Renee Zhao

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Making climate action accessible to youth

More About Renee

Growing up in the metro Vancouver area, Renee Zhao didn’t have many opportunities to engage in environmental spaces and climate action. Local options were limited, and conferences and summer programs were expensive, making participation difficult. Like many of her peers, Zhao felt deeply affected by the climate crisis, yet felt excluded from conversations about how to address it. She concluded that for climate solutions to be effective, they must be inclusive and relevant to peoples’ lives.

In high school, this conviction led her to the Canadian Youth Climate Action Team (CYCAT), where she served as director of climate education from 2024 to 2025. Whereas climate discussions are often mired in technical jargon and wonky charts, Zhao developed curriculum for elementary through high school students that explains how complex environmental issues are connected to kitchen table concerns like the cost of groceries or the health of communities. YCAT’s educational programs have reached more than 300,000 youth around the globe. She also expanded her work into accessible investigative journalism, focusing on climate justice issues impacting marginalized communities.

In 2025, Zhao helped organize the first-ever BC Students’ Climate Policy Meeting with her member of parliament, during which youth advocates representing some 10,000 students across the province pushed for environmental education, emission caps, and equitable policies. This experience paved the way for Zhao to travel to New York for the UN High-Level Political Forum in July 2026.