The home for young leaders protecting and restoring the planet.
We back the young people doing the real work, through recognition, funding, mentorship, and community, from a first idea to a first organization.

Leader of the month
Amara · Reforesting Côte d'Ivoire
Young leaders in 6 continents and growing.
50+ leaders, 18 countries
Each pin is a person. Click one to read their story, or filter by the kind of work they're doing on the ground.
How we walk with young leaders.
YPL is long term infrastructure for young leaders. Six connected programs that meet them wherever they are, and stay with them for years.
- Recognition + funding01
Awards and Funding
Monthly $1,000 features, quarterly sponsorships up to $2,000, and two annual ($5,000 & $2,500) Leader of the Year Awards. Recognition with money behind it.
Learn more - Skills · free02
Changemaker Academy
A free 8-week virtual program for ages 14 to 22. Two hours a week, weekly seminars, and funding for the top three projects.
Learn more - 1:1 · 12 months03
Mentorship
Hand-matched year long pairings with senior practitioners in climate, policy, conservation, storytelling and business.
Learn more - Annual · global04
Digital Summit
One day, six continents, one shared challenge. Our young leaders convene online with peers, mentors, and funders.
Learn more - Community05
Clubs Program
Funding and support for specific community initiatives from approved YPL Chapters.
Learn more - Leadership06
Youth Advisory Board
A rotating board of YPLs shaping the organization from the inside, on programs, partnerships, and where we go next.
Learn more
What the leaders actually say about YPL.
This support didn't just fund a program, it opened doors for students who had never once imagined they could reach universities, let alone government universities. Many of them are the first in their families to even try. For our community, where most parents earn less than USD 150 a month, opportunities like this simply do not exist unless someone reaches in from the outside. Your team did that for them.
Five years in. Just getting started.
Numbers don't tell the whole story, but they hint at the shape of a community that keeps growing, year after year.
Young leaders are building and deploying the world's first all terrain tree planting robot
Meet our young planet leaders.
A free 8-week virtual program for ages 14 to 22.
Two hours a week, weekly seminars from top experts on fundraising, conflict management, and storytelling. Build alongside a global cohort on Discord. The top three projects get seed funding to keep going.
"The Academy didn't just teach me how to build a project. It gave me a cohort of friends I still text every week."
2026 applications are closed. The next cohort opens in 2027.



Ages 14 to 22, anywhere in the world.
A mentor who actually knows your work, for a year, not an hour.
We pair every YPL leader with a senior practitioner working in the same field, climate science, policy, conservation, storytelling, business. No generic career advice.
Matched, not assigned
Every pairing is hand-made, by people who actually know both sides.
Real work, not advice
Mentors help shape the project, drafting strategy, opening doors, reviewing pitches.
12+ months minimum
No 30-minute office hours. Long enough to ship something together.
Get the monthly featured leader
One email a month, a young leader worth knowing, plus funding and opportunity deadlines before they close.
Where YPL and our leaders have been seen.
Recent clippings
Why Young Planet Leaders is rewriting the changemaker playbook
Instead of one-off prizes, YPL stays with its leaders for years, funding, mentoring, opening doors. The result is a network that actually compounds.
Meet the 40 young environmentalists shaping 2026
From mangrove restoration in Côte d'Ivoire to clean-cookstove cooperatives in Nepal, the new YPL cohort is small, sharp and deeply local.
The quiet network behind a generation of climate leaders
What sets YPL apart isn't a glossy summit, it's the unglamorous follow-through. Five years in, the leaders are still building, and YPL is still there.
However you show up, there's a place for you.
Apply to YPL
Be featured. Join the Academy. Start a YPL Club in your city.
Walk with someone
Share expertise, host a session, sponsor a young leader directly.
Fund the next generation
Every dollar goes to direct sponsorships, mentorship, and the Academy.
Join the YPL Discord
Where our leaders actually talk. Ask for help, share wins, find collaborators, and hear about funding and events first.
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