As climate change accelerates across the globe, two critical dimensions remain largely overlooked in policy, financing, and action: its profound impact on young children and the equally significant transformative potential of child-centered, climate-sensitive strategies. With nearly half the world’s children living in regions facing extreme climate risks, this omission threatens not only our youngest generation but fundamentally undermines our collective resilience and threatens the hard-won progress on sustainable development goals worldwide.
In an article authored by Joan Lombardi and Lauren Simmons, they discuss the risks and potential of early childhood and the changing climate, and showcase a dozen innovative approaches where early childhood and climate sectors have successfully converged. Examples span research and evidence generation, to national and community planning, and to programmatic innovation. Across the examples, we see increased capacity and commitment to promote cross-sectoral partnerships that can strengthen climate resilience, build public awareness, and promote healthy child development.