Planet // Power grew out of fifteen years spent inside the climate world – as a youth campaigner before she could vote, a negotiator in UN rooms, and an advisor to governments and finance ministries working out how to fund the transition.
Ralien Bekkers led the Young & Sustainable working group of the Dutch National Youth Council, served as a UN Youth Representative for Sustainable Development, and helped negotiate text into the Rio+20 outcome document. She was in the room when the Paris Agreement was reached and the Sustainable Development Goals were drafted, completed a master's degree at Yale, and went on to support countries including Cambodia, Jordan and the Marshall Islands in building gender equality into their national climate plans.
More recently, she has led international coalitions and dialogues on financing the climate transition – including with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and the UNFCCC's Veredas Dialogue – bringing governments and financial institutions to the same table.
That experience is what Planet vs. Patriarchy (originally published in Dutch as Zo kan het niet langer, 2023) distills into an argument – and what Planet // Power now turns into practice: the climate crisis will not be solved by the leadership that caused it. It takes different power, and everyone willing to help build and share it.
The experience behind the work
A handful of examples – not a full record – of the talks, rooms and coalitions that inform Planet // Power's programmes today.
International speaker
Three TEDx stages on youth climate leadership and what actually drives people to act.
In the UN negotiating rooms
From the Rio+20 Earth Summit and the UN process that shaped the Sustainable Development Goals to the UNFCCC's COP21 Paris climate summit – plus the UNFCCC's Veredas Dialogue, which she currently co-chairs.
Rio+20 High Level Event → UN Open Working Group on SDGs → UNFCCC COP21 Paris → UNFCCC Veredas Dialogue (co-chair) →
NDC Partnership
Built and led the coalition's gender strategy and youth engagement plan, and worked directly with 10+ countries across regions to put gender equality into national climate plans.
Gender equality work → Gender Strategy video → Youth Engagement Plan → Cambodia interview →
Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action
Led dialogues on financing the climate transition with the coalition of over 100 countries' finance ministries, previously co-chaired by the Netherlands, Uganda and Indonesia.
As featured in
Zo kan het niet langer reached Dutch universities, national media and platforms.
University of Amsterdam → Folia → NPO Radio 1 – De Nieuws BV → NPO Radio 1 – Nieuwsweekend → OneWorld → Down to Earth Magazine → Female Boss podcast → Management Book →