Young Climate Professionals (YCP) 2.0 – Empowerment project for “Green literacy and civic education for a sustainable Europe”

<< Background >>THE CIVICS applied to create a space for European youth passionate about climate action to enhance their green literacy and sustainability competencies by strengthening communication and project management skills, while also boosting the organisational capacities of all consortium partners in youth work. Recognising the urgency of youth involvement in climate action to achieve the European Green Deal goals, we aimed to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and networks needed to drive local sustainability initiatives. Our focus was on bridging the gap between passion and practical, action-oriented climate education, particularly in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, where young changemakers often lack structured support and cross-border collaboration opportunities. Through expert inputs across environmental and sustainability topics, peer learning, and the development of their own project ideas, participants were encouraged to build their agency as multipliers. The project also enabled partners to exchange best practices and refine youth-focused learning methods.<< Objectives >>With this project, we aimed to promote active citizenship and social entrepreneurship by empowering 30 young people across Europe with the knowledge, skills, and networks needed to drive local sustainability initiatives and contribute meaningfully to climate action in the realisation of the European Green Deal. By enhancing their green literacy, communication, personal development and project management competencies, we sought to bridge the gap between passion and practical implementation, particularly in regions where structured support for youth-led climate initiatives is limited.Beyond youth capacity building, we also aimed to strengthen the organisational competencies of all consortium partners in youth work and climate action, equipping them with better methodologies and approaches to fostering active participation and long-term engagement, and delivering high-impact youth centred projects. Ultimately, our goal was to develop a network of motivated young changemakers capable of translating their climate ambitions into tangible, community-driven projects while fostering stronger inter-organisational collaboration for future youth-centred initiatives.<< Implementation >>The YCP programme consisted of four main activities. The first three were online sessions, each lasting four hours and held on Saturdays (28.09.2024, 19.10.2024, and 18.01.2025) via Zoom. Delivered through interactive formats such as speaker talks, brainstorming exercises, and practical workshops, these sessions covered key themes from the European Green Deal, including food systems, green entrepreneurship, biodiversity, resilience, and adaptation. They aimed to build participants’ climate action knowledge, skills, and networks to support youth-led initiatives. To ensure smooth collaboration, we used Padlet, WhatsApp community channels, Google Forms, and Slack. Between the second and third sessions, we partnered with the NECE project of THE CIVICS to host a webinar on intergenerational dialogue in climate action, providing the YCPs the opportunity to practice their communication, presentation, and project design skills while engaging in meaningful discussions with older generations on climate issues.The final activity was a three-day in-person YCP Campus in Zagreb (13–16.02.2025) with expert talks, training, pitches, a green-themed treasure hunt, workshops, and a site visit to a sustainability action centre.<< Results >>At the core of our project was training participants to translate their climate action interests into tangible and feasible project concepts. By the end, 23 youth-led climate projects were developed for implementation across Europe. One standout output too was a sustainability tool created by a YCP participant to track carbon footprints and assess travel choices, which was widely used for the Campus and adapted by others to suit their local contexts.Some YCPs also introduced interactive alternatives to traditional feedback forms, later incorporated into the programme. These feedback innovations allowed partners to adjust content and methods in real time, refining our interactive learning approaches. This iterative process strengthened programme quality and improved partners’ capacity to deliver impactful capacity-building activities. Beyond formal sessions, participants stayed active through tools like WhatsApp and Padlet, sharing climate insights and resources. As a result, an open-access digital library/toolbox was created and is available on THE CIVICS website, offering curated content to boost sustainability competencies and green literacy for all those interested.