2050 Climate Group Youth Summit: Let's Talk COP26

2050 Climate Group’s 4th Youth Climate Summit, ‘Let’s Talk COP26’.

This event took place digitally on the 4th of September 2021 and and was open to all young people aged 18-35 from across Scotland and beyond, offering the opportunity to spend a day hearing from inspiring speakers and participating in workshops covering a range of climate change and sustainability topics. The sessions were led by youth activists, community groups, and industry leaders from organisations such as Friends of the Earth, the Black Environmental Network, and Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (to name just a few!).

Our speaker and workshop sessions were grounded in 5 key themes up for discussion on COP26's presidency programme:

  • Adaptation and resilience - to help communities adapt to, and prepare for, the worst impacts of climate change.

  • Nature-based solutions - to safeguard and restore natural habitats and ecosystems to preserve the planet’s biodiversity.

  • Energy transitions - to accelerate the clean energy transition by encouraging the use of cheaper renewables and storage.

  • Clean road transport - to clean our air by speeding up the global transition to zero-emission vehicles and travel.

  • Finance - to encourage our financial systems to be cleaner to unlock growth and create green jobs.

2050 Climate Group is proud to present this zine, ‘Let’s Talk COP26’, which is a representation of the themes and visions explored at our Youth Summit on the 4th of September 2021. This event brought young people together with youth climate activists, climate organisations, and industry leaders to discuss 5 themes on the COP26 presidency programme: nature-based solutions, clean road transport, energy transitions, finance, and adaptation and resilience.

By engaging specifically with the event of COP26, we aimed to demystify the COP decision-making process which both lacks transparency and marginalises those experiencing the climate emergency first and worst. We also highlighted the ways in which systemic change can occur through community action as well as political process to facilitate empowered and targeted youth action both at COP26 and beyond.

We believe that this zine makes the key messages of the Youth Summit accessible and will bring people together to advocate for youth perspectives in climate action and decision making. As well as showcasing these key messages, this zine includes art, poetry, and short films that were inspired by COP26 themes. Raising awareness through creative mediums is a powerful tool and we hope that the ideas presented here will challenge and inspire you.

- Chloe Campbell, Chair of Summit Team, 2050 Climate Group