MigRise
Climate
Academy
MigRise Climate Academy is a BreachBuilders e.V. initiative that equips BIPOC youths including those of African descent as well as youths with a family or personal migration background residing in Germany with the knowledge, skills, and networks to advance climate justice.
Purpose
The MigRise Climate Academy seeks to bridge the climate interest deficit and diversity gap within this particular group who due to systemic, structural, and cultural barriers, remains largely underrepresented in climate justice movements. Consequently, the valuable knowledge and experience from migrant youths are not sufficiently included in the discourse and the movement. The goal is to create safe spaces for dialogue, education, and advocacy to align climate justice with migrant youths priorities, cultural contexts and promote climate belonging.
Our Objectives
Increase Climate Justice Awareness
Provide Advocacy Tools
Enhance Representation
Foster Climate Belonging
What We Believe
We believe climate justice is more than science, it is social, cultural, and personal. It is about who gets to breathe clean air, who feels seen in the climate movement, and who gets to tell the story of our planet’s future.
Structure of the Academy (2025–2026)
Think of MigRise Climate Academy as a journey, not a workshop! Each season brings its own rhythm, creativity, and breakthroughs. The Academy is a nine-month long creative space where diverse young voices meet to redefine what climate justice looks like.
Quarter 1: Knowledge Transfer: We Learn
From November 2025 to January 2026, twenty youths from all over Germany dive deep into what climate justice really means, from intersectionality to policy to storytelling. We host interactive workshops, create our own climate pledges, and develop the “Climate Diversity Game Card” a tool designed by us, for us. January is our checkpoint, we gather together for collective reflection on our climate commitments and a playful round of the “Climate Diversity Game Card.”
Quarter 2: Skill Up: We Speak Up
Between February and April, the Academy transforms into a studio. We record our first podcast series and host the MigRise Climate Justice Challenge, mixing creativity with activism. To sum it up, we put it down on paper by publishing our first blog series! To mark the end of this phase, we gather for the first Climate Diversity Forum in April, a space bursting with art, ideas, and young people who believe in inclusive and just climate futures. We will also showcase our Climate Justice Challenge outputs at the inaugural Climate Diversity Forum and present our Climate Diversity Game Card to the audience as an advocacy tool.
Quarter 3: In Action: We Rise
From May to Mid-August, we partner with diaspora/migrant organisations and feature them in our second Podcast series in order to increase their engagement on the climate justice debates and convene for our second Climate Diversity Forum in August. We also launch the MigRise Coffee Book, a stunning collection of stories from young climate advocates redefining what activism looks like when diversity leads.
Project Activities
Building Our Collective: MigRise Climate Academy In-Person Meeting
The MigRise Climate Academy in-person meeting in Darmstadt was an engaging and productive gathering that marked an important milestone in the academy’s journey.
During the session, reflections were made on the online workshops held so far. Participants shared their perspectives, experiences, and feedback on the topics discussed, offering valuable insight into how the sessions have shaped their understanding of climate justice and related themes.
A key highlight of the meeting was the development of the Climate Pledges. Participants began working on individual pledges, which are expected to be finalised ahead of the first Climate Diversity Forum. These pledges are highly personal and diverse, ranging from developing a comic strip to taking climate action through sharing best practices. Several pledges also drew on knowledge and methods used by Indigenous communities, highlighting long-standing approaches to climate justice within Indigenous societies.
In parallel, significant progress was made on the Climate Diversity Game Cards. The session was marked by active engagement, with ideas shared openly and collaboratively. Participants collectively shaped the initial structure of the game cards, resulting in a strong foundational framework that will guide the next phase of development.
Overall, the Darmstadt meeting strengthened group cohesion, encouraged creative exchange, and advanced several key components of the MigRise Climate Academy. The energy, openness, and commitment demonstrated by participants contributed meaningfully to the progress made and set a strong foundation for the work ahead.
Building Our Collective: The First Climate Diversity Forum in Osnabrück
On the 11th April BreachBuilders organised its first Climate Diversity Forum. The objective of the Forum was to create an interactive space for learning, exchange, and reflection. Participants engaged with the Climate Diversity Game Cards through a gameplay session and presented their individual climate action pledges, encouraging dialogue on how personal and collective action can advance climate justice.
Through the BreachBuilders Climate Diversity Game Cards, we brought climate justice to life using gamification. The interactive format enabled participants to explore complex climate justice topics in a simplified manner, question assumptions, and build knowledge in a fun, engaging, and thought-provoking way. The game created suspense and tackled assumptions.
The Climate Diversity Forum was the space for our fellows to present and share their pledges with the audience. These pledges are a bridge between theory and practice, pushing each of the fellows to practically engage in climate action. From planting trees, brain drain awareness, organic food appealing, waste textile consciousness, climate health inclusion alert, to poem performances, the pledges reveal that small, intentional actions can go a long way in driving meaningful and sustainable change.
In cooperation with Abuntu Development e.V., we transformed climate injustice into music using a range of instruments, creating a space where participants could hear and feel the dynamics of inequality. We began with a simple question: Which is the loudest instrument? The answer was clear—the drums. Powerful, dominant, impossible to ignore. This led us into a deeper reflection: Why are some voices louder than others? And more importantly, how can we ensure that the loudest instruments do not overshadow the quieter ones? The challenge was not to silence the drums, but to create balance. To listen intentionally. To make space. To ensure that every sound, no matter how subtle, contributes meaningfully to the collective composition. In this way, the session reminded us that just as in music, climate justice requires harmony, not hierarchy—where every voice is heard, valued, and included.
The Second Climate Diversity Forum
We gathered in Bonn for the second Climate Diversity Forum, bringing together 75 plus participants, including young people, migrant and non-migrant NGOs, climate justice defenders and practitioners.
The Forum created a space for dialogue, reflection, learning and connection around climate justice, diversity, representation and belonging.
The forum was opened by a keynote speech from Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, a former Member of the European Parliament. Her message centred on building a sense of belonging within Europe’s climate justice movement and addressing the underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC), particularly in political decision-making. By sharing her personal and professional journey with the Greens, she offered the audience practical lessons and encouragement for pursuing climate justice through their own forms of engagement including political means.
Project Outputs
The BreachBuilders Climate Diversity Game Cards
MigRise Podcast Series
MigRise Coffee Book
MigRise Blog Series
Read the articles written by our community on climate justice, migration and belonging.
Who is the Academy For?
- MBPY Youth (18–30): You belong here. You’ll learn, connect, and lead projects that actually speak to your experience.
- Migrant & Diaspora Organizations: Join us in reimagining how communities engage with climate justice.
- Climate Allies & Policy Actors: Work with us to make climate solutions inclusive, local, and lasting.