GYS Thematic Version
The full thematic statement covering 20+ areas of children and youth climate demands, grounded in climate justice and human rights.
Open Thematic VersionGLOBAL POLICY MANDATE
The GlobalYouth Statement.
The Global Youth Statement is the largest declaration of children and youth worldwide on climate change. Building upon 20 years of children and youth participation, the process has evolved to incorporate the voice of 100,000s of children and youth globally. The main policy outcome of COY, the Global Youth Statement (GYS), is the official children and youth policy outcome, consolidating climate priorities and policy recommendations from young people worldwide into a single advocacy document ahead of COP.
What is GYS?
The Global Youth Statement (GYS) is an evidence-based collection of collective demands of children and youth across the world, constructed, articulated, and presented to the UNFCCC and COP Parties, stakeholders, observers, and other key participants on climate policy by YOUNGO, the UNFCCC's official Children and Youth Constituency, as well as a formally structured process to transform youth perspectives into actionable policy-focused recommendations for global decision-makers.
The GYS Process: 4 Stages
From the first community input in a local LCOY to the official handover at COP, the GYS unfolds through four interconnected stages, each designed to be participative, transparent, and policy-effective.
From Grassroots to Global Stage
01
Collection of Inputs
The GYS begins at the grassroots. Inputs are gathered from a wide range of sources: YOUNGO's thematic working groups, institutional partners, individual youth submissions, and the outputs of Local (LCOY) and Regional (RCOY) Conferences of Youth held across the globe throughout the year.
02
Policy Hackathons
Over 50+ thematic policy hackathon sessions are conducted with hundreds of participants, where children and youth dive deep into specific issue areas to refine, debate, and align positions. These sessions serve as the core engine for turning raw inputs into polished, negotiation-ready demands.
03
Synthesis & Editing
A dedicated group of YOUNGO volunteers, coordinated by the Policy Team and Working Groups, reviews all collected materials and synthesises them into a cohesive, balanced, and UNFCCC-aligned document. Every contribution is tracked for transparency, ensuring that every voice can see how their input shaped the final text.
04
Advocacy & Handover
The final GYS is disseminated and formally handed over to COP Parties, the UNFCCC Secretariat, the COP Presidency, and key negotiators. This stage includes active lobbying, bilateral meetings, side events, and engagement across all official and informal negotiation spaces to ensure the GYS shapes the COP outcome text.
GYS Input Collection Process
The input collection process is broad by design, gathering contributions from every possible channel and consolidating them through rigorous policy analysis into one unified youth voice.
- YOUNGO thematic working groups
- Local Conferences of Youth (LCOY)
- Regional Conferences of Youth (RCOY)
- Institutional partners
- Individual youth submissions
Read the Latest Statement
Download the official Global Youth Statement. Developed by YOUNGO through extensive global consultations, this document operationalizes youth demands into actionable, legal policy frameworks.
COP30 edition
The Global Youth Statement 2025
A united call for urgent climate action
The 2025 Global Youth Statement (GYS) brings together over 30,000 voices from 150+ countries and represents more than 80,000+ hours of creation, consultation, and synthesis. It is a unified call from children and youth from over 100 countries around the world to take urgent action for climate justice, climate resilience, and peace as ecological and humanitarian crises escalate around the world. The GYS adamantly responds: Youth will not inherit a broken world. Embodying the spirit of "Harvesting Hope" and Mutirão (collective action), children & youth are demanding the COP30 to be a definitive moment when governments, institutions, and businesses all join behind science, equity, and justice to secure the livable and peaceful future we all deserve.
30,000+
Youth voices
150+
Countries
80,000+
Hours of creation
20+
Thematic areas
GYS NADs Version
Negotiation-Aligned Demands mapped directly to official COP agenda items — built for Parties, negotiators, and advocacy in the room.
Open NADs VersionFive Key Priorities (5KPs)
The 2025 GYS crystallises youth demands into five key priorities for COP30 negotiators.
Strengthen commitments and actions to limit global warming to 1.5°C and achieve a full, fast, and fair fossil fuel phase-out. Implementation must include clear emission reductions across all sectors, accelerated clean energy uptake, and safeguards rooted in human rights, intergenerational equity (including the NDC Youth Clause), gender justice, and the protection of nature — ensuring a just transition.
Recognise intergenerational equity as a foundational principle of climate governance, embedding it systematically into structures, processes, and mandates. In alignment with the July 2025 ICJ Advisory Opinion, ensure meaningful participation of children and youth in all decision-making processes, supported by adequate financial, logistical, and safeguarding mechanisms.
Acknowledge that wars, genocides, and conflicts exacerbate climate change, cause environmental degradation, and deepen vulnerabilities of children, youth, women, gender-diverse individuals, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, displaced persons, and other at-risk groups. Call for an immediate global ceasefire and the protection of civilians, especially children and youth, from the impacts of conflict and crisis.
Commit to accessible, transparent, grant-based, and substantial climate finance across all work streams — Adaptation, Mitigation, Loss and Damage, ACE, and Just Transition. Finance must be accessible to grassroots and Indigenous organisations, children, youth, women, gender-diverse people, and marginalised groups. Reform international financial systems to remove debt burdens and align finance with people-centred climate justice.
Raise adaptation to equal priority with mitigation and finance. Adopt strong monitoring and course-correction mechanisms for adaptation outcomes. Provide financial support, technology transfer, and capacity building to enable all countries to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). These plans should address health, food security, biodiversity, ecosystem and cultural heritage protection, nature-based solutions, conservation, restoration, early warning systems, and community-led resilience efforts.
Thematic Coverage
20+ Areas of Children & Youth Climate Demands
The GYS covers a comprehensive range of thematic areas, each grounded in the principles of climate justice and human rights, mapped directly to COP30 negotiation tracks.
- Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE)
- Adaptation and Resilience
- Arts, Culture & Heritage
- Children and Youth Participation
- Cities
- Conflict of Interest
- Climate Finance & Markets
- Climate Justice & Human Rights
- Climate Peace & Security
- Science
- Energy
- Food & Agriculture
- Health
- Indigenous Peoples
- Just Transition
- Loss & Damage
- Migration
- Mitigation
- Nature and Biodiversity
- NDCs & GST
- Technology & Innovation
- Women & Gender
Behind the Statement
The Policy Team
The Engine Behind the GYS
YOUNGO Policy Team
The Global Youth Statement does not write itself. Behind every demand, every thematic chapter, and every negotiation-aligned clause is the YOUNGO Policy Team including the GYS Taskforce, a group of dedicated volunteer youth experts who serve as the intellectual and operational backbone of the entire GYS process.
The Policy Team leads all four stages of the GYS process: coordinating input collection from working groups and LCOYs/RCOYs, facilitating hackathon sessions, managing the synthesis and editing process, and leading advocacy and handover at COP30.
- Coordinating contributions from 100+ countries and 20+ thematic working groups
- Facilitating and leading 50+ policy hackathon sessions
- Synthesising 30,000+ youth voices into one coherent document
- Ensuring negotiation alignment with UNFCCC agenda items
- Leading formal handover and advocacy at COP30 in Belém
Meet the Policy Team & GYS Taskforce 2025
- Mara Ghilan
- Lorraine Wong
- Paul Jenkinson
- Ahmad Bassam
- Mahdi Al Wakil
- Gideon Agyapong
- Sakshi Shree
- Fariha Khan
- Fatimah Mahmood
- Naphtali Akudung
- Natalia Tsuyama
- Sidra Riaz
- Vijay Kumar
- Anirudh