KOSTAS STAVRIANAKIS , JACOB A.E. NIELSEN, ZOE MORRISON

This study investigated youths’ empowerment through EU-funded climate change projects (CCPs) and the role that social research and public engagement have in that process. The importance of considering youth empowerment in a time of climate change is increasingly recognised. Youths are exposed to interrelated health, social, economic, and political vulnerabilities caused by climate change, but they often have limited resources to address and navigate these changes. To help address these issues youth empowerment holds the potential to give youth a greater influence over their life in the context of evolving climate change. EU-funded CCPs plays a crucial role in EU’s climate mitigation and adaption policies and the implementation of these projects can have widespread implications for youth across the EU. However, despite this, there is little research that explores the local youth implications of EU-funded CCPs. In this paper we want to start addressing this knowledge gap by exploring how youth empowerment was facilitated, shaped, and restrained over a year-long collaboration with students from a Greek school as part of an EU Horizon 2020 project on social acceptance of Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCUS) technologies.
The findings indicate that the activities provided the students with opportunities to explore and express different types of concerns, knowledges and perspectives on issues related to climate change, social acceptance and CCUS. However, the empowering potential of these activities were also shaped by power differentials and contestations around what types of knowledge should matter and the source of that knowledge. Although the capacity to engage with youth through Horizon 2020 resources is feasible, more longitudinal and meaningful participation is needed.