Ella Simons was still in primary school when she joined her first School Strike 4 Climate rally. Before she finished high school she’d represented Australia at the pre-COP conference in Milan, going on to become one of the country’s most recognisable young climate advocates. Now, at just 19, she’s taking the youth voice somewhere it’s rarely been heard: inside the boardroom, as co-CEO of Damon Gameau’s youth-led global movement Future Council, helping organisations trying to navigate a changing world.
In early 2020, Ella Simons experienced firsthand the impact of the climate crisis, when she and a group of her young friends were evacuated from the Jewish youth camp they were attending in country Victoria after nearby bushfires raged dangerously close.
As terrified as she was, the then 13-year-old was spurred into action, and the next day saw Ella and her younger sister selling cupcakes at their local Melbourne shopping strip to raise money for families impacted by the fires.
“We ended up standing on the street for hours, we’d sold out of everything, but people kept bringing their change because I think they felt really helpless and wanted to do whatever they could,” says Ella. “We raised $1000, and we didn’t have that many cupcakes!”
Ella (centre) at a School Strike 4 Climate rally in Melbourne in May 2021.
It wasn’t the first time Ella had responded proactively to the climate crisis. A participant in the inaugural School Strike 4 Climate protests in November 2018 when she was in year six, Ella would go on to join the Australian Youth Climate Coalition in high school, learning about campaigning and deepening her knowledge on climate change itself; before teaming up with fellow advocate and friend Anjali Sharma to not only organise but help lead the next school strike, quickly becoming the face of the movement.
When Covid put paid to public gatherings, Ella applied for and was ultimately appointed Australia’s youth representative at the global pre-COP (Conference of the Parties) climate conference in Milan in 2021. She was just 15, the youngest delegate there.
In addition to remaining engaged across local, national and international climate campaigns, Ella helped lead the Make It 16 campaign calling for the voting age of Australians to be lowered to 16, recognising the importance of youth participation in democracy.
Little wonder then, that on leaving high school last year she was snapped up by the actor-turned-activist director and CEO of Regen Studios, Damon Gameau, who appointed her co-CEO of Future Council, where she ensures the crucial youth voice is represented and heard.
Since 2023, Alberts, through its philanthropic arm The Tony Foundation, has partnered with impact-focused production house, Regen Studios, supporting its ongoing efforts to directly address climate change through creativity and storytelling, Future Council being a key part.
Ella (left) with Future Council director, Damon Gameau, and members of the film’s young cast at the film’s European premiere at the Into Film Festival in London, November 2025.
Climate advocacy and imparting a positive impact on the world is part of Ella’s DNA, instilled in her since she was a child.
“I’ve always been brought up in a family that cares about values and impact,” Ella says, noting her maternal great grandparents were Holocaust survivors who came to Australia as refugees seeking a better life.
“Their story of survival and having the opportunity to make change, to be a leader if you can, has been ingrained in us from a young age.”
She was also brought up in a family with a deep love and respect for nature, her increasing leadership in the climate space awakening her to the global power of the youth voice and the importance of using it.
By the time she’d reached the end of high school last November, aged 19, Ella had been invited to join not one but two organisations affecting real change: Climate200, where she works in campaign support; and Future Council.
A new and growing initiative, Future Council is a not-for-profit youth-led international organisation of young advocates passionate about working with businesses and institutions to co-design responses to environmental and social challenges. It grew out of Future Council, Damon’s 2024 feature documentary, in which he and eight children from around the world travelled on a biofueled bus across Europe to better understand what was causing the planet’s precarious environmental state and the role they could play in helping some of the globe’s most influential companies do better.
A scene from Future Council during a special screening hosted by The Alberts | Tony Foundation for family, friends and partners in Sydney in August 2024.
Although Ella wasn’t in the film, Damon had interviewed her for an earlier doco, 2040, and was immediately impressed, observing in the years following the increasingly influential and articulate role she was playing in climate advocacy.
“When it came to finding someone to represent the young members of Future Council and guide them with a wisdom and experience that belied their age, Ella was the perfect choice,” Damon says.
“I wish Ella could be at every zoom call or screening I attend. Her presence completely shifts the conversation and deepens the significance of what we’re all aiming to achieve. She has a wonderful combination of kindness, eloquence and directness that cuts through any ‘adultwashing’. She also has more of the future to inherit than most people on the calls, so she speaks with an incomparable gravitas.”
Ella speaking at the Chief Executive Women (CEW) Leadership Summit in 2025, where she was the youngest CEO in the room.
Ella’s role as Future Council’s Youth CEO, alongside Damon, includes representing the organisation publicly, hosting online global member meetings, often with the film’s original Future Council members, working with Damon on strategy and engaging with businesses seeking to collaborate with Future Council.
“Having both Damon and me in leadership means we’re able to have a young voice in all the conversations and it isn’t tokenistic,” Ella says. “From my experience as a young person in the climate movement I know when it feels like you’re there to tick a box. Having a constant reminder of why we’re doing things and what young people actually want, that’s what it means to have a young person in leadership.”
Ella at a co-design workshop held ahead of the 2024 MIFF world premiere of Future Council, helping shape the real-life, not-for-profit Future Council organisation.
Although the film is still screening and will soon be available to stream, resulting in regular new members, Future Council currently has 272 members aged 9-16 representing 19 countries and 148 cities who take part in regular online global meetups with experts on topics from fast fashion to AI and the environment. In turn, the young members share stories and climate-related projects they may be working on in their own regions.
“Climate is an issue where we don’t have time to waste,” Ella says. “Most generations have a moment in time when they stand up for something they believe in, particularly when they’re young. For my generation that’s climate change. We’ve had so many requests from companies keen to engage it’s hard to keep up, there’s a lot of excitement around wanting to engage with these young people. Future Council has reignited [the passion] in me and is a constant reminder of the young people who have the positivity and bravery and creativity to make change.”
‘Future Council’ will be screened at the Sydney Opera House on September 6, followed by a Q+A with director Damon Gameau and youth leaders. Click here for tickets.
