IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60266-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inclusion of children and youth in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports (AR1-AR6)

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Donger

    (New York University School of Law)

  • Amiya Bhatia

    (University of Oxford)

  • Joni Pegram

    (UNICEF)

  • Orla Kelly

    (University College Dublin)

Abstract

Climate change disproportionately impacts the health and wellbeing of children and youth, who are often excluded from climate policy, legislation, and finance frameworks. This article quantifies how frequently children and youth are referenced in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports (AR1-AR6) and analyses related evidence in AR6. We find references to children and youth in the IPCC reports increased substantially in AR6. The frequency of references varies considerably across Working Group (WG) reports and chapters, with most references appearing in two WG II chapters: ‘Health and Wellbeing’, and ‘Africa’. The vast majority of content on children pertains to climate risks; most commonly to physical health, with few references to other key risks including education, migration and violence. Conversely, the majority of references to youth relate to climate responses, highlighting research on climate activism more often than risks to youth or evidence on procedural inclusion. Relatedly, children are commonly framed as vulnerable and youth as climate activists. This framing obscures the intersectional, complex needs and capabilities of children and youth. To enhance the comprehensiveness of future IPCC reports, there is a critical need for funding and inclusion of more research on climate change, children and youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Donger & Amiya Bhatia & Joni Pegram & Orla Kelly, 2025. "Inclusion of children and youth in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports (AR1-AR6)," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60266-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60266-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60266-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60266-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James D. Ford & Laura Cameron & Jennifer Rubis & Michelle Maillet & Douglas Nakashima & Ashlee Cunsolo Willox & Tristan Pearce, 2016. "Including indigenous knowledge and experience in IPCC assessment reports," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(4), pages 349-353, April.
    2. Mike Hulme, 2016. "1.5 °C and climate research after the Paris Agreement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 222-224, March.
    3. Rupert F. Stuart-Smith & Friederike E. L. Otto & Aisha I. Saad & Gaia Lisi & Petra Minnerop & Kristian Cedervall Lauta & Kristin Zwieten & Thom Wetzer, 2021. "Filling the evidentiary gap in climate litigation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(8), pages 651-655, August.
    4. Jens Marquardt & Eva Lövbrand & Frida Buhre, 2024. "The Politics of Youth Representation at Climate Change Conferences: Who Speaks, Who Is Spoken of, and Who Listens?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 24(2), pages 19-45, Spring.
    5. Esteve Corbera & Laura Calvet-Mir & Hannah Hughes & Matthew Paterson, 2016. "Patterns of authorship in the IPCC Working Group III report," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 94-99, January.
    6. Tara J. Crandon & James G. Scott & Fiona J. Charlson & Hannah J. Thomas, 2022. "A social–ecological perspective on climate anxiety in children and adolescents," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(2), pages 123-131, February.
    7. Danielle F. Lawson & Kathryn T. Stevenson & M. Nils Peterson & Sarah J. Carrier & Renee L. Strnad & Erin Seekamp, 2019. "Children can foster climate change concern among their parents," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(6), pages 458-462, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Galeotti, Fabio & Hopfensitz, Astrid & Mantilla, César, 2024. "Climate change education through the lens of behavioral economics: A systematic review of studies on observed behavior and social norms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    2. Wim Carton & Adeniyi Asiyanbi & Silke Beck & Holly J. Buck & Jens F. Lund, 2020. "Negative emissions and the long history of carbon removal," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    3. E. Lisa F. Schipper & Navroz K. Dubash & Yacob Mulugetta, 2021. "Climate change research and the search for solutions: rethinking interdisciplinarity," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 1-11, October.
    4. Chukwumerije Okereke, 2017. "A six-component model for assessing procedural fairness in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 509-522, December.
    5. Uwe Cantner & Martin Kalthaus & Matthias Menter & Pierre Mohnen, 2023. "Global knowledge flows: characteristics, determinants, and impacts," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(5), pages 1063-1076.
    6. Nathaniel Geiger & Bryan McLaughlin & John Velez, 2021. "Not all boomers: temporal orientation explains inter- and intra-cultural variability in the link between age and climate engagement," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Sandra Parth & Maximilian Schickl & Lars Keller & Johann Stoetter, 2020. "Quality Child–Parent Relationships and Their Impact on Intergenerational Learning and Multiplier Effects in Climate Change Education. Are We Bridging the Knowledge–Action Gap?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Homroy, Swarnodeep, 2023. "GHG emissions and firm performance: The role of CEO gender socialization," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    9. Colin T. Reid, 2024. "Catching the tide: Reversing legal trends to find collective and long‐term solutions that value the natural world," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(S5), pages 42-52, September.
    10. Friederike Hartz, 2024. "“We are not droids”– IPCC participants’ senses of responsibility and affective experiences across the production, assessment, communication and enactment of climate science," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(6), pages 1-21, June.
    11. Tian, Jianchi & Li, Yang & Sun, Yan & Yang, Bo & Chen, Xuefeng, 2024. "Warming climate apathy to mitigate the disparity in climate policy support across distinct income strata," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    12. Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz & Adam Choryński & Janusz Olejnik & Hans J. Schellnhuber & Marek Urbaniak & Klaudia Ziemblińska, 2023. "Climate Change Science and Policy—A Guided Tour across the Space of Attitudes and Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.
    13. V. Savo & K. E. Kohfeld & J. Sillmann & C. Morton & J. Bailey & A. S. Haslerud & C. Le Quéré & D. Lepofsky, 2024. "Using human observations with instrument-based metrics to understand changing rainfall patterns," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Pamela McElwee, 2025. "A tale of two panels: learning and coordinating across IPCC, IPBES, and other science-policy interfaces," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Tanja Russell, 2024. "A ‘greenhouse affect’? Exploring young Australians’ emotional responses to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(5), pages 1-20, May.
    16. Christopher W. Callahan & Justin S. Mankin, 2022. "National attribution of historical climate damages," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 1-19, June.
    17. Thomas, Melanee & DeCillia, Brooks & Santos, John B. & Thorlakson, Lori, 2022. "Great expectations: Public opinion about energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    18. Paola A. Torres-Slimming & Carlee Wright & Cesar P. Carcamo & Patricia J. Garcia & IHACC Research Team & Sherilee L. Harper, 2019. "Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: A Mixed Methods Study of Health-Related Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) for Indigenous Shawi in the Peruvian Amazon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, July.
    19. Patrick Bayer & Lorenzo Crippa & Hannah Hughes & Erlend Hermansen, 2024. "Government participation in virtual negotiations: evidence from IPCC approval sessions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(8), pages 1-18, August.
    20. Niklas Wagner & Anna-Katharina Hornidge, 2025. "Unlearning modernity? A critical examination of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 1-29, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60266-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.