Helen Watts

Bio Helen is the Executive Director at Student Energy, the world's largest youth-led organization mobilizing 100,000 young people in 130 countries for a just, sustainable and equitable energy transition. Helen is a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, Corporate Knights 30 Under 30, and a recognized young clean energy and intergenerational equity advocate. Helen is an Advisor at the Canadian Climate Institute, Canada’s leading climate change policy research organization, and a Just Transition Taskforce Member of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. Helen oversees Student Energyʼs Theory of Change delivery through ten educational and skills-based programs. Advocating for youth inclusion at every level of decision-making processes, Helen leads the Student Energyʼs global vision and strategic planning with the support of over 60 partners and stakeholders in the energy transition space. Since 2017, Helen has worked to empower tens of thousands of young people around the world to work on solutions for a clean and equitable energy transition. She co-leads the Solutions Movement, a UN-Energy Compact designed to support 10,000 youth clean energy projects by 2030 and led the development of the first Global Youth Energy Outlook with twelve young energy leaders to gather 41,000 youth perspectives on the energy transition by 2030. With almost a decade of experience as a young leader, Helen has worked on issues ranging from the global energy transition, to safe & dignified human migration, to the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. She has attended five UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COPs), raised funds for and developed over ten youth delegations to global conferences, and supported the success of International Student Energy Summits (SES) spanning three continents.

Just transitions & intergenerational equity

Equipping youth with resources and networks is our most logical tactic at hand for real, inclusive systems change

Dungeon Master extraordinaire