Youth participation in national climate policy: Activities of the Co-ordination Office for Youth Participation in Climate Issues
This year, the youth representatives from the ‘Social Aspects’ working group, together with the ‘Communication on Climate Protection’ working group, are focusing on a new climate policy issue: the national implementation of the second European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS 2).
New topics always provide an opportunity for new representatives from youth associations and organisations to join the youth participation initiative. The groundwork for this was laid in March through the individual onboarding of new members from youth associations and organisations. Building on this, a face-to-face kick-off meeting took place in Berlin, focusing on getting to know one another, agreeing on a common working method and providing an initial introduction to the EU ETS 2. The representatives of the youth associations and organisations are currently working together to acquire specialist knowledge on the EU ETS 2 through various briefings by stakeholders from civil society and academia. This will be followed by discussions with the relevant departments at the Federal Ministry for the Environment to highlight the youth perspective and call for social measures to accompany the EU ETS 2 in Germany. In addition, a climate communication trainer is helping to develop communication strategies tailored to the target audience to explain the impacts of the EU ETS 2 on young people.
In addition to the processes relating to the second emissions trading scheme, the youth associations and organisations involved in the Coordination Office have supported the drafting and publication of the Federal Government’s climate protection programme. Following the submission of a joint statement as part of the public consultation on the climate protection programme, an expert discussion took place at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in early June.
The focus of the programme’s content is determined by the participating youth associations and organisations themselves. To this end, the Strategic Orientation Working Group, in which the national executive committees of the youth associations and organisations are represented, meets twice a year. Through joint discussion, they set the mandate for the thematic and strategic direction of the activities within the youth participation framework. The focus is on monitoring current climate policy processes. For example, the key topic of the EU ETS 2 was agreed upon at the most recent meetings.
In various contexts, the Co-ordination Office for Youth Participation in Climate Issues creates spaces in which young people’s perspectives are brought together, refined and effectively represented to federal ministries.