Championing climate adaptation: Youth and education at COP29

Leyla Hasanova, COP29 Presidency Youth Climate Champion, and Pia Rebello Britto, UNICEF Global Director, Education and Adolescent Development. “When you protect the environment, you protect children’s health, education, and dreams. And a healthy, educated child can change the world!” – Georgina, 10, Tanzania In every corner of the world, children and youth, as well as world leaders and the UN Secretary-General are calling for a transformation of education systems, so that they are better able to respond to the global climate crisis. We, the COP29 Presidency Youth Climate Champion and UNICEF, are responding to this call, working together during the COP29 summit and beyond to ensure that education is recognized as an essential tool for human development and climate adaptation, as reaffirmed in the  Baku Guiding Principles on Human Development for Climate Resilience, launched during the first day dedicated to Human Development at COP29.

Among the duties of the COP29 Presidency Youth Climate Champion, my work also includes empowering young people to contribute meaningfully to climate decision-making and action through capacity-building and education. Youth are not just our future; they are our present. They are catalysts of change, the amplifiers of urgent messages, and the driving force behind climate action. To harness this potential, and truly empower our youth for meaningful engagement in climate decision-making and action, we must prioritize climate change education, as the cornerstone of fostering intergenerational collaboration and building the momentum necessary for the systematic change required to secure a 1.5C future.

Championing the Global Goal of Adaptation 

A significant outcome of COP29 is the inclusion of children, young people, their education, and health in the Global Adaptation Goal, reflecting the unique vulnerabilities of children to climate change impacts. This development is crucial, not only because it highlights the distinct needs of children but also because it elevates education within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Framework for Global Climate Resilience.

The Global Goal on Adaptation is used to guide national efforts in protecting people and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. The COP29 decision provides an opportunity to track progress towards climate adaptation actions that benefit children and young people.

Now that education is included in the Global Goal for Adaptation, we call on countries to take proactive steps to protect children and young people from the effects of a changing climate, by including education in National Adaptation Plans and NDCs, and by making sure that climate finance is used to make every school climate- resilient and every teacher and student climate ready.

While the Paris Agreement emphasizes the importance of climate education, only 19 countries mention teachers in their NDCs. UNICEF is working with children and youth, governments, and private sector partners to inform child-sensitive National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), ensuring that specific commitments to teacher training and integration of climate change education into the curriculum are explicit in these policy documents. Skilled and resourced teachers are essential to building climate resilience, by empowering the next generation to make informed decisions and become active agents of change.

As UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell remarked, “We welcome partners’ efforts to emphasize the unique and disproportionate impacts of climate change on children in the Global Goal on Adaptation. This agreement is a positive response to the demands made by children and young people at COP29.” Alarmingly, 2.4 billion children globally are affected by climate change. Only in 2024, at least 242 million students – from pre-primary to upper secondary education – have experienced school disruptions due to climate events in 2024. Decision-makers must harness the energy and insights of youth to create robust, inclusive strategies that secure their rights and futures.

The role of young educators

Young people starting their careers as educators, whether as teachers in schools or educators in local organizations, are multipliers of climate literacy and action by mobilizing their communities, driving climate action at the local level, and ensuring climate education is prioritized in their local contexts. Their unique perspectives and innovative approaches are crucial in shaping youth engagement in climate issues and adapting educational practices to include environmental stewardship. Thus, it is imperative to prioritize investments that support educators to enhance their capacities. Every young educator should have access to knowledge, tools, and resources to deliver climate change education effectively and inspiringly.

Given the alarming teacher shortages worldwide, we must ensure that more young people enter the teaching profession, equipped with training, learning materials, and resources to contribute to climate action in their communities.

COP29 Youth Climate Champion Taking Action

Under the leadership of the COP29 Youth Climate Champion, the first Climate Change Summer Camp was held in Baku in August 2024, welcoming 75 early-career educators from 35 countries. The young educators, teaching in primary and secondary schools, created a global community of practice, sharing their passion and aspirations to implement climate change education in their schools and communities.

Together with UNICEF and UNFCCC, the COP29 Presidency Youth Climate Champion will continue advocating to keep this initiative as part of the mandate of the Youth Climate Champion, so that every year young educators can benefit from a training camp that encourages collective action. Fueling early-career educators with upskilling opportunities is a smart investment, given the multiplier effect that lasts for generations.

The road to COP30

As we approach COP30 in Brazil, we must sustain the momentum generated by children and young people at COP29. There is a pressing need for continued advocacy from young people, educators, and organizations like UNICEF to ensure that children and youth participate in developing climate policies and that every child learns in safe and climate-resilient schools.

Only by working together can we forge a sustainable and just world for all, ensuring that the rights and futures of the nearly 2.4 billion children worldwide affected by climate change are safeguarded for generations to come.

We, the COP29 Presidency Youth Climate Champion and UNICEF, are committed to rallying partners to recognize the key role of young people and teachers as leaders, innovators, and active agents of climate action. Who’s with us?

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