EUR student Emma Clemens has been elected a UN Youth Delegate for sustainable development. In the next two years, she and Martijn Visser will address the UN on behalf of young Dutch people.

The economics student launched a very ambitious campaign. Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and former Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende made appearances in her videos, calling on people to vote for ‘Em’. Furthermore, the student organised a bike ride to The Hague to present the ‘newly appointed Minister for the Climate Policy’ with a to-do list on behalf of young Dutch people, and visited several secondary schools to raise awareness for sustainability.

Clemens had to present a final pitch at the UN Night to try and get the judges and the audience behind her. She succeeded on both counts. Not only did she receive the largest number of votes from the audience, but she was also the judges’ favourite candidate. “It was a really nice evening. I’m glad so many people showed up to show their support, and I’m really looking forward to the next two years!”

No time to celebrate

There won’t be time to celebrate though, because now that Clemens is officially a Youth Delegate, she will have her work cut out for her. Today she is off to Bonn, Germany, in an electric car, accompanied by fellow Youth Delegate Martijn Visser and former Delegate Max van Deursen.

In Bonn, which is hosting the Conference of Youth, a conference bringing together hundreds of young people from all over the world, she will prepare for her first climate summit. “I’m going to listen to input from many young people from all over the globe to prepare for next week’s summit.”

Emma Clemens wint