Green Rising: Reflecting on Results, Reimagining the Future
Timeline of the youth-led climate movement from COP28 to COP30, and beyond.
A generation rising for people and planet. Two years since its launch at COP28, Green Rising has mobilized nearly 28 million young people to lead grassroots climate action and build green skills for livelihoods. Led by UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited and partners, and championed by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Green Rising invests in young people as catalysts of the green transition.
By 2030, 100 million young people will take the lead in climate solutions that deliver real environmental results, stronger community resilience and economic growth. This builds on Green Rising’s founding principle to advance economic justice and climate justice, rejecting the binary of people versus planet to demonstrate that inclusive prosperity and environmental stewardship can – and must – coexist.
The journey of Green Rising
From climate action to green livelihoods
Extreme climate events have thrown up significant challenges, but young people have grabbed and owned opportunities for innovation and leadership. Green Rising launched at COP28 in Dubai to activate 10 million young people toward concrete environmental action, building resilience in communities around the globe and bridging the gap toward skills and livelihoods grounded in a green future.
Two years on, their momentum has almost tripled the expected target and inspired a new goal of activating 100 million young people by 2030 and a renewed focus on fostering sustainable livelihoods. Through Green Rising, young people are taking action to improve their local environments – gaining real-world green skills in the process – and being supported to transform those skills into green livelihoods that will continue to sustain them and their families, their communities and the planet.
Backing their grit and creativity with knowledge, resources, and opportunities will drive a faster, fairer transition to a green economy. 
UNICEF/Egypt 2025/Asmaa Fathy
Ahlam Fathy, 25, turned the challenge of discarded fish waste in her Nile Delta hometown into opportunity. Her startup CoBata extracts marine collagen from fish byproducts. “CoBata solves an environmental problem and fills a gap in the Egyptian market,” she says. Her idea grew via a programme offering training, mentorship, and stakeholder access – supported by Education Above All Foundation and building on initiatives led by Egypt Ministry of Youth and Sports with UNICEF and partners.
Sample of environmental impact
Children and young people have inherited a crisis they didn’t create, yet they are proving the power of individual and collective action. Every step they lead on climate builds green skills and climate literacy while creating tangible environmental results.
Their actions inspire and challenge organizations, businesses, and governments to do more and invest in youth as lifelong sustainability champions to shape the future of their communities and economies.
A sample of environmental impact results from countries and implementation partners highlights the power of this generation to build long-term resilience and adaptation:
Stories of change
From installing solar panels in Mongolia to planting trees in Rwanda; from monthly actions in community groups across Brazil to soak pits in India; from green jobs in Egypt to circular economy entrepreneurs in South Africa, young people are leading the way through Green Rising.
Green Rising partners with governments, the private sector and young people so that no-one especially girls and those most vulnerable to climate events are left behind without skills for survival and livelihoods in a world moving to a green economy.
Stories
A network of recycling champions brings livelihoods for young South Africans
Aneesha Davids runs a ReChas (Recycling Champions) site in Beaumont West, South Africa, where waste collectors earn money for dropping off recyclables. The programme trains unemployed youth and women in waste management, offers mentorship and startup capital, and equips sites with smart scales and a mobile app to track waste and payments. Aneesha now supports her family through this microenterprise: “A bottle is not a bottle anymore. Now it can bring value to you.”
A monthly national day for youth in Rwanda to plant change
Youth Umuganda is a national holiday that brings young people In Rwanda together for community service. In October 2024, to mark the launch of Green Rising in the country, over 2,000 youth from Gisagara District planted more than 11,000 trees. Since then, young people supported by UNICEF Rwanda with government agencies, the National Youth Council, and youth-led groups like We Got Your Back Rwanda have planted more than 730,000 trees and counting.
Youth power in action: Brazil adolescents lead environmental revival
In Salgado, Brazil, a group successfully advocated and closed an open-air dump harming their community, planting saplings to restore the site. This is part of #EntreNoClima, a movement mobilizing 382,000 young people across 759 municipalities through Climate Action Clubs. Led by adolescent groups under UNICEF’s Municipal Seal Initiative, these clubs drive local climate solutions and engage vulnerable communities in the Amazon and Semi-arid regions.
From anxiety to agency: How youth learnt new green skills via a chatbot
UNICEF's U-Report community for youth engaged 113,000 users via a chatbot equipping them with strategic thinking skills to boost their environmental advocacy, actions, and campaigns. The chatbot guided users to clearly define the problems they aimed to address, explore possible solutions, set specific goals, identify target audiences and potential supporters, and craft impactful messages with the right tone. A total of 536,309 U-Reporters were reached with Green Rising messaging.
Kenya agripreneurs transform local communities with climate-smart skills
In Kenya’s Kirinyaga County, 27-year-old Grace Nyawira is transforming her community through sustainable farming. On her small horticulture farm, she grows vegetables using regenerative techniques and trains over 130 local farmers, mostly women, on climate-smart practices. Grace also mentors students through school demonstration plots, showing how agriculture can boost nutrition, income, and resilience in the face of climate change.
From local cleanups to national movement: India’s youth drive environmental change
In India's West Bengal, Siraj and his friends lead weekly clean-up drives along the Ganga River. Their pro-planet actions are reported on the #MeriLiFE app supported by the government of India. Together, they've removed over 15,000 kilograms of waste while also promoting actions to reduce e-waste, save energy, conserve water, and say no to single-use plastics.
Teaching a community the power of simple fixes
In Maharashtra, India, young students from Karmaveer Mamasaheb Jagdale College collaborated with the Department of Botany to raise awareness on water conservation. They inspected the campus, identified leaking taps, and fixed them using simple tools, saving around 2,240 litres of water every day. Their collective effort inspired students and teachers to reduce water waste and take responsibility for sustainable water use.
Powering the future: Mongolian students bring clean energy to their communities
In Mongolia, 27 young people joined a four-day renewable energy training supported by UNICEF, Generation Unlimited and the Mongolian University of Science and Technology. Focusing on solar energy, they gained practical skills, leadership, and confidence to lead in their communities. Now, they are leading the way, teaching 2,000 more students about clean energy and helping develop solar-powered phone charging stations at schools.
Data into action: Youth in 20 countries tackle waste through digital mapping challenge
On World Cleanup Day, more that 2,500 young people across 20 countries in Africa and the Caribbean learnt digital mapping skills, identifying and mapping waste hotspots and mobilizing local cleanups to turn data into impact for a cleaner planet. UNICEF, Generation Unlimited, Yoma, and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap (HOT OSM) launched the Yoma Waste Mapping Challenge, a youth-led initiative that combines digital innovation with environmental action.
A youth-led global movement for climate and justice
By 2030, Green Rising will stand as a defining model of youth climate leadership, mobilizing 100 million young people to protect both people and the planet.
When children and young people especially girls and young women gain opportunities to thrive, communities and countries flourish, giving way to a safe and healthy environment and an economy full of new opportunities.
Voices supporting the movement
Green Rising is supported by Lead Partners:
Other notable partners:
UNICEF does not endorse any brand, product or service.
