Climate Action: A Liveable Planet for Every Child

Virtually every child on the planet is already affected by the changing climate. This is not a distant threat; it is a present reality. Natural disasters, environmental degradation, and the loss of biodiversity are devastating agriculture and cutting children off from the two most basic necessities of life: nutritious food and safe water.

These shifts create dangerous environments, fueling disease outbreaks and destroying the vital infrastructure safe shelters, quality healthcare, and education systems that children need to survive and thrive.

As global humanitarian action struggles to keep pace with the scale of the crisis, children and young people are bearing the brunt of the impact. While they make up nearly half of the world’s population, they are the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and hazardous practices currently harming our environment.

The climate crisis is fundamentally changing childhood. It is robbing children of their ability to grow up healthy and happy, leading to illness, displacement, and even death. To sustain a liveable planet, our efforts must do more than just account for the unique vulnerabilities of the young they must actively include them. Children and young people possess the critical skills, lived experiences, and bold ideas necessary to build safer, more sustainable societies. They are not simply the inheritors of our inaction; they are living the consequences today.