Logo with three puzzle shaped speech bubbles on the left each with mountains, a city skyline, plants, and people reaching for the sky depicted. The works Youth Climate Innovation Lab to the right.

Spring 2023 | Cohort 2: ‘Building’ our Climate Futures

Read the Program Impact Report (2022-2024)

The Spring 2023 cohort of Youth Climate Innovation Lab (YCIL) was a cohort-based climate program that brought together youth ages 18-30 from across so-called Metro Vancouver to learn, upskill and create bold actions to address climate challenges and advance a just transition. This program gave youth the opportunity to collaborate with municipalities, civic institutions and community organizations on real-life climate projects that directly contributed to the local climate agenda in Metro Vancouver.

This second cohort of the program explored buildings and infrastructure as key players in combating climate change. Youth learned from climate leaders and worked on projects to address how our cities adopt climate-smart infrastructure for healthier and more just futures!

In partnership with community organizations and leaders, five climate projects were introduced to our cohort. In project teams, cohort members provided unique insights and youth perspectives on climate problems faced by our project partners. These youth-driven ideas culminated in presentations at a final Community Event on June 1st, 2023.

Project Partner: Carbon Wise 

This project team worked with Carbon Wise, a consulting firm that focuses on the decarbonization of buildings, to explore how to effectively educate and communicate to homeowners the value, importance, and impact that deep retrofits can have on GHG emissions and climate change.

Project Partner: Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House

These YCIL participants partnered with Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House to develop a youth engagement strategy in response to a decline in youth participation in their programs. The engagement plan focuses on the use of the Neighbourhood House’s new green building facility that is currently under development. 

Project Partner: FirstLight Energy Solutions

In partnership with FirstLight Energy Solutions, this team worked on a project to assess the social cost of delayed decarbonization of buildings. The team conducted a thorough literature review in order to translate technical knowledge into digestible language so that the information can be easily communicated to prospective clients who are interested in building decarbonization. 

Project Partner: Green buildings expert John Foster

John Foster, a green buildings expert, worker at FRESCo Ldt., and community leader in the green buildings and retrofitting industry, is looking for ways to involve renters in the conversation of deep retrofitting. The team conducted surveys and interviews to understand what kinds of barriers exist that prevent renters from safely advocating for their needs to acquire more climate friendly accommodations.

Project Partner: Vancouver Economic Commission and Community Energy Association 

Why is there a workforce gap in the field of trades, and how does this gap impact green building decarbonization? This team worked with Vancouver Economic Commission and Community Energy Association to uncover why this gap exists and identify how to remove the barriers youth face to entering the industry to further building decarbonizing and retrofitting.

SESSION DATES

Program Kickoff

  • Session 1 – Saturday March 4th

Learning & Foundations 

  • Session 2 – Wednesday March 8th
  • Session 3 – Wednesday March 15th
  • Session 4 – Wednesday March 22nd
  • Session 5 – Saturday March 25th

Investigate & Ideate 

  • Session 6 – Wednesday April 5th
  • Session 7 – Wednesday April 12th
  • Session 8 – Saturday April 15th

Skills Application & Testing

  • Session 9 – Saturday April 29th
  • Session 10 – Wednesday May 3rd
  • Session 11 – Wednesday May 10th
  • Session 12 – Wednesday May 17th
  • Session 13 – Wednesday May 24th
  • Session 14 – Saturday May 27th

Community Event Night – June 1st, 2023

Program Overview: 

Over 3 months, participants attended 14 sessions, and were featured in a community presentation night to celebrate their work and learnings. The program consisted of three learning modules: 

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

This program wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of:

Logos for Vancity, the Houssian Foundation, the Trottier Family Foundation, and The Youth Harbour.

This program wouldn’t be possible without the guidance and support or our steering committee:

The logos for the Vancouver Economic Commissions, the Social Purpose Institutes at United Way, OneEarth, the Community Energy Association, Climate Caucus, the City of Vancouver Climate Emergency, and the City of Coquitlam.