Nationally Determined Contributions 3.0

Highlights

Almost 160 million children in Europe and Central Asia are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.

They are affected disproportionately across almost every aspect of their health and well-being and at every stage of their development, from their mother’s pregnancy to the first weeks of life, and from their school years to their young adulthood. 

Half of all children in the region face frequent heatwaves, double the global average. One in ten lives in an area that is prone to river flooding.  Nearly every child across the region is breathing polluted air – including in their homes, schools, hospitals and playgrounds – with potentially fatal consequences. In 2021, 6,400 children died prematurely from causes related to air pollution. The vast majority – 85 per cent – died before their first birthday.

These environmental threats compound existing inequities and undermine children’s rights to health, education, safety and a clean environment. 

In 2025, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. The third round of NDCs – called NDCs 3.0 – will outline countries’ climate commitments for the coming years and, specifically, how they will reduce emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. For children, the NDCs 3.0 are of critical importance as they will define how countries will reduce national emissions and adapt to the accelerating impact of climate change. Ultimately, therefore, they will define the world children will live in. Without explicitly addressing the needs of children – and making costed investments in education, health and social protection – NDCs 3.0 cannot help to build a healthy, sustainable environment for children. 

As governments prepare their NDCs 3.0, they should clearly acknowledge the disproportionate impact of climate change on children. Governments also need to ensure that they translate their recognition of children’s vulnerability into action. 

This entails the systematic inclusion of child-specific data and explicit references to targeted adaptation and mitigation measures across the key sectors for children: education, health, social protection and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The NDCs 3.0 need to go beyond general commitments and set out concrete investments to strengthen these services in the face of growing climate risks. In doing so, governments will take meaningful steps towards fulfilling the rights of every child to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. 

With countries set to submit their NDCs 3.0 in 2025, now is the moment to act – ensuring not only the health, well-being and development of children today, but the resilience of our societies and economies for generations to come.