The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is a

youth organisation The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise. 0 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. When the organisation first began, the coalition consisted of 25 other youth organisations, which included the National Union of Students amongst many, however it is now an independent organisation. The organisation aims "to build a movement of young people leading solutions to the climate crisis". They state that this is achieved through empowering and education, running strategic campaigns that win, shifting the narrative, and building a movement. AYCC works closely with Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network.

History

In 2004, organizations, which would later form the

Youth Climate Movement The Youth Climate Movement (YouNGO) or International Youth Climate Movement (IYCM) refers to an international network of Youth organization, youth organisations that collectively aims to inspire, empower and mobilise a generational movement of yo ...

, began to come together. Following on from the formation of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition in September 2006, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition formed in November 2006 with 27 youth organizations from across the nation at a founding youth summit. The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is a non-partisan, non-profit coalition working towards a vision of climate justice "Our vision is for a fair and just world, with a stable climate and healthy environment for our communities and future generations." In 2009, the then Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner awarded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition's co-founders,

Amanda McKenzie Amanda McKenzie is a public commentator on the climate crisis in Australia. She is the CEO and co-founder of the Climate Council, Australia's leading climate science communications organisation. Previously, McKenzie co-founded the Australian Yo ...

and Anna Rose, as well as the current National Director,

Ellen Sandell Ellen Sandell (born 26 November 1984) is an Australian politician and environmentalist. She has represented the electorate of Melbourne in the Parliament of Victoria since 2014 as a member of the Australian Greens. She is currently the Deputy L ...

, with the Environment Minister's Young Environmentalist of the Year Award for their efforts.

Campaigns

In the 2010s since the formation of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, the organisation frequently sent a youth delegation to the United Nations Conferences on Climate Change to advocate on behalf of young people. For the 2008 conference in Poznań, Poland, the Australian delegation travelled through ten nations to reach the summit. Similarly in December 2009, the organisation sent a second youth delegation to the

2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

along with other members of the

. Power Shift is the name of an annual youth summit which was held in the United States for the first time in 2007. Two years later in 2009, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, in partnership with the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network u ...

, GetUp and

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

, organised the Australian Powershift Conference on 11 to 13 July 2009. The summit attracted 1,500 young people. Guests included former Vice President of the USA

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

, the swimmer Ian Thorpe and the actress Brooke Satchwell. The event concluded with a gathering outside the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. The AYCC ran regional Power Shift in 2010 in Adelaide, Canberra and Geelong. In 2011 Power Shift was held in Brisbane and Perth with 1000 young people. The summits included a range of speakers, events and workshops. In 2013 AYCC will host Australia's largest ever youth climate summit, in Melbourne from 13–15 July.

Youth Decide

In September 2009 the AYCC organised Youth Decide with World Vision Australia. It was Australia's first national youth climate vote. 2,000 volunteers ran 330 Youth Decide events with over 37,500 young people voting. In September 2011 the AYCC held a second Youth Decide, giving young people the opportunity to vote on the renewable energy targets they wanted the Federal Government to set.

2010 Election Campaign

During the 2010 election campaign the AYCC mobilised hundreds of young people to put climate change back on the political agenda. This included automated phone calls to politicians, hanging out scorecards rating the three main political parties climate policies and the very popular climate elephant, which was featured widely in the media and is now used as an example of excellent grassroots election campaigning.

Meet Your Member

In 2011 the AYCC ran a campaign called Meet Your Member. This involved young people from all across the country meeting with their local MP or Senator and express their view on Climate Change. Local volunteers also collected hundreds of signatures on postcards which they presented to MP's in the meetings.

Walk for Solar

In 2012 100 young people walked 328 km over 15 days from Port Augusta to Adelaide. This major event, organised by the AYCC, was part of the wider Repower Port Augusta campaign, pushing for investment in Australia's first concentrated solar thermal plant in Port Augusta. The event gained significant national media and political attention. The chief spokesperson for the project was Daniel Spencer.

Stop Adani

Banks Campaign

In July 2014 AYCC launched the campaign to get Westpac to rule out working with Adani at a National Summit with 200 young people in Canberra. This was the first of many of visits young people paid to Westpac bank branches and HQs. AYCC had tens of thousands of conversations with customers, and delivered the message to Westpac. All of the pressure worked, Westpac announced their updated climate policy, which not only rules out involvement in Adani but sets a pathway to transition out of thermal coal and into more renewable energy.

Funding

The AYCC declared a gross income of $4.79 Million in 2020 from a combination of sources. The majority of AYCC funding is from donations and bequests (81%).

References

External links

Official website
{{Youth empowerment Climate change organisations based in Australia Youth-led organizations 2006 establishments in Australia