Youth step up for climate action

Last week, around 45 young people across the Indian state of Maharashtra came together to affirm their pledge to address the climate crisis, voicing their determination to shape sustainable solutions and contribute to India’s leadership on global climate action.

As per a News18 report, their voices, sharpened by lived experiences of floods, heat waves and urban pollution, will soon travel far beyond Mumbai, finding place in India’s official youth statement at the COP30 summit in Brazil this November. The gathering was part of the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) India 2025 City Consultation Series, an initiative by the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) in partnership with UNICEF India and the Sattvic Soul Foundation (SSF).

The city consultation in Mumbai, the Free Press Journal reports, brought together children and youth from across the city and state. Through participatory workshops and contextual briefings by local experts, participants co-developed climate policy recommendations rooted in local priorities. The dialogue focused on environmental issues – from floods, rising temperatures, extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, urban resilience, water use efficiency and its impact on youth and children. This enabled young people to exchange live experiences, propose solutions and align with Maharashtra’s State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC).

Through workshops and knowledge sessions, participants brainstormed practical, policy-linked solutions. The consultation marked a milestone: for the first time, India has begun a coordinated nationwide series of youth-led dialogues feeding into global climate negotiations. Spread across key cities – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Patna and Guwahati – these consultations aim to ensure that India’s diverse climate challenges are represented.

What makes this series unique, according to the News18 report, is its bottom-up approach. Young people are not just raising awareness but also shaping concrete policy recommendations that will contribute to the Indian National Youth Statement. This statement will form part of the Global Youth Statement – a consolidated youth declaration under YOUNGO, the official youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). For the 45 participants, the consultation was more than a dialogue. It was a reminder that climate change is not a distant threat but an immediate challenge altering lives today. From rising water levels that threaten Mumbai’s coasts to worsening air quality choking urban lungs, they see climate action as urgent and personal.

As the Earthday.org website states, around the world, young people are rising to meet the climate crisis head-on. As the generation that will inherit the most severe consequences of climate change – especially with the increasing likelihood of surpassing 1.5°C of warming – youth must be empowered with the skills, funding, and opportunities to lead. Climate-related hazards are already disrupting young lives through school closures, extreme weather, and displacement. Between January 2022 and June 2024, a minimum of 404 million students faced school closures due to extreme weather events, according to the World Bank Report Education for Climate Action. At the same time, youth have become powerful advocates for change. A landmark advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice – initiated by young activists from the Pacific Island of Vanuatu – affirmed that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is essential for the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. This important ruling underscores the urgency of climate action grounded in justice for future generations.

These local Conferences of Youth (LCOYs) are local events with a national focus that empower youth to participate in climate action and decision-making processes. The Conference of Youth (COY) is the official event of YOUNGO. It is an annual gathering of young people from all over the world, who are passionate about climate change and environmental topics. The global COY (GCOY) takes places right before the annual UN Climate Change Conference, also known as the Conference of Parties (COP), at the same location.

The LCOYs are organised (ideally) before or during the global COY in various parts of the world to increase access of youth to opportunities for training and capacity building. Apart from the shared objectives of a GCOY, the local COYs can also focus on climate related topics which have high national or regional importance, discuss and develop respective outputs, which are fed into the global and annual COY and consequently into the climate negotiations