A new year, a new step up for the Young Green Briton Challenge
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The Young Green Briton Challenge is back for a fourth year, with even more desire to harness the creativity of youngsters, and we at Ecotricity Business are once again proud to be supporting the initiative. After two years of piloting, 2024/25 saw the Challenge scale up, with over 7,500 secondary school pupils aged 11–16 applying design, innovation and business skills to develop solutions for local climate and sustainability issues. At the National Final in London’s City Hall in July, a mix of ideas and teams were recognised, including:
Bouncepadz (King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes, Liverpool): A kinetic energy pad prototype designed to convert footsteps in high-traffic areas into electricity
SustainInhale (Fairfield High School for Girls, Droylsden, Manchester): A biodegradable and refillable asthma inhaler, using eco-friendly materials like bioplastics and recycled parts
Team Deforestation (Chiltern Academy, Luton): To combat deforestation, this team planted trees around their school and launched a gardening club and school garden
No Green, No Earth (Upper Batley High School, Batley): This team transformed glass jars into terrariums, selling them to fund greenhouses in schools
More than just investment
Now, with the new academic year in full swing, the Challenge is back again. This year the aim is to further embed sustainability into secondary education at schools across the country, with a key focus on schools in London, Sussex, Luton, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Newcastle, Sunderland, Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool. At Ecotricity, our involvement with the Challenge has always gone much further than the initial investment Dale Vince made in 2022, with our employees and partners taking on a variety of volunteering roles that support the schools taking part in the Challenge in their local communities. This year, Ecotricity Business is specifically supporting the Challenge through a 'Power the Southwest' partnership. This will enable the rollout of the Challenge to two schools in the region, giving over 400 pupils the opportunity to participate. Once again, we are also inviting our people, partners and customers to get involved with the volunteering roles in their local communities. These roles include:
Design Facilitator: Supporting facilitation of a one-day, in-school design workshop
Eco-dragon: Participating in a school’s ‘Eco Dragon’s Den’ where the ideas are pitched and analysed by the ‘dragons’
Ask the Expert Mentor: Giving expert advice on an area of expertise through a Q&A with students
If you would like to volunteer for any of these roles, fill out this form.
At Ecotricity, we’re proud to stand behind the Young Green Briton Challenge’s rallying cry to young people: your voice matters, your ideas count, and your actions can lead to real change – and we’re looking forward to another year of being inspired by the innovative thinking of the youth of Green Britain.
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