19 Catalysts for Change in the Nordic and Baltic Sea Region

Climate collapse is intensifying. In 2026, we lived through the hottest summer of our lives - yet. And that’s why 19 young people stepped up this year to fight back through the Catalysts for Change programme 2026.

The work started before the year began, when seven members of the Catalysts for Change Working Group met every two weeks to plan each detail of the programme. We know that the change we need is huge and systematic; it won’t be easy. But we were inspired by generations before us: from defeating apartheid to winning an 8-hour working day, young people have long been catalysts for progressive change across the world. In the Nordic and Baltic Sea region, it is our generation that both know the most and are the most concerned about our natural environment and working to protect it. So we focussed on recruiting the right participants, and creating the best programme to unleash their leadership potential. By the end of February, we had a cohort from 8 different Nordic and Baltic Sea region countries ready to go.

Workshops and Bootcamps

We started learning together on the 6th of March with an informal introduction and get-to-know-each-other session. Then we met every other Saturday to learn about;

• The science of climate collapse

• System change, not climate change

• Activist strategies

Then at the end of April, we gathered in Ishoj, Denmark for a three-day Catalysts Skills Bootcamp. We had five workshops each building upon different skills needed to take collective action.

A Summer of Action

Change happens when we work together. The culmination of the Catalysts for Change Programme encouraged participants with the opportunity to turn their passion into action through final projects focused on local climate and environmental causes. The goal of these final projects was to take meaningful action that contributed to wider systematic change. 

Eleven of the Catalysts completed summer projects, ranging from organising zine picnics, facilitating workshops on dangers of AI, building people power and inspiring people to become active, to making videos for electoral campaign, were recognised at the Graduation Ceremony at ReGeneration Week in Mariehamn, Åland.

Hats off to Pola!

All of this work was led by our incredible Catalysts for Change Representative on the ReGeneration 2030 Board, Pola Zabuska. Pola graduated the programme herself in 2025 and put her skills to work immediately making the programme bigger and better than ever. 

We are about to start planning the next round of the programme. We need young people with a passion for co-learning and movement building to make it happen, as mentors, workshop leaders, and recruiters. 

Up for the challenge? Join the working group now by submitting our sign-up form!