COP28 and UNFCCC: Youth Capacity Building

There is a lot of talk of youth empowerment in climate negotiations but very little real change. We wanted to go beyond youthwashing by starting to create systemic change.

Change vision
There is one group of people who are missing from the development of youth education and decisions about the future. These are the people who should be at the heart of those discussions, and who are most impacted by the outcomes: young people themselves. Together with the COP28 IYCDP program, we embarked on changing this.

Action
The International Youth Climate Delegate Program embedded 100 youth in the COP28 process, prioritizing delegates from countries on the list of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Indigenous Peoples, and other minority groups around the world.
Måndag armed the 100 youth delegates with tools for creating change. We demystified terminology, processes, and access. We produced comprehensive training materials for youth working groups that empowered them both to make the most of existing resources and to create new approaches to mitigating climate change.

Impact
Under Måndag’s mentorship, COP28 and UNFCCC designed 15 distinct Action Modules for creating youth impact. The Action Modules were shared at the start of COP28 to maximize youth influence in the negotiations. Our collaboration will continue at COP29 in Azerbaijan.