In the spring of 2026, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Tsinghua University jointly launched the "GreenPulse for Youth" initiative. The collaboration, based on the ILO Guide on Core Skills for the Green Transition, combined professional guidance from the ILO with student-led development of educational resources. Through the university's social practice programme, youth delegations travelled in China and abroad to spread green literacy and competencies to the wider public, tailored to local development needs.
A total of 168 'Green Skills Youth Pioneers', constituting 13 student delegations, organized 55 lectures and workshops on green skills in 10 provinces in China and 3 ASEAN countries, which reached nearly 9,300 participants including students, enterprise employees, rural farmers, grassroot-level officials and communities.
© ILO
Throughout the initiative, youth pioneers integrated green skills development into local demands for the green socio-economic development.
In Liling, Hunan Province, the youth delegation went to the frontlines of the ceramics and fireworks industries. Addressing practical issues such as industrial emissions and straw burning, they integrated green policy, green awareness and green production from the ILO Guide into vocational training, enterprise production and grassroot governance through lectures and dialogues, making green skills rooted and concretized.
In Tiantai, Zhejiang Province, youth pioneers extended green skills outreach to members of the Women's Federation and children, organizing interactive workshops to disseminate green literacy and core skills for the green transition to families and communities.
In Vietnam and Thailand, youth pioneers engaged in in-depth dialogues with local students on green transition, skills development and youth employment. By sharing case studies like 'Zero-carbon factories' in China, they systematically illustrated the relationship between green skills and career pathways, enhancing local students' tangible understanding of how the green transition impacts the labour market and how to improve their employability.
© ILO
Since 2025, the Quality Apprenticeship and Lifelong Learning in China Project Phase 2 has launched the GreenPulse initiative and released the pioneering Guide on Core Skills for the Green Transition. The ILO-Tsinghua 'GreenPulse for Youth' collaboration positions youth as a driving force in the socio-economic green transition. Through action-oriented field activities, the collaboration equips youth with green skills, stimulates youth innovation and encourages youth engagement in public awareness-raising of green employment and skilling, contributing to the global just transition with youth energy.
