Climate action is also child protection: the climate crisis threatens almost every child, according to a UNICEF study

The study highlights that the climate crisis is a children’s and young people’s issue in two respects. On the one hand, children and young people are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of heat, poor air quality, water scarcity and extreme weather events. Secondly, they are the ones who will have to live with the long-term consequences of today’s political decisions for the longest time. Climate policy therefore has a direct impact on young people’s upbringing, health, education, participation and future prospects.

“The figures from UNICEF are a wake-up call. The climate crisis threatens children and young people not just at some point in the future, but right now. Those who make decisions on climate protection, climate adaptation and social infrastructure are determining the living conditions of young people. That is why the protection of children and young people must be consistently considered alongside climate protection,” says Wendelin Haag, Chair of the Bundesjugendring.

Children and young people in Germany are not spared either. Whilst basic provision is good by international standards, according to UNICEF, 97.5 per cent of children in Germany experience at least one climate-related stressor and 66.5 per cent experience at least two simultaneously. Heatwaves and droughts in particular are already shaping the everyday lives of many young people, affecting schools, nurseries, public spaces, youth organisations’ activities, holiday camps and leisure facilities. Climate adaptation measures must therefore also take into account the places where young people live, learn, get involved and spend their free time.

In this regard, it is clear to the German Federal Youth Council that young people must be involved in decisions on climate policy. Young people contribute their own experiences, perspectives and proposed solutions – from youth organisations, youth councils, international youth work and many other self-organised structures. These perspectives must be incorporated into political decisions at an early stage, in a binding and effective manner.

“Young people are not only particularly affected by the climate crisis; they are also experts on their own lived experiences and key actors in a just transition. Participation must not only begin once decisions have long since been made. It must be structurally integrated from the outset – particularly when it comes to the issues of climate, mobility, energy, agriculture and social justice,” says Moritz Tapp, Deputy Chair of the Bundesjugendring.

Through its Coordination Office for Youth Participation in Climate Issues, the Bundesjugendring supports organised youth civil society in bringing their concerns and demands into climate policy processes. The UNICEF study underlines just how necessary such participatory structures are. Climate protection and climate adaptation must be designed in a way that is fair to all generations – together with young people, not just for them.