Ever wonder what it’s like to deal with water shortages in Sicily versus flooding in Valencia? That’s exactly the kind of comparison “2030 Generation” set out to explore. This youth-led initiative brought together six young people, aged 18 to 25, from Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Germany, and Australia—including Ukraine’s official Youth Delegate to the UN—to talk through five SDGs on the table at the 2026 HLPF: clean water, clean energy, infrastructure, sustainable cities, and global partnerships.
Rather than just citing statistics, participants answered the same set of questions from their own lived experience, and the results paint a vivid, sometimes sobering picture. Droughts and floods are becoming the norm almost everywhere. Energy bills are eating into young people’s budgets, especially renters who can’t upgrade their homes. Housing has gotten so unaffordable that many young Europeans can’t move out until their late twenties or thirties—and it’s part of why birth rates keep dropping. Ukraine’s story stands apart, with war-damaged water and energy infrastructure adding a whole other layer of urgency.
Beyond the data, the event was really about connection—young people learning from each other’s realities, then taking that collective voice straight to the UN for the 2026 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Autor: Laura Muñiz, Youth Representative, Spain
