UNICEF at COP31
A better future for children is still in reach. If we act now.
No place in the world is immune from climate hazards. And while they’ve always occurred naturally, human-induced global warming is changing much of our environments as we know them.
But these changes don’t impact everyone evenly. Children are disproportionately affected by the consequences.
Their growing bodies are more vulnerable to droughts, heatwaves, fires and other hazards. When flooding contaminates water sources, infectious diseases surge in young children. When droughts or wildfires destroy food stocks, malnutrition swells. Climate shocks drive families from their homes, shutter schools and disrupt the health and protection services children depend on.
At COP31, UNICEF is making a simple appeal to world leaders: Don’t overlook the specific needs of children in your climate action plans for the future.
What's needed
Data and evidence
Data and evidence on child-specific climate risks should inform policy, investment and implementation. UNICEF’s Children's Climate Risk Report and Global Child Hazard Database provide a strong evidence base.
Climate finance
Children remain significantly underrepresented in climate finance decisions and allocations. Greater, more targeted investment is needed in anticipatory action, mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage mechanisms, with a particular focus on child-critical systems and services.
Young people's participation
Children and young people must be recognized as key stakeholders in climate action and the transition to cleaner, greener economies. This requires meaningful opportunities for young people to participate in decision-making on climate policy and climate finance.
Partnerships for scale
No single actor can deliver climate resilience at the scale required. Governments, businesses, financial institutions, UN and civil society partners, and research institutions must work together better to translate commitments into implementation.
What UNICEF is calling for
Prioritize climate risks for children in adaptation planning
- Use child-specific climate data and business adaptation tools to understand risk exposure across communities, business services, operations, sourcing and markets
- Invest in climate-resilient social services that underpin resilient communities, stable workforces and viable markets
- Support communities' recovery from climate-related disasters and build back sustainably
Partner for more impactful climate action
- Governments, businesses, and development and financial institutions, need to work together with communities to design locally led solutions
- Public actors can embed child-responsive adaptation in NDCs, NAPs and investment priorities, and create the enabling conditions for implementation
- Private actors can bring capital, innovation, technology and operational capabilities to help take solutions to scale
- UNICEF works to convene these actors and offer our own implementation capacity, translating climate commitments into locally grounded solutions
Target capital flows and political influence to scale results for children
- Public actors can use policy, public finance, incentives and de-risking mechanisms to unlock investment
- Private actors can commit capital, explore blended finance for climate-resilient services, and pilot initiatives linking business resilience to child and community outcomes
- Public and private actors can use their influence, advocacy and reporting to normalize child-responsive adaptation across markets