Leading chid rights organisations Save the Children Australia, Plan International Australia and UNICEF, call on the Australian government to adopt strong emissions targets that aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees to protect the lives and livelihoods of our future generations.
This week's National Climate Risk Assessment paints a bleak picture of escalating climate related impacts including more frequent and intense heatwaves, bushfires, floods, warmer oceans and droughts if urgent and drastic global mitigation measures are not taken now. In Australia, it is estimated 1.5million people, including 300,0001 children will be directly impacted by sea level rise alone.
Pacific communities are facing some of the worst impacts of climate change, despite contributing just 0.02% of global emissions. Across the Pacific, climate change is already disrupting the lives of children and girls. Half of Pacific girls surveyed say climate disasters have kept them from going to school. Nearly 50% say the biggest impact is a lack of clean water. Just 0.6% say their health and wellbeing haven't been affected.
It is undeniable that today's young people and future generations will disproportionately bear the brunt of the decisions our leaders make right now. Climate extremes are increasingly harming children and girls, forcing them from their homes, in some cases putting food out of reach as well as affecting their ability to learn.
The International Court of Justice determined that the 1.5°C temperature target is legally binding under the Paris Agreement and that all states, particularly the largest emitters, must take ambitious mitigation measures in line with the best available science.
A strong 2035 target is crucial to address the scale and urgency of the challenge and to ensure today's prosperity does not come at the expense of the wellbeing of our region's children and girls.
The leading child rights organisations are calling on all Australian political parties to:
- Commit to a strong 2035 emissions reduction target that is consistent with the best available science and Australia's fair share of the global effort to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C, in line with the Paris Agreement;
- Centre the experiences, needs and views of those who will be most affected by climate change, including by legislating a Duty of Care Bill to ensure that the rights of children, girls and young people are safeguarded;
- Increase Australia's climate finance commitments in line with the recent International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion . This should focus on those most affected and who have contributed least to causing climate change, including children. Countries cannot meet their NDC commitments without sufficient climate finance. Australia should establish a new climate finance goal of at least AUD $11 billion for 2025–2030.
Save the Children Australia CEO Mat Tinkler said: "Our climate targets must look to the future and prioritise people and communities. In decades to come, it won't be current parliamentarian's jobs, homes and health on the line, it will be those of today's children. We are pleading with the Federal Government to consider the wellbeing of our children as synonymous with the future of this nation".
Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena said: "Australia's National Climate Risk Assessment is a stark wake-up call: our kids will inherit the fallout from today's choices. We are the last generation with the power to prevent irreversible damage to our planet. Keeping warming to 1.5°C is our last lifeline — and weak targets aren't just numbers, they're a debt we're passing on to future generations."
Save the Children Australia Youth Advisor Dante Casanova asks Australian leaders to put themselves in the positions of today's young people and act accordingly.
"What would you aim for if you knew your home could be flooded; if you had a high chance of dying in a heatwave; if you knew water and food will both become scarcer if you don't act drastically now? Net zero by 2035 is the appropriate and the only response to the climate we're living in now. Anything less is insulting," they said.
