Don’t COP-out: Save the Children Calls for Greater Commitments at Climate Summit for Future Generations

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (Nov. 10, 2021)—Save the Children has described a draft agreement published at the COP26 climate summit on Wednesday as “incredibly disappointing” and urged governments to make great commitments and not let down millions of children affected by the climate crisis on a daily basis. 

Yolande Wright, Global Director of Child Poverty and Climate at Save the Children, said:

“The draft agreement we have seen today is nowhere near the commitments and actions we need to protect children and their futures from the climate crisis. We’re almost at the end of COP26, and what we are hearing and seeing in this deal is incredibly disappointing.  

“The climate emergency, created by adults, is a child rights crisis to which children themselves have contributed next to nothing. Yet, in the seven-page-long document, the concrete reference to children, their futures and their rights is almost nowhere to be seen.  

“We know from our recent report with Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) that today’s children will live through far worse impacts of the changing climate than their grandparents, with those in lower- and middle-income countries and marginalized communities bearing the brunt.  Without substantial increases in ambition and urgency—in emissions reductions, financing, particularly for the most vulnerable, and efforts to address the urgent issue of loss and damage—the commitments in this agreement will seem like empty promises to the millions of children that are affected by the climate crisis on a daily basis. 

“In climate-vulnerable communities across the world, the irreversible impacts of the climate crisis are hitting children hard.

“This is still a draft agreement, and with three days to go until the end of the summit, there is still time to commit to protecting the world’s children. Leaders need to urgently deliver on their promises if we are to safeguard the most basic rights of children now and in the future.”