Apply to be a funded international youth or local youth at the Action for Climate Empowerment Hub Youth Event in Bonn, Germany

0 2 3 minutes read

Closing Date: 5 May 2025

Apply to be a funded international youth or local youth at the Action for Climate Empowerment Hub Youth Event in Bonn, Germany

Overview

Gain the skills, connections, and strategies you need to advance meaningful climate action in your community and be one of the funded international youth or local youth from selected for this opportunity.

The Action for Climate Empowerment Hub Youth Event offers three days of hands-on training in communication, using culture and creativity to drive climate action, and developing practical project design skills.

Background

The Action for Climate Empowerment Hub (ACE Hub) is a collaboration between the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany and UN Climate Change aimed at fostering the implementation of Article 12 of the Paris Agreement related to education and public awareness, training, public participation, and public access to information known as Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), in NRW and globally.

The objective of the ACE Hub is to increase public support to, and engagement in, climate action activities that can help accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement across all sectors of society. The ACE Hub also includes a range of activities to support the implementation of the Glasgow work programme on ACE and its four-year action plan, such as providing capacity building, tools and knowledge to governments and other stakeholders across the world, so that they can better engage the public, including young people, in climate action.

Children and Youth are a special focus of the ACE Hub and activities dedicated to supporting meaningful youth engagement will also be delivered, including regional youth dialogues and an Action for Climate Empowerment Hub Youth Event (ACE Hub youth event) which will take place in Bonn, Germany to increase awareness, education and participation in climate action. Please follow these links for additional information:

ACE webpage: https://unfccc.int/ace
ACE Hub webpage: https://unfccc.int/ace-hub
ACE Hub Youth Event webpage: https://unfccc.int/action-for-climate-empowerment-hub-youth-event

Objective

Recognizing the importance of developing the diverse knowledge, values and skills necessary to address the climate crisis, the ACE Hub Youth Event aims to achieve the following objectives:

Contribute to efforts to build the skills and strengthen competencies of youth to lead and participate in effective, equitable and just climate action at the local, national, regional and international levels;
Provide an opportunity for youth to collaborate on innovative climate solutions and initiatives; and
Connect and encourage exchange and networking among local and international youth.

Description

The ACE Hub Youth Event will be organized in-person from 17 – 19 June 2025 in Bonn, Germany, in English and in collaboration with multiple partners. The ACE Hub will fund 2 international youth and 15 youth residing the North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) region in Germany. Externally or self-funded and independently accredited youth may also apply. The Call for Applications closes 5 May.

This year’s event aims to build the capacity of young people to support the implementation of Climate Empowerment Action initiatives at the local and sub-national level. The event will feature three days of interactive training modules focused on skills development in delivering communications for sustainable advocacy, applying creativity and culture to advancing climate action, best methods in designing climate projects, and other topics. As part of the programme, there will be an off-campus excursion to observe local climate action at the city level.

Participants will also have the opportunity to attend the joint session of the annual Dialogue on Action for Climate Empowerment, focusing on the role of children and youth, including those from local communities and Indigenous Peoples, in advancing ACE implementation and intergenerational knowledge sharing in the context of the work of constituted bodies and work programmes under the UNFCCC. Participants will have ample opportunity for exchange, collaboration and networking, allowing them to share knowledge and skills and learn from each other. The provided accreditation does not allow access to SB62 negotiation sessions.

Selection Criteria

Through a call for applications, the Official Children and Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (YOUNGO) will be responsible for the selection of funded 2 international youth participants and 15 youth participants from NRW as well as a limited number of self-funded participants.

The selection process will follow a fair and inclusive approach in identifying participants taking into consideration geographical representation, as appropriate, and gender balance. The selection process will also follow a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure the participation of a diverse group of individuals, therefore individuals from all backgrounds and disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Applicants must also meet the following criteria:

Be between the ages of 18 – 35 at the time of the event;
Be fluent in English (oral);
Be able to participate in-person for the full duration of the event;
Have knowledge and interest in or experience with one or more elements of ACE, i.e., climate education and public awareness, training, public participation and access to information; and
Ideally involved with or working on climate change topics at the local level, with cities, municipalities or subnational governments on community-based climate advocacy, action and initiatives.
*For local (NRW) applicants: Currently reside in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.