The Role of Youth in Advancing a Just Transition: Experiences and Pathways Forward

This roundtable brought together youth leaders, policymakers, and experts to discuss how education, skills, and innovation can empower young people to shape just transitions. With a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, while also drawing insights from other regions, it explored pathways to strengthen green jobs, digital inclusion, and policy action for low-carbon economies.

Background Information

This expert roundtable brought together youth leaders, policymakers, and experts to explore the multifaceted role of young people in driving a just energy transition. Youth are central to shaping the future of work in a changing climate, advancing climate resilience, circular economy models, and inclusive green growth.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, young people’s creativity, leadership, and innovation — including digital tools — are key to accelerating low-carbon transitions. With the region’s potential to generate up to 15 million green jobs by 2030, empowering youth through education and training is essential. This involves strengthening technical and vocational skills for renewable energy industries, as well as interdisciplinary, digital, and networking capacities that enable them to become effective actors and decision-makers.

Digital connectivity and inclusion are crucial enablers of this transformation. Expanding access to digital infrastructure and skills allows youth to engage in climate innovation — from AI-driven energy optimization to data tools for circular economy and climate-smart agriculture — while bridging connectivity gaps ensures that young people in rural and underserved areas can access emerging green job markets.

By combining education and training, digital innovation, and youth engagement, the roundtable highlighted how empowering young people can unlock scalable, cross-sector solutions, supporting both climate action and equitable economic opportunities.

Objectives

• Education and Training: Explored innovative approaches to equip young people with the technical, vocational, and interdisciplinary skills needed to actively participate in just energy transitions.

• Digital Innovation and Green Jobs: Showcased how youth are leveraging digital technologies to advance climate action and green employment — while highlighting the importance of expanding digital connectivity, inclusion, and capacity-building to ensure equitable participation in the digital economy and future green workforce.

• Evidence and Policy Action: Presented evidence and best practices linking youth, green jobs, and just transition in Latin America and the Caribbean, and identify policy pathways to integrate green skills and youth participation into national and regional agendas.

Speakers

MODERATOR

Maria Cecilia Bonet, Researcher, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

PANELISTS

Dimension Education & Training

Guillermo Pleitavino, Social Innovation Technologist, 500RPM Foundation
Djian Sadadou, Manager – International Relations & Communications, Office for Climate Education OCE, France

Dimension Green Jops

Kelly Guevara, Children and Youth Engagement in Climate Action Officer, UNICEF Latin America and the Caribbean
Valeria Soto, Lead of Sustainability and Climate Action projects of TEC Monterrey University

Dimension digital innovations

Ana Vergara, Programme Officer, Green Digital Action initiative, International Telecommunication Union, Mexico
Alisa Luangrath, UNFCCC AI Award Winner, Lao People’s Democratic Republic