Emerging Breakthroughs on Climate Change
Working paper
Highlights
What signals of breakthroughs in climate action are emerging globally, and how can they shape the future for children and youth?
This groundbreaking report emerges from a unique youth-led horizon scanning exercise led by 12 UNICEF Leading Minds Fellows on Climate – young leaders from diverse regions and backgrounds who identified over 150 signals of potential climate breakthroughs. Using strategic foresight methodologies, these young researchers analyzed emerging solutions across five critical domains: eco-literacy, equitable energy transitions, climate finance, loss and damage, and community-centric governance. This report is the first youth-led documented analysis of climate action breakthroughs through a children's rights lens, examining each signal's potential implications under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Building on UNICEF Innocenti’s research on meaningful youth engagement and going beyond traditional consultation approaches, this foresight research directly engaged youth not just as participants but as researchers and co-authors, leading the analysis of how these breakthroughs might impact future generations. Through collaborative sensemaking sessions and application of the STEEP-V framework, the fellows mapped both intended and unintended consequences of emerging climate solutions, providing valuable insights on the path for implementation of the Paris Agreement, and for often-overlooked areas that are critical for the wellbeing of young and future generations.
This resource is intended to help stakeholders – from UNICEF and international organizations to policymakers, practitioners, and civil society – understand perspectives and identify where they can most effectively contribute to advancing climate solutions that benefit children and future generations, while ensuring youth voices remain central to how these breakthroughs develop and scale.
