The Climate Change-Makers Challenge: 2026

No coding experience needed! Solutions don't have to be app or website-based! Beginner friendly! About the Challenge: Climate change is among the most urgent issues of our time. 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first to top 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels (Scientific American). In fact, all 10 of the hottest years in human history have been in the past decade, putting up to one million species at risk of extinction. Millions of people all across the globe will be displaced from their homes due to climate change as well. The delicate balance we have on Earth is at risk. So, what do we do about it? The need for action & innovation is more urgent than ever. And to make headway in addressing the problem, it will not be a 'magic bullet' that solves everything, but rather the joint efforts of engineers, artists, coders, educators, politicians, business-people & others coordinating with a variety of different solutions to make a difference. Our challenge: Can you create that next big solution to our climate change dilemma? It can be locally-focused, it can be globally-minded. It can be an art concept, a new machine, a code-heavy app, a proposal for an event, a plan to conserve an ecosystem, an education campaign, or more. It can be a business, a non-profit concept, a whitepaper or anything in between. It can be many things. As long as it's built with the planet and its people in mind, working to address the climate crisis in its own unique way. The Logistics: Our opening ceremony is on Friday, April 3rd (Time TBD), with our deadline set at 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, April 5th. Folks may work on their ideas at any point during that weekend. We do ask that you submit original ideas, which means that the ideas must not have been submitted in their current form to past hackathons or similar innovation competitions... if you are thinking of evolving a past idea in a significant way, let us know & can advise if it'll be different enough to submit here. Each team should also have 2-5 members, which can come pre-formed or be finalized before/ during the hackathon with help of the organizers... In terms of helping with team formation, we will have a Slack channel TBA & also do a match-making event the Friday before for folks looking for teams/ teammates. Be sure to check eligibility requirements as you make your team... Having a diverse set of people & backgrounds—including in the level of past hackathon experience—will be key. During the hackathon, there will be opportunities to attend educational workshops on different issues, some related to developing skills for building or presenting your concept, and others on inclusive innovation principles... Although not finalized, we may have bonus points or incentives to encourage folks to take advantage of these different opportunities. The workshops will mainly be hosted over Zoom with the links found in a 'Participant Resource Package' that we will be sharing closer to the weekend itself. We will also be running our Climate Innovation & Leadership certification program again this year, in conjunction with the challenge itself. People are welcome to participate even if they do not submit a project for our hackathon. Details TBA, learn more about the 2025 edition of this program here. In addition, there will be information + resources + advice shared during our intro session, via our Slack and through mentors who will be available at points during the weekend. Some details above will change closer to the date, so we advise checking back at this page every so often or reaching out to the organizing team if you have any questions. A final note that the submission itself will be a FOUR-MINUTE VIDEO (this may change), as well as a completed project description page on Devpost. These will then be reviewed by a set of some incredible judges coming from a variety of different fields (not just tech), with finalists then invited to present their solutions live at a GRAND FINALS event in the weeks following our hackathon. Themes: Over the course of this 48-hour hackathon, we will focus on four sets of inter-connected challenges that will need to be addressed as we fight climate change. Projects may address one theme or combine multiple. with these described below: 1. Adaptation & Resilience: From sea level rise to the increased extreme weather events, we must face a reality that some impacts of climate change are here to stay... And with that, comes a need to adapt our communities, infrastructure and processes to be more resilient to the new and ever-evolving reality we find ourselves in. What can you do to help with climate adaptation, locally or globally? 2. Biodiversity & Nature-Based Solutions: We cannot solve our climate crisis without also addressing our biodiversity crisis, and vice versa. Looking at things like mangrove restoration, coral reef regeneration or the protection of unique ecosystems like the Arctic, nature-based solutions also offer some of the greatest potential to address the climate crisis. How can we protect biodiversity from climate change or use it to mitigate its impacts? 3. Mobilizing Capacity & Collective Action: Even as impacts of the climate crisis become more real, there exists much misinformation spread about on climate. And beyond this education piece, how to shift our workforce and activate humankind's potential to act on climate is a real question. As are ones around how to create policy change and challenge governance structures... There is a lot of collective work we need to do to meet our climate goals, but how do we develop our capacity to do so? 4. Climate Technology & Infrastructure: Much of our current climate dilemma comes from using carbon-heavy technologies to address problems of the past. From changing how we transport goods, to challenging how we create electricity, to integrating AI into our work & building circular economy principles into our infrastructure, there is a lot in the tech side of things that need to change. How can we build technology & infrastructure to address the climate crisis? Our Four Lens that Every Solution Must Consider: Regardless of what theme/ challenge you choose to focus on, participants should also consider the following perspectives/ lenses in designing their proposed solutions: An Equity & Justice Lens: Think about how your solution will impact different communities, including those most impacted by climate or who have been historically marginalized from decision-making (e.g. indigenous & racialized groups). It is also important to think how gender-based discrimination or accessibility factors into your proposed solution. Think also about your solution's impacts on generations into the future. A Practical Lens: Think about your timelines for action & what it will take to implement your idea. There is time pressure to act on climate, which makes it important to have those big dreams about all that can be possible (there's SO much to be hopeful for), while grounding action to the realities of the present. A Two-Eyed Seeing Approach: Incorporate a two-eyed seeing approach, where you complement indigenous knowledge with academic science, learning from these inter-connected and unique perspectives. Additionally, ground your solution in facts, and do research on the people + issues you are seeking to serve/address. A Systems Approach: While your idea may focus on one theme, it likely links to many others. For example, solar panels are a high-potential renewable energy source, yet rely on rare earth materials that can hurt biodiversity if mined improperly. Think about your solutions impact on all the themes. The above 'lens' are not specific to any solution but rather apply to any project concepts that one might develop. These are not necessarily things you will be asked about in your submission, yet must always be front-of-mind when creating new (or evolving old) solutions for the climate crisis! About the Organizers: One4Earth is an environmental non-profit whose mission is to bring together people, projects and organizations across the world to create collaborative communities dedicated to eco-action. They do this by fostering connection, celebrating good environmental work, and catalyzing new & existing climate action. Find out more at https://one4earth.org/ Youth Impact Challenge is a non-governmental organization that hosts an annual program/ challenge which engages innovative youth and encourages collaboration towards positive outcomes to solve complex problems. The World needs young innovators, and YIC turns ideas into impact. Find out more at https://www.youthimpactchallenge.ca.