The Clause
The NDC Youth Clause campaign built on decades of youth climate advocacy to address a persistent gap: despite the increasing presence of young people in decision-making spaces, engagement has remained largely tokenistic. The Youth Clause was designed to change that, moving from youth inclusion toward meaningful intergenerational collaboration across the climate movement.
The 2025 or 3.0 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which detail individual countries' 2035 climate ambitions, presented a timely opportunity to institutionalize new standards directly in national climate plans. Developed by Care About Climate, Mission 2025, and We Are Family Foundation in alignment with the youth inclusion frameworks offered by UNDP, UNESCO, and UNICEF, the Clause provided countries a concrete mechanism to formalize their long-term partnership with children and youth for the coming decade.
SAMPLE CLAUSE
Commit to acknowledging, at minimum, the following three sub-clauses to increase child and youth participation, education, and intergenerational collaboration in NDC implementation:
"We acknowledge that children and young people are not only uniquely vulnerable to climate change, but are also important agents of change and decision-makers who can drive climate action and serve as beneficiaries of those climate action efforts."
"We commit to advocating for the convening of child and youth stakeholders to identify opportunities to integrate their perspectives and those of their communities for collaborative NDC implementation."
"We commit to increasing climate change education, training, and awareness-raising efforts for all children and young people to strengthen their ability to claim their rights to live in harmony with nature and contribute to mitigation and adaptation efforts."
SAMPLE CLAUSE
Read the full Sample Clause in English or Portuguese.
To adopt the Youth Clause, countries were required to commit to three core pillars signifying a meaningful approach to intergenerational partnership: appreciation, collaboration, and education. For the one-year period between its launch at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan to its close at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the campaign led an extensive global effort resulting in a historic shift toward generational equity in climate action. After setting an initial goal of incorporating the Clause into at least 30 climate plans, the campaign far exceeded its goals. By the time of analysis in February 2026, the three pillars of the Youth Clause had been included in 47 NDCs representing 73 country parties.
