Rangatahi from across the motu will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this Saturday with a message for the people making decisions about climate change — young people don’t just want to inherit the consequences, they want a say in the decisions being made now.
Aotearoa Youth COP 2026, hosted by Save the Children New Zealand through its Generation Hope programme, will bring together young people aged 14 to 20 for a day of workshops, speakers, activities and discussion focused on climate action.
One of the most important outcomes will be the development of an Aotearoa Youth Climate Statement, bringing together the priorities and recommendations of participating rangatahi.
That statement will then be presented to the New Zealand Government ahead of the international COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20.
Young people want more than a seat in the audience
At the heart of Youth COP is a straightforward principle — young people will live with today’s climate decisions for considerably longer than most of the people currently making them.
Generation Hope Ambassador Betty, 18, has grown up in areas exposed to significant weather events and says climate change is not some distant future problem for her generation.
It is something they are already experiencing and will continue dealing with throughout their lives.
For Betty, Youth COP provides a pathway for turning concern into practical action alongside other young people who want change.
Brayden, 16, says climate action can sometimes feel enormous and complicated, particularly for a young person trying to understand where they fit into the wider picture.
The Auckland gathering provides an opportunity to hear different perspectives, challenge ideas, ask questions and develop a better understanding of how young people can influence change.
From climate anxiety to climate action
That distinction could be increasingly important.
Climate change is often presented to young people through warnings about extreme weather, rising seas, ecosystem loss and threats to communities.
Youth COP is attempting to move the conversation from simply telling rangatahi about the problem to giving them tools to participate in solutions.
Workshops will explore different parts of climate action, while guest speakers will bring experience from across the sector.
Stalls will also connect participants with organisations, initiatives and opportunities where they can become involved beyond the event itself.
Throughout the day, rangatahi will develop skills in leadership, advocacy, communication and collaboration.
Save the Children’s Generation Hope programme is specifically designed to help young people develop those capabilities and engage directly with decision-makers on issues including climate change, inequality, mental health and poverty.
A Māori climate conversation
For rangatahi Māori, climate change also intersects with whenua, wai, whakapapa and intergenerational responsibility.
Climate impacts are not distributed evenly.
Communities exposed to flooding, coastal erosion, infrastructure failure and extreme weather can experience those impacts differently depending on where they live and the resources available to respond.
For Māori communities, the future resilience of marae, papakāinga, whenua Māori and coastal settlements forms part of that conversation.
Climate policy therefore reaches beyond emissions targets.
It raises questions about how communities adapt, who pays for infrastructure, whose knowledge informs decisions and whether rangatahi Māori have meaningful influence over choices affecting their rohe.
Mātauranga Māori and the principle of kaitiakitanga also provide frameworks through which climate responsibility can be understood across generations.
Building the Aotearoa Youth Climate Statement
The Youth Climate Statement will be one of the day’s major pieces of work.
Rather than adults deciding what young people should care about, participants will identify their own priorities and recommendations.
That creates a record decision-makers can respond to.
The statement is intended to bring together the experiences and ideas raised during Youth COP before being formally handed to the Government ahead of COP31.
The international conference itself will bring governments and other stakeholders together in Antalya in November as part of the United Nations climate process. The COP31 leadership has identified areas including the energy transition, resilient cities and infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, climate finance and protection of vulnerable regions and ecosystems among its priorities, while also emphasising youth participation.
Youth voice becoming part of the process
Aotearoa Youth COP is part of a growing programme of youth-led advocacy.
Save the Children’s Generation Hope programme is now in its fourth year and has selected 10 youth ambassadors from across the motu for 2026.
The ambassadors receive leadership and advocacy training and help create events including Youth COP and other opportunities designed to bring youth perspectives into national conversations.
Save the Children Programme and Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey says young people have a right to be heard when decisions directly affect their lives.
The organisation argues climate change is already affecting children’s health, education, housing, food security and safety internationally.
The decisions governments make today could therefore influence almost every part of the lives today’s rangatahi eventually lead.
Not old enough to vote — old enough to be affected
The timing also puts Youth COP into the wider Election 2026 conversation.
Many of the young people attending on Saturday will not be old enough to vote in November.
That does not mean they will be unaffected by the result.
Energy policy, public transport, housing, environmental regulation, emissions reduction, adaptation and infrastructure decisions made during the next parliamentary term could remain relevant long after the current election campaign has disappeared.
Save the Children has also been encouraging wider participation from those under 18 through its Kiwi Kids Vote, providing children and rangatahi with a separate opportunity to express their views during the election campaign.
Youth COP extends that principle specifically into climate policy.
From Tāmaki Makaurau to Türkiye
Saturday’s gathering may take place thousands of kilometres from the negotiating rooms of COP31, but organisers want the voices generated in Tāmaki Makaurau to travel.
The Youth Climate Statement provides the bridge.
For the rangatahi taking part, the kaupapa is about learning.
It is about leadership.
It is about connecting with other young people.
But above all, it is about refusing to accept that climate policy should be something decided for their generation rather than with them.
Today’s political leaders will make many of the decisions.
Today’s rangatahi will live longest with the results.
Aotearoa Youth COP 2026 is their opportunity to make sure decision-makers hear what they have to say before those decisions are made.
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