For the first time in the history of UN climate negotiations, the ideas and voices of young people were at the forefront of a Pre-COP summit. The Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition event convened some 400 youth climate leaders from 186 countries—two each from nearly every signatory to the Paris Agreement—to adopt a collective declaration to be presented to ministers attending Pre-COP26 in Milan and delivered by Italy to COP26. Following 9 months of building momentum with the #Youth4ClimateLive Series, the selected delegates worked together remotely for six months prior to their arrival in Milan, developing a zero draft document with recommendations across four thematic areas of climate action. After two days of intense in-person negotiations, the young delegates met with over 50 ministers for an unprecedented intergenerational townhall moderated by the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake.  

This inspiring youth-led opening of Pre-COP26 set the tone for the following days, where party delegates met to make progress on key issues ahead of Glasgow. Throughout the proceedings, Italian Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani and COP26 President Alok Sharma made frequent reference to the youth declaration, culminating in a closing press conference where they both clearly stated how influential the young delegates were on the Pre-COP proceedings. The key messages of the Youth4Climate summit were included in Annex 2 of the Pre-COP26 Chairs’ Summary document and in the weeks between the closing of the Pre-COP meetings and the kick-off of COP26 in Glasgow, the young delegates finalized their collective asks and recommendations into a cohesive and ambitious manifesto.