About the Document:

These conference proceedings are a summary of four plenary panels and 15 parallel panel discussions from the first International YES Conference, which was convened by the World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia in December 2025 in Jakarta, Indonesia. This two-day conference brought together young environmental scientists from across Indonesia and around the world to present their research, connect with like-minded peers and development actors, and share cross-cutting insights on building a just and climate-resilient future. This conference was designed to explore how youth-led innovations could help tackle the pressing challenges of climate change. These conference proceedings reflected this belief in young people as climate activists who amplify local aspirations and concerns through social media, public lawsuits, and other channels (UNDP 2024). Therefore, these conference proceedings portrayed young people’s innovations to drive transformative change as immense, with young researchers worldwide pioneering innovations in nature-based solutions, clean energy, sustainable food, urban development, and climate adaptation and mitigation.