Speaking up

Australia

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) mission is to solve the climate crisis through a social movement, “a movement of young people leading solutions to the climate crisis …” Their climate justice goal is to, “build the power of those who stand to lose the most from inaction on climate change … then we can inspire new community-led solutions from the bottom up and ensure better decisions from those in government and business.”

Canada

The Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) notes that the leadership of the mainstream environmental movement has tended to be mostly affluent white people. This leaves out some groups of people most affected by environmental degradation. Young Canadian activists, disappointed by their government at international climate conferences, say “Climate change is overwhelming; often it feels like there isn’t a clear solution to the crisis.” They are taking matters into their own hands and are building strong grassroots movements.

Hong Kong

The Local Conference of Youths in Hong Kong (LCOY HK) is the platform for young Hongkongers to get involved in climate change. LCOY has launched the Paris Watch project to measure HK’s performance as a city against the spirit and the letter of the Paris Climate Agreement as well as making comparisons between Hong Kong and neighbouring cities. They say, “As we go into 2021, we need increased ambition, collaborations, investments and solutions to the climate issues that we face. At this critical time, we need to fight ignorance and inertia and we need to get the voice of the youths heard.”

India

The idea to start something new and bold came about when Indian youth noticed the lack of representation in the UNFCCC COP international climate negotiations for one of the most vulnerable regions affected by potentially catastrophic climate change and environment issues. “It is a monumental effort but one with immense potential. The Youth for Sustainability India Alliance is also very active in the field of climate change. “The focus of the Alliance is to be the driving force in the ‘Decade of Action, 2020-30’.”

Sweden

The most famous youth climate activist is Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg. With other Swedish students, she organized a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays for Future with multi-city protests involving millions of students. In her speech on for Earth Day this year, Thunberg said, “The fact that we are still having this discussion, and even more that we are still subsidizing fossil fuels directly or indirectly using taxpayer money is a disgrace. It is a clear proof that we have not understood the climate emergency at all.”

Uk

The UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) has a working group at the international level in preparation for COP26. They are calling for “Missing Voices” to be heard at the UN climate talks, since those who contributed least to global warming will be affected the most by the climate crisis. They also call for reduced representation of vested interests, such as the fossil fuel industry and demand a comprehensive conflicts of interest policy from the UN.