COP29: NEW FINANCE GOAL FAILS CHILDREN, THEIR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES ON THE FRONTLINE OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Toronto, November 24, 2024 – The new climate finance goal agreed upon at COP29 fails children, their families and communities on the frontline of the climate crisis, Save the Children said as negotiations in Baku draw to a close.

The new target figure of $300 billion a year for climate-vulnerable countries by 2035, and the failure to address loss and damage flies in the face of the ambition needed to tackle this emergency. It also fails to acknowledge the colossal increase in the costs of climate action since the $100 billion goal was agreed in 2009, the child rights organization said.

The omission of children’s rights from the text is also a disgrace for the increasing number of children – including those who came to Baku for the climate change summit – who are speaking up about how escalating extreme weather events are pushing them out of their homes and their schools, reducing the food on their plates and forcing them into more and more precarious situations such as child labour or marriage.

Recent analysis by Save the Children shows one in eight of the world’s total child population was directly impacted – losing their home, being put in need of humanitarian assistance or missing school days – by the 10 biggest extreme weather events so far this year.

Additional research by the child rights organization also shows that one in three children – 774 million – live with the double threat of high climate risk and crushing poverty.

Reacting to the outcome,

Gabrielle, 15, a child campaigner from Vanuatu with Save the Children at COP29, said: “This decision is unfair and completely neglectful of child rights and human rights. If children are not included in these types of decision and policy making, it makes it very hard to get climate justice for one of the most marginalised groups in the world.

“Children in my province are still learning in makeshift tents from the twin cyclones that happened 20 months ago as the funds just aren’t there to rebuild schools.”

“Children in countries like my own, Vanuatu, deserve to be heard and listened to, not to be forgotten when the climate clock runs out due to decisions like these that fail to provide for, look after and care for them.”

Maxwell, 15, a child campaigner from South Sudan with Save the Children at COP29, said: “I feel bad. It means they are not aware about the children, they don’t care about us. Children are dying of flooding, landslides, poor health, schools being destroyed, hospitals are not accessible. How can they not feel our pain? Please listen to the children, if you listen to us, you will be able to help us and if you help us, you are securing our future. You are our only hope, be there for us, because we are looking up to you.

“I came from South Sudan to represent their voices, it will be bad for me to go home without any good news for the children.”

Esther, 17, a child campaigner from Cote d’Ivoire with Save the Children at COP29 said: “Last year, I was forced to stay at home because of the heavy rains that fell for almost ten days in the city where I live. There was a flood, and many houses were flooded, even my school was affected, it was ravaged. All our textbooks have been destroyed. So I missed school, all my friends from school and other flooded schools stayed home for about three weeks in total.

“Almost a hundred children like me failed our evaluation and we got bad grades because of this situation and I was very hurt, because we almost missed our school year.  So, I believe that an agreement that prioritized things like education would have benefitted thousands of children, including me.”

The lack of progress globally on substantially lowering emissions in a just and equitable way also shrinks the window for a stable and secure future for children ever-smaller – as well as inevitably causing the future costs of this crisis to skyrocket.

Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, said: “The effects of the climate crisis on children are devastating and causing a child rights crisis that can’t be ignored any longer. 

“Children, particularly those experiencing inequality and discrimination, are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. At this COP I met Naomi, a child campaigner we supported to come here from South Sudan, where schools across the country were closed for two weeks due to the blistering heatwave earlier this year. With rising temperatures making extreme weather events like this more frequent and severe, she said that without urgent action from leaders, there is no future for her and other children.  

“Naomi and 13 other children travelled to COP with us this year to urge leaders to listen to them about how their everyday lives are jeopardized by this crisis that was not of their making. We needed to see that their rights and unique vulnerabilities were prioritized in this goal. Yet again, they are not being listened to. The lack of action from too many leaders is putting children’s lives at risk.”

ENDS