Child-centred climate action cannot wait: Lancet Countdown report

Notably, no country’s climate adaptation policies addressed children’s mental health needs directly—a huge mismatch with the widespread climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses among adolescents. Children are also oversimplified in these policies, often conceptualised solely as vulnerable and needing protection, and typically universalised with little consideration of ages, developmental stage, genders, social roles, and agencies. As a result, many adaptation measures are directed at actors related to children (eg, caregivers, educators, health professionals) rather than empowering children’s autonomy and participation.

These gaps should prompt immediate and bold action to integrate the needs of children and adolescents in the climate response. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates children’s right to participate in decisions that affect them. Children should therefore be viewed as needing both empowerment and protection, and as active co-creators in policy development (eg, via consultative processes, participatory frameworks, ideation and design thinking exercises, and adolescent-led initiatives). Children and young people’s creativity, capabilities, and agency should be respected and valued—such meaningful participation in decision making is essential to uphold intergenerational justice, improve social cohesion, and create more egalitarian communities. Adolescents’ engagement in climate-related policy can also be a helpful way of coping with climate anxiety, which should not be pathologised but instead be recognised, validated, and acted upon.

The clock is ticking, and the cost of inaction is high. Years of insufficient action have put the world on track to almost 3°C of heating, and further delays in action would risk worsening every tracked health dimension as the climate changes. Political commitment and investments are needed to accelerate progress to shift away from fossil fuels, expedite mitigation, and deliver adaptation for health—with children and adolescents at the heart. A new report by the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) urges large-scale and immediate investment to increase the capabilities and wellbeing of adolescents, with two key priorities being mental health prevention and treatment, and preparation to cope with emerging realities such as climate change. While such investments are necessary, governments must not forget that the root cause of children living in and inheriting a degrading world can be traced to the fossil fuel and other health-harming industries. They must take these warnings seriously and commit to an ambitious and steadfast plan to deliver on health-promoting climate action.

The challenges of the climate crisis are obvious, but so is the case to prioritise children and adolescents in countries’ climate adaptation plans. Children have the biggest stake in climate action—let’s act like it stated the latest annual report of the Lancet Countdown which is an international research collaboration that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate action. 

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