The Global Youth Climate Summit 2023 will bring together changemakers from diverse backgrounds, build their leadership skills, and empower them to lead the fight against climate change.
The earth’s atmosphere contains an excess one trillion tonnes of Greenhouse Gasses (GHGs), with an additional 51 billion tonnes emitted every year. The result is a more rapidly warming atmosphere, with devastating consequences for our planet and its people.
Today we are seeing dangerous heat waves, droughts, flooding, rising food insecurity and increased displacement of populations, especially in the most climate vulnerable countries in the Global South.
These countries will need effective leadership to mitigate climate change and adapt to changing climate realities in coming decades. Supporting today’s youth to become tomorrow’s leaders will require deepening their knowledge of climate science, equipping them with the leadership skills to act at global and local levels, and investing in a climate conscious future for them and their children.
GYLC will help bridge the information gap by educating the next generation on the science of climate change, to better understand the drivers of global warming and the levers by which each individual can affect change.
GYLC will provide leadership training for youth to build the soft skills needed for both individual and collective action. We will empower youth to make mindful and informed decisions about their own lives, ranging from diet to energy use and housing choices. At the same time, they will build their skills and confidence to act collectively, through community mobilization and political action.
GYLC will invest in youth as entrepreneurs of climate-conscious businesses and in careers in green jobs in the Global South. Using a well-established accelerator model, GYLC will support young entrepreneurs who are tackling climate mitigation and adaptation through their businesses.
GYLC is built on the 14-year track record of the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) in providing adaptive leadership training to youth in the Global South and empowering youth to lead social change. We also bring experience of working with the private sector, co-creating curriculum and placing youth in jobs, and a track record of investing in youth-led businesses and running an accelerator.