Media Advisory: UNICEF at COP29

The 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) will convene in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The COP29 Summit sees Parties to the Paris Agreement convene as climate crises continue to wreak havoc on children’s lives and wellbeing worldwide. Across the globe, climate shocks are affecting children’s health and development, their safety, and their access to essential services. The world is simply not doing enough to protect children. UNICEF will engage at COP29 to ensure children’s needs, rights and perspectives are included in climate policy, action, and investment at all levels.

“Children have lived through another year of record-breaking heat, devastating floods, and life-threatening drought and hurricanes. They are the least responsible for these crises and yet they bear the greatest burden of the consequences,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “At COP29 and through the Nationally Determined Contributions, governments must prioritize children’s rights. Children need to be included in the solutions, and global leaders need to make health care, education, water and sanitation – systems that children rely on – more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Now is the time to act.”

Fast facts

• Approximately 1 billion children – nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children – live in one of the 33 countries classified as "extremely high-risk" from climate hazards.
• Over 420,000 children are currently affected by record-breaking drought in the Amazon region.
• 1 in 5 children – or 466 million – live in areas that experience at least double the number of extremely hot days every year compared to just six decades ago.
• Extreme heat is leading to increases in still and preterm births, with the odds rising by 5 per cent for every 1°C increase in temperature.
• Air pollution is now the second leading risk factor for death globally in children under 5 years old, behind malnutrition.
• Studies show that, in Bangladesh, in years when heatwaves last more than 30 days, the risk of child marriage doubles for girls aged 11-14 than in years with no heatwaves.

The issue

Parties to the Paris Agreement agreed that when taking climate action, they should respect, promote, and consider the rights of children, as well as intergenerational equity. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment 26 also affirms that Member States must take action to uphold children’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

While progress for children was made at COP28 – including institutionalising the Presidency Youth Climate Champion and agreeing to hold an expert dialogue on children and climate change at the SB60 Bonn Climate Conference in June 2024 – it has not yet translated into significant child-sensitive climate policy initiatives or investments. For example:

• Next year, Parties will submit their updated climate plans: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0). However, less than half of the current plans are child or youth sensitive, and just three per cent were developed through participatory processes involving children.
• Just 2.4 per cent of global climate finance funds can be classified as child-responsive, and of 591 projects approved over a 17-year period from 2006 – 2023, just one project focused on education as its principal objective.

UNICEF is calling on leaders to:

1.Ensure that the COP29 Cover Decision* responds to the unique and disproportionate impact of climate change on children.

• The COP29 Cover Decision must take forward the recommendations from the expert dialogue on children and climate change, including responding to children’s needs across national policies, financing and the work of the UNFCCC.
• Parties must signal a clear pathway to assess and uphold children’s rights and needs within and ahead of the second Global Stocktake.  

2.Secure a dramatic increase in climate financing for children.

• The New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) – the new target to replace the $100billion goal – must be guided by child rights – increasing gender- and age-responsive climate finance, and driving new and additional climate finance, including funding for adaptation and loss and damage.
• Parties must ensure that climate finance responds to children’s distinct vulnerabilities, including through the creation of dedicated climate financing windows and monitoring of child-sensitive climate finance as recommended by the expert dialogue on children and climate change.  

3.Guarantee that all new NDCs 3.0 are child sensitive and respond to the disproportionate impact of climate change on children. To achieve this, they must: 

• Contain adequate emissions reduction and mitigation pledges to keep the 1.5C target within reach.
• Strengthen child-critical social services – such as health, education and food systems – to be more climate smart and disaster resilient. 
• Be inclusive of children, young people and their rights.

4.Empower children and young people to be present and meaningfully participate in climate decision-making. 

• Children and young people must be included in national delegation and negotiating teams at COP29. 

UNICEF events at COP29: Open to media in person (all times are Azerbaijan Time AZT)

Signing of the Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action co-hosted by the COP29 Azerbaijan Presidency 
When: Monday 11^th November, 13:30 – 14:00  
Where: Azerbaijan Pavilion 
What: The COP29 President will sign the UNICEF Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action, with Azerbaijan becoming the 53^rd country to signal their support for child sensitive climate action.

For Their World, For Our World, Bringing Children and Young People to the Heart of Climate Action

When: Tuesday 12^th November, 09.00

Where: The Resilience Hub

What: UNICEF and the Green Climate Fund will mark UNICEF’s newly announced accreditation and discuss strategies to close climate finance gaps with a child-focused lens.

Closing the Climate Finance Gap for Children

When: Saturday 16^th November, 14:00 – 15:00 
Where: Mugham – Special Events Room 2, Blue Zone 
What: The COP29 Presidency and UNICEF will co-host an intergenerational conversation on how all parties can work together to address the climate finance gap for children.

In addition, UNICEF experts will speak at multiple partner events throughout COP29 highlighting the impacts of climate change on children and necessary actions.  

Children and young people

Child and youth climate activists will be at COP29 and available for interview, including from countries worst affected by the climate crisis. Languages include Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

UNICEF spokespeople available for interview

Name  -   Position

Kitty van der Heijden - Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships

George Laryea-Adjei - Director, Programme Group

Abheet Solomon - Senior Advisor, Environment

Saja Abdullah - Representative, Azerbaijan Country Office

Maria Osbeck - Sustainability and Climate Advisor, Europe and Central Asia

Reis López Rello - Climate Change and Sustainable Development Advisor, Latin America and Caribbean

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About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.