Helen Watts

How do we engage with and invest in youth to more effectively realize the energy transition? For philanthropy, governments, and financial institutions, the first step is building relationships with existing youth networks and organizations. These groups have already established trust and are intimately familiar with the needs and experiences of young people on the ground. By partnering with these organizations, institutions can ensure that their resources are used effectively and that they are supporting initiatives that have a real impact.

Next, it’s critical to support youth networks with the funding and resources they need to continue their work or focus on specific strategies or regions that align with mutual goals. This means not just one-off grants, but sustained investment that allows youth-led projects to scale and achieve long-term impact.

Concrete recommendations that came out of the ClimateWorks Foundation and The Hour is Late, along with Student Energy’s youth engagement practice at COP28 in partnership with the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group are as follows:

• Funders must provide flexible, unrestricted funding.
• Philanthropy must work to dismantle barriers that are exclusionary to youth, which may involve the co-creation of progress metrics and lowered administrative burdens.
• Philanthropy must be cognizant of the unique needs and challenges facing youth, and be responsive and flexible to evolving needs and opportunities.
• While communications and movement-building tends to attract more resources, funds are required to address underfunded areas of work such as leadership development, training capacity, and entrepreneurship.

Beyond grantmaking and investment, there is need for organizations to mainstream youth inclusion into their institutional practices. This starts with dedicating a team to work across departments, building knowledge and understanding of the importance of youth engagement, and embedding youth considerations into every area of work. Whether it’s in hiring and retention or resource allocation, prioritizing youth inclusion offers innumerable benefits—from building public trust to fostering innovation and future-proofing the organization itself.

We simply cannot afford to leave youth out of our collective effort to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. By investing in youth-led projects, we are not just supporting the leaders of tomorrow—we are empowering the change-makers of today. The benefits are clear: more engaged communities, more innovative solutions, and a more just and sustainable world. It’s time to stop talking about the need to do more and start putting real resources behind the youth who are already leading the way. Our future depends on it.

About Student Energy

Student Energy is a global youth-led organization empowering the next generation of leaders who are accelerating the transition to a sustainable, equitable energy future. 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. Student Energy collaborates with governments, companies, and organizations to facilitate meaningful youth engagement and mobilize resources to support youth-led energy solutions.

Student Energy’s peer-reviewed, leading research project, the Youth Impact Framework, underscores the pivotal role that youth play in accelerating global progress toward universal clean energy access.

About the Author

Helen is the Executive Director at Student Energy, the world’s largest youth-led organization mobilizing 100,000 young people in 130 countries for a just, sustainable and equitable energy transition. Helen is a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, Corporate Knights 30 Under 30, and a recognized young clean energy and intergenerational equity advocate.

We’re living in a moment where the challenges facing our world can seem insurmountable — from the climate crisis to social injustices — but one of our most powerful solutions is often overlooked: the potential of youth-led initiatives. Facing a triple planetary crisis, increased social inequalities, economic and geopolitical uncertainty, it’s time to invest in a better future. We need to ramp up funding for youth-led initiatives worldwide, recognizing them not as risky ventures but as essential investments for a better future.

Promising Potential, Unmet Needs

Let’s start with the facts. When supported with training, mentorship, and funding, youth-led projects are proven to be consistently high-impact, driving community development, creating jobs, and localizing solutions in ways that larger, more traditional institutions often can’t. Data from the Youth Climate Justice Study and Student Energy’s Youth Impact Framework show that young people are not only deeply engaged in solving global issues but are also achieving significant, measurable impacts. Young people’s projects often tackle the intersection of multiple issues, from gender justice to climate action, and they bring a fresh perspective that leverages co-benefits—addressing one issue while positively influencing others.

Yet, despite this known impact, funding for youth-led initiatives remains critically inadequate. Climate work broadly already only receives 2% of global philanthropy (ClimateWorks Foundation), and within that small percentage, youth-led climate work receives only 0.76% of the grants made by the largest climate foundations. We would require an additional $4.5 million to bring that percentage up to 1% — despite young people 18-30 making up a quarter of our global population and 100% of our future. In the Multilateral Climate Funds sector, only 2.4% of overall funding administered has explicitly considered youth in their project scope (UNFCCC).

The reluctance to fund youth-led projects stems from a combination of misconceptions. First, there’s the perception that young people lack the experience or expertise to drive meaningful change. However, this ignores the fact that youth bring a unique perspective and a deep understanding of the challenges their generation faces—challenges that other generations may be less attuned to. Moreover, youth-led initiatives are often more agile, innovative, and in tune with the needs of their communities, making them particularly effective at creating localized solutions with real impact.

“Young people tend to have a fantastic impact in public opinion around the world…and governments follow” 

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

Second, there’s the belief that youth-led projects are a poor financial investment. But data tells a different story. Youth-led initiatives have shown time and again that they can deliver results, often with far fewer resources than larger organizations. Student Energy has supported young people who have gone on to develop large-scale solar projects, start multi-million dollar energy transition consulting firms, expand electricity access for 10,000 rural households, and advocate for just transitions and the Green Deal in European Parliament. The potential is there: think about how much more young people could do if properly resourced, as advocates, yes, but also as entrepreneurs, community leaders, and transformative actors within sectors themselves.

The High Stakes of Inaction

The stakes couldn’t be higher. With increasing social polarization and the rise of far-right movements around the globe, investing in youth is more critical than ever. Youth-led projects are a proven strategy for building public trust and community engagement—an approach that cities have often been the first to recognize and support.

Philanthropy is designed to support the “unbankable”—the innovative, the bold, the system-changing work that our current capital markets shy away from. Yet, despite this mandate, many philanthropic organizations have been hesitant to fully commit to youth-led initiatives.  The exceptions, like the Mastercard Foundation’s dedicated youth strategy and commitment to expand their support to $4.7 billion by 2040, should serve as a model for others.

Next week: A Call to Action

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About Student Energy

Student Energy is a global youth-led organization empowering the next generation of leaders who are accelerating the transition to a sustainable, equitable energy future. 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. Student Energy collaborates with governments, companies, and organizations to facilitate meaningful youth engagement and mobilize resources to support youth-led energy solutions.

Student Energy’s peer-reviewed, leading research project, the Youth Impact Framework, underscores the pivotal role that youth play in accelerating global progress toward universal clean energy access.

About the Author

Helen is the Executive Director at Student Energy, the world’s largest youth-led organization mobilizing 100,000 young people in 130 countries for a just, sustainable and equitable energy transition. Helen is a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, Corporate Knights 30 Under 30, and a recognized young clean energy and intergenerational equity advocate.