Youth Climate Action Fund

Applications for the Youth Climate Action Fund have now closed.

Background on the global programme

It is crucial that the voices of young people are at the forefront in the fight against climate change, and that the next generation are given the opportunity to bring their ideas for meaningful climate solutions to life.

This year, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched a Youth Climate Action Fund which is providing funding to support 100 cities worldwide to engage young people (aged 15-24) to design, produce, and govern urgent climate solutions in their cities. More information here.

As one of the participating cities, Glasgow has received grant funding of US$50,000 (approximately £39,000) to rapidly launch and support youth-led climate projects through the distribution of local microgrants (between £800-£3,900).

Youth Climate Design Jam event

On Friday 14th June, a Design Jam was hosted at City Halls for young people and organisations who were interested in the fund to develop projects ideas through different creative activities. These activities were developed around the questions in the application form, and designed to support participants with their project proposals.

After an opening address from the Leader of the Council to kickstart the workshop, participants explored what climate action means to them, developed ideas for climate projects through a journey map, and mapped out which themes of Glasgow's Climate Plan their ideas related to. After lunch, each project team completed an idea framer to dig deeper into their climate projects, before presenting their ideas to the whole group and getting live feedback from other young people and staff from the Youth Climate Action Fund team.

7 project teams from schools, community and arts-focused organisations attended on the day, and came up with fantastic ideas for climate projects they would like to deliver in their local areas. These covered a wide range of topics, from local and sustainable food growth to creating a climate mural trail across the city.

The presentation from the Design Jam can be found under 'Additional links' at the bottom of the page.

What will the microgrants be used for?

Funded projects are climate-focused and support at least one of the key themes of Glasgow's Climate Plan:

• Communication and Community Empowerment (such as designing climate education programmes, delivering climate hackathons, and creating youth climate action plans)
• Just and Inclusive Place (such as focusing on fairness and equality through climate action, carrying out research into local climate issues, and designing climate-friendly spaces)
• Well Connected and Thriving City (such as sustainable transport initiatives, bicycle-sharing and pedestrian-friendly programmes, and supporting mobility)
• Health and Wellbeing (such as air quality research and monitoring, local food growing initiatives, and active travel support)
• Green Recovery (such as improving repair, reuse and recycling within local areas, reducing flooding and heat risk, and enhancing nature and biodiversity)

Key dates

• Youth Climate Action Fund Design Jam: Friday 14th June 2024
• Application form launch: Friday 21st June 2024
• Round 1 application deadline: Sunday 21st July 2024
• Round 2 application deadline: Sunday 25th August 2024
• Round 3 application deadline: Sunday 29th September 2024 
• Project selection: August-September 2024
• Project completion deadline: Tuesday 31st December 2024
• Final project reports due: Friday 31st January 2025

Additional links

• Youth Climate Design Jam Slides (PDF) [9MB] (opens new window)
• Bloomberg Press Launch
• Glasgow's Climate Plan
• Glasgow Green Deal

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