Why we're supporting AYCC

For almost two decades, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) has helped young people turn their concern for the future into meaningful action. Many of today's climate and clean energy leaders got their start through AYCC programs and campaigns. 

AYCC alumni are now leaders at key organisations including ACF, Greenpeace, Climate Council, Energy Leadership Australia, 350, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, the DECCEEW, renewable energy companies, universities and strategic policy offices. Wherever you look they’re shaping Australia’s response to the climate crisis – thanks to the start they got at AYCC.  

So when AYCC launched its emergency appeal earlier this year in a fight for survival Future Super contributed to the campaign and matched donations up to $15,000 to help ensure this important work can continue. 

We invited AYCC National Director and Future Super member Grace Vegesana to share more about the organisation's impact, why this moment matters, and what's next for the movement. 

When I joined the Australian Youth Climate Coalition nearly ten years ago as a volunteer, I had no idea then that this organisation would change the trajectory of my life. I certainly didn’t realise that one day that I’d be the National Director of Australia’s largest youth-run organisation, and the longest-running youth climate movement in the world! 

AYCC is where young people come to turn their concern about climate into action, and where that action turns into real, lasting, generation-defining change.  

For almost two decades, AYCC has been the training ground for Australia’s climate leadership. We have trained over 500,000 young community builders and engaged more than one million people in climate action, both in Australia and across the world. If you look at the people winning climate campaigns, heading up clean energy organisations, and driving policy change around the continent today, the chances are they started right here, in an AYCC workshop, at a national summit, organising in their local community for the first time. This includes Future Super – founder Simon Sheikh was also one of the co-founders of AYCC!  

What AYCC’s been up to 

Our wins over the last 20 years have shaped the future of the climate movement. Here’s a small snapshot:  

• Working alongside unions, local councils and community organisations in Port Augusta, we helped shut down two of the country’s most polluting coal-fired power stations and replace them with renewable energy. A campaign that helped make South Australia a world leader in clean energy, a win that continues to pay it forward. 

• We helped catapult School Strike for Climate to the global stage. We helped support the first Australian students inspired by Greta Thunberg, backing a movement that grew into School Strike for Climate and mobilised hundreds of thousands of people across the country. From there, the Not Business As Usual Alliance led by Future Super was born.  

• We were key to the huge public movement against the Adani coal mine. We ran campaigns that pushed Australia’s Big Four banks to stop lending to new coal mines and saw GHD pull out of a key contract with Adani. While doing that, we secured a $2 billion commitment from the Queensland government for publicly owned renewable energy.  

None of this happened by accident; it happened because young people were organised, trained and ready to change the world. 

Why AYCC is important 

The fight for climate justice is far from over. And this is more important now than ever. And at the heart of AYCC’s approach to creating change is a deep belief in the power and leadership of young people, if you give them the skills, opportunities for connection, and experience to do it.  

Throughout history, young people have demonstrated we have the critical eyes and hopeful hearts needed to lead social change movements - and we will inherit the consequences of decisions made today.  

The advocates coming through AYCC today are the ones who will be driving change for the next two decades (because young people aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow, but we’re also the leaders of today!). 

Emergency appeal 

Right now, AYCC is running an emergency appeal to raise $500,000 by the end of June. The response has already been incredible. Over 900 people have donated and more than 600 AYCC alumni have stepped up in support! People who have been a part of AYCC for two decades are still here - because they know it has an important role to play for generations to come.  

Future Super and Ben & Jerry's are backing us because they've seen what AYCC does, the workshops that turn climate concern into action, the school programs that have trained over 500,000 people and the 1 million engaged in climate action. The grassroots organising that keeps the movement independent and bold. They know that without AYCC, the climate movement loses its pipeline of leaders. 

When we launched in April, we had no idea how people would respond. But when Future Super and Ben & Jerry’s jointly reached out with an offer to match all donations up to $15,000, we knew we had a real chance. A $100 donation becomes $200. A $500 donation becomes $1,000. It meant our fundraiser could grow rapidly, amplifying every donation, and helping us reach much wider support.  

And it reminded us again of the trust and belief in young people that Future Super and its membership (which includes you and I!) has shown us since the start. 

We are already seeing the impact of the Save the AYCC emergency appeal. It’s given us a foundation from which to keep building a generation-wide movement for climate justice.  

One initiative it enables is our four-day Climate Leaders Retreat, a powerful four-day in-person development and strategy retreat bringing together 25 emerging climate organisers from across Australia. The Save the AYCC emergency allows us to get the next generation of leaders in the same room, to dream big about the world we need and learn the skills that get us there.  

Giving young people the skills, space, and support to fight for a fair and just future is only made possible because the community believes in the power of AYCC.  

This appeal helps ensure the next generation of climate changemakers have the same foundation that so many of today's were given. For almost twenty years, AYCC has been living proof of why backing young people changes the world, and we need your support to ensure that it continues for generations to come.  

On behalf of the young people of the AYCC, we’re going to keep empowering our generation to make sure history is not written for us, but by us. The future is in our hands, but right now, our future is in yours. 

•  Support the appeal