Panda Labs Junior for Just Transition (PLJ4JT) engaged more than 750 high school and university students in the key coal regions of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
YOUNG PEOPLE DRIVE CHANGE
Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia have been facing severe economic strains and social issues as Europe rapidly moves towards decarbonisation through renewable energy. The coal regions are experiencing the impact of these changes most significantly. Youth involvement is fundamental to the energy transition, as young people are the drivers of change with the potential to generate solutions to these challenges.
NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS
PLJ4JT was implemented in collaboration with local authorities, school administrations, and business mentors. The main goal of the project was to promote renewable energy, the circular economy, and green entrepreneurship. Participants learned new skills through interactive modules in an innovative online educational platform and face-to-face hackathons where they worked on innovative, nature-based, and renewable energy-solutions. In this way, young people identified the need to adopt educational practices related to environmental topics and get into meaningful dialogue at national and local levels.
JUST ENERGY TRANSITION
Surveys carried out before and after the project showed that the understanding of just transition and its impact on the opportunities for green business in the local communities, as well as the desire to be personally involved in the energy transition, has changed positively among the participants. Young people understood the importance of the transition and that the process requires a lot of effort from different parties – institutions, businesses, media. Thanks to this project, the number of participants who were well informed of the concept "just energy transition" increased 3 to 4 times.
