Webinar with Silke Stremlau, 10.02.2025. Silke has been the Chairwoman of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee of the Federal Government of Germany since 2022. Furthermore she is member of the Supervisory board of Norddeutsche Landesbank and of the UmweltBank AG, member of the advisory committee of solvia GmbH (Family office) and member of several, voluntary committees in the field of sustainable finance.

Between September 2023 and August 2024 she has got a senior fellowship from Mercator Foundation. Until summer 2023 she was on the board of Hannoversche Kassen – a sustainable pension fund. There, Ms. Stremlau was responsible for the areas of capital investment, sustainability and human resources. Prior to that, she was a general representative at BANK IM BISTUM ESSEN eG. Between 2000 and 2015, she built up and managed the “Sustainable Investment” division as a partner at imug consulting firm.

She studied social sciences with a focus on environmental policy at the University of Oldenburg and at the Academy of German Cooperatives (ADG) she obtained a degree in banking management.

Webinar with Kristiina Niikkonen, 05.12.2024. She has been a part of the global negotiations for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the 2030 targets for halting biodiversity loss. She now works for the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office on the Priodiversity Life project, aiming to reinforce biodiversity policy coherence according to the 2030 biodiversity targets. She will present on the main question: What are the three levels of biodiversity policy and how can we empower citizens for biodiversity action?

Kristiina will be joined by Antti Ala-Heikkiä and Anna-Sofia Krjukov, who are members of The Young People’s Climate and Nature Group (NUOLI) operating under the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office. In October 2024, NUOLI organized the Finnish Local Conference of Youth (LCOY), bringing together over 300 participants from across the country. The conference acted as a learning experience for the recently founded NUOLI group and an empowering space for community-building and knowledge-sharing, resulting in the Finnish National Youth and Child Environment Statement. Antti and Anna-Sofia will reflect on the key messages voiced in the statement, the current landscape of youth environmental advocacy in Finland, and the lessons gained from organizing LCOY. They will focus on the question: What defines the spirit of Finnish youth as political action on the environmental crisis continues to waver, years after the start of global youth climate strikes?

ESDN Youth Workshop 2024, 05-06 September 2024, Berlin. The ESDN Youth Members dealt with the topic "Europe´s sustainability and climate neutrality in 2050", which featured a lot of work with foresight and scenario building. 33 Youth Network Members from 19 European countries joined this year's Workshop. The Workshop Report can be found below, as well as on the ESDN Events page under Workshops. The Youth Network Members are also working on producing 4 separate ESDN Policy Notes, which will also be featured below and on the Policy Briefs page.

Webinar with Dorine van Norren, 10.01.2024, online. Dorine is a diplomat, a researcher at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, an adviser to the Dutch Ministry for foreign affairs and an artist. She gave a presentation comparing the SDGs and non-western wellbeing theories, such as Ubuntu, Gross National Happiness (Bhutan) and Buen Vivir concept, and the members of the network had an open discussion about these concepts.

ESDN Youth Workshop 2023, 25-28 October 2023, Berlin. Under the title “How can Europe shape a sustainable world?”, the event dealt with the topic of spillover effects, Europe’s responsibility for them and policies to address such effects. 41 Youth Delegates and Representatives from 21 European countries attended the event. For the first time, young ESDN civil servants were also invited to take part, and 9 young civil servants from 6 countries attended the ESDN Youth Workshop. As a result of the Workshop, young people produced a Policy Brief “Integrating Youth Perspectives in Addressing SDG Spillovers”. Photos from the event can be accessed here. The workshop report can be found here.

Webinar with Peter Schmidt, 4 October 2023, online. Peter Schmidt is a President of the Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment (NAT) and a chair of the Ad hoc group on COP at the European Economic and Social Committee. During the webinar, he openly discussed with the young people needed fundamental changes in the economic model.

ESDN Youth Workshop 2022, 2-3 September 2022, Berlin. 21 Youth Delegates from 13 countries met the German State Secretary for Consumer Protection, Dr. Christiane Rohleder, received several short expert inputs and then discussed the three main topics:

• Climate Justice, biodiversity, energy transition, and ecological economics
• Youth involvement, digitalization and education; and
• Human rights and forced migration.

These discussions served as a ground of youth participation and presentations at the following events: ESDN Conference 2022 and the 20^th ESDN Workshop.

Virtual getting-to-know meeting, June 2022, online. At this meeting, the Youth Delegates/Representatives got to know each other and shared their ideas about the creation of a permanent ESDN Youth Network.

ESDN Youth Workshop 2021, 13 November 2021, online. Seventeen Youth Delegates and Representatives from all over Europe met to discuss, exchange experiences and together develop a manifesto with demands to the ESDN and European policy-makers.

European Youth Camp 2020, 10-11 October 2020, Berlin. European young people were invited prior to the ESDN Conference 2020 to formulate inspiring and challenging ideas for a sustainable European Green Deal as a roadmap towards a sustainable European future. As a result of this event, young people produced Youth Manifesto.

9th ESDN Peer Learning Platform, 22-23 October, Bucharest. 5 Youth Network Representatives went to Bucharest and represented the ESDN Youth Network. 3 of them, Ellie Hutterli (Former Swiss UN Youth Delegate), Mohammad Naeem (Former Irish UN Youth Delegate), and Anisija Ugrinovska (North Macedonian UN Youth Delegate), presented on the outcomes of the ESDN Youth Workshop, as well as to the theme of the Peer Learning Platform, which was the shift in cultural mindset towards more sustainability. They were joined by Antti Regelin (Finnish UN Youth Delegate) and Lauren Jones Brennan (Irish UN Youth Delegate).

ESDN Conference 2024, 05-06 June 2024, Brussels. Three Youth Network Members went to Brussels to represent the ESDN Youth: David Esatia from Georgia, Elisabeth Hosszu from Belgium, and Lukáš Švaňa from Slovakia. All three of these Youth Network Members opened Session 2 of the Conference with a keynote presentation on "Future Forward: ESDN Youth Network Insights on Europe’s Key Issues". 

ESDN Young Civil Servants Workshop, 15-16 April 2024, Vienna. One Youth Network Member went to Vienna to represent the ESDN Youth: Saana Ylikruuvi - Member of the Finnish 2030 Agenda Youth Group. She also held a keynote presentation on "Meaningful Participation: How to involve youth in decision and policymaking" and participated in a fishbowl panel discussion.

8^th ESDN Peer Learning Platform 2023, 9-10 November 2023, Bern. Three Youth Network Members went to Bern to represent the ESDN Youth: Ellie Hutterli – UNYD from Switzerland, Mohammad Naeem – UNYD from Ireland, and Lukas Kasica – UNYD from Poland. The delegates presented the results of the discussions on the spillover effects that they had developed during the ESDN Youth Workshop in Berlin.

21^st ESDN Workshop 2023, 22-23 May 2023, Vienna. The workshop dealt with two topics, “Culture and Sustainable Development” and “SDG Implementation in Policymaking – Approaches in SDG Budgeting, Mainstreaming, and Performance Management”. Four Youth Network Members took part in a round table and presented their ideas on Youth-proofing Policies through the Intergenerational Test(s): Marvin Huber (Austria), Victoria Savova (Bulgaria), Lara Bertemes (Luxembourg) and Michal Salini (Slovakia).

ESDN Conference 2023, 15-16 March 2023, Stockholm. The title of the conference was: “Halfway to 2030 – Where does Europe stand and how does it move forward?” 13 Youth Network Members took part in creating a video “17 steps for the 17 goals, which was featured during the conference. 9 Youth Network Members participated in the conference and presented the video “17 Steps for 17 SDGs” , their thoughts on the conference theme and participated actively in working groups in Stockholm.

20^th ESDN Workshop, 23 November 2022, online. The title of the workshop was “SDGs and Human Rights”. Two Youth Network Members participated in the panel on Human Rights Defenders and presented their input on Human Rights and Forced Migration due to Climate Change: Emma Merikanto, Youth Representative from Finland & Ellie Hutterli, UN Youth Delegate from Switzerland.

ESDN Conference 2022, 4-5 October 2022, Bucharest. Two Youth Network Members from Romania participated in the Conference on “Europe’s Position as Leading Change Agent against the Triple Planetary Crisis – Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution”: Elena Miron, UN Youth Delegate, Social Innovation Solutions & Mihai Marica, UN Youth Delegate. They could voice their opinion during the Session on Europe’s Position in the Triple Planetary Crisis – Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution. They also had a chance to meet with the ESDN Executive Board and to share their ideas on how youth can be involved in the ESDN activities.

ESDN Conference 2021, 30 November – 1 December 2021, online, on “European Recovery and Resilience Mechanisms - Challenges in systemic approaches in SD”. Two Youth Network Members presented the Youth Manifesto. Lara Schummer, UN Youth Delegate for Luxembourg, Luxembourg & Daniel Samuelsson, UN Youth Delegate for the High Level Political Forum, Sweden.

ESDN Conference 2020, 12-13 October 2020, online, on “The European Green Deal: Our Pact for the Future”. Three Youth Network Members, Dana Patricia Novăcescu from Romania, Nicolas Kurek from Switzerland and Pia Jorks presented the Vision Document – Youth Manifesto.