What is a child-responsive climate policy?

A child-responsive climate policy systematically advances the rights, needs and priorities of children throughout policy development, implementation, monitoring and review.

It recognizes that climate change affects children differently and often more severely than adults, while also acknowledging children and young people as stakeholders with a right to participate in decisions that shape their lives and futures.

Concretely, child-responsive climate policies should: • Strengthen the sustainability and climate and disaster resilience of the social services that are critical for children’s survival, development and well-being; • Address children’s distinct risks and vulnerabilities across sectors; • Be inclusive of children and young people, respecting and promoting their right to be heard and to participate meaningfully as stakeholders and drivers of change. UNICEF has developed a global methodology for assessing countries’ national climate policies. The specific indicators differ for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), given the different purposes of these documents. However, four overarching criteria underpin the analysis. Further detail is available in UNICEF’s NDC Analysis and NAP Analysis.

• References: Does the policy include explicit and meaningful references to children and young people, including those who are disadvantaged or marginalized?
• Rights-based: Does the policy recognize children and young people as rights holders and meaningfully address child rights, intergenerational justice and equity?
• Holistic and multisectoral: Does it respond to the specific risks and vulnerabilities facing children and young people through commitments across multiple child-critical sectors?
• Inclusive: Were children and young people included in the policy development process, and/or does the policy commit to enhancing their participation and empowerment?

Where do we stand?

As of 30 June 2026, 119 NDCs 3.0 have been submitted, covering 145 countries and representing more than 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. A major global takeaway is that the third generation of NDCs shows clear progress in overall quality, scope, and ambition. UNICEF’s latest analysis, Children and child-critical social sectors in NDCs 3.0: 2025 global stocktake of progress, examines what this means specifically for children. 70 per cent of submitted NDCs 3.0 are assessed as child-responsive, compared with 49 per cent in the previous submission round. 77 per cent of NDCs strengthened their consideration of children relative to earlier submissions.

Progress is also visible in national adaptation planning. Since 2015, 75 developing countries and 12 developed countries have submitted NAPs, of which 72% of NAPs are considered child-responsive. Notably, every NAP refers to children or young people, and nearly all includes multiple commitments across several child-critical social sectors, with benefits that will reach children and their communities.

Common trends emerge across NDCs and NAPs, despite differences in the number and composition of submissions. Approximately half of both NDCs and NAPs refer specifically to girls, while just under half embed meaningful references to child rights. Participation also remains uneven. Although children and young people were more frequently involved in the development of NDCs 3.0 than in previous rounds, both NDCs and NAPs generally reflect substantially less participation by children than youth.

The picture is therefore one of genuine progress, but not yet consistent or comprehensive child-responsiveness.

How did we get here?

Country experience in the development and early implementation of NDCs 3.0 points to several recurring lessons about what works. These lessons reflect practical approaches that have helped integrate children’s rights, needs and participation in national climate commitments. They can also inform future NDCs, NAPs and related national and sectoral climate policies. Four consistent entry points have emerged:

• Institutionalizing the meaningful participation of children and young people. Participation is strongest when it is built into formal policy processes, supported with appropriate resources and safeguards, and connected to decision-making rather than limited to one-off consultations.
• Embedding child rights and priorities across sectors and institutions. Child-responsive commitments are more likely to be sustained when responsibility does not sit with a single ministry or focal point but is integrated across climate, finance and relevant line ministries.
• Strengthening evidence, data systems and accountability. Age-, gender-, disability- and location-disaggregated data help governments identify which children face the greatest risks, design targeted measures and track whether policies are delivering equitable results.
• Designing for implementation. Commitments are more credible when they are linked from the outset to responsible institutions, sector plans, budgets, indicators and realistic delivery and financing pathways.

What comes next?

The next test is implementation.

Governments and development partners are increasingly moving from formulating national climate commitments towards costing, prioritizing and financing them. For children, this means ensuring that commitments covering education, health, nutrition, child protection, social protection and water and sanitation are translated into concrete sector plans, budgets and programmes.

These measures must be clearly articulated, costed, connected to national planning and financing systems, and developed into investment pipelines and finance-ready programmes that can attract domestic and international climate finance. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting will be equally important. Governments have an opportunity to introduce child-responsive indicators, strengthen age-, gender- and disability-disaggregated data systems, and systematically measure how climate policies affect children and young people.

The progress visible in the latest generation of NDCs and NAPs provides a stronger foundation than in previous policy cycles. The task now is to convert recognition of children in national climate policies into financed action, resilient services and measurable improvements in children’s lives.