Vietnam’s Youth Leads the Way to a Just Energy Transition

The “Green Youth Labs” (GYL) programme successfully trained hundreds of “climate ambassadors” across Vietnam to accelerate a socially equitable energy transition. With support from the IKI Medium Grants, this initiative addressed a critical gap by providing young people with the technical expertise and institutional support needed to participate in national decision‑making.  

The programme reached a major milestone in 2023 and 2024 through its multi‑tiered training modules and the annual flagship event, the Youth Innovation Challenge. Participation surged in 2024, with 91 project submissions from across the country—nearly double the previous year’s engagement. These initiatives were not merely academic; they led to the implementation of 34 pilot models in total that tackle low‑carbon development from diverse angles. Among the examples are:

• Solar-powered lighting installations for a community playground along the Red River in Hanoi, 
• award-winning e-comics and articles in a youth magazine to raise awareness among primary school children on energy efficiency, 
• an educational simulation of the Vietnam National Assembly, aiming to empower young leaders in the Mekong Delta region to focus on sustainable development and climate advocacy and
• a carbon neutral Local Conference of Youth (LCOY 2024), emphasising the role of youth in achieving Vietnam’s net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Youth initiatives reached out to diverse groups in the community: students, children, artists, households, people living in poverty and ethnic minorities, taking different forms from education, communication and artwork to technical solutions and research.

As part of the GYL programme, 11 youth alumni gathered young people’s views from within Green Youth Labs and beyond and set them out in an Open Letter to bring to COP29 to share young people’s challenges and demands in the context of Vietnam’s energy transition.  

A cornerstone of the programme’s final phase was the Youth Energy Summit (YES), held on 15–16 August 2024 in Da Nang, which served as a high‑level platform for dialogue between over 100 young leaders and government representatives. 

This summit was the culmination of months of collaborative work, resulting in an Open Letter addressed to decision‑makers. By fostering partnerships between youth, local authorities and experts, Green Youth Labs has built a network of capable and passionate climate ambassadors who are committed to ensuring that the voices of the most vulnerable are heard in Vietnam’s transition to net‑zero.

About the IKI Medium Grants

With the IKI Medium Grants the German federal government supports projects for climate action and biodiversity conservation that particularly involve smaller civil society actors in developing and emerging countries. The IKI Medium Grants funding instruments is implemented by Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH. Together with the IKI Large Grants and IKI Small Grants, the IKI Medium Grants complete the competitive funding instrument form IKI Compete.

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