The project aimed to empower young people to make informed and sustainable financial decisions by integrating sustainability into financial education. Specifically, ImpactFinance sought to: (1) develop a conceptual framework defining “sustainable financial literacy” and its key learning outcomes; (2) design and test innovative educational materials co-created with youth and experts through hackathons; (3) create an interactive e-learning platform to make resources widely accessible; and (4) promote long-term awareness and behavioural change among young people and educators. Beyond the educational focus, the project intended to strengthen cooperation among universities, NGOs, and social enterprises, ensuring a multidimensional approach that connects financial literacy, sustainability education, and non-formal learning methods in youth work through national and transnational hackathons. It successfully disseminated the event in all four partner countries through multiplier events and conferences.
Before the start of the ImpactFinance project, it was evident that young people across Europe lacked both the knowledge and the mindset to make personal finance decisions aligned with sustainability principles. Financial education in schools and youth settings often focused on basic economic literacy, with little or no attention to the environmental and social implications of financial behaviour. At the same time, sustainable consumption, saving, and investing were emerging as key levers for climate action and social responsibility. COMCY and its partners identified the need to bridge this gap by developing educational tools that would help young people understand how their financial decisions impact the planet and society. The project was therefore designed to promote financial wellbeing and equip youth with competencies to make responsible, informed, and sustainable choices in their everyday lives, contributing to both personal and global sustainability. The ImpactFinance project aimed at increasing awareness and application of the synergy between sustainability and financial literacy of youth, in order to solve societal wellness challenges, via learning and understanding of sustainable personal finance, and real-life practice.