YOUTH AND ENVIRONMENT EUROPE

Their core work

Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) is a pan-European network of youth environmental organizations that mobilizes young people as active participants in environmental policy and governance. Their core contribution to research consortia is civil society engagement: they bring youth voices into policy processes, run participatory activities with young audiences, and help translate research findings into actionable civic engagement. In STEP they focused on deepening young people's political participation on environmental topics; in REAL DEAL they shifted toward deliberative democracy methods and green leadership development. They function as the "youth civil society" node in multi-partner projects, connecting academic and policy partners to real communities of engaged young Europeans.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (STEP, 2015–2017), YEE concentrated narrowly on political and societal engagement — getting young people involved in environmental issues through civic channels. There are no recorded keywords from that period, suggesting a relatively straightforward mobilization role with limited methodological complexity. By REAL DEAL (2022–2025), the framing had clearly broadened: sustainable development, environmental justice, and gender equality entered the picture alongside deliberative democracy methods, signaling a move from simple youth outreach toward more structured participatory governance approaches with an equity lens.

YEE is moving from general youth mobilization toward structured deliberative democracy and intersectional environmental justice work, making them an increasingly relevant partner for projects that need to demonstrate inclusive, participatory governance alongside their research outputs.

How they like to work

YEE has never led an H2020 project — they participate exclusively as consortium partners, which is typical for NGO networks whose value lies in community access and civil society legitimacy rather than research leadership. Across just two projects they have accumulated 30 unique partners in 14 countries, suggesting they join large, geographically diverse consortia rather than small bilateral arrangements. This breadth indicates they are brought in to provide European-scale youth reach, not deep technical expertise in a single domain.

YEE has worked with 30 distinct consortium partners across 14 countries from only two projects, averaging roughly 15 partners per project — unusually broad for such a small portfolio. Their network spans most of the EU, consistent with their identity as a pan-European federation of national youth environmental organizations.

What sets them apart

Very few EU-funded research consortia include a dedicated pan-European youth environmental network, which makes YEE a rare asset when a project needs genuine civil society engagement with young audiences rather than a token dissemination task. Their dual positioning across environmental governance (CLIMATE pillar) and societal research (SOCIETY pillar) means they can bridge the gap between climate science and democratic participation — a combination that is increasingly in demand under EU Green Deal and Mission-oriented research. For a coordinator building a consortium that must demonstrate broad social impact and youth engagement, YEE provides credibility and reach that academic partners cannot replicate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• REAL DEAL
  Their most recent and thematically ambitious project, running through 2025, directly connects green leadership with deliberative democracy and gender equity — reflecting the current EU research agenda and positioning YEE at the intersection of climate policy and democratic innovation.
• STEP
  Their entry into H2020 as a research partner, establishing YEE's track record as the civil society bridge between young people and environmental policy processes in an EU-funded context.