Members of the Global Youth Council on Science, Law & Sustainability lead their own research and advocacy projects. Each project is summarised below, with a link to the full work.
Sustainable Laws for Large-Scale Clean Energy Worldwide
By Jona David Cordonier-Gehring
Fusion energy could give us near-limitless carbon-free power, but almost no country has written laws that even mention it. Working with pro bono lawyers coordinated by Advocates for International Development (A4ID) and with Energy for the Common Good (ECG), this project compares how twelve countries across four continents regulate renewable energy today, and how ready their legal systems are for fusion tomorrow. It identifies the legal tools that made wind, solar and geothermal bankable, and asks which of them could be adapted for fusion. The findings will be presented at Climate Law and Governance Day at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
Fenlands Restoration for Flood Defence & Water Quality
Led by Nico Cordonier Gehring
A century and a half of drainage has left much of Cambridgeshire below sea level and the peat subsiding. This project asks whether re-wetted fenland should be treated as flood infrastructure rather than conservation, and makes the case for green as well as grey defences. The work includes schools workshops for Years 5–13, the Heron Habitat Helpers Handbook, a declaration and petition to the Internal Drainage Board and the Fens 2100+ programme, and a bid for Ramsar Wetlands City accreditation for Cambridge and Peterborough.
Financing & Advancing the Clean Energy Transition
By Jona Cordonier Gehring
A survey of progress in clean energy science and technology, comparing solar, wind, tidal, hydroelectric and geothermal generation alongside financing and adoption trends. The study gives particular attention to potential game-changers — fusion power, green hydrogen, and carbon containment and removal — and to what would be needed to scale them within a generation. The article was published by the University of Cambridge Energy IRC.
The 1,000 km Challenge
A joint fundraising and awareness challenge
Young people from across the UK and internationally pledged to sustainably run, cycle, paddle or otherwise cover more than 1,000 km together over one summer, raising awareness and funds to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Each participant took on their own leg and their own charities.
Harmony Online Journal - Youth Voices on Science, Law and Sustainability 