The aim of the Sustainable NGOs project was to raise awareness in the youth sector about climate change and environmental challenges in line with European and global strategy documents, to empower the youth sector to act sustainably and make a green transition, and to improve the green competences of young people, youth workers and leaders and help them to change their own habits and behavioural patterns to become agents of change both inside and outside the youth organisation.
The project aimed to address the perceived needs of youth workers and youth leaders for tailored tools to develop green competences and ensure the environmentally friendly functioning of their organisations (taking into account not only environmental aspects, but also financial management, health, human resource management, etc.). We have identified a lack of knowledge of stakeholders in the youth sector in the areas of ecological footprint, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, which makes it more difficult for them to differentiate between effective solutions and greenwashing. The tools that were already available before the start of our project were not suitable for use in the youth sector, but at the same time the need for such tools is becoming more and more visible as the principles of the European Green Deal (EGD) are reflected in new EU programmes as well as in national funding guidelines and public funding, on which youth organisations are more and more directly dependent.