The fifth International Youth Summit of Energy and Climate Change (IYSECC) inaugurated at Yingjie Exchange Center of Peking University on July 13.

The conference hosted representatives from business, government and nongovernmental sectors who have contributed extraordinary efforts in energy and climate change fields, as well as almost 200 young delegates from more than ten countries across five continents.

During the 3-day conference, in-depth discussion with the theme “Green Leads the Future – Youth Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Education and Action” took place -- youth delegates not only attended bilingual keynote speeches on “Transformation of China’s Economic Paradigm” and “Green Jobs”, “Entrepreneur’s Stories: The Way We Traveled So Far” and actively participated in panels including “Talk about Green Heroes”, “The Living Library of Green Entrepreneurship”, “Discovering Green Future”, “Green Youth Actions” and “Global Green Storm”, but also joined interactive sessions like “Tell Your Green Story” and “World Green Organizations and Businesses Exhibitions.”

Additionally, the conference also hosted innovative and interactive sessions including a story-telling piece from China representatives at the recent Global Power Shift event and the Sustainable Innovation Competition.

Project manager of China Energy Trip Andrea Cabelle Pais believes it’s a good choice for the young to start their career in green industry. “People used to think green industry is very expensive industry”, she said, “Trying to change this mentality, it’s a very good idea to show young people they can actually build up entrepreneurship and get great jobs at the same time [and] help our future.”

She suggested focusing on concrete objective like how to make this industry more portable for people to start their own business.

Many organizations worked with active youths from over 50 well-known universities in China and all over the world to organize this summit through collaborative efforts. These groups include China Youth Climate Action Network, the most internationally influential youth climate organization based in China. Also included are Tsinghua University Student Green Association, and Peking University Clear Development Mechanism Club, two student organizations from the most prestigious universities in China.