To address this challenge, Student Energy and the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group came together at COP28 to facilitate a collaborative roundtable event, uniting youth and philanthropic actors to address the challenges and opportunities inherent in engaging youth-led organizations in the energy sector. These conversations emphasized the importance of flexible, unrestricted funding to support the long-term sustainability of youth organizations while facilitating greater participation in global decision-making spaces; dismantling exclusionary barriers present within current grant-making processes; and recognizing the unique needs and challenges facing youth, prioritizing support for youth efforts across ages, geographies, and backgrounds.

As we look towards this year’s COP convenings, which will be taking place between November 11 and 22, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan, we’re diving into a few key takeaways from this discussion while calling on leaders across all sectors to raise ambition around their youth engagements – a demographic that will be critical to achieving an equitable and sustainable energy future for all. We further hope these findings will catalyze broader gatherings and youth-philanthropy engagements to spur the global energy transition through innovative and impact-driven youth initiatives.

Flexible, unrestricted funding is essential. 

Many youth participants noted that they often have difficulties accessing funding through philanthropies that support multi-year projects or general organizational needs, instead relying on project-specific grants. 

Not only can flexible, unrestricted funding support the long-term sustainability of youth organizations, but a number of additional co-benefits can be realized. Sufficient funding towards organizational salaries can help to reduce burnout common across youth organizations, many of which are volunteer-based. Funding allocated toward travel can facilitate increased youth participation in critical global decision-making spaces, such as COP28, which can be vital for inspiring future work and initiatives. Unrestricted funding can also serve to support educational and people development opportunities, furthering young people’s capacity to undertake this critical work and enhancing their overall credibility as actors in the energy space.  

Philanthropy must work to dismantle barriers that are exclusionary to youth. 

Youth organizations expressed that they generally find the philanthropic space to be exclusionary, difficult to navigate, and often operating in elite circles of which they are not a part. 

Philanthropic organizations must acknowledge the current barriers that may restrict youth organizations from accessing grants. These barriers might include the use of difficult or jargon-filled language, bureaucratic and time-consuming application processes, and funding requirements that render youth-led work ineligible due to fewer years of experience and a perception that youth lack the necessary expertise to undertake such work. Young people have identified trust between youth organizations and philanthropy as a critical first step toward dismantling these barriers. 

Philanthropy must be cognizant of the unique needs and challenges facing youth. 

Youth organizations are operating across incredibly diverse geographies, undertaking initiatives that are geared toward specific contexts and needs. In some parts of the world, youth feel restricted from grants due to ongoing conflict or political polarization. 

To raise ambition around youth engagement in the energy sector, philanthropies should prioritize supporting youth efforts across ages, geographies, and backgrounds while avoiding tokenistic and superficial efforts. Increasingly important is the need to recognize the unique context surrounding Indigenous-led initiatives while encouraging funding to support the integration of Indigenous knowledge into policy and practice. 

This lack of access to philanthropic funding can inevitably restrict youth organizations’ ability to maintain and scale their operations within the energy sector. This roundtable and its findings provide evidence-backed starting points to increase awareness among climate philanthropists of the needs of young entrepreneurs in the energy sector, ultimately spurring the global energy transition through innovative and impact-driven partnerships. 

We’d love to connect with our youth network on the ground! Fill out the form below to receive relevant event invitations and speaking opportunities. 

https://bit.ly/se-nyclimateweek2024

Student Energy is thrilled to be attending Climate Week NYC 2024, one of the world’s leading gatherings on climate and energy. Leveraging this strategic event at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, we’re looking forward to connecting with our partners, amplifying youth voices on a global stage, and celebrating our collective impact throughout Student Energy’s 15-year history. We’re also excited to unveil our new vision for 2030!

What to Expect from Student Energy at Climate Week NYC

While we’re gearing up for a week of meaningful dialogue and collaboration, here’s a quick preview of what we plan to highlight in New York City.

1. Celebrating Student Energy’s 15-year anniversary and launch of our ambitious 2030 vision.
2. Building new partnerships with public and private sector organizations to support Student Energy’s next phase of growth through 2030 and beyond.
3. Connecting with new and existing partnerships to learn and seek mentorship on priority areas for Student Energy, including scaling to meet demand for our programs.
4. Establishing and fostering regional and global relationships to support future global Student Energy on-location programming.

Clean Energy Career Pathways for Youth in the Global South

Student Energy’s 2030 vision centres around four key pillars the organization will prioritize over the coming years. One of those pillars, which is expanding career pathways for young people in clean energy, will be the focus of Student Energy’s conversations and objectives at Climate Week NYC, with an emphasis on the need for a just, people-centred transition.

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net-Zero Emissions (NZE) Scenario predicts that by 2030, as many as 14 million jobs will be created in the energy sector with five million lost in the fossil fuel industry as the world transitions towards a cleaner global energy system. With more than half of the global population under the age of 30, young people must be trained and supported now to access opportunities and accelerate growth in the renewables sectors, if these millions of green jobs are to be filled. This will support global and local sectors to avoid serious talent shortages and communities to access inclusive economic growth through the transition. 

Despite this, Student Energy’s research through the Energy Skills Transition Project has revealed a significant gap in young people’s understanding of career opportunities in the clean energy space, availability of entry-level positions, and access to relevant skills training. The clean energy sector moreover remains largely inaccessible to and exclusionary of youth, particularly Indigenous communities and other underrepresented groups.

On Thursday, September 26, from 14:00 to 16:00 ET, Student Energy, alongside leaders from New Energy Nexus and LinkedIn, will be hosting a panel discussion and networking session centred around responding to this challenge and providing tangible pathways to equipping youth with the green skills, tools, and training to drive an inclusive and equitable clean energy transition, particularly in the Global South. We’d love to have you there! Please feel free to register for the event via Eventbrite here and share the opportunity with your networks.

Other Events We’re Excited to Attend!

Student Energy will be attending a number of gatherings in New York. Here’s a small selection of events you can find us at, or ones we recommend you check out more generally! 

1. Summit of the Future (September 22-23) is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.
2. Global Renewables Summit (September 23-24) is the first-ever high-level public-private summit to discuss the progress, opportunities, and challenges of tripling renewable energy globally by 2030.
3. EnergyNowSDG7 Action Forum (September 25-27) convenes leaders from government, business, civil society, and other sectors and aims at “constructively reviewing, discussing, and progressing matters pertaining to expediting action on Sustainable Development Goal 7.

Last month, Student Energy organized the Net Zero World Café event for all energy-interested members of the McGill University and Greater Montreal communities. Michelle Balderston, Assistant to the Executive Director at Student Energy, oversaw the planning and facilitation of this meet-up as an instance of our Research and Youth Engagement program’s Net Zero in Our Neighbourhood research project which seeks to bring clean energy discussions directly to local communities.

Helen Watts, Executive Director at Student Energy, attended the ChangeNOW 2024 in Paris, France, and participated in a panel covering the Clean Energy Revolution. Helen shares the importance of ensuring youth and community are core considerations of all climate and energy solutions.

In this post, we’ll hear from Michelle and Helen about their experiences and learnings participating in these events!

Net Zero World Café

Michelle shares, “Last month, I had the pleasure of supporting Student Energy’s Net Zero World Café in Montréal. Our goal was to bring together community members across a range of backgrounds and interests to explore the world of net zero across local and national contexts. We succeeded on this point, as we welcomed attendees with expertise spanning engineering, arts, sciences, and beyond, all bringing their unique perspectives and expertise to the conversation. 

Through a roundtable format, we had the opportunity to dig into net zero across three critical sectors — transportation, waste, and buildings — and explore a wide range of challenges and opportunities for driving net-zero progress within Montréal and beyond. From advocating for more net zero-related educational initiatives to conducting clothing swaps, rethinking transportation as communal, or getting involved in public consultations, I was inspired by how much these conversations emphasized the immense potential of climate action at a local level and through community collaboration. 

I’ll also speak on behalf of our attendees to say that we were absolutely privileged to hear from McGill community member Rebecca Kresta, a mechanical engineer currently pursuing a master’s in Public Policy. Rebecca really served to reinforce the connections between local and national-level sustainability initiatives we were trying to emphasize and accentuated the role that all professions and sectors have to play in achieving net zero goals. 

Reflecting on how my knowledge of net zero has grown throughout the planning of and participation in this project, one of my key takeaways is that everyone can contribute to our collective journey towards a more sustainable energy system and net zero future — through actions big and small. Also, community building is so critical! As we wrapped up the night with networking over doughnuts and drinks, it was so heartening to receive such lovely and overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, emphasizing how important it is to be able to connect with others from within their communities, as these are truly the venues for some of the most meaningful and innovative ideas to take place.”

ChangeNOW 2024

Helen shares, “At the ChangeNOW 2024 Conference, I had the opportunity to participate in a fireside chat during the Clean Energy Revolution session, following a panel with leaders from the Shift Project, Schneider Electric, Sweetch Energy and Okra Solar to discuss community-led clean energy, technology and financial access. I highlighted stories from our Global Youth Energy Outlook, how youth are calling for action from decision-makers and what meaningful partnerships and power sharing with young people looks like in practice. 

Getting ourselves on track to triple renewable energy globally requires a massive jobs boom in the clean energy sector. We will not succeed in a transition that is socially just, economically positive, and community and industry needs-aligned if we do not prioritize these critical five years to support young people ages 18 to 30 to move into the sector.  Research and data developed by youth organizations, industry and intergovernmental organizations point to the reality of a significant and growing gap between young people passionate about energy issues and sectors trying to recruit talent.

Young people are hungry for meaningful jobs where they can access secure livelihoods while making an impact on climate and energy needs, and we have all the tools and knowledge we need to create an enabling environment for accessing jobs. What we still need is a scale-up of resources and forward-thinking policies to create an enabling environment, and we need a willingness to adapt from academia and industry recruitment. Organizations like Student Energy work to fill in the gaps for young people to learn how to develop and communicate their soft skills, market themselves effectively, and navigate an increasingly murky and complex job market. 

I had the opportunity to talk about our experiences at Student Energy to bridge this skills gap through programs like Student Energy Career Training, which provides youth with hands-on energy project experience with partner organizations, including Okra Solar. I also spoke about the ways in which our programs centre community building as a catalyst for empowering youth within the clean energy space, the importance of inclusive and accessible workforce training programs, and meaningful youth inclusion within the energy sector across all forums and decision-making spaces.”

Where would you like to see Student Energy?

Student Energy is active at global stages, attending events, expanding our reach, and growing our network of young energy leaders! It will always remain a priority of ours to bring nuanced, critical, optimistic insight into the energy industry, and to do so with youth skills and opportunities at front of mind.

Here you’ve seen just two quick ways that we practice outreach and community-building both in Canada and abroad; this is something we’re doing year round! Where might we see you next?

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