Young Estonians with big ambitions at COP27
Ideas and thoughts on how to transfer best practises into reality in the context of global environmental and climate change issues were filling the Nordic Pavilion at COP27. Here Baltic Youth hosted the event Youth engagement in climate change mitigation and green economy. Baltic Youth is established by the Estonian Ministry of the Environment.
To inspire young and adult to climate action
At the event the Baltic Youth manage to inspire and share new experiences on how to include and support young people in social movements, governance and innovation. Key in it all is youth engagement. Hanah Lahe, Youth Climate Delegate from Estonia, explains why:
- The decisions made today affect the youth and the next generations the most and these decisions are also a direct investment in the future of young people and children. Therefore we too must have a say. Furthermore, the young are known to always be more ambitious than the old with bolder thoughts and courage, which can only be beneficial in the fight against climate change, says Hanah Lahe.
Young are known to always be more ambitious than the old with bolder thoughts and courage, which can only be beneficial in the fight against climate change
We have plenty of examples to show
In order to deliver on these ambitions the Baltic Youth brought three concrete showcases with them to COP27: Let's Do It World, Negavatt and Youth Environmental Council. They are examples of a holistic approach of how to involve young people from raising awareness to policy making, from promoting to implementing green entrepreneurship. But that is just a few examples and Estonia have much more to offer the rest of the world:
- Estonia is a young country, but we have plenty of examples to show other countries. For example, World Cleanup Day was founded in Estonia, and we have one of the best environments in the world for startups. Our young people are very entrepreneurial and there are many young green entrepreneurs. Green start-ups and enterprises are supported by both the state and the private sector. I must definitely also mention e-Estonia and the success story of our digital system. This is something that other countries could also implement and thereby reducing the environmental footprint of their country's services, says Hanah Lahe, Youth Climate Delegate from Estonia.
Baltic and Nordic have a long history of working together
Having Baltic Youth together with youth from the Nordic countries at the Nordic Pavilion is not a coincidence. Under the direction of the Nordic Council of Ministers the Nordic and Baltic countries have a long history of working together within different topics. For example in the area of digitalisation and joint climate projects with partners from the Nordic and Baltic countries.
