BORN INTO 
THE CLIMATE CRISIS

The climate crisis is changing the world as we know it, with grave implications for the rights of children now and future generations of children.

In 2021 we published the “Born into the Climate Crisis” report which revealed that millions of children born in 2020 will face on average 2-7 times more extreme weather events than their grandparents – that means more heatwaves, flooding, droughts, crop failures and wildfires. This showed how children’s rights to a safe home, healthy environment, healthcare, food and learning are at imminent risk. 

Now, four years later, we have just published a follow- up report “Born into the Climate Crisis 2: An unprecedented life: Protecting children’s rights in a changing climate” which shows how many millions of children will face a lifetime of unprecedented exposure to climate extremes  depending on the choices we make today.

If we remain on our current path of what countries have pledged to do to mitigate climate change, leading to a 2.7°C increase, the cost is staggering. About 100 million children born in 2020, 83%, will face unprecedented lifetime exposure to extreme heat — unless we limit global warming to 1.5°C. However, if we meet that target, almost a third of children born in 2020 would be spared from such suffering.

If global warming reaches 3.5°C by the century's end, things escalate even more with 111 million children—92% of those born in 2020—facing a lifetime of unprecedented exposure to heatwaves, that is 49 million more lives impacted than under a 1.5°C scenario.  

So, there is still hope, but only if we act urgently and ambitiously to rapidly limit warming temperatures to 1.5°C, whilst truly putting children front and centre of our response to climate change.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence that the window to act on climate change is quickly closing. COP30 represents one of the final opportunities to get the climate emergency under control and stabilise increasing temperatures to below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. It will either be defined by its ambition for drastic climate action, or by its failure to secure a safe future for our planet.

We must act now to secure children’s rights. 

Around the world, children are taking bold action to stand up for their rights and for the climate. They have organised climate strikes, school strikes, petitions, and campaigns to demand action from their governments.

"Major polluting countries need to be held accountable for the damage they are causing to our environment and our people, especially in smaller nations vulnerable to climate change. It is critical that political decision makers listen to the voices and the experiences of children in small island developing nations that are at the absolute frontline of the climate crisis, because our views are invaluable to understand the full extent of the effects of climate change in local contexts” says 15-year-old Vepaiamele, from Vanuatu. 

In Save the Children’s report ‘Born into the climate crisis: why we must act now to secure children’s rights’ twelve children aged 12 to 17 years old from across the world, share how the climate crisis is infringing on children’s rights to a safe home, healthy environment, healthcare, food and learning. We thank these children – and all child advocates for climate action – for their thoughtful recommendations and continued commitment to defending the rights of children in the face of a climate crisis.

Our latest report, “Born into the Climate Crisis 2: An unprecedented life: Protecting children’s rights in a changing climate” has been developed with the support of a dedicated child reference group, comprised of 28 children aged between 11 and 18 years old from Colombia, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Ukraine, Albania, Sierra Leone, China and Yemen, to outline how the intergenerational impacts of the climate crisis are infringing on children’s rights.

We thank these children – and all child advocates for climate action – for their thoughtful recommendations and continued commitment to defending the rights of children in the face of a climate crisis. 

It is essential that adults give children a seat at the table and listen to their innovative solutions on tackling the climate crisis. Read more about this in our policy paper, ‘A COP fit for Children’.

Children have contributed the least to the climate crisis but will pay the highest price. We must stand with children demanding climate action. Support our mission.

Urgent action can make a huge difference in protecting children’s rights now and in the future from the climate crisis. Here are Save the Children’s key recommendations:

• Take ambitious and urgent action now to limit warming to a maximum of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, including by rapidly and equitably phasing out the use, subsidy and financing of fossil fuels, with high-income and historically high-emitting countries leading the way.  
• Urgently close the adaptation gap and provide loss and damage funding through the provision of new and additional climate finance, prioritising children and child-critical social services such as health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, child protection, and social protection, with a particular focus on reaching children most at risk. Climate finance should be delivered primarily in the form of grants and highly concessional finance, particularly for adaptation and loss and damage.  
• Children, their rights, voices and unique needs and vulnerabilities must be centred in international climate plans and agreements, including the upcoming submission of new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), recognising children as equal stakeholders and key agents of change in addressing the climate and environmental crisis. 

Help us protect the rights of children now and in the future by donating today.

READ THE BORN INTO THE CLIMATE CRISIS 2 REPORT