42,000 Youth Voices: Launching The Global Youth Energy Outlook

8 June 2023 – VANCOUVER – The Global Youth Energy Outlook (GYEO) is a new youth-led report released today by Student Energy, featuring nearly 42,000 survey responses from young people 18-30 in 129 countries. The GYEO is the largest youth-led data-gathering project on energy, developed by Student Energy, alongside 12 Regional Coordinators who led survey development and community outreach in their respective regions. The GYEO report is also accompanied by two Action Toolkits, a “Youth Toolkit” and a “Governments and Industry Toolkit”, which outline how various stakeholders can navigate the report and take action on the recommendations within.

Key Highlights from the GYEO:

• 80% of youth surveyed believe their governments should take drastic actions to reach net-zero emissions by 2030, with two-thirds of youth who expressed support for decarbonization targets indicating they wanted their governments to work toward a 2030 goal rather than 2050.
• As a global average, youth ranked ‘Government willpower, policies, and regulations’ as the biggest barrier in achieving a sustainable energy transition in their respective countries – especially in Latin America (56%) and South East Asia (48%). Youth also indicated they are prepared to vote on this issue, with 83% of respondents saying that they would vote for a political candidate based on their position on the energy transition.
• Government policy was chosen as the factor having the ‘most importance’ in accelerating the sustainable energy transition, with 44% of respondents choosing it as their top option. Youth in all regions also identified that governments had the most responsibility to reduce emissions.

 

The Global Youth Energy Outlook intends to bridge the gap between youth and decision-makers in governments and industry – for youth to use the Outlook as a data-backed advocacy tool, and for decision-makers to use the Outlook to understand how to meaningfully engage young people. 

 

Inside the Report: The GYEO opens with an Executive Summary and a Global Insights section, which contain the headline statistics, findings, and recommendations from the project overall. The report also contains 10 Region-specific Chapters. Each Regional Chapter is introduced with a Foreword by a Regional Coordinator to provide context, a ‘Regional Highlights’ section to amplify particularly interesting findings from each region, and a series of Discussions and thematic analyses that are specific to that region. The GYEO’s survey data is also accompanied by qualitative findings from 25 Regional Dialogues held with youth, as well as Youth Spotlights of young people who are taking action on energy around the world.

Partnerships: The project received financial support from Founding Partners DNV, the Government of Denmark, the Government of Canada (Natural Resources Canada), and the Leadership Group for Industry Transition. The project also received knowledge and peer review support from Knowledge Partner, Enel Foundation.

Student Energy first launched the initial findings from the report at the Science Show Theatre as an official event of the COP26 Green Zone Programme in Glasgow, Scotland, featuring an intergenerational panel discussion with Regional Coordinators and government officials. Since then, the GYEO’s insights have been presented to various youth and global audiences, to support the development of this final report.

 

“We are excited to launch the Global Youth Energy Outlook to celebrate a 3-year youth-led research process. Through a labor of passion and dedication, the report was developed by young energy leaders who are keen to envision and facilitate a rapid transformation of the energy system. We are also thrilled to have Dr. Carlo Papa, Managing Director of Enel Foundation,  join us for the launch event of the GYEO, as Enel Foundation has been deeply supportive in the review process for the project as our Knowledge Partner. Over the course of this project, Student Energy has seen that young people globally are unified in their desire to see urgent climate action, and yet have a diversity of perspectives informed by the unique geographic and social contexts of their communities. We hope that this research is a launching point for decision makers to meaningfully include young people and youth perspectives in decision-making on the energy transition.” – Helen Watts, Executive Director, Student Energy

 

About Student Energy:

Student Energy is the world’s largest youth-led organization empowering 50,000 young people in 120+ to accelerate the sustainable energy transition. Since its founding in 2009,  Student Energy has worked to build the knowledge, skills, and networks that youth need to take action on energy. Student Energy operates on a unique youth empowerment model, which means that initiatives are co-created with youth, for youth.

Student Energy also works with governments, the UN, and other decision-makers to facilitate meaningful youth engagement and mobilize resources, coaching, and mentorship to support youth-led work. Student Energy has built coalitions with over 100 diverse partners, such as Indigenous Clean Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, HSBC Global, the Stockholm Environment Institute, DNV, WSP, and national governments like Canada, Denmark, and Sweden. Student Energy has stewarded CAD$10 million+ in funding to date, supported the development of over 280 youth energy projects, held 6 international Student Energy Summits, and attracted over 17 million people to its digital energy education platforms.

 

About Enel Foundation:

Enel Foundation is an Italian think-tank established in early 2012, with the key objective to drive changes through knowledge creation and sharing to help solve the greatest challenges of our time in the energy and climate domains.

Based in Rome and Santiago, Enel Foundation conducts in-depth independent research leading to scenarios analysis, policy and regulation recommendations and tailored solutions and it co-creates multi flags training programs.

Knowledge platform for a clean energy future

 We focus on the crucial role of clean energy to ensure a sustainable future for all.

By envisioning a sustainable future – resilient and equal – boosted by quality education and enlightened self-interest by the business community. The future we want is powered by affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern electricity smartly distributed to all.

We focus on research and education.

By developing partnerships with pre-eminent experts and institutions across the globe, leveraging on the vast knowledge of our Founders, we conduct research to explore the implications of global challenges in the energy domain. We develop scenario analysis, define policy and regulation opportunities, and design education programs to the benefit of scientific and institutional realms.

We operate at the intersection of business and society.

By engaging institutions and governmental bodies, thought leaders and civil society representatives, industry experts and academia. We are a non-profit organization seeking to converge with like-minded actors determined to solve global challenges ensuring a sustainable future for all.

 

Media Contacts:

Shakti Ramkumar, Senior Director of Policy and Communications

shakti@studentenergy.org

Phone/Whatsapp: +1 (604) 445 4306

 

Helen Watts, Executive Director

helen@studentenergy.org

Phone/Whatsapp: +1 (604) 354 2930

 

Click here to watch the full recording of the webinar event on YouTube