Generation Climate Europe has opened a €32,000 youth climate grant for one youth-led organisation to coordinate young climate voices across Europe in the run-up to COP32, the United Nations climate conference scheduled for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2027.
The grant, offered through the Youth Climate Changemakers Fund under the Funding Fairer Futures project, will support a single project running from 1 January to 30 November 2027. Its task is to bring together young people, youth groups and grassroots movements that often work apart, and to turn their shared priorities into a voice decision makers can hear before and after COP32.
What the youth climate grant funds
The funded project has two connected parts. First, the selected organisation will organise a European youth conference or gathering during 2027, where young people can share knowledge, agree common priorities and build relationships. The gathering must be accessible to young people underrepresented in the climate movement and must reach beyond the usual climate networks.
Second, the organisation will coordinate European youth work throughout the year: regular contact between participants, shared messaging and positions, and preparation for engaging with COP32 and the decision makers around it. The project should also connect climate justice with housing and energy, the shared theme of the Funding Fairer Futures campaign, and leave behind stronger networks, skills and organisational capacity that last beyond COP32.
Generation Climate Europe will work closely with the selected organisation on the political direction of the conference, the shared priorities and messages, and the conference programme. The organisation will also be connected with wider youth climate structures, including the European Economic and Social Committee’s Youth Delegate to COP and the European Commission’s youth policy dialogue on COP. Final responsibility for the project’s content, delivery and budget stays with the selected organisation.
Who can apply
The call is aimed at registered, non-profit, youth-led non-governmental organisations based in one of the 27 European Union member states. Day-to-day management must be carried out by people under 30, or the governing body must be made up of a majority of people under 30.
Applicants need a strong track record of working with young people on climate or social justice, experience of engaging with and attending COP meetings, and experience of coordinating networks, coalitions or campaigns across several European countries. They must be able to organise a European-scale gathering, reach young people outside the usual climate networks, engage decision makers, and manage European Union funding, including reporting and audit requirements.
The project itself must take place in one or more EU member states, and it cannot be used to co-finance another EU-funded project. Organisations that have received, or expect to receive, support from another project funded under the EU’s DEAR programme are not eligible under this call.
Money, timeline and how to apply
The project budget is €32,000. Generation Climate Europe covers 90 percent of the total project budget through Funding Fairer Futures, and the successful organisation must provide the remaining 10 percent through co-financing. Alongside the money, the grantee receives training in project management, fundraising, advocacy, campaign strategy, media engagement and inclusive leadership, plus networking with other Funding Fairer Futures grantees.
Proposals must be submitted in English by 22 November 2026 at 23:59 Central European Time, according to Generation Climate Europe’s own call document. Applicants should work to that date: some opportunity listings show 29 November, but the fund’s call document sets 22 November, and questions to the fund must be sent before 17 November 2026. Applications consist of an application form, a declaration of honour, a declaration on exclusion criteria and a consultation survey.
Applications will be judged on relevance (30 percent), potential impact (20 percent), coherence of project design (20 percent), capacity and credibility (15 percent) and added value (15 percent). Shortlisted applicants may be asked to refine their proposals before a final decision, and the winner will sign a grant agreement with CAN Europe, the Funding Fairer Futures lead partner.
Why the year between COP31 and COP32 matters
The call document puts its case plainly: the period between COP31 and COP32 is when momentum is either built or lost. COP31 takes place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026, and COP32 follows in Addis Ababa in November 2027. Young people across Europe are already active on climate, the call notes, but they often work in separate networks with little shared strategy and few chances to meet decision makers together.
Generation Climate Europe, created by a group of young people in 2019 to amplify young voices towards EU institutions, runs the Youth Climate Changemakers Fund as part of Funding Fairer Futures, a coalition with Climate Action Network Europe, Climate Action Network, WECF, Christian Blind Mission Ireland and ECOLISE. The fund’s page records €511,000 distributed so far to 31 organisations, with grants ranging from €1,000 for informal groups to this €32,000 coordination grant for registered youth organisations.
For young Europeans, the opportunity is therefore about more than one conference. It is a year of coordinated work designed to carry a shared youth agenda from Antalya into Addis Ababa — and to make sure the young people most affected by climate decisions are in the room when those decisions are discussed.
Related youth climate coverage: Learning Planet Opens Youth Design Challenge for Young Climate Ambassadors.
Key facts
- Grant: €32,000 for one youth-led organisation, covering 90 percent of the project budget.
- Project period: 1 January to 30 November 2027.
- Deadline: 22 November 2026, 23:59 CET, under Generation Climate Europe’s call document.
- Eligibility: Registered, non-profit, youth-led NGOs in the 27 EU member states.
- Goal: A European youth conference plus year-round coordination ahead of COP32 in Addis Ababa, November 2027.
The announcement is also a reminder of the wider youth climate calendar: with COP31 opening in Antalya within days, European youth organisations now have a concrete route from this year’s summit to the next.
