• Program strengthens real-world skills and builds global networks
  • Initiative advances Masdar’s commitment to equip youth with future-ready sustainability skills

Abu Dhabi, UAE: Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S), Masdar’s global initiative to empower the next generation of sustainability leaders, has launched Beyond Borders, an international program that takes sustainability learning beyond the classroom to deliver real-world impact. The inaugural edition brought 10 young changemakers together in Malaysia for five days of workshops, field engagement, and digital storytelling.

The program enabled the participants, all Y4S Future Sustainability Leaders, to gain practical experience while fostering cross-cultural understanding and leadership development. They tackled real-world energy challenges and produced narrative-based case studies connecting people, policy, and technology.

“Beyond Borders Malaysia has set a new benchmark for Y4S in delivering impact at scale. This achievement underscores Y4S’s role as a platform that prepares youth to shape policy, drive innovation and lead the energy transformation globally,” said Zainab Al Ali, Director, Outreach and Stakeholder Relations, Masdar.

The youth, from the UAE, Malaysia, Germany, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, and India, engaged with Malaysia’s leading energy stakeholders to gain a comprehensive view of the country’s energy transformation. They visited Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Malaysia’s leading utility company, to gain insights into Malaysia’s national power infrastructure and the strategies driving the shift to renewables.

At Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia's premier energy university, participants took part in interactive workshops on inclusive energy systems. Through design challenges, case studies, and innovation labs, they explored solutions that connect local realities with global sustainability goals.

The program concluded with a youth showcase, where the young changemakers presented group outcomes and proposed local energy solutions. This allowed the Future Sustainability Leaders to demonstrate practical ideas, and reinforced the role of youth as drivers of long-term positive change in the energy transformation.

“Experiencing Malaysia’s energy landscape firsthand through site visits, community engagement, and storytelling has further strengthened my passion for sustainability. Beyond Borders Malaysia demonstrates how experiential learning and cross-cultural collaboration can empower youth to become catalysts for the global energy transformation,” said Narmeen Almarzooqi, Future Sustainability Leader and program participant.

The impact of Beyond Borders Malaysia extends beyond the five-day program. Participants will apply their learning to projects in their home countries, leverage new networks and advance innovation. For Y4S, the program deepens partnerships with academic and industry stakeholders in Southeast Asia and provides a scalable model for future editions in other regions.

Y4S participants included Matar AlSuwaidi, Shaqra Al Tamimi, Narmeen Almarzooqi, Ahmed Almheiri, Saleh AlShamsi, Doaa AlAlimi, Arvid Leonard Ehlert, Habibalrahman Hassan, Maria Benkhalifa and Navya Garg, an interdisciplinary cohort blending technical rigor, policy insight and powerful storytelling to advance a just, regionally relevant energy transformation.

About Masdar

Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) is one of the world’s leading clean energy companies. Masdar is advancing the development and deployment of solar, wind, geothermal, battery storage and green hydrogen technologies to accelerate the transformation of energy systems and help the world meet its net-zero ambitions. 

Established in 2006, Masdar has developed and invested in projects in over 40 countries with a combined capacity of 51 gigawatts (GW), providing affordable clean energy access to those who need it most and helping to power a more sustainable future. 

Masdar is jointly owned by TAQA, ADNOC, and Mubadala, and is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of 100GW by 2030 while aiming to be a leading producer of green hydrogen by the same year.