Youth Engagement in the Multilateral Energy Space in 2019–2021

Abstract

The multilateral energy space is an essential forum for exchanging best practices, setting common targets, and developing financing frameworks. While recent years have seen an increased focus on socio-economic aspects of energy access and energy transition, the role of youth has not come to the fore until recently. This article reviews whether and how youth were involved in the multilateral energy space spanning 2019-2021 and provides suggestions regarding possible next steps that could be taken. There is a positive trend of an increasing number of youth-dedicated events held at the margins of intergovernmental forums on energy. Still, there remain several gaps for a more robust inclusion of youth. Keywords United Nations • Sustainable energy • Young people • Meaningful youth engagementThe multilateral space refers to a system of organizations that enable 'coordinated international action' (Alonso 2000). The United Nations (UN) is a cornerstone of this system. It serves to negotiate common targets and responsibilities and develop collaborative platforms and solutions for financing, technical challenges, or other aspects of the issue at hand. The multilateral system is principally a space for interactions between member states. However, it is also a space for active stakeholder groups, including non-profit organizations, women, youth, indigenous people, labour unions, businesses, academia, and local governments (Alonso 2000). Agenda 21 adopted by the UN member states calls for strengthening the role of stakeholder groups in decision-making on issues that affect their communities (United Nations 1992). Direct participation of stakeholder groups in the intergovernmental space allows these groups to present their advocacy perspectives when the level of ambition of the governments appears to be insufficient to achieve the desired goals for the issue at stake. Engagement of stakeholder groups also warrants access to the expertise, testimonies, and resources that governments themselves are unable to provide. Given this context, this article reviews how young people, as a stakeholder group, have been involved in the multilateral energy space between 2019-2021. The term 'youth' in this article is used to refer to both children and youth, and so includes individuals under the age of 30 or 35-eligibility depends on specific processes or events and the definition is not critical to this discussion. The article is structured as follows: first, a brief introduction to the multilateral energy space and the history of youth involvement is presented. Second, the trends of youth involvement are discussed and recommendations for future improvements are outlined.