COP29: Human Capital / Children and Youth / Health /Education

Some of the day’s key takeaways include:

Youth Led Climate forum Headline Event

The COP29 Presidency Youth Climate Champion aims to place children and young people at the heart of climate diplomacy and the COP processes. The first global stock take acknowledged the disproportionate impacts of climate change on children and provided parties with a clear mandate to identify policy solutions that will address these impacts.

Children are heavily impacted by climate change. 88% of the impact of disease from climate change falls on children under five years old. More than 400 million students globally have experienced educational disruption from extreme heat since 2022.

COP29 Presidency’s vision is based on two key principles:

1. Enhancing ambition by calling for parties to produce age-responsive climate plans and stakeholders to meaningfully engage with youth in developing, implementing and reporting on climate action plans
2. Enabling action by directing resources to vulnerable young people and children and increased funding for adaptation efforts

In August 2024, Youth Climate Champion for Azerbaijan, Leyla Hasanova, hosted the first ever Climate Change Summer Camp for young educators in Baku, involving work with teachers to equip them with the skills and resources they require to strengthen climate education and go back to their respective communities and deliver on climate change and the science behind it.

The Climate Action Finance Fund could be a valuable source of funding of Youth Led Initiatives, but further consideration will be needed to determine what kind of funding and what amount of funding is required.

Human Development

 During the joint panel session held by the COP29 Azerbaijan Operating Company and COP29's Synergy Partner NEQSOL Holding, the panelists explored ways to improve collaboration among governments, organizations and the private sector to foster green skills, build a green economy, and boost sustainable and inclusive human development.

The panel discussion on 'Raising Human Capital for a Green Future' delved into the importance of human development, especially children and young people, in creating a sustainable, low-carbon future. The discussion was moderated by Avery Johnston, Manager of KPMG’s Global Decarbonization Hub. The panelists highlighted the importance of equipping future generations with the relevant environmental awareness to address climate change challenges. The consensus was that by prioritizing education, young people can be enabled to contribute to a sustainable future.

Increasing Climate Awareness for Youth

During the Youth Led Climate Forum Headline Event, conversations were ongoing around the topic of bringing the voices of young people and children to the forefront to ensure that  input is received from today’s younger generation. The consensus of the participants was that it was important to incentivize the younger generation towards training on climate literacy and to make use of experts to share their knowledge and raise awareness.

Young People’s Perspective

Young people from Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Brazil and Columbia came together to speak as the “voice of millions of children whose lives are deeply affected by climate change”.

The young people in the panel highlighted the need to include their voices in the climate change conversation, emphasizing the fact that they are the future and therefore should be included in conversations that affect their future.

The panel of young people shared that they felt as if climate change is taking away young peoples’ rights to health and education.  Tanzania was given as an example, with cases being cited of children drinking from unsafe sources, suffering from waterborne diseases and in turn being absent from school.

The children requested help from world leaders to create a future where no child must choose between their health and education.

Global Youth Statement

The Global Youth Statement represents children and young people's call to action to world leaders to step up to the challenge of addressing climate change and seizing the opportunity for course correction. Unlike typical policy documents that are funded by institutions or think tanks, this statement is the result of purely voluntary efforts from children and young people all around the world.  The Global Youth Statement featured contributions from thousands of children from more than 100 countries, and from more than 80 local and regional conferences of young people.

See more here - What is COY? - COY16

Further reading on COP29

COP29