re• generation: Building climate justice by transforming careers and the economy for students and young workers

March 2025

re•generation is a youth-led nonprofit that empowers the next generation of leaders to rethink how our economy can better serve human and ecological well-being. Founded in 2019 as the Canadian Business Youth Council for Sustainable Development, the organization emerged from a network of sustainability and social impact clubs at Canadian business schools – challenging a business ecosystem that prioritized profit over people.

In 2022, the organization rebranded as re•generation to signal a more expansive and inclusive vision. “We wanted to invoke the idea that the future of sustainability is one that is regenerative,” says Gareth Gransaull, Executive Director of the Toronto-based organization. “As in restoring relationships with nature and with communities … and that we are the generation that will make it happen.”

re•generation’s work has three main pillars: Reimagine Your School, which helps students change their curricula to integrate more sustainability content; Rework Your Future, which relates to building career development tools for young people to contribute to a more sustainable and just society; and finally Rethink Your Society which is about providing resources to understand the clean energy transition and empowering young people to promote systems change for a regenerative economy.

“We have a real crisis of young people not believing in the future, and not seeing how they can fit into some meaningful sense of what it means to build a better society,” says Gransaull. “So, we’re not just asking people to recycle or to turn off the lights, we want to show them there are ways for career advancement and getting involved in building a vision of the future in all sectors, from sustainable mobility to the circular economy to green infrastructure.”

Much of re•generation work focuses on equipping students and young professionals with tools, resources and networking opportunities to support their engagements in the just transition to a clean economy. “If our goal is to get people to step off the corporate career pipeline, then we have to create an alternative pipeline of our own,” notes Gransaull. “That’s why we have this funnel of engagement where people hear about us through their schools or through social media, and then we can bring them into programs and share our resources”

re•generation counts over 20,000 people using their online career platform, job board, coffee chat program, and educational tools, including their myth-busting tool which educates students about the transition away from fossil fuels. (Link to Fighting Disinformation on the Transition to a New Economy here.) They have also helped develop a national network of nearly two dozen student clubs which organize events, share knowledge, and create networking opportunities. All resources – career tools, programming, and learning modules – are free and accessible to all youth.

“re•generation is a necessary connection point between students and industry professionals,” says Shreya Kannan, President of Waterloo Environment and Business Society. “It has been impactful in the Waterloo Environment and Business community for so many people looking to enter the sustainability space.” In March, re•generation will launch the final episode of their seven-part documentary series, which profiles Canadian organizations leading the charge in the clean economy. The shorts are designed to inspire young people with real-world examples of innovators creating climate impact while also generating meaningful employment and wealth.

For Gransaull and re•generation, this work is ultimately about connecting with other youth and working toward a better, more sustainable future for all. “What this age summarizes to me is the end of illusions. It’s the end of this idea that incremental, piecemeal solutions will be effective. We need to be fundamentally much more radical about how we think about the future,” says Gransaull. “That means thinking deeply about the intersection between climate and inequality and war and how all those things need to be fought as part of the same social struggle. We can’t just see climate change as this separate issue.”

To learn more about re•generation and their programs visit their website here.