APPLY: 2023 Climate Champions Youth Fellowship

The Climate Champions Team, in support of the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, are committed to strengthening youth agency in climate action. Elevating and empowering  youth voices will help drive systemic change and the Climate Champions are committed to continuing to integrate this vital stakeholder group into the heart of our work.

The Climate Champions Team is now looking for its third cohort of ambitious and stubbornly optimistic Youth Fellows. The programme creates a pathway for young professionals to work within the team supporting the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP27 and COP28 – Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin and H.E Razan Al Mubarak – to drive real world momentum into the UN Climate Change negotiations.

As part of the Youth Fellowship programme, fellows will help mobilise climate action amongst non-State actors to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, in close collaboration with the UNFCCC, the Marrakech Partnership and the COP Presidencies.

Fellows will join the Climate Champions Team (CCT) for a seven month fellowship, placed within:

• The core Campaigns: Race To Zero and Race To Resilience;
• Systems Transformation: critical sectoral work in Energy, Finance, Ocean, Systems Tracking, and;
• Stakeholder and Policy Engagement.

The fellowship will include modules on personal leadership development, mentoring, engagement with stakeholders, systems mapping and horizon planning, mobilisation and outreach in broader networks including working closely with local, regional and global youth organisations to ensure knowledge sharing and solutions exchange. There will also be an opportunity for the fellows to work together as a collective to explore projects and outreach. 

Early career professionals, 30 or under (in 2023), with a record of engagement or expertise in one or two of the sectors hosting the fellowship or a history of climate/sustainability advocacy and familiarity with multi-stakeholder organising, are highly encouraged to apply.

Programme details 

• This is a paid fellowship programme.
• The selected fellows will work closely with the respective sector leads during this fellowship and will be required to commit up to 16 hours per week.
• The fellowship will run for seven months from June to December 2023.

Eligibility criteria

• 30 or under 30 years of age in 2023
• Minimum five years of full-time work or volunteering experience, either in one of the fellowship sectors,  climate leadership or organising
• Ability to commit minimum 16 hours a week to the fellowship
• Strong communication skills
• Self-motivated and willingness to be flexible (you will be working with teams across different time zones)
• Adequate network relevant to sector-specific or climate related work
• Sufficient English language skills
• Your own laptop and reliable internet connectivity
• A commitment to the values of the Climate Champions Team to raise non-State actor commitments to the global goals of the Paris Agreement

Application procedure and deadline

Each sector has specific skills requirements; therefore, it is highly recommended to please read the job descriptions thoroughly before applying.

• Energy Policy Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description
• Finance Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description
• Ocean Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description
• Policy and Engagement Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description
• Race to Zero Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description
• Race to Resilience Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description
• Systems Tracking Youth Fellow, Climate Champions Team – Job Description

Application can be completed through the online portal. Application deadline is April 17, 2023 (9pm GMT).