Fully Funded to COP 29 in Baku: Apply for Oxford Net Zero Global Youth Climate Training 2024

Ednah Carrick July 24, 2024

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Closing Date: 10 August 2024

Fully Funded to COP 29 in Baku: Apply for Oxford Net Zero Global Youth Climate Training 2024

Background

The Global Youth Climate Training Programme (GYCT) is a free capacity-building programme that equips people aged 16-35 with the knowledge and confidence necessary to engage in international climate policy. Young people are increasingly being given a seat at the table in domestic and international climate policy, and therefore require appropriate capacity-building to ensure their interventions are cogent and relevant.

This project is a collaboration between the Global Youth Coalition (GYC), a coalition of climate youth changemakers, and researchers at the University of Oxford (Oxford Net Zero, Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment). The joint team delivering this project represents a strong international and intergenerational collaboration, spanning multiple continents, professional backgrounds and ages. They received 10,000 applications for their first iteration of the programme, demonstrating greater need for effective youth capacity building programmes.

2024 Climate Training Programme

This year, with the generous support of the Climate Works Foundation, they are running their second iteration of the programme from 3 September-1 October 2024, with one final session on 1 November 2024. The programme brochure for this year includes details such as the schedule, focus of this year’s course, and applicant criteria. Applications will be open until 10 August at 23:59 UTC. Applicants will be accepted on a rolling basis, with all decisions out by 23 August. The time of the sessions will be decided based on the time zone most appropriate to their selected cohort, but sessions will be between 1-5pm UTC.

Opportunity: COP29 bursary

Through the generous support of the ClimateWorks Foundation, they are delighted that this year they are able to offer 5 bursaries for admitted applicants in their 2024 training to attend COP29. This bursary of up to £3000 is to cover flights, accommodation, food and transport. They can unfortunately not support accreditation – this is primarily for applicants who have the ability to attend COP29 but face financial barriers.

Application process for the bursary:

Apply for the 2024 Global Youth Climate Training Programme
Accepted applicants will be directed to a secondary application form to express their interest in receiving a bursary to attend COP29. Applications will open during September and applicants will be informed of the success of their application by early October.

Application criteria for the bursary:

Since they are unable to support all applicants, first priority will be given to applicants representing diverse regions and groups most impacted by climate change.

Programme History

This programme was launched May 2023 to provide greater clarity on the negotiation tracks of the UNFCCC ahead of COP28. It brought together leading experts and young climate professionals and covered topics such as Climate Finance, Loss & Damage, Adaptation & Resilience and more. Alexis McGivern, Oxford Net Zero Fellow, created and led the programme alongside several youth activists from the Global Youth Coalition, leveraging the University of Oxford’s wide network of climate experts.

The 2023 curriculum was built by consulting 180 young climate justice activists who gave their input on their training needs. They educated 4,500 activists under the age of 35 spreading over 177 countries, with 64% identifying as from Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA). This youth training is trial of radical open-access and inclusion, with all of the recordings published to YouTube, a completely free course for participants. They also partnered with EcoInterpreters to offer the course in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Several Oxford Net Zero researchers taught on the 2023 programme (including Dr. Myles Allen, Dr. Jose Maria Valenzuela, Dr. Tom Hale), alongside researchers and practitioners from around the world. The programme was intentionally crafted to prioritise expert Global South voices on climate issues. Each session began with a testimonial by a youth speaker, followed by a technical lecture by relevant global climate experts.