Youth Engagement in NDCs: Trends, Gaps and Opportunities for Support
Young people are both highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and critical to advancing climate action — yet they remain underrepresented in formal decision-making processes. Meaningful youth engagement is essential to ensuring the priorities and perspectives of future generations are reflected in countries’ NDCs 3.0, the current round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The NDC Partnership supports the involvement of young people in the development, planning and implementation of countries’ NDCs as part of a whole-of-society approach to climate action. A new Insight Brief published by the NDC Partnership Support Unit analyzes youth-related requests submitted by developing countries since 2018, highlighting both growing demand and persistent gaps in support. Key insights include:
Youth-related requests are increasing — but remain a small share overall.
Since 2018, 43 developing countries have submitted 117 youth-related requests for support to the NDC Partnership. These include activities such as building institutional capacity to engage youth, strengthening climate education, supporting youth-led entrepreneurship and raising awareness of climate-related risks and opportunities. While this reflects strong interest from nearly half of all requesting countries, youth-related requests account for just 3% of total requests for support to the NDC Partnership. Nonetheless, the NDC Partnership continues to see an upward trend in youth-focused requests.
While partners are stepping in to support youth-related requests, gaps remain.
Despite strong country interest, over half of all youth-related requests have gone unsupported, with only 35% being fully supported. This support rate is lower than the average across all requests submitted through the NDC Partnership, highlighting a need to mobilize targeted assistance. As of February 2025, 42 partners have supported at least one youth-related request, while the requesting country governments themselves are top supporters of all youth engagement requests.
Youth-related requests are broad-based and cross-cutting.
Most youth engagement requests are cross-cutting in nature — addressing both mitigation and adaptation — and often span multiple sectors. The most common sectors linked to youth requests include agriculture, water and energy. In terms of activity type, countries most frequently request support for capacity development, public education and stakeholder engagement. These activities aim not only to empower young people directly but also to enhance the ability of institutions to engage youth meaningfully in climate planning and implementation.
Addressing structural barriers and scale support can enhance youth participation.
Limited access to finance, underdeveloped institutional mechanisms for youth engagement and perceptions of youth as awareness-raisers rather than implementers limit youth participation. To address these challenges, countries can take steps to expand access to youth-focused climate finance. The brief outlines recommendations such as establishing formal mechanisms for youth participation in NDC processes and leveraging technology and digital platforms to strengthen outreach and engagement.
Youth engagement is an opportunity for NDCs 3.0
Countries are increasingly recognizing the importance of youth as stakeholders in NDC planning and implementation. However, meaningful engagement will require increased and better-targeted support. As the NDC 3.0 cycle unfolds through 2025, integrating youth as contributors — not just constituents — will be essential to building inclusive, resilient and forward-looking NDCs.
Read the full “Insight Brief: Youth Engagement in NDCs” to explore how youth priorities are showing up in NDC requests, and what can be done to close the support gap.
Learn more about the NDC Partnership Youth Engagement Forum.