Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026

Highlights

Zunaira, a young climate activist from Pakistan, gave powerful testimony to world leaders at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2025 on the impact of climate change on children:

“Children are living the challenges of climate change right now… And the impacts are not just physical – they are emotional, mental and deeply personal. The 2022 floods in my country did not just wash away houses. They washed away entire communities. They washed away childhoods. Schools collapsed or turned into shelters. Families lost homes, and children lost the spaces where they felt safe. And when the waters receded, what remained was not only destruction, it was trauma. We are not imagining this crisis – we are living it, and it affects us more than adults can imagine.”

Zunaira’s warning about the grave threat climate change poses to children is clearly reflected in this year’s Children’s Climate Risk Report—a report that should serve as a wake-up call to world leaders. It provides further evidence of what we already know: children are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Across the globe, millions of children are facing multiple climate-related threats without the essential services they need to cope. More than one billion children are exposed to at least three climate hazards.

They are experiencing extreme heat that causes heatstroke and dehydration. Their homes and schools are being destroyed by storms and floods. Devastating droughts are limiting their access to food and safe water.

In many places, the intensity and frequency of these hazards are increasing with each passing year.

We must invest more in adapting essential services to withstand the impacts of climate change. To do so effectively, however, we need robust data to understand where the most exposed and vulnerable children live.

This report marks an important milestone in our understanding of how climate hazards affect children. Through new data from the UNICEF Global Child Hazard Database, we can now identify where children are exposed to multiple hazards within countries at an unprecedented level of detail. Combined with data on existing social services and system capacities, governments can map where children face the greatest risks from climate shocks and stresses.

The data presented in this report is a critical tool for decision makers, helping them plan smarter, act faster and invest more effectively in climate-resilient services for children.

However, as this report demonstrates, some children are significantly more vulnerable than others. This is due to a range of factors, including limited access to essential services, gender inequality, displacement and disability.

The global community is beginning to address these challenges. Through political will, strong partnerships and meaningful collaboration with young people, the case studies featured in this report demonstrate that progress is possible. Yet the scale, speed and ambition of action must increase dramatically to ensure that every child is protected from the impacts of climate change.

A better future—for children and for our planet—is still within reach. We must act now.

Catherine Russell
UNICEF Executive Director