Adelphi “Proud to see Sustainable Initiatives Soar!” at YGBC Event

July 22, 2025

Young Green Briton Challenge Finale Sees Future Climate Leaders Shine at City Hall

Key Highlights:

• Students from across England developed real-world environmental projects with support from the Young Green Briton Challenge, with finalists gathering at London City Hall to pitch.
• Creative climate solutions included refillable biodegradable inhalers, school-wide wormeries, and waste transformed into lava lamps, bird feeders, and much more.
• Winning teams will receive investment from a £4,000 prize fund to scale their ideas and boost local impact.

 

On Tuesday 1^st July, students from across the country gathered at London City Hall to showcase their original, home-grown solutions to the climate and nature crisis. As part of the Young Green Briton Challenge, thousands of secondary school pupils have designed hands-on projects to tackle the climate and nature crisis in their communities.

From fashion swaps and refillable asthma inhalers to school ponds and plastic-free bird feeders – young people across England are turning climate anxiety into bold, practical action.

The students’ innovative climate solutions ranged from biodegradable whiteboard rubbers to biodiversity gardening clubs, from food waste wormeries to circular economy startups reusing waste before it becomes a problem.

Finalist teams delivered dynamic pitch videos hoping to be crowned Young Green Briton Challenge 2025 winners and secure a share of the coveted £4,000 prize fund up for grabs from the Green Britain Foundation.

After much deliberation, the judges selected the winning teams Bouncepadz from Kings Leadership Academy Hawthornes in Liverpool, SustainInhale from Fairfield School for Girls in Manchester, Team Deforestation from Chiltern Academy in Luton and No Green, No Earth from Upper Batley High School – from a highly competitive pool of young changemakers.

 

 

Dale Vince, Founder of the Green Britain Foundation, said: “Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Young Green Briton Challenge. We created this initiative to give young people the opportunity and tools to tackle the climate crisis. The ideas we’ve seen today show just how much energy and creativity the next generation has!”

Among those welcoming students to City Hall were Youth Ambassadors Bo Cox – Eco Warrior from St Vincent’s School for visually impaired students in Liverpool – and wildlife campaigner Bella Lack, a trustee of the Born Free Foundation. They were joined by YGBC Ambassador Chris Packham and Deputy Mayor of London, Mete Coban.

Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment, said: “With the climate crisis more pressing now than ever, it’s vital that we have young people at the forefront of climate action – so I’m pleased to have tomorrow’s green leaders here at City Hall with us today, and excited to see the progress of their innovative climate solutions, as we continue working to build a greener and better London for everyone.”

The event also featured inspiring stories from previous winners, including the Fashion Frogs, whose upcycled uniform business has already saved hundreds of kilos of clothing from landfill.

Now in its third year since launching in 2022, the Young Green Briton Challenge has engaged over 14,000 students from more than 50 state and special schools across England – helping them turn learning into action and explore pathways into green careers.

The programme equips young people with the confidence, skills, and platform to lead change in their communities, with support from mentors, businesses, and environmental organisations across the UK.

The Young Green Briton Challenge is delivered by the Green Britain Foundation in partnership with Social Innovation for All CIC and GenEarth CIC, backed by a growing coalition of funders, businesses, and government partners.

 

 

Local Sponsor Adelphi “Proud to see Sustainable Initiatives Soar!”

“The Young Green Briton Challenge supports students aged 11-16, and is sparking a green revolution in schools – supporting over 14,000 young people to date to design, present and implement innovative ideas for tackling climate change covering a range of issues including biodiversity loss, air pollution, plastic pollution, littering, food waste, deforestation, fast fashion, access to renewable energy and lack of sustainable transport.

Two of Adelphi’s core values are “nurturing the next generation,” and “creating a sustainable global future.” The vision of this challenge therefore aligns very much with our values and we were very keen to get involved, both as a sponsor and as a provider of mentors and volunteers in various local schools participating. It has been a joyful and rewarding experience and we are looking forward to continuing our involvement with the team over the coming year.

On a personal note, being introduced to Woodlands Meed School and getting involved with the activities there has honestly been one of the highlights of my year. The school fully embraced the Young Green Briton Challenge thanks to the support, encouragement and enthusiasm of Kat. I was so impressed with the way in which the staff team worked with their students to come up with ideas on how to make their school or local environment more sustainable. The ideas were diverse and creative, from a wormery, to delicious vegan snacks. It was an absolute honour to be invited to hand out the certificates at their special celebration day!”

Ellen Holroyd, Group Culture Director

Adelphi Volunteers Say…

“I was stunned by the social and environmental awareness of the students, as well as their clear passion for the project. The students I mentored were extremely mature, engaged, and driven to take ideas on board and see their project succeed. The outcomes ended up surpassing what we initially anticipated, since the snowball effect of the idea was so powerful. It was actually really emotional to see them succeed on awards day, and I know they will use the additional funding to wonderful effect!”
Rachel Birrell-Gray, Associate Director of Marketing

 

“This was an amazing experience, sharing my skills and knowledge with the next generation. Their ambition and drive is clearly there, and our future is in great hands. I started at the Design Sprint event, seeing different ideas and different levels of passion. Then coming back to be a mentor to the final groups, it was incredible to see the development of the projects. I was also lucky that I was assigned to my own High School, and seeing the development of the school gave this project an even bigger impact. Seeing the Worthing High team come as a runner up was a very proud moment, and seeing how many schools are actively driving change for our future is incredible. The YGBC is a wonderful project to give the next generation inspiration that they can impact the future of our planet.”
Glen Smith, Strategic Buyer

 

“It was inspiring to work with young kids on the YGBC and to see the wonderful range of ideas they came up with. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if adults were as unbounded in their imagination and more active in pushing environmental causes – we need to take a lesson from the kids. I just hope that in the future when they look back, they can see an improvement from where we are now – for the sake of future generations. Competitions like YGBC help young people to become more knowledgeable and proactive regarding environmental concerns – and the really nice bit is that they can put their ideas into action with the mentoring, and the winners get some financial support to move their projects forward. I was impressed with the calibre of the mentors I worked with – we all had different skills and could advise the kids from different perspectives and helpful background knowledge. I also believe that there is no better way of engaging kids than championing them and celebrating their creative energy towards such a positive cause.”
James Barnham, Design Engineer

 

 

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