PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The involvement and leadership of youth in energy communities is crucial. Young people are more likely to adopt new lifestyles and eager to develop new skills to support the energy transition. Notably, 2022 was designated as the European Year of Youth, to actively prove the EC policy to support young people at all levels. Despite ongoing initiatives, there is a lack of tools to systematically reinforce the participation of young people in energy communities, and their training towards energy sustainability. POWERYOUTH aims to empower young people to play an active role towards the energy transition. The cornerstone of the POWERYOUTH concept is a participatory approach that establishes a dialogue between youth and local stakeholders (such as local authorities, policy makers) and empowers young people in actively participating in energy communities. In line with the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 that identifies three core areas ‘connect, engage and empower’ for activating youth communities, POWERYOUTH will develop appropriate tools and methods to facilitate the three stages, by delivering a participatory democracy platform to allow young people voicing their opinions (‘PARTICIPATE’ tool), a tool to support collective decision making (‘DECISION’ tool) and a tool for promoting innovative business models and financing schemes (‘FINANCE’ tool). The POWERYOUTH approach will be implemented in pilots in 5 EU countries, targeting the creation of at least 10 empowered youth energy communities and the involvement of at least 1,000 young people and other stakeholders. In addition, with the support of EU-wide networks of local and youth communities, POWERYOUTH will create and deliver a capacity building programme to create a cohort of Youth Energy Community Leaders that will act as multipliers towards the replication of POWERYOUTH approach across EU.