Meet our Climate Ambassador Victory Luke

As the eldest child in her family, Victory was always worried about what the world would look like for her and her three younger siblings. She felt frustrated, knowing that the climate issues could have been tackled years ago, if only the world paid attention to the scientists and researchers.

That initial spark of passion, ignited at an early age, was further flamed after being inspired by an SSE project at her school in Ireland; an initiative that challenges communities to change their behaviour and play their part in changing the world for the better. And so, Victory’s partnership with SSE began. As a Climate Ambassador, Victory has been sharing invaluable insight and knowledge and has been representing SSE at prestigious climate conferences and global exhibitions.

International Energy Agency Global Conference

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual conference brings together industry experts, business owners and politicians to advance world’s progress on energy efficiency.

In 2019, Victory impressed energy leaders with her speech at the fourth IEA Global Conference on Energy Efficiency in Dublin. Seizing the opportunity to communicate her learnings with a global audience, Victory shared personal experiences to explain the impact of global warming on young people and education. She was optimistic about the future, but explained that we need to take urgent collective action if we want to reverse the devastating aspects of climate change. During the closing remarks of her speech, Victory made a powerful plea to the political leaders and industry experts in the room. She asked them:

‘Will you continue to watch and wait, or will you do something now?’

COP26

The global UN climate change conference, COP26, took place in Glasgow in November 2021. As proud principle partners, SSE supplied the power for the event with 100% renewable energy from our Griffin Wind Farm in Perthshire. We also contributed to climate debates, demonstrated new technology, hosted delegates, and organised conferences.

Victory represented SSE at a prestigious climate action event in Belfast ahead of COP26. Along with the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Chambers Ireland, SSE made history by bringing together political leaders to discuss the all-island approach to tackling climate change. The Youth Climate Ambassador felt inspired after hearing Northern Ireland's First Minister Paul Givan, Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and an Taoiseach Micheál Martin speak about their approach to tackling climate change. And she was equally encouraged by the SSE changemakers who attended the event like Nikki Flanders, Managing Director of Energy Customer Solutions, who was eager to learn from Victory and understand her opinions on key issues.

Victory also gave a thought-provoking speech at the SSE Energy Solutions ‘Let’s Power Change Together’ COP26 event with Professor Brian Cox CBE FRS. She closed the event by calling for collaboration across generations to power real change, leaving us with these words:

'My hope is that these events will keep the momentum going and keep alive the thoughts and discussions around small changes making big changes. The actions we take now will cause a domino effect on everything that will be in the future. I hope that COP26 helps us to learn how to power change together again.'

A greener journey ahead

Together with SSE Energy Solutions, Victory Luke is on a greener journey – exploring how we can all power change together. As an SSE Climate Ambassador, you can expect to see a lot more of the young activist as we continue to work together to achieve a net zero future.

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