Bridging Youth Leadership with Climate-Aligned Cities

Summary

In 2025, Turning Green committed to scaling its global youth climate program, Project Green Challenge, by embedding civic engagement and municipal collaboration into its model. This two-year initiative, running from October 2025 to April 2027, aims to directly engage 7,000 high school, college, and graduate students across more than 180 countries and all 50 U.S. states and five territories. The commitment addresses the urgent need to empower youth as climate leaders, bridging the gap between local governance and next-generation changemakers. Students will complete a no-cost, 30-day challenge and co-develop Climate Action Projects (CAPs) with mentors, municipal leaders, and peers. Finalists will work closely with mentors to implement their CAPs and present them to expert judges in April. All will receive an honorarium, and one exceptional student will earn the $5,000 Acure Green Award. Turning Green will also train 28 Campus Reps, expand school and civic partnerships, and reach more than 8 million people through digital engagement.

Approach

Building on more than 20 years of impact, Turning Green commits to launching a bold new phase of its transformational youth climate action program, Project Green Challenge (PGC) —grounding student leadership in local civic action and co-creating community-driven climate solutions. This commitment will connect student changemakers with municipal leaders to strengthen civic engagement, local resilience, and global impact.
PGC is a no-cost, 30-day digital program that challenges high school, college, and graduate students to examine the systems driving the climate crisis—energy, food, waste, biodiversity, health, justice, and more—and take meaningful daily action. Since 2011, it has mobilized over 342,000 young people from 182 countries, equipping them with knowledge, confidence, and a global platform to lead.
This next evolution of PGC introduces a place-based civic engagement layer, empowering students to identify local climate priorities, build relationships with public officials, and step into civic leadership in their own communities. Municipal leaders will be invited to share ideas, elevate youth voices, and spark intergenerational collaboration. These connections expand students’ sense of agency and deepen their role in advancing equitable, place-based climate solutions.
To sustain and scale this work, Turning Green will expand its Campus Rep network—training student leaders, offering mentorship and resources, and supporting outreach, organizing, and civic collaboration throughout the year. Partners in education, community programs, and local government will help guide implementation, amplify visibility, and ensure that student-led projects reflect and respond to community needs.
With a proven, scalable model and decades of experience advancing youth leadership, Turning Green is uniquely positioned to foster bold, coordinated climate action—seeding a new generation of civic partnerships that drive progress from city to city and generation to generation.

Action Plan

From October 2025 through April 2027, this commitment will roll out in four strategic phases, supporting two full cycles of Project Green Challenge (PGC) .
Foundational Preparation (July–September 2025) :
Turning Green will expand outreach to students, educators, and civic leaders, focusing on cities advancing climate action through networks like the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, C40, and Climate Mayors. A growing collective of Campus Reps will be trained to support recruitment and local organizing. Program content and outreach toolkits will be finalized, and civic engagement will be embedded into challenge content. Esteemed, cross-sector speakers and mentors will be invited to the PGC finals.
Program Delivery (October–November 2025 and 2026) :
Each October, PGC launches a 30-day global climate challenge that engages students in daily learning, hands-on deliverables, and real-world action on urgent climate topics. In November, top participants will be selected as finalists and invited to PGC Finals, where they will begin developing Climate Action Projects (CAPs) with mentors including professionals and alumni.
Project Support and Partnership Activation (December–April 2026 and 2027) :
Finalists will work closely with mentors to implement their CAPs. In April, finalists will present their completed projects to a panel of expert judges. All will receive an honorarium in recognition of their work, and one exceptional student will be awarded the $5,000 Acure Green Award for a project that demonstrates outstanding vision, impact, and leadership. This momentum will carry forward into the next program cycle as civic partnerships continue to grow and deepen.
Evaluation and Impact (April 2026 and April 2027) :
Turning Green will assess outcomes and share a report with CGI and partners. It will bolster projects for meaningful, lasting impact, ensuring continued youth-led climate action beyond the program cycle.

Background

Climate change is this century’s defining crisis, and young people will bear its greatest burden. Across the world, communities are already grappling with rising heat, extreme weather, and deepening environmental injustice. For today’s students, this is not a distant threat—it’s the reality they are inheriting.
As national governments lag on climate promises, cities are emerging as the most proactive and innovative drivers of climate solutions. Networks like the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, C40 Cities, and Climate Mayors enable local leaders to collaborate, pioneer bold solutions, and scale their impact (Grist, 2025) . According to the 2025 report From Paris to Belém, 75% of C40 cities are reducing per-capita emissions faster than their national governments—underscoring the pivotal role cities play in advancing equitable, community-driven climate action (Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, 2025) .
At the same time, young people are rising to lead. They are organizing, innovating, and demanding bold action. Yet a critical gap remains: too often, they are left out of shaping the very solutions their futures demand. In many cities, students still lack access to environmental education, civic engagement, and meaningful opportunities to advance local climate action.
This gap in opportunity is compounded by broader shortcomings in how the climate crisis is addressed in education systems. Globally, climate change remains absent or marginal in many national curricula, and environmental learning is rarely connected to civic engagement or real-world application (UNESCO, 2021) .
Meeting the urgency of this moment requires access to immersive, real-world learning that deepens climate literacy, builds agency, and connects education to meaningful local action. Empowering youth to lead is essential to securing a just, resilient, and sustainable future—for people, planet, and generations to come.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

Turning Green welcomes strategic and thought partners to help shape, strengthen, and scale Project Green Challenge in ways that reflect regional priorities and community needs. These collaborations are essential to evolving a place-based model that centers youth leadership and delivers measurable, community-driven climate solutions.
Philanthropic investment will accelerate outreach, engagement, and long-term impact, while in-kind contributions—such as digital infrastructure, creative services, and storytelling support—will amplify student voices, broaden visibility, and enhance participant experience.
Collaboration is also welcomed from municipal leaders, school networks, and youth-serving organizations committed to advancing climate resilience through student-led action. Together, these partnerships will bring the program to life in diverse communities—mobilizing the next generation of climate leaders to take bold, local action and shape a more just and sustainable future.