Oona Verveld and Clara Vikberg, both 18, have landed summer jobs that don't involve asking if you want fries with that. Instead, they're among the first cohort of 'young planetary stewards' in Sweden, a program that pays teenagers to actually do something about climate change rather than just doom-scrolling about it.

'Someone came up with the simple idea that, since young people clearly need jobs, why not create them?' says My Sellberg, project manager at Upplandsbygd, the non-profit running the initiative north of Stockholm. The goal: inspire hope among young Swedes, who face a youth unemployment rate of about 24% - the highest in the EU, where the average is 15%. (Though Sweden's stats partly count students seeking work, the job market remains bleak.) In the UK, youth unemployment has also hit about 16% in late 2025, its highest in over a decade.

Upplandsbygd, funded by five municipalities and the EU, uses a bottom-up 'leader method' to fund local sustainability projects. The Young Planetary Stewards (YPS) initiative pairs 10 successful applicants with local organizations - farms, conservation groups - and gives each up to 40,000 Swedish krona (about £4,000) plus project management mentoring. Crucially, the ideas come from the teens themselves.

Verveld and Vikberg's idea: replace old info signs along walking trails at Eda Lägergård, a historic summer camp north of Stockholm, with digital ones bearing QR codes. The new signs highlight biodiversity - like why leaving tree trunks full of bracket fungus and ant nests is a good thing. Eda, a century-old 'kollo' tradition where kids swap cities for nature, originally served as a health initiative for poor urban children. Now, it's getting a Gen Z upgrade.

Other YPS projects include clearing invasive species, building frog ponds, cataloguing oak trees, constructing bird boxes and insect hotels, creating new hiking trails, and running community workshops on climate conversations. 'During the interviews, it became clear that many young participants found collaborations with local organisations particularly valuable,' Sellberg says. 'Not only did they feel their work served a real purpose, but they also gained new contacts and insights.' Upplandsbygd hopes to expand the program.

'I have a pretty pessimistic world view,' Verveld admits. 'But through this project I feel that I can contribute in ways that will have an impact. I don't just watch climate change happening, I'm somehow active in improving it later on.' Vikberg, whose love for nature started as a scout, adds: 'Young people are often disconnected to nature. I want to spread the joy of spending time outdoors. If you have an interest for it, you also care for it more.'