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Mobilising finance is key to addressing climate change and moving towards low-carbon and resilient economies. These efforts require multi-stakeholder and multi-sector collaboration that include youth, who are contributing to increasing the resilience of their communities by proposing innovative solutions, leading climate action and driving change for the sustainable future we all want to build.

Considering the importance of their inclusion, as part of the Festival of Green and Inclusive Finance 2022 (FFVI), the Working Group on Sustainable, Green and Climate Finance (GT-FIN SVC) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Tecnológico de Monterrey launched the national call “Youth in Action for Green Finance“. It aimed to create a space for dialogue for four youth projects to share their initiatives and achievements, and discuss the opportunities and challenges they face in financing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

The four innovative projects selected from the call for proposals were presented during the “Youth in Action for Green Finance” session on the third day of the FFVI, where in addition to presenting their projects, the panellists engaged in a discussion about the central role of youth in driving green and inclusive finance, the impact of their projects in promoting the greening of the financial system, social inclusion and climate ambition. One thing that unites these projects, as Daisy Álvarez pointed out, is that they seek “holistic solutions, which consider all possible approaches to sustainable development”.

From left to right: Daniela Carreón of EFT Verde; Ivan Mendoza from SMAR Jñatjo’o; Emiliano Reyes, Technical Advisor of GIZ Mexico; Graciela Rivera from EnerYOU and Daisy Álvarez from Building green and sustainable spaces for all / © Antonio Herrera, 2022.

Below are the projects that participated in the FFVI:

EFT Verde – Daniela Carreón

ETT Verde proposes an investment fund initiative made up of a diverse portfolio of shares, bonds and commodities that seek to match the performance of an index, in this case of sustainable and socially responsible companies. Its goal is to generate a common heritage, a plurality of investments representing sustainable society where individual returns are established according to collective results. This academic initiative signals a real opportunity for the financial sector to take climate action.

Daniela Carreón from EFT Verde during the Green and Inclusive Financing Festival 2022 / © Antonio Herrera, 2022.

EnerYOU: Women for Sustainability Fellowship – Graciela Rivera

The Women for Sustainability Scholarship (MXS Scholarship) is a co-investment initiative driven by the EdTech startup, EnerYOU, to reduce the gaps between knowledge, education and professionalisation, as well as to strengthen the labour inclusion of women in the energy and sustainability sector. Through professionalisation and knowledge creation, they will be able to contribute to climate action solutions that improve the planet and the communities in which they operate.

Graciela Rivera from EnerYOU during the Green and Inclusive Financing Festival 2022 / © Antonio Herrera, 2022.

Mazahua High Yield Maize System. SMAR Jñatjo’o – Ivan Mendoza

SMAR Jñatjo’o seeks to connect the Mazahua community with ethical and profitable livelihood opportunities through the fusion of traditional knowledge and technology, with the aim of slowing soil erosion through ethical and sustainable agricultural processes. This project highlights the importance of including communities that face greater vulnerability to climate change, such as indigenous peoples, considering that Mexico’s natural system is sensitive to climate change and is exacerbated by anthropogenic activities such as land use change, mainly due to agricultural activities (ADCOM, 2022).

Iván Mendoza from SMAR Jñatjo during the Green and Inclusive Financing Festival 2022 / © Antonio Herrera, 2022.

Building green and sustainable spaces for all – Daisy Álvarez

The Building Green and Sustainable Spaces for All project seeks the collaborative retrofitting of public spaces through sustainable structures such as planters with recycled materials, drip irrigation, phytoremediation for urban water and soil, and self-supply of electricity, which respond to and involve communities.

Daisy Álvarez from Building green and sustainable spaces for all during the Green and Inclusive Financing Festival 2022 / © Antonio Herrera, 2022.

Youth are at the centre of climate action and are agents of change seeking to build a sustainable future. Creating spaces for multi-stakeholder dialogue that includes them is crucial to catalyse climate ambition and spread the word about the projects already underway.

We hope that by learning about these projects “more young people will believe and see that it is possible to make gradual progress on climate change issues with high-value projects”, as Ivan Mendoza said. Be part of the green generation!

Get to know the factsheet with the FFVI youth projects:

You can check the full session here.

Learn more: Green and Inclusive Financing Festival 2022

For the German Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GIZ), diversity is a central theme in strengthening international cooperation. Thus, from September 20 to 24, Diversity Week 2021 was celebrated with the slogan “diversity connects”, aiming to create a space for reflection and exchange of ideas on diversity in all its facets.

For this reason, the project Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico (CONECC), committed to climate action and diversity, took part with an event called “Diverse Youth for Climate Action”, where young people talked and shared ideas on how to include diverse voices from an intersectional approach in the fight against climate change.

The event began with a presentation on the perspective of youth and diversity, emphasising that the lives of young people are still marked by persistent forms of structural discrimination combined with prejudice. A situation that negatively affects the prospects for social inclusion and well-being of marginalised youth groups, including young people with disabilities, ethnicities, religious minorities, refugees, migrants, women, girls, LGBTTTIQ + youth, indigenous youth, etc.

GIZ / Andrea Medina Pinkfish | Graphic memory presentation “Diverse Youth from GIZ”

On the other hand, it was emphasised that young people are vulnerable, not only due to the economic and health crisis caused by COVID-19, but also because of the climate emergency. The exacerbated effects of the climate crisis place the well-being of young people at risk, besides widening the inequality gap.

Likewise, the actions taken in the present will have repercussions in the future. It is therefore necessary to ensure a significant youth participation in the strategies of adaptation and mitigation to climate change. It is essential to provide tools to strengthen resilience in the face of the current and future climate crises. Young people have proven to be a key ally in the international cooperation for sustainable development, strongly promoting climate action and promoting leadership for a green and inclusive recovery.

The second block of the event comprised a discussion with young leaders in Mexico, including Mitzy Violeta from Milpa Climática, who highlighted the necessity of linking responses to climate change with what is happening in each territory. She also highlighted the importance of the participation of indigenous peoples in climate action to strengthen processes at the local level. Also, Iván Martínez, pre-COP26 delegate, emphasised the importance of being inclusive and incorporating disruptive youth perspectives. Similarly, Jesús Reyes, founding member of the Sustainable Finance Hub, stated that actions addressing climate change will have to consider inequalities in different regions, especially in Latin America, besides including the LGBTTTIQ + community in social dynamics.

GIZ / Andrea Medina Pinkfish | Conversation graphic memory “Diverse youths for climate action”

Around 90 people from all over the world attended the event. We are confident that this event has achieved its goal of opening a conversation on including youth voices in climate action, both locally and internationally.