Dubai, A recent UNICEF-Gallup poll highlights a significant gap in understanding climate change among young people globally. While a majority are aware of climate change, only half can accurately define it United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This finding comes as world leaders convene for this year’s COP28 summit.

According to United Nations Development Programme, the global poll surveyed young people aged 15-24 in 55 countries. It found that 85 percent of respondents had heard of climate change, but only 50 percent chose the correct definition from options provided. The lower understanding was most notable in lower-middle- and low-income countries such as Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Bangladesh, which are also among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell emphasized the role of young people as champions in the fight against climate change. She stressed the need for educating children and young people on the crisis and including them in discussions and decisions at COP28 that will shape their futures. The Children’s Climate Risk Index published by UNICEF in 2021 classifies children in these countries as at extremely high risk due to climate change and environmental degradation.

The poll, a follow-up to the initial Changing Childhood Project in 2021, also explored trust in information and perceptions of political change in a globalized world. It revealed that while 60 percent of young people use social media as their primary news source, only 23 percent have significant trust in the information found on these platforms. Additionally, the younger generation’s expansive worldview, with 27 percent identifying as global citizens, suggests potential for cross-border collaboration on climate and other global issues.

Joe Daly, senior partner at Gallup, highlighted the importance of understanding young people’s perspectives on long-term challenges shaping the world. The poll reflects their views on climate change, trust in information, and globalization.

In August, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child affirmed children’s right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, following a similar recognition by the UN General Assembly in July 2022. Despite these rights, children’s needs and vulnerabilities are often overlooked in climate crisis decisions.

At COP28, UNICEF is advocating for child-focused measures, including elevating children within the COP28 Cover Decision, embedding them in the Global Stocktake (GST) and the Global Goal for Adaptation (GGA), and ensuring child-responsiveness in the Loss and Damage Fund.

UNICEF urges action beyond COP28 to protect children’s lives, health, and well-being, adapting essential social services, and fulfilling international sustainability and climate change agreements. Russell expressed confidence in the youth climate movement’s power to drive a sense of urgency worldwide.