The Green Team is aiming for a big impact after securing funding
A major new environmental learning pathway for 11-25 year olds has been announced by an Edinburgh charity.
The Green Team will launch the Young Environmental Stewardship programme (YES) in January 2026 with £187,037 support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
YES will help address biodiversity loss and climate change by empowering young people, many of whom are disengaged from formal education.
The programme will help participants build a lifelong connection with nature and become confident, skilled custodians of Scotland’s natural heritage.
YES will focus on the most at-risk greenspaces, engaging the city’s young people in hands-on conservation, outdoor learning and accredited outdoor learning awards.
The Green Team will nurture wellbeing, self-esteem and leadership potential whilst restoring natural heritage sites across Edinburgh, the Lothians and specific rewilding sites further afield.
The legacy of YES will be a new generation of environmental leaders. The programme will further strengthen The Green Team’s role as a sector leader in youth environmental engagement.
Julia Duncan, Co-CEO of The Green Team, confirmed news of the project: “We are thrilled to share the exciting news that The Green Team has been awarded funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to launch our new Young Environmental Stewardship (YES) programme.
“YES is an ambitious, 27-month, multi-tiered outdoor learning initiative designed for young people aged 11–25 across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
“We are incredibly grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for making this work possible, and we can’t wait to begin this next Green Team chapter with our young environmental leaders.”
The news comes as the charity celebrates its 30th birthday.
Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland, said: “It is important to us that projects we fund support inclusion, access and participation in heritage.
“The Young Environmental Stewardship programme has inclusion built in from its earliest planning stages with The Green Team’s youth group helping in its design to ensure the project can successfully engage with more young people and inspire a passion for natural heritage, while offering an alternate means of education and a path to employment.“We are excited to see what these young people will achieve thanks to the support made possible by National Lottery players.”
