Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme 

Engaging Youth Voices in Europe’s Sustainable Future

Youth4GreenPolicy is a European initiative designed to strengthen young people’s participation in sustainability, climate action, and democratic decision-making. At a time when environmental challenges require urgent and collective responses, the project addresses the growing need to ensure that young people are not only informed about sustainability issues, but are meaningfully involved in shaping the policies that will define Europe’s future.

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The project focuses on bridging the gap between ambitious European climate and sustainability frameworks and practical youth engagement. While environmental policies increasingly shape daily life, many young people still lack accessible opportunities to understand how decisions are made, how trade-offs are negotiated, and how they can actively influence these processes. Youth4GreenPolicy responds to this challenge by creating engaging learning experiences that combine civic participation, sustainability education, and democratic action. By equipping youth workers and young people with practical tools, participatory methods, and policy simulation experiences, the project enables participants to critically engage with sustainability debates and move beyond awareness into action. Young people will explore environmental challenges through interactive workshops, debates, and co-creation processes, while experiencing real-world policy negotiation scenarios that help them understand competing priorities across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Participants will also strengthen their ability to recognise greenwashing, question misleading narratives, and engage critically with information related to climate and sustainability.

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Objectives of the project

The project aims to:

• Strengthen young people’s understanding of sustainability, climate governance, and democratic participation

• Equip youth workers with innovative tools and participatory methods for environmental civic engagement

• Foster critical thinking skills to identify greenwashing, misinformation, and misleading sustainability narratives

• Promote meaningful youth participation in sustainability-related policymaking processes

• Encourage inclusive, diverse, and gender-sensitive engagement in climate action

• Develop youth leadership, collaboration, and civic advocacy competences

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Activities

Youth4GreenPolicy combines training, civic engagement, and collaborative learning through:

• 4 international training activities for youth workers and youth leaders

• Local multiplier activities and community-based engagement events across partner countries

• Interactive policy simulations and sustainability decision-making exercises

• Youth bootcamp focused on civic leadership and green participation

• A transnational Experts Working Group

• National stakeholder roundtables and an EU-wide survey

• Thematic webinars connecting young people with policymakers and sustainability experts

• Climate quiz campaigns and awareness-raising initiatives

• A dedicated online community platform for continued dialogue, networking, and collaboration

• A final European conference and dissemination events

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Impact

Through the training and support of 150 youth workers, the project engages over 1,500 young people across Europe. Participants strengthen their understanding of sustainability governance, develop practical civic participation skills, and gain confidence to actively engage in democratic environmental discussions.

Youth4GreenPolicy contributes to building a more environmentally conscious, critically engaged, and empowered generation capable of shaping Europe’s green transition through informed civic action.

Approach

The project is based on participatory and non-formal education methods, including:

• Peer learning and collaborative co-creation

• Policy simulations and experiential learning

• Critical debate and democratic dialogue

• Sustainability-focused civic engagement activities

• Community-driven local action and advocacy