Children across Scotland have played an active role in shaping the country’s response to the climate crisis through participation in national and global projects and events. Their voices have influenced decision-makers and helped bring children’s perspectives into climate policy and action.
The Climate Assembly was a citizen’s assembly and reported it’s findings to Scottish Parliament in 2021. As Scotland’s Climate Assembly members must be over the age of 16, the secretariat invited Children’s Parliament to support the participation and engagement of children under 16, to ensure their views, experiences and ideas were heard in Scotland’s response to the climate emergency. Children from across Scotland took part, learning about the climate crisis, sharing their views, and offering solutions. Their ideas and experiences were gathered and contributed directly to Scotland’s Climate Assembly, the first citizens’ assembly to ever directly involve children.
The Moment was a Scotland-wide day of climate action in 2021, where children and young people met with elected representatives to directly share their climate concerns and Calls for Action ahead of COP26.
A document of the Moment can be found here: climatechangemakers.childrensparliament.org.uk
At COP26 in 2021, Children’s Parliament Investigators were among the youngest participants, sharing their climate concerns and Calls for Action with global leaders, negotiators, and parliamentarians on the world stage.
The Children’s Climate Change Project in 2008 gave children the opportunity to take part in national and international discussions about climate change. At a time when children were not directly included in government consultations on the Scottish Climate Change Bill, the project created space for their voices to be heard as citizens with the greatest stake in future decisions. Through creative work and public events, children shared their views and solutions, influencing debates in Scotland and beyond, including at the Festival of Politics and the EU Green Week in Brussels.
Watch children discuss their findings and calls for action here.
