European Youth Demands for COP29

November 7, 2024

As European youth, we acknowledge our region’s historic responsibility for global emissions and call for urgent, just climate action. In solidarity with young people worldwide, we demand equitable policies that uphold human rights and amplify youth voices, reflecting our duty to a sustainable, inclusive future.

European youth demands on:

1. Mitigation

Position

If we hope to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis and protect the most vulnerable from consequences beyond finance and adaptation capabilities, mitigation needs to return to the centre stage of the UNFCCC process in order to keep global warming under 1.5°C. This means that the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme needs to be strengthened to enable it to deliver on substantive outcomes in line with the mitigation relevant sections 20-42 of last year’s GST Decision 1/CMA.5 through technical dialogues and partnerships. It also means that all countries need to submit updated NDCs by early 2025 in line with the 1.5° target, including concrete roadmaps towards an implementation of 28/CMA.5.

Strategic Demands

Sharm el-Sheikh Work Programme: We call on parties to review and improve the modalities of the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme so as to guarantee that the implementation and continuation of the programme results in substantive outcomes on the decisions reached on mitigation action under 28/CMA.5, including the tripling of renewables, the doubling of the rate of energy efficiency improvements and the transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. This can be achieved inter alia by having technical dialogues focused on sub-sections of 28/CMA.5, enabling funded mitigation action partnerships and placing high-level political messages on mitigation in the annual report and CMA decision at each COP session.
Nationally Determined Contributions: we urge Parties to submit updated NDCs which are aligned with CMA.5 and with the 1.5°C degree goal of the Paris Agreement. The NDCs should include economy-wide reduction targets that cover all GHGs and sectors, aim for net zero latest by 2050, 2040 for industrialised economies, and are underpinned by concrete roadmaps for the implementation of 28/CMA.5.
EU NDC: As Europeans, we specifically urge the EU and its member states to commit to an ambitious new EU NDC in line with the 1,5 degree temperature limit and aiming for net zero by 2040 to be developed in collaboration with civil society and especially youth, to be announced before SB62 in 2025. This updated NDC shall also include a roadmap for 28/CMA.5, which could become a reference point for others to do the same.
Nature-based solutions: we urge Parties to develop nature-based solutions for national action plans and emphasise ecosystem restoration and conservation. Hereby, industrialised countries need to support the Global South. Safeguards to secure the achievement of climate and biodiversity benefits, in particular strengthening resilience, in the implementation of nature-based solutions for mitigation should be promoted and prioritised. These nature-based solutions should be implemented without compromising the diversity of ecosystems, including marine, forest and urban areas.
Green skills: we ask Parties to commit to support and fund the development of green skills for young people, so as to place them at the centre of the just transition.
We furthermore call for an improvement regarding the accessibility of funds and technologies to grassroots community projects on mitigation, working on patents and other barriers to transfer.
Phase out fossil fuels: We call for the EU to be at the forefront of a global movement to phase out fossil fuels, without caveats such as “unabated” fossil fuel phaseouts. This means committing to an end of domestic use of coal by 2030, fossil gas by 2035, and oil by 2040. In line with 28/CMA.5, the goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency improvement rates globally needs to be reached as quickly as possible. To implement this, we urge the EU, its member states and other European nations to:
- ○ shift fossil fuel subsidies to renewable energy by 2030 at the latest;
- ○ endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (FFNPT) and encourage other countries to also sign; and
- ○ commit to a time-bound phase-out of fossil fuels.
Plants-based food systems: We call for a transition towards plant-based food systems supported by government subsidies and investment, emphasising the significant mitigation benefits of sustainable food reform in the light of the climate crisis – given that our global food system accounts for around one-third of GHG emissions – and recognising the need to tackle global food insecurity, environmental degradation, antibiotic resistance, and zoonotic diseases. In line with ProVeg International’s mission, we urge Parties to commit to replacing 50% of animal-based products with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040.

2. Adaptation

Position

Adaptation measures must be prioritised alongside mitigation efforts, recognising both adaptation and mitigation as necessary in the climate actions of all member states to the UNFCCC. Given the urgency of climate impacts, especially in certain regions, it is essential to establish a differentiated adaptation regime that responds to specific local needs. We urge policymakers to reflect this equal prioritisation, ensuring adaptation receives commensurate attention, funding, and implementation focus alongside mitigation strategies.

Strategic Demands

Progress under the UAE-Belém Work Programme with increased Specificity and Process Clarity: at COP29, Parties must collaborate to establish a coherent approach to achieve significant progress in the UAE-Belém work programme’s second year. Enhanced dialogue between negotiators and technical experts is essential to strengthen this workstream. Given the limited time at COP29 and over 5,000 adaptation indicators from various actors, we urge a streamlined approach to enable meaningful engagement and results.
Means of Implementation (MoI): indicators under the Means of Implementation (MoI) need clear linkages to measurable targets, which currently remain a gap.
New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) Alignment: we advocate for alignment and integration between NCQG discussions and the UAE-Belém work programme’s methodologies. The NCQG must also consider adaptation’s evolving needs.
Grants-based and locally appropriate adaptation finance: funding for adaptation needs to be grants-based, and locally appropriate and must prioritise the countries and communities that are most in need. This should be accomplished by improving access to funds for grassroots community projects with a long-term focus. Additionally, it should include advancements in technologies and best practices, as well as the removal of barriers like patents to ensure equitable technology transfer.
Adaptation Fund: The 2023 fundraising campaign for the Adaptation Fund is likely to fall short of its expected $300 million for the second year in a row. This fund plays a vital role in directly supporting marginalised communities most impacted by climate change (MAPA). COP29 must prevent further funding deficits and ensure that the Adaptation Fund remains well-resourced to support its project portfolio and long-term sustainability.
Support to National Adaptation Plans (NAPs): we call for robust technical and financial support for the development and transparent monitoring of National Adaptation Plans. NAPs should integrate disaster risk management strategies that protect natural ecosystems and prioritise stakeholder engagement, especially in ecosystem-based adaptation.
Adaptation in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): countries, particularly in the Global North, must integrate adaptation and loss and damage more comprehensively into their NDCs. While many developing countries have included adaptation elements, stronger commitments are required globally for coherent and balanced climate action.
Inclusive, locally-led adaptation: adaptation projects must meaningfully involve local communities, ensuring fair wages, capacity building, and access to advanced technologies. Special attention must be given to developing countries and vulnerable populations, ensuring that adaptation builds local resilience and enhances livelihoods.
Ecosystem and community-based resilience: all adaptation initiatives should focus on creating green spaces, improving air quality, enhancing sustainable transportation options, and ensuring access to clean water and nutritious food. These efforts not only build resilience to climate impacts but also contribute to overall community well-being and social cohesion. We call for significantly increased investment in clean energy infrastructure, sustainable transportation, and ecosystem restoration, recognising these as investments in future generations’ well-being.
Disaggregated data: we urge the use of age-, sex-, and disability-disaggregated data, along with child- and youth-specific indicators, in tracking adaptation outcomes under the UAE-Belem Work Programme. Experts must consider the unique needs of the most affected groups in formulating adaptation indicators.
Climate mobility: National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) must recognise refugees from climate-vulnerable countries and prioritise climate-induced mobility, providing necessary protection and support for those displaced by climate impacts.

3. Loss and Damage

Position

There is a duty, particularly in the Global North and Parties in a position to do so, such as the EU, to provide adequate compensation for loss and damage to the most affected and vulnerable countries and communities. Funding for Loss and Damage initiatives should be adequate, equitable, additional and predictable, with a needs-based, rights-based and grant-based approach.

Strategic Demands

We urge Parties to establish a third pillar for Loss and Damage in Climate Finance – that is, to include Loss and Damage in the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), including in the form of a (regularly reviewed and adjusted) sub-goal expressed exclusively as grants.
High-income countries, historical emitters and Parties in a position to do so must pledge new contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund. These should truly reflect their responsibility for the climate crisis and their economic capabilities to contribute and need to be new and additional to pre-existing funding under climate finance, humanitarian and developing funding.
Financial instruments used to provide climate finance must not exacerbate the debt burdens of developing nations. The quality of climate finance is as critical as its quantity.
We encourage Parties to establish mechanisms to address systemic information gaps through qualitative and quantitative indicators of non-economic and economic impacts.
We recommend that Parties commit to ensuring transparency in the allocation of resources through mechanisms and robust monitoring.
We urge Parties to recommend the establishment of mapping and data collection systems to analyse non-economic losses and damages in order to develop action plans at the country level.
The Loss and Damage Fund shall be operationalised according to the gender and human rights-based approach, giving adequate attention to economic and non-economic losses and damages.
Issue guidance to the FRLD board to ensure adequate capitalisation of the Fund, access to funding for and meaningful participation in decision-making of Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, local CSOs and groups experiencing marginalisation.
Ensure rapid, grant-based capitalisation of the Fund to respond to economic and non-economic loss and damage, based on public finance, rights-based, regular, predictable, needs-driven, structured and accessible to vulnerable groups and communities such as youth and indigenous peoples.
We urge Parties to agree on starting to disburse the Loss and Damage Fund by Early 2025.
We call Parties to establish national focal points for loss and damage (LD) to improve coordination.

4. Climate Finance and NCQG

Position

Climate finance is central to meaningful action at COP29, particularly in advancing climate adaptation, mitigation, and addressing Loss and Damage. It is the key issue at the conference, as critical initiatives around the world remain underfunded, and developed countries have consistently failed to fulfil their commitments to provide sufficient financial resources to support vulnerable nations.

The current global financial system has fallen short in mobilising the necessary resources to tackle the climate crisis. In light of Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement, which calls for a transformation of the financial system to build resilient and sustainable economies, we assert that scaling up the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is essential to addressing this imbalance. It is a collective responsibility to ensure that those who have contributed most to climate change—both in the public and private sectors—contribute accordingly.

To achieve this, climate finance must prioritise grants over loans, leverage public funding, and hold polluting industries accountable through taxes on their environmental impact. This approach will ensure that funding is more accessible and effective, driving the much-needed climate action to mitigate future risks and build resilient communities. It is of paramount importance to prevent interest rates that place most affected countries into heavier debt.

Additional sources of finance should be considered in this respect, most importantly, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and their reallocation to just transition efforts, but also wealth tax, tax on financial transactions, windfall profit tax on fossil fuel companies, carbon levy on private jets and yachts, etc.

Strategic Demands

Grants over loans: we demand the NCQG to prioritise grants over loans for climate finance, ensuring that public funds form the core of contributions to avoid deepening debt crises in most vulnerable and developing countries.
Financing from polluters: climate finance contributions must be supplemented by taxes on polluting industries (such as fossil fuel companies), luxury goods, and services like private jets. Corporations must be held accountable through carbon taxes and special levies to fund climate action.
Tax Justice, make polluters pay: we call for the recognition of the principles of tax justice and ‘polluter pays’ within the frame of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities (CBDR-RC). Developed countries should take the lead in reorienting their existing public finances to do no harm, and pursuing tax justice for new sources to be able to provide new and additional climate finance under the NCQG.
$5 trillion climate debt repayment: the Global North must commit to a minimum $5 trillion annual climate debt repayment package, starting with at least $1 trillion in grants each year from COP29 onwards to cover adaptation, loss and damage, and a just transition. Private investments must not substitute this obligation.
Direct access: funding must be directly accessible to vulnerable communities, cutting out intermediaries and simplifying processes, with special attention to local leaders and youth (both organised and unorganised entities) to empower them to lead green projects.
Transparent and equitable finance: the NCQG must ensure transparent, additional funding for mitigation, adaptation, and Loss and Damage, with developed countries meeting existing commitments before broadening the donor base.
The decision to adopt the NCQG must recognise the importance of funding across multilateral environmental agreements, including for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Global Framework on Chemicals;
Youth projects: we urge to facilitate access to finance for youth-led sustainable projects, including from multilateral institutions and funds as well as national resources to support NDC-aligned local projects.

5. Climate Justice

Position

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and long-term climate strategies must integrate just transition principles and social investments, including infrastructure, education, skills development, and social protection measures.

COP29 must prioritise a fair and inclusive approach, recognizing that communities most affected by the climate crisis are essential actors, not just victims, in addressing its impacts

Strategic Demands

We call for recognition and support of those facing the worst impacts:

EU support in the context of just transition: a robust inclusivity approach is crucial to enabling equitable climate solutions. The EU governments should ensure that climate policies are increasingly fair and inclusive to recognise evolving changes that arise as a result of the climate crisis. Particular attention shall be devoted to young people transitioning from education to work, workers, minority groups, and low-income populations.
- ○ Just transition: European governments should implement support and retraining programs for workers transitioning out of fossil fuel industries, ensuring they are not disadvantaged during the renewable energy transition.. This is essential to maintaining fairness and social stability in climate policy.
- ○ Support to low-income populations: European governments must implement climate solutions that avoid obligating low-income populations to disproportionately burdensome responsibilities.
Engagement with the Global South: European governments should engage directly with minority and vulnerable communities in the Global South, ensuring their voices are heard in both national climate plans and at COP29. The Global South’s participation is vital in crafting equitable climate solutions.
Inclusive participation
- ○ At the national level: countries should involve a diversity of groups, including youth, women, Indigenous Peoples, and people with disabilities in the development and implementation of national climate strategies. This should be done in close collaboration with the groups themselves, giving them the means to influence throughout the whole process, with a focus on empowering marginalised groups.
- ○ In UNFCCC processes: we urge the UNFCCC to ensure meaningful and inclusive participation in negotiations and decision-making processes. This includes governments and corporations providing equal opportunities and ensuring that people from diverse socioeconomic and geographical backgrounds are heard, including youth, women, Indigenous People, and people with disabilities. We recognise that all voices must count equally to achieve equitable and effective climate solutions.
International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion:
- ○ We urge States participating in the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (ICJAO) on Climate Change oral proceedings to include witness testimonies from youth, indigenous communities and other marginalised groups in their oral statements. Their lived experiences are critical in shaping climate justice outcomes.
- ○ We invite States to address the importance of intergenerational equity and respect for human rights in the face of climate change during their oral statements at the ICJ. We also encourage them to mention citizen-led initiatives for the ICJAO campaign, such as the witness stands and the ICJAO petition.

6. Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE)

Position

In line with Action 55 of the UN Pact for the Future, we call on Parties to provide meaningful opportunities for the participation of non-state actors in the UNFCCC negotiations, including young people, local communities, women, trade unions, indigenous people, academia, etc. and ensure that the outcomes of these deliberations are feeding into the negotiations. We commend the recognition of youth in the UNFCCC process, including through the establishment of the Youth and Children Constituency (YOUNGO), the acknowledgement of the need to ensure meaningful youth participation, and representation in the Glasgow Climate Pact and Glasgow work programme on Action for Climate Empowerment as well as the establishment of the Children and Youth Pavilion and Youth Climate Champion.

However, many Parties have still not involved youth as full stakeholders in the process both at the national and international levels. Youth inclusion is a two-way process, which requires both sides to develop the skills and willingness to collaborate meaningfully.

Strategic Demands

We call on Parties to involve youth as full stakeholders in national and international climate negotiations. This includes:
- ○ Mandatory youth inclusion in Party delegations.
- ○ Pre-sessional and on-site youth consultations.
- ○ Youth-led forums for dialogue with Parties, as set out in the Glasgow Work Programme on ACE.
- ○ Enhanced opportunities for youth to participate in technical dialogues and provide interventions.
- ○ Sponsorship and support for youth participation in UNFCCC processes.
We urge Parties to not only focus on building the capacity of youth to engage in political processes but also to develop their own capacity to effectively collaborate with youth and vulnerable groups. This should include practical training for Party negotiators on inclusive decision-making processes.
Mainstream ACE principles across workstreams: ACE principles—climate education, training, public awareness, and public participation—must be integrated across all UNFCCC workstreams. We demand that the NCQG agreement allocate specific finance for ACE to uphold the procedural rights of Environmental and Human Rights Defenders (ERHRDs) in climate action.

7. Civic Space, Human Rights and Conflict of Interest

Strategic Demands

There is no climate justice without human rights:
1. The EU must lead in safeguarding human rights in climate processes while ensuring meaningful participation from civil society and frontline communities.
2. Local activists must be protected and allowed safe participation in key climate fora such as COPs.
Civic space:
1. The UNFCCC and Azerbaijani authorities must facilitate inclusive participation at COP29 by ensuring access, freedom of expression, and peaceful protest rights. Azerbaijan should guarantee civic space and establish a system for responding to threats to human rights during the event.
Conflict of interest:
1. We call on the EU to push for a robust UNFCCC Accountability Framework to define and regulate conflicts of interest, to prevent undue corporate influence and ensure transparency in participant admissions.
2. The UNFCCC Secretariat should stop inviting industry associations linked to polluting interests and strengthen guidelines to prevent the misuse of the COP brand by host countries.
3. The Host Country Agreement as well as any contracts involving corporations and organisations granted (Green Zone) partner or exhibitor status should be published on the UNFCCC website.

8. Planetary Boundaries

Position

Only three planetary boundaries remain within the “safe operating space”: ocean acidification (which is already approaching its critical threshold), atmospheric aerosol loading, and stratospheric ozone depletion.

All other boundaries – such as climate change, biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss), land-system change, freshwater change, and biogeochemical flows – have been surpassed.

The interconnected nature of these planetary boundaries means that addressing individual challenges, like limiting global warming to 1.5°C, demands a collective and integrated approach. Tackling one issue without considering others risks destabilising the entire Earth system.

Strategic Demands

The European Union must take bold action to strengthen its Nature Restoration Law, increasing its ambitions, and enforcing legally binding targets for restoring degraded ecosystems and halting biodiversity loss. This includes scaling up nature-based solutions, protecting critical habitats, and integrating biodiversity goals into all sectors of the economy. As past experience has shown, compromise in this area is not an option, as the sustainable growth of economies and the well-being of citizens are intrinsically linked to a healthy, thriving natural environment.
The private sector must significantly scale up its financial and structural commitments to biodiversity protection, as the majority of current funding comes from governments, which are providing insufficient resources to meet the targets set in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Different types of instruments can be considered to improve investment in nature and biodiversity, like the debt-for-nature swap and green bonds.
Furthermore, governments and institutions should focus on the strengthening of Multilateral Development Banks transforming them into climate and nature banks.
The European Union should not delay the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), a flagship achievement of the Green Deal.

9. Health

Position

The climate crisis poses a significant threat to global health and well-being in the 21st century. As young Europeans, we are deeply concerned about the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on health, social systems, and overall quality of life.

Strategic Demands

To address these interconnected issues, we call on European Governments to include the following in their positions in the UNFCCC:

Recognise the profound and interconnected impacts of the climate crisis on health, social systems, and well-being in their verbal and written statements in the UNFCCC context.
Integrate climate considerations into all health policies and planning processes.
Strengthen healthcare infrastructure to withstand climate-related disruptions.
Increase investment in research on climate-health impacts and effective adaptation strategies, prioritising the needs of vulnerable populations in climate-health action plans.
Promote sustainable practices in healthcare and other sectors to mitigate climate change.
Enhance education and awareness about climate-health links, particularly among youth.
Ensure youth representation in climate-health policy-making processes to address the long-term nature of these challenges.