Youth 4 Sustainability

About Y4S 

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S), a Masdar initiative, invests in and actively supports the development of our most valuable asset – our young people – enabling them to become the sustainability leaders of tomorrow.

Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the UAE’s national strategy, Y4S has introduced a series of programs focused on students and young entrepreneurs, including the Sustainability Ambassadors (SA) and Future Sustainability Leaders (FSL) programs. Y4S is based on the belief that youth have numerous untapped capabilities that need to be leveraged to enable them to lead the UAE’s sustainable development.

Vision
Invests in and actively supports the development of our most valuable asset, our young people, to become the sustainability leaders of tomorrow

Mission
Empowering the next generation of sustainability leaders
Skilling Up Youth for a Sustainable Future

Objectives
To prepare the next generation of sustainability leaders to accelerate sustainable development by combining training with real-world experience
To reach up to 1 million youth by 2030, through the blended learning experience
To create awareness of the skills needed for future of jobs in sustainability
To raise awareness of the importance of sustainability locally and internationally – including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG

 

Coping with COVID-19: Y4S action plan

The health and safety of all our stakeholders and community is paramount to Masdar. As the world deals with COVID-19, Y4S has transitioned its in-person events and training programs to a digitally enabled year-long blended learning experience and journey which are available to our stakeholders and global network through our newly launched SkillUp app and Website.

Y4S platform was shaped following a survey conducted with our stakeholders on how COVID-19 impacted them and what support can Y4S offer them at current time:

  • 46.67% asked for More technical workshops
  • 27% asked to hear from motivational speakers, academics or entrepreneurs
  • 67% COVID-19 made them rethink their chosen career path/field of study?
  • 86% expect more online learning options in the future and encourage more remote working as well

Partners

Principal Partner: Department of Energy
Community and Program Partners:

Future Sustainability Leaders (FSL) Program

Empowering university students to become the next generation of sustainability leaders

Sustainability Ambassadors Program

Empowering high school students to lead their peers in sustainability

Masdar Knowledge Sessions

A programme of talks led by Masdar experts for students

Youth 4 Sustainability Hub

A dedicated space at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week to educate, empower and inspire youth

Reports

The world’s first youth survey on the attitudes of young people towards climate change.

Y4S Virtual Series

Learning & Engagement Series offers our cohorts 10 virtual sessions and workshops hosted by experts on key industry trends