Youth Empowerment
Department
The Youth Empowerment Department implements projects aimed at expanding opportunities for young people to engage in climate action.
First, we focus on environmental education and event planning to raise awareness of why youth perspectives need to be incorporated into decision-making and to expand the number of young people engaged in advocacy.
We also work toward establishing youth councils within relevant government ministries and agencies, with the goal of ensuring that young people's voices are reflected in societal decision-making processes.
Youth Council
Young people will be among those most affected by climate change in the future.
However, in Japan, meaningful youth participation in decision-making has yet to be fully realized.
To address this gap, we are working to establish Youth Councils. These platforms would enable young people to engage in policy-making processes on a regular, reciprocal, and direct basis. According to our research, 70% of OECD countries and 96% of EU countries have Youth Councils.
Youth Councils offer several benefits: they enable young people to participate in decision-making, provide practical experience for the next generation of leaders in Japan, and help bridge the gap in perspectives and understanding between generations.
Currently, we are working toward establishing a Youth Council within at least one government ministry or agency, while engaging in discussions with government officials and young people from other countries to exchange ideas and experiences.
We also present our recommendations and reports at the Japan Pavilion at COP, sharing our proposals on youth participation in climate policy.
