Youth

The major annual event hosted by the Climate Group and New York City, in conjunction with the UN General Assembly (UNGA) opens this Sunday 17 September, with some 400 sessions taking place across the city.

There is still an urgent need to implement and scale up “a rigorous ‘all of economy, all of society approach’” this decade, according to the first-of-its-kind global stocktake technical report released today.

As part of the Youth Fellowship programme, the new fellows will help mobilise climate action amongst non-state actors to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, in close collaboration with the UNFCCC, the Marrakech Partnership and the COP Presidencies.

Youth involvement, Indigenous perspectives, and enhanced local financial commitments to nature-based solutions were among the key priorities identified at this year’s Bonn Climate Change Conference.

“Three of the most powerful things we can do is to embrace nature positive action, mobilise finance at scale, and be truly inclusive,” said H.E Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the COP28 at the 14th Petersberg Climate Dialogue.

Young people and future generations are environmental stewards of the future. The Climate Champions Team, in support of the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, are committed to strengthening youth agency in climate action.

The COP28 Presidency has launched an initiative to ensure young people’s perspectives are at the heart of global policymaking on climate change.

“We recognize the irreplaceable value of forests for nature, for people, for the economy, for common humanity, but also as a prime solution to address climate change,” Razan Al Mubarak, President of IUCN and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 told Heads of State at this week’s One Forest Summit.

COP26 High-Level Climate Action Champion, Nigel Topping in his closing speech reflects on his three years in the role, and the collective task before all of society.

The UN Climate Change High-Level Champions have taken stock of the contribution of non-State actors at COP27 with their closing event – COP27 Action Agenda: Progress & Priorities – wrapping-up a two week programme of over 50 events.

Read on for more information about events, announcements and other news from water day. 

Climate Champions’ Global Ambassador, Dr. Agnes Kalibata is President of AGRA, an African led and Africa based institution that puts smallholder farmers at the centre of the continent’s growing economy. In this interview, Dr Kalibata discusses why urgently transforming our food systems is not only critical for our environment and the climate, but for the economy – creating opportunities for urgent growth in a time of compounded crises.

Here’s what’s coming up on Adaptation & Agriculture day.

Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), is a youth-led gender-balanced advocacy group that focuses largely on environmental sustainability and community development. Its founders explain the impact of its actions.

Discussions at COP27 begin near the end of a year that has seen devastating floods and unprecedented heat waves, severe droughts and formidable storms, all unequivocal signs of the unfolding climate emergency. At the same time, millions of people throughout the world are confronting the impacts of simultaneous crises in energy, food, water and cost […]

Africa can lead the world in limiting emissions, drive climate restoration and orient Africa towards its strengths which translate into major new segments of economic opportunity, writes Jack Kimani, Founding CEO of the Climate Action Platform for Africa (CAP-A).

Climate activist and researcher on eco-anxiety, Clover Hogan discusses why “techno-utopian and tokenistic solutions” are failing to address the root causes of the climate crisis.