EU Green Talk: Palestinian youth lead green transformation

The European Union hosted yesterday the EU Green Talk to honour six inspirational Palestinian youth who are leading innovative green start-ups. Their start-ups focus on promoting, protecting, and advancing environmental development goals and contributing to a greener economy.

The EU Talk is a newly established platform that aims to host exceptional Palestinian personalities from all walks of life. In its second edition, EU Talk dedicated its platform to focus on climate change and environment development goals by presenting inspirational Palestinian green youth-led start-ups. In this round, the EU Talk is held as part of the first Palestine Local Conference of Youth (LCOY), under the official youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

After launching a local call for applications on International Youth Day 2022, 214 applications were received. A selection committee consisting of prominent Palestinian economic and environmental experts and representatives from the EU thoroughly evaluated the applications and selected six youth-led start-ups.

At the EU Talk event, the selected candidates presented their innovative green start-ups to an audience of 200 youth. They gave inspirational accounts of their experiences and the environmental impact on their start-ups.

“Against the backdrop of tiring political, economic, social, and environmental challenges, Palestinian youth continue to take the lead when it comes to serving their society. I am impressed by their truly remarkable capabilities.

Today, we celebrate with this group of inspirational Palestinian youth their unwavering dedication toward green growth and sustainable development, all key factors for a greener planet. Your work informs, inspires, and truly moves us. It is so encouraging to see Europeans and Palestinians standing together in the fight against climate change, sharing a common responsibility for the future of mankind‘’ said the European Union Representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff at the EU Talk event.

The winning green start-ups are diverse and unique in nature. ECO REPLA, from Gaza, is a multi-dimensional project that combines raising community awareness and promoting a culture of plastic waste sorting, collecting, and recycling to produce fit-for-use products.

Furange is the outcome of months-long lab experiments by a group of young Palestinian researchers, who succeeded in extracting cellulose from orange peels and converting it into fabric.

As Gaza continues to suffer from 15 years of closure and economic restrictions, the hybrid-building company recycles rubble and waste into durable, strong, and cheap bricks. The Bader family from Jerusalem is working on a series of green start-ups, as they succeeded to turn e-waste and paper recycling into a successful business model.

The solar food start-up dries fruits and vegetables through a hybrid energy system of solar and wind power saving energy and providing a very high quality of dried healthy food. The GreenRock turns stones and marble wastes into a liquid organic fertilizer that can be used for eco-friendly organic farms.