We returned to Malmö to spark the discussions on democracy and climate at the Overshoot Festival

Here is what you need to know.

• IYTT ran a summer camp with Malmö youth in July in the Interreg North Sea project Speak Up.

Youth Fellows Alice Smith, Olle Hansen and Valeria Andriienko spent three days in Malmö facilitating a summer camp with local youth. Young people of Malmö developed proposals addressing pressing issues that they later presented to local decision-makers. The participants also held Open Chair Democracy Talks (OCDTs) on the streets of Malmö.

• We added two climate-related questions to OCDTs.

To connect with environmental topics, we enriched OCDTs with two questions:

1. What is the worst thing you do for the environment in your everyday life?

2. Do you feel hopeful about Malmö’s future in terms of realizing the climate transition?

• We held a workshop on youth engagement in democracy, civil society engagement in climate action and ran OCDTs with workshop participants at the Overshoot Festival.

Overshoot day marks the day each calendar year after which Earth’s resources cannot regenerate what humanity has consumed. In 2024, Overshoot Day fell on August 1st globally, with Sweden reaching its limit earlier, on April 21st. The Overshoot Festival in Malmö encouraged participants to take action to move this critical date later.

IYTT was represented at the Overshoot Festival by a youth fellow and a friend of IYTT. Valeria Andriienko, a youth fellow, introduced the IYTT’s activities to workshop participants. Christopher Marton, a friend of IYTT, the European Climate Pact Ambassador and sustainability consultant, presented the European Climate Pact Ambassadorship programme. Together, they ran OCDTs, the results of which you can find here.

Thank you to the organizers of the Overshoot Festival for hosting this meaningful event and to our workshop participants for your dedication to driving positive change in the world.

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Best regards,

Valeria Andriienko, Youth Fellow, IYTT