transition: Scaling Up Renewable Energy Minigrids for People and Planet

• Dabira will be speaking at the UNDP Pavilion from 11:45 – 12:35

Green Jobs in the Energy Transition

• Dabira will be speaking at the We Mean Business Pavilion from 11:30 – 12:30

COP27 Energy Day Implementation Lab “A cleaner power sector by 2030: Scaling renewable and storage-based systems.”

• Eduarda will be speaking at the Lotus Room (Action Room 2) from 14:00 to 15:30

Indigenous & Youth Leadership in Canada’s Road to Net-zero

• Student Energy and SevenGen will be co-hosting this event at the Canada Pavilion from 15:15 – 16:00

November 17

Meeting with Global Affairs Canada

• Student Energy will be co-hosting and pitching this event at the SDG 7 Pavilion

“Our goal for the SevenGen summit is to engage, inform, and empower delegates to build capacity, build confidence, and build a community that will drive individuals or groups to carry forward their ideas beyond the summit.” -SevenGen 2022 Council

The Power of Kinship

This year’s theme focuses on the ‘Power of Kinship’. Kinship revolves around a sense of belonging and right from birth that Indigenous Peoples have carried through many generations. This value has been echoed throughout the summit, creating spaces for Indigenous youth to be involved through capacity building, program development, mentorship, and advocacy. Panel sessions, discussions, and workshops provided a space to explore and reflect on those kinship connections, not only focusing on collaboration between all kin, but also our kinship within ourselves and with the land.

“As we progress with the goal of empowering and inspiring future Indigenous leaders and changemakers, our energy kin evolves. We want to create a shared future where we can live in a reciprocal relationship with our human and non-human kin.”-SevenGen 2022 Council

SEPTEMBER 8: ImaGENation Wanuskewin Tour and SevenGen 2022 Summit Opening Ceremonies

The 2021-2023 ImaGENation Indigenous Youth Cohort went on a tour to the Wanuskewin Heritage Park along with ImaGENation Program Manager Alexandra Thomson, ImaGENation Program Coordinators Justin Pelan, and Ray Burrage-Goodwin. The group’s tour featured learning about the elaborate history of the Plains Indigenous Peoples who have lived in the area for thousands of years, including a native plant walk and a guided tipi teaching session.

SevenGen 2022’s opening ceremonies featured a grand entry including the announcement of the summit’s dignitaries. Aly Bear welcomed the night with a keynote address, followed by a Leadership Panel featuring SevenGen Council members Mihskakwan James Harper, Danielle Kehler, and Shana Southwind, and ImaGENation Program Manager Alexandra Thomson.

SEPTEMBER 9: Leadership & Governance Panel, Partnership & Kinship Panel, Innovation Jam

Day 2 of the summit started with Tom Benjoe, an Indigenous leader in the field of business, as the keynote speaker. He encourages youth to be comfortable with their own skin and shares that he takes great pride in making sure Indigenous Peoples are being supported in the field of business.

The Leadership & Governance Panel follows shortly after, with SevenGen 2022 Co-Chair Jordyn Burnouf leading the conversation. The panelists include Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. President Aluki Kotierk, Mayor of Northern Village of La Loche and former Member of Parliament Georgina Jolibois, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Senior Policy Advisor Graeme Reed, and Strategic Lead for Nation Building at Vuntut Gwitchin Government Jordan Peterson. This panel highlighted that systems of kinship and making spaces for Indigenous Peoples should be kept in mind by our leaders.

The Partnership & Kinship panel is led by SevenGen Council member Mihskakwan James Harper, with panelists Taylor Behn-Tsakoza of Executive Member of the National Youth Council (AFN), Heidi Dixon of SunCor, Larissa Crawford of Future Ancestors, and Darrell Brown of Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE). The panel talked about the power of kinship and how engaging the community encourages Indigenous youth to participate in the transition to an equitable and sustainable energy future.

The Innovation Jam gave space for the delegates to pitch and develop their ideas for clean energy projects in the Indigenous landscape. Through this, we were able to hear and witness the diverse ideas youth want to contribute to the growing clean energy transition.

Keynote speaker Randy Herrmann, Director of the Engineering Access Program at the University of Manitoba, talked about Indigenous cultures and the innovations they forged through time. He highlighted the sustainability of Indigenous design.

“Indigenous peoples manage entire landscapes and entire ecosystems, and thinking about their neighbors as they did. The components of Indigenous design is inherently sustainable.” – Randy Herrmann, Director of the Engineering Access Program at the University of Manitoba

SEPTEMBER 10: Finance Panel, Workshops, and Closing Ceremonies

On the final day of the summit, our keynote speaker Shannin Metatawabin, ICD.D, CEO of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association (NACCA), talks about Indigenous gifts as a source of power. This is followed by a panel discussion on Finance led by SevenGen 2022 Co-Chair Nathan Kaye. the panelists include industry leaders Phillip Ducharme of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, Conrad Young of Raven Trust, Shannon Metatawabin, ICD.D, and Eryn Stewart of Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE).

Delegates joined in workshops with 4 areas of interest, including Community & Energy, Water & Energy, Food Security & Energy, and Energy Careers. Delegates actively participated in breakout rooms with their areas of choice.

SevenGen 2022: The Power of Kinship

The event was organized by the SevenGen Indigenous Youth Energy Council and Student Energy.

Watch the highlight video here.

The recently published  World Energy Employment report from the International Energy Agency calls attention to the growing demand for highly skilled workers in the energy sector. Clean energy employment is set to grow to an estimated 30 million by 2030, creating a need for workers with energy sector-specific skill sets. Despite this immense potential for growth and innovation, the clean energy sector will face a dire shortage of talent in the coming years. At the same time, there are thousands of young people worldwide who are deeply passionate about a just energy transition and have the potential to become leaders in the industry. However, they lack access to skills training programs, mentorship networks, and entry-level project experience needed to enter these careers. The clean energy sector is one field where partnerships are required to break down barriers that divide youth from the workforce. 

Student Energy Career Training (SECT)

The program connects young people between 18 and 30 from diverse backgrounds directly to energy industry partners who share experience, provide mentorship, and support the next generation of the energy workforce. This project partnership is committed to promoting youth voices that inspire innovative ideas and collaborative solutions necessary for a sustainable energy future.

As a partner, SEforALL will mentor and guide the 2022 SECT cohort through learning about and addressing a real-world energy problem. SEforALL will be hosting two projects in this cohort — the first addressing healthcare, and the second for China- UN Platform on Climate Cooperation and Renewable Energy. Over half the world’s energy employment is in the Asia Pacific region, and the People’s Republic of China has the largest number of energy workers. It has an estimated near 20 million workers and is home to energy’s largest and fastest growing workforce, making it an essential market for research and analysis on the energy transition. This platform aims to accelerate and scale up the deployment of renewable energy in identified countries by sharing knowledge and success stories from China, while also leveraging China’s expertise and development support to accelerate the deployment of clean energy in countries across the Global South, most notably in Africa.

About Student Energy Career Training

Student Energy Career Training (SECT) is a 4-month cohort-based program aimed at young people between 18 and 30 who are interested in pursuing a career that advances the energy transition but may not yet have the skills, knowledge, or connections necessary to get a ‘foot in the door’. Led by Student Energy and co-created by knowledge partners Enel Foundation, this program offers students a comprehensive introduction to the current energy system, decarbonization pathways, energy economics, and policy. 

Student Energy Career Training aims to provide students in each cohort with the technical and soft skills necessary to secure an internship or entry-level role in the clean energy sector by connecting students with mentors from leading energy organizations like Enel Foundation and SEforALL. They provide subject matter expertise and support students in becoming career-ready through energy system education, project management skill building, and career coaching.

About Sustainable Energy for All

Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is an international organization that works in partnership with the United Nations, government leaders, the private sector, financial institutions, civil society, and philanthropies to drive faster action towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) – access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030 – in line with the Paris Agreement on climate.

We work to ensure a clean energy transition that leaves no one behind and brings new opportunities for everyone to fulfill their potential. Partnerships are essential to our work. Delivering on the mandate of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) and the Paris Agreement demands concerted action. Given the ambition of both international frameworks, this will not be a small task and we will not achieve progress alone.

Call to Action

Applications to join the 2023 Student Energy Career Training cohort open in December 2022!

The program is open to young people aged 18-30 around the world from all academic and professional backgrounds. Beginning in January, the program will be a 4-month course featuring core energy education and mentorship from Student Energy and expert energy organizations, including SEforALL.

Learn more at: https://studentenergy.org/program/career_training_program/

Global Clean Energy Action Forum:

• Meredith Adler, and SevenGen Council members Mihskakwan James Harper and Serena Mendizabal met with The Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister for Natural Resources Canada, to discuss youth-led action on clean energy in Canada, and to recognize the announcement of the Government of Canada’s $5.3M contribution to promote youth participation in the clean energy sector.
• Student Energy hosted an official side event at the GCEAF, “Mobilizing Youth for a Just Transition”, moderated by Shakti Ramkumar and featuring speakers Serena Mendizabal (SevenGen), Isabella Pfoser (Austrian Youth Climate Council), Yasemin Yavari (Danish Youth Climate Council), and Efrem Bycer (LinkedIn).

• Shakti moderated the final panel at the Creating the Energy Futures Forum Closing Plenary, featuring youth clean energy researchers and advocates who outlined technologies they are eager to see scale in the near future.
• Student Energy participated in a special side event, “From blindspot to hotspot”, with Shakti moderating audience engagement for a session on sustainable cooling organized by the Government of India, UNEP, Mission Innovation, the Cool Coalition, and Clean Cooling Collaborative, and featuring special guest Secretary John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, USA.

In addition to these events, we were thrilled to meet youth delegates from around the world who participated in the GCEAF.

New York Climate Week:

• We participated in a Youth Movement Building & Climate Justice Re-Granters meeting alongside climate justice activists and re-granting/funding organizations to explore the critical resourcing needs of youth climate justice activists
• Helen spoke at the UN Global Compact Private Sector Forum, alongside Ester Baiget, CEO of Novozymes, H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, President of IUCN, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Rebecca Miano, CEO of Kenya Electricity Generating Company

• Shakti attended the inaugural Youth Climate Leaders Luncheon, co-hosted by Ahmed Badr and Louise Mabulo, in partnership with We Are Family Foundation, SAP, Narratio, The Cacao Project, and Connect4Climate

In addition to these events, Helen and Shakti also participated in the Hub Live event, the Nest Summit, the Climate Forward Summit by the New York Times, and met with Student Energy’s alums and partners throughout the week during New York Climate Week.

What is the Solutions Movement?

Today, Student Energy is proud to launch the Solutions Movement, one of the most ambitious youth-led energy initiatives to date. This project aims to mobilize $150M dollars by 2030 to fund, support and deploy 10,000 youth-led clean energy projects globally. To reach this objective, Student Energy aims to raise $10 million in 2021 to kickstart youth energy action this decade. 

This initiative was announced June 25th, 2021 as an official Energy Compact of the United Nations High-level Dialogue on Energy’s Ministerial Thematic Forums, with support from our first funder, the Government of Denmark, and key project partner, New Energy Nexus. 

Let’s unpack the rationale, mechanisms, and key figures involved in our Solutions Movement, as well as how to get involved.

 Empowering Young People to Lead the Energy Transition

The Solutions Movement is inspired by watching the growth and career journey of many of Student Energy’s own alumni as they progressively ramped up their impact on their community’s energy systems, despite often facing significant financial and regulatory barriers. Student Energy’s 12 years of experience in youth empowerment has revealed that youth are deeply passionate about solving the critical problems facing the global energy system, including both climate change and energy poverty, but often lack the financial resources and active support needed to become true agents of change. 

Young people face numerous barriers in achieving their ambition for creating a sustainable and equitable energy future:

1. The earliest barrier is a lack of inclusion within region- and country-level stakeholder engagement. According to  Student Energy’s Global Youth Energy Outlook, 50% of surveyed youth have never been asked their opinion about the future of energy by their government or any other local organizations. How can youth perspectives on climate change and energy access shape the energy future if their voices remain unheard?
2. The next barrier is a lack of talent development pipeline to accelerate their motivation into action. Despite their passion for resolving the climate crisis as demonstrated by the never-before-seen globally coordinated youth protests in 2019 and 2020, 74% of global youth indicate that they still do not have a clear idea of how they can create solutions for solving climate change. Student Energy believes that with accessible and experiential energy career training, this talent can be deployed where it is most needed. But right now, due to a lack of dedicated training programs for clean energy, 65% of HR managers in the energy sector indicate that they are seriously concerned about the availability of highly skilled talent, indicating that international ambitions for deploying clean energy far exceed current future clean energy workforce supply.
3. Despite some youth being drawn towards entrepreneurship as a way of influencing their energy future, 82% of global young entrepreneurs indicated that a lack of financial support is the main barrier toward entrepreneurship. Specifically, youth entrepreneurs thrive when given non-dilutive capital around USD 6,000 per project range – a category that is currently outside the wheelhouse of traditional financiers. 
4. Finally, there is a major barrier for financing climate and energy solutions in the Global South. Even with dedicated funding for clean energy solutions in certain wealthier regions, only USD$45B out of the USD$455B in global climate finance crossed borders from an OECD to non-OECD country, with the majority of the small funds distributed taking the form of loans. This lack of any real early-stage risk capital in critical energy markets represents yet another unjust aspect of the energy transition, where the Global South could continue to be left behind as the world transitions toward clean energy over the coming decades. Besides energy justice, deploying sufficient clean energy in emerging economies also represents a critical juncture in achieving global climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement.

For all of these reasons, right now, Student Energy is actively raising $10 Million by December 2021 to build out the first tranche of programming and systems to put us on the path to unlock 10,000 youth climate solutions and train 50,000 agile and employable youth workers in the clean energy sector by 2030. Student Energy’s Solutions Movement is critical for mobilizing, training, and resourcing the next generation of climate champions within this decade.

Student Energy’s Ecosystem & Student Energy Ventures

How will Student Energy achieve this ambitious climate goal by 2030? Student Energy is already a global leader in this space, with a track record of excellence in engaging 50,000+ global youth from 120 countries in the future of energy over 12 years of operation. This includes mobilizing our youth network of 46+ global chapters, stewarding 281 youth-led energy projects, and offering over 975 hours of mentorship to young energy leaders annually since 2010. 

Student Energy Ventures

The cornerstone of the Solutions Movement will be Ventures, Student Energy’s flagship direct-to-youth funding program aimed at accelerating youth-led clean energy project development globally.  Ventures will offer youth access to an unparalleled level of direct funding, training and entrepreneurial support to develop youth-led clean energy projects. The program will result in a significant deployment of clean energy projects, training of a new skilled workforce equipped with knowledge and experiences needed to build the energy system of the future, and an accelerated global clean energy transition.

Meet Our Champions

One most exciting part of this work to date has been the incredible response from our partner network and larger Student Energy family. This work has already engaged our full team, dozens of current and past program participants, our global alumni network, board of directors and ever-growing network of partners. Student Energy would like to recognize our founding partners for launching the Solutions Movement: the Government of Denmark, New Energy Nexus, and Sustainable Energy for All. 

“Tackling climate change is the biggest challenge of our time and it will not be easy, but seeing the motivation, innovation, creativity, and drive that young people around the world today are showing gives me hope that we will achieve our goals. The kind of ambition demonstrated by Student Energy to support 10,000 youth-led clean energy projects by 2030 is precisely what we need in order to accelerate the energy transition and achieve SDG7. Denmark is proud to be a funding partner of this initiative.” – Asser Rasmussen Berling, Head of Department at the Centre for Global Climate Action at The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, Government of Denmark

“This is the decade to deploy the solutions we have at hand to address the climate crisis, and many of these solutions need to be youth-led. If these businesses are going to last decades, they are going to need the motivation and energy of young people to really disrupt the markets and overcome the incumbents that they’re going to challenge.  We at New Energy Nexus are really excited to partner with Student Energy to develop this movement of guided entrepreneurship.” – Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus

“Every stakeholder has a key role to play as we aim to meet the SDG7 and Paris Agreement targets, including youth, and I am pleased to see the leadership being demonstrated by Student Energy with this Energy Compact commitment. SEforALL’s first ever Youth Summit, held in February 2020, demonstrated our renewed commitment to bringing youth to the fore in this critical year, and it is great to see one of our organizing partners for the Summit come full circle by setting the pace for other young people to follow. This shows that beyond bringing their voices to the table, young people can design and fund the innovations required to achieve our energy and climate goals.” – Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)

How Can You Help?

At Student Energy, our 2021 focus is to raise $10 Million dollars to launch the pilot phase of the Solutions Movement. Learn more about our work at studentenergy.org/solutionsmovement.
For governments, businesses, and philanthropic foundations, if you would like to explore partnering with Student Energy in this initiative:

Book a meeting with us or email us at letschat@studentenergy.org

If you are not a funder or potential donor, but believe in our important work, we ask that you share this information to help generate additional exposure or connect us to a potential funder you think would be interested in this work. 

This fall, Natural Resources Canada embarked upon Generation Energy, a series of public consultations that culminated in a forum – working to define the vision for the future of Canada’s energy system. Obviously, when we’re talking the future of energy Student Energy knows the youth voice should be front and center because the energy future is what defines our future. With support from NRCAN, we did just that, gathering youth from across the country to host dialogues in their communities and collectively create the Youth Voices Report – a pan-Canadian vision of what young people expect for the future of our energy system.

With close to 300 young people from 11 provinces and territories contributing, and over 7,000 Canadians participating online, the 2017 Youth Voices Report is a cohesive declaration of what the next generation of Canadians believe we need to achieve a sustainable energy future. Canada’s youth have come together to reach a consensus on what steps the country should take to achieve this sustainable future, and how young people want to contribute to solutions.

The objectives are clear. By 2050 young people want Canada to: have a zero-carbon thriving economy, be a world leader in clean technology, have depoliticized, collaborative energy governance, and operate an equitable decolonized energy system that provides equal opportunities to all Canadians without negatively impacting our environment.

Young Canadians know that our sustainable energy future will not happen overnight, and we will need to work hard to ensure there is a just transition that provides Canadians with economic security and an enthusiastic outlook for the future ahead.

Young Canadians are ready and willing to work with the generations that have come before us, as the engines of innovation who will deliver on our energy future. We know that Pan-Canadian collaboration is the only way to overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities we face in undertaking this rapid transition.

Download the report from the link below to hear what youth across Canada have to say about our energy future and how we work towards these ambitious energy goals. 

2017 Youth Voices Report.pdf