GenGreen Project - What We Learned This Year and What We Expect from 2026

As we come to the end of the first year of the GenGreen project, we are happy to both reflect back and think forward. Here is how our partners feel about the first year.

From GAME: One learning we have really taken to heart is that we don’t necessarily need to rethink a lot of activities in order to add an element of climate awareness, sustainability, and green transition. In fact, quite the opposite — our users and participants actually engage more in the activity when it’s something they are already somewhat familiar with, but where we’ve added a “twist.” This is very clear in connection with our parkour/waste-sorting activity, where they are really invested in sorting as much waste as possible, and doing it correctly, all while taking part in a well-known parkour activity. We are therefore very excited to see how many of the many activities we already run on a weekly basis can also be given a GenGreen perspective. Our biggest expectation is that we manage to make it clear to all our volunteers how meaningful it truly is to integrate the GenGreen perspectives when they conduct their weekly training sessions. That it makes sense for the children they coach in football in a disadvantaged housing area that the warm-up should be a 10-minute “trash run,” where they run around their neighborhood collecting litter, or that they can work with recycling equipment — not throwing things away as they usually would, but turning them into new types of equipment that can make their training sessions cool in a different way. At GAME we work with Life Skills and Empowerment among young people, and we hope that our work with GenGreen will become an integrated part of how we talk about everything “around” the actual activities.

From ISCA: One learning from the year: Bringing together different cultures and organisations with such unique expertise in climate and sport has been a huge plus. This learning becomes the force that make us more persistent in our commitment to climate justice and more courageous in challenging traditional ways of doing things.

One expectation for the next year: My wish for the future is to strengthen the new model of climate conversation we initiated in the GenGreen project - one that is participatory, youth-driven, rooted in justice, and capable of bringing people together across generations. I want to make youth leadership truly and honestly possible in the youth-led activities we will implement next year in the project.

From BAIS: One learning from this year: It was truly uplifting to witness the creative energy and commitment of the young participants during the GenGreen youth gathering. Their ideas and motivation confirmed the importance of empowering youth to lead sport-based sustainability initiatives.

One expectation for next year: In 2026, the real implementation phase begins, and our main expectation is to generate tangible impact at the local level. We are excited to see the project’s ideas transform into concrete actions within communities!

From Organization Earth: One learning from this year: We learned how powerful it is to combine sport and physical activity with climate awareness. Engaging young people through movement and teamwork proved to be an effective way to strengthen their connection to sustainability and inspire meaningful environmental action.

One expectation for next year: We are excited to see how the youth-led initiatives will turn into real impact. We look forward to the creativity and fresh ideas young people will bring, and to watching these initiatives translate into meaningful local climate action.

From POW: One learning from this first year of this project is how important legos are to creativity! On a serious note, one thing POW learned is how much youth actually want to be active! I think after all the youth-led work of 2019 with Fridays without Future and many more, we saw a dip in youth involvement. However, this year reminded us that they are still strong voice!

One expectation: I am excited to see how that strong voice transforms into organizing and structuring an initiative. Being outspoken is one thing; coordinating impact is another. Let’s see what these youth can do.