Youth4Climate Annual Flagship Event 2024

As climate change remains one of the most pressing challenges of our time, the role of youth in innovating and driving solutions becomes increasingly vital. Youth leadership is not only about amplifying voices but also about supporting tangible actions that contribute to climate resilience and ambition. To harness this potential, the Youth4Climate initiative (Y4C) launched the Youth4Climate Call for Solutions Innovation Challenge. This Challenge seeks to identify and support youth-led solutions that address key issues within the climate crisis. 

In its first iteration in 2023, the Call awarded 50 initiatives across 39 countries, setting the stage for an even more ambitious second iteration. 

Y4C launched its second global Call for Solutions in February 2024 for young people and youth-led initiatives working on climate action-focused projects across 5 thematic areas: Climate and Environmental Literacy, Sustainable Energy, Food and Agriculture, Nature Assets and Sustainable Consumption and Production.  

The Call closed in May, with over 2,000 youth registering on the application portal. This year's selection process was extremely competitive, with many exceptional submissions from talented and committed young individuals and teams working to create a better and more sustainable world for themselves and their communities.  

Following a thorough evaluation process, we have selected 50 solutions from across 32 countries for a Youth4Climate award in 2024. Awardees will receive up to USD 30,000 each in financial awards and technical support. 

This brings the total number of youth-led solutions awarded by Y4C since last year to 100, across 52 countries, for an envelope of USD 2.5 million.

This year's Y4C annual flagship event in Turin, Italy will celebrate this year’s awardees, learn from the progress of some of Y4C’s first cohort of awardees, and discuss priority policy items like Youth, Climate, Peace and Security.

Read on to learn more about the event and how to get involved!  

The Youth4Climate flagship event, taking place on October 25-26, 2024, at the Politecnico di Torino, will unite over 50 young climate leaders from 31 countries. This flagship event, co-organized with the Italian University Network for Sustainable Development (RUS), aims to amplify youth-led climate solutions and promote intergenerational collaboration.  

The flagship event will showcase innovative approaches across core themes like Climate and Environmental Literacy, Sustainable Energy, Nature, Sustainable Consumption and Production, and Food and Agriculture. Building on insights from previous Youth4Climate events and the Y4C online engagement platform, it will serve as a hub for young participants and key stakeholders to exchange best practices, address challenges, and explore ways to accelerate the implementation of climate actions.  

The Call for Solutions Award Ceremony, spotlighting breakthroughs in Climate Literacy, Sustainable Energy, Nature, and Food and Agriculture, will be a highlight of the event. This special moment will celebrate the achievements of young innovators whose solutions are driving impactful climate action across the globe. 

Earlier in September 2024, awardees for Sustainable Consumption and Production were awarded at the One Planet Network Forum in Rio de Janeiro. The next group of awardees, working on projects on land degradation topics, will be awarded at the UNCCD COP16 in December 2024,  in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Although the Youth4Climate Flagship event is by invitation only, you can still follow the next award ceremony live online. 

Tune in on October 26 at 11:15 CET (Central European Time) by clicking the image below to watch the live ceremony. 

Y4C and its partners launched the first Call for Solutions in October 2022 and it was  closed in March 2023. Structured as an innovation challenge, the first Y4C Call for Solutions aimed to support the work of young people and youth-led or youth-focused organizations in four thematic areas: Climate Education, Energy, Food and Agriculture, and Urban Sustainability.   

From among 1,100+ proposals received, 100 projects from 63 countries were shortlisted and invited to attend the Youth4Climate: Sparking Solutions Flagship Event in Rome on 17-19 October 2023, where they pitched their solution Infront of selection panel. Winners of the call were announced at the event, and received up to USD 20,000 in financial awards, peer-to-peer networking, as well as learning offers graciously supported by partner organizations.   

Do you want to know what last year’s awardees are up to? Read their stories here  

Check out photos from last year event in Rome below and you can find the event report and more information here.

Youth4Climate is a global initiative, co-led by UNDP and the Government of Italy, to support and boost climate action by youth and youth-led initiatives.  

In addition to hosting one of the largest youth and climate communities on its online platform, Y4C is directly supporting 100 youth-led projects across 52 counties both financially and in-kind.  

To learn more about our Secretariat, the UNDP Rome Centre, visit our website.