Overwhelmed, Outraged, Optimistic: Takeaways from I4C's Young Climate Innovator's Policy Jam

Youth play a key role in accelerating climate action. They are agents of change, entrepreneurs and innovators. Whether through advocacy, technology, policy or finance, among other fields, young people are using their skills and scaling up their efforts to accelerate climate action.  

Young Climate Innovators

Drawing on Innovate4Climate’s (I4C) commitment to inspiring, empowering and engaging young professionals and students committed to careers in climate action, I4C has launched Young Climate Innovators (YCI) program as a platform for youth to learn and exchange ideas on their role in scaling-up climate action and climate-resilient recovery and to find resources to pursue a career in climate. 

YCI took place on May 24th, 2021, as part of I4C 2021 Live, and engaged over 160 young participants throughout a half-daylong curated program comprised by three partner-led sessions that are available to watch on-demand on I4C 2021 site: Climate Action at the World Bank, Session on Climate Entrepreneurship and Policy Jam.

Policy Jam

The Policy Jam session was co-organized by Connect4Climate (C4C) and Youth Climate Lab (YCL). The interactive workshop, facilitated by YCL, builds upon the organization’s work around COVID-19 recovery and youth over the past year. Although YCL has been hearing a number of discussions taking place on this issue, they've seen little action on the part of institutions and governments towards the just and climate-resilient futures that young people deserve. At the same time, YCL has found that young people spend so much time trying to get seats at decision-making tables that once they finally get there, they lack the context and the skills to advocate for ambitious change.

Youth, especially from vulnerable communities, have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They are overwhelmed as a result of facing unprecedented levels of precarity in employment, education, financial security, and physical and mental health. In addition to dealing with a global pandemic and an economic crisis, youth shoulder the responsibility of climate adaptation and mitigation. Youth are outraged that climate inaction continues to pervade decision-making spaces, including in regards to a green and just recovery from COVID-19. However, youth are optimistic and understand that they have a once-in-a-generation opportunity for transformative change with the potential to radically shift skills-building, policy, and finance, and elevate the role of youth – while tackling the climate emergency.

The Policy Jam workshop equipped young people with knowledge about the current state of play on youth, climate action, and COVID-19 recovery, and sparked creative discussion around existing barriers and effective solutions – all with the goal that they would feel prepared to engage with decision-makers throughout the rest of I4C 2021 Live, and in their own work going forward.

Takeaways

After a series of breakout group discussions on what the barriers are regarding investment into sustainable and green jobs for young people (Skills), policy innovation and meaningful opportunities for youth to engage in policy (Policy) and youth-led climate solutions (Finance); and on how to address those barriers through youth-suggested solutions, the main takeaways can be summarized as follows:

• Both bottom-up and top-down approaches are needed to take action at the scale and scope that we need.
• However, individualization limits the community organization and mobilization that is possible. The focus on personal responsibility and profit must shift towards centering wellbeing, designing systemic interventions, and implementing measures of accountability.
• Youth must be actively included in decision-making processes to:
  • inform the whole of economy/government/institution strategies;
  • prevent the silo-ing of "youth" or "green" policies; and,
  • break down barriers to additional youth involvement.
• Comprehensive climate education, including basic knowledge of climate change, awareness of the social and economic benefits of climate solutions, policy literacy, and opportunities to engage with climate work, policies, and investment are critical.
• A shift in how individuals and institutions view and value youth, our lived experiences, and our contributions is foundational to achieving anything.

YCL wrapped their session by encouraging participants to ground themselves in their own realities. Many of us are feeling overwhelmed, outraged, and optimistic right now, but we are most effective as advocates when we bring our full selves to the table – and use these feelings to guide how we innovate and transform the world.

Thank you to all of the Young Climate Innovators who attended this session and others, and to C4C and YCL team staff and external facilitators who guided the discussions outlined here – your enthusiasm and insights have made this whole process exciting!