Climate & YOUth Summit 2025: ‘transformation, action, inspiration’
By the Climate Centre
The 2025 youth climate summit, the fifth in the annual series, acknowledged how “the role of youth has become even more critical in catalysing sustainable solutions, fostering innovations and transforming ideas from awareness to action in their local communities,” its Climate Centre organizers said.
“Young people can foster transformation, action and inspiration to advance the global climate action agenda. Their vision and experiences contribute to the development of projects and interventions, helping to shape policy at national, regional and global levels.”
Held online Friday and Saturday with the theme, From the ground up: Youth for awareness, action and advocacy, the summit provided space for more than 300 young people from all over the world to connect, explore challenges, learn new skills, share best practice, and inspire action on climate in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and the wider humanitarian sphere.
The summit was organized by the Climate Centre and the American Red Cross, supported by the IFRC secretariat, all in partnership with the Global Youth Mobilization (GYM) network of “the world’s largest youth organizations powered by millions of volunteers across more than 170 countries”.
As well as IFRC President Kate Forbes and Yang Liu from its Youth Commission, National Societies represented included the Burkina Faso, Chinese, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Indonesian, Japanese, Kenyan, Lebanese, Mauritian, Nepalese, St Lucia and Vanuatu Red Cross, and the Bangladeshi, Iraqi, and Pakistani Red Crescent.
“Youth are ones that can really make a difference on this threat to all of us,” Ms Forbes said in a video message to the summit. “This is a unique opportunity for you to learn how to advocate, how to turn that advocacy into action, and then build on that action throughout our network.”
She added that she had seen for herself the impact on communities that the IFRC’s Limitless Youth Innovation Academy has had, which helps young people gain the essential skills and resources to support climate and environmental work.
‘Forest therapy’
The summit was divided into three parts to ensure full regional participation, while panel discussions covered youth-centred topics such as climate and mental health, practical action, and dialogue across the generations.
Fifteen parallel sessions led by National Societies or GYM partners covered a huge range of topics: “forest therapy” from Indonesia; the climate-health nexus in West Africa centred on extreme heat; desertification in the MENA region; the hidden carbon cost of modern digital lifestyles; the role of play in climate mobilization; a Solferino Academy initiative for turning agricultural waste into useful protein; ecosystem restoration; and a Chinese Red Cross youth initiative addressing Shanghai’s intensifying heatwaves, typhoons and floods.
An IFRC Youth Commission session made plans for the coming COP meeting in Brazil and explored expectations for the IFRC’s climate policy, including how it can be adapted to local contexts.
Summit participants shared both their expectations for the Climate & YOUth Summit 2025 and their thoughts afterwards on a live Miro board. (Screenshot: Climate Centre)