Empowering Youth for Climate Intervention: Insights from the 2023 Global Youth Summit on Near-term Climate Risks and Interventions
The recent Sixth Assessment (AR6) synthesis report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paints a stark reality - the world is hurtling towards surpassing the critical 1.5°C global warming threshold. The imperative to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is not merely a statistic, but a safeguard against an array of catastrophic impacts. Crossing 1.5°C will have severe and lasting consequences for both humanity and the delicate ecosystems that sustain us. Rising temperatures usher in a cavalcade of extreme weather events - heatwaves, hurricanes, floods, and droughts - inflicting irrevocable damage on lives, livelihoods, and entire communities. As these consequences of a warming planet unfold, it’s the most vulnerable who bear the brunt while being those who contributed the least to the crisis.
Against this backdrop, SilverLining’s Global Young Leaders Initiative held "Can We Keep 1.5°C Alive? A Global Youth Summit on Near-term Climate Risk and Climate Interventions”, an event that united a cohort of young climate leaders, expert climate scientists, and activists to discuss climate intervention research and policies. Our goal was to facilitate a uniquely intergenerational space where young people are at the forefront of future developments in climate intervention. The event was held virtually in May.
“The current pace and scale of climate action is not enough.”
— Joyashree Roy
Founder and Director, South and South East Asia Multidisciplinary Research Network on Transforming Societies of Global South (SMARTS)
While strides have been made to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the truth remains sobering: the current efforts fall short of averting the impending catastrophe, and the climate is projected to continue to warm through 2050 under every scenario for emissions. As one of the summit speakers, Joyashree Roy, Founder and Director of South and South East Asia Multidisciplinary Research Network on Transforming Societies of Global South (SMARTS), highlighted, “The current pace and scale of climate action is not enough.” The world is already experiencing the impacts of global warming, from extreme weather events to rising sea levels. "We are living in a disaster," said Neeshad Shafi, another summit speaker, SilverLining International Strategy Fellow, and Co-founder and Executive Director at the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar. These grim assertions underscore the critical need to explore all options to ‘keep 1.5°C alive’.
As a result, stakeholders around the world are beginning to consider “solar climate interventions” as a potential avenue for reducing the impending near term risks of climate change. Scientific assessments have identified solar climate intervention (SCI) as an approach for rapidly cooling down the planet by increasing the amount of sunlight reflected by particles and clouds in the atmosphere. Such interventions could help curb catastrophic near-term climate impacts particularly for the most vulnerable among us. They could also help avoid crossing of thresholds for irreversible changes to natural systems (“tipping points”) that exceed human and natural systems’ ability to adapt. These interventions are not a replacement for the crucial work of reducing emissions, which must continue, but are an increasingly important part of the climate research agenda.
The European Union, the United States, and the United Nations Environment Programme recently released official publications on the need for research in climate interventions. However, there is a considerable gap in the awareness and involvement of the most climate-vulnerable people and especially youth in policy and public conversations around climate interventions. As international attention grows, it is imperative for youth to have the opportunity to engage with scientists and policymakers to provide their perspectives and meaningfully contribute to just climate intervention policies and decision-making. Despite the powerful possibilities of these interventions, all too frequently they are discussed among people who will not live to see the worst impacts of climate change. There remains a considerable gap in the awareness and involvement of the most climate vulnerable—among those, the world’s young people.
Our speakers came from 11 countries, and 83 participants joined from south Asia, northern and sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Europe, and other regions of the world to learn more about youth perspectives on climate intervention and engage. Over sixty percent of our participants were from Africa. With this global outlook, the summit illustrated the full scope of climate challenges experienced worldwide, highlighting the importance of climate intervention research and policies within their unique regional contexts. Three crucial themes took the stage.
Research: From the summit dialogues emerged a core idea: Youth urgently need to be involved in climate research, especially research related to climate interventions. This idea was underlined by Jyoti Singh, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Rutgers Impact Studies of Climate Intervention (RISCI) Laboratory, and Lydia Dai, Contact Point for the YOUNGO Adaptation Working Group and a SilverLining International Strategy Fellow, who provided insights as young trailblazers in this field. This involvement starts with nurturing fresh talent and bridging gaps between the research capacities of the Global North and South. We also received an enlightening session describing the most viable solar climate intervention approaches from climate experts Jim Hurrell, Professor and Scott Presidential Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering at Colorado State University, and Sarah Doherty, Senior Research Scientist and Marine Cloud Brightening Project Program Manager, University of Washington. “If we want to try to keep global temperatures at well below 2 degrees warming, as mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement, we need to research. We need to understand the benefits and the risks of solar climate intervention relative to the risks that we know are going to be caused by climate change,” said Jim.
“If we want to try to keep global temperatures at well below 2 degrees warming, as mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement, we need to research. We need to understand the benefits and the risks of solar climate intervention relative to the risks that we know are going to be caused by climate change.”
— Jim Hurrell
Professor and Scott Presidential Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering at Colorado State University
Justice: One common thread weaved through all our discussions: the distinct gap between the climate research prowess of the Global North and the uphill climb faced by the Global South. As SilverLining Executive Director Kelly Wanser highlighted, this research requires supercomputers, the ability to process massive amounts of data, and funding. Jyoti and Irfan Ullah, Founder of Sustainability Week Pakistan (one of the authors of this blog post), drew attention to a sobering reality – the lack of research muscle in the Global South. Most research on climate interventions (and climate change overall) is produced in the Global North. As Irfan mentioned at the summit, “There is not much capacity building and awareness raising happening in the Global South on climate intervention.” It's not just about having a seat at the table; it's about making sure everyone has the knowledge and information to make responsible decisions about climate intervention that are rooted in science. We need local experts who can study nuanced regional impacts of climate change and climate interventions.”
International Governance: Both Brenda Mwale, Chief Operations Officer of Green Girls Platform, and Kelly Wanser shared a common insight: the significance of localized climate research to understand regional impacts, thereby laying a robust foundation for informed global choices regarding solar climate interventions. How can we leverage the power of international governance to direct more resources, talent, and investments into climate intervention research? Scaling up of climate intervention research capacity, as Kelly highlighted, could find its wings within the established frameworks of the World Meteorological Organization and the World Climate Research Programme.
Through these discussions, several calls to action reverberated throughout the summit, forging a collective mission to enrich youth understanding and engagement in pivotal dialogues concerning solar climate interventions.
Raise awareness and empower youth: The summit's primary objective was to promote understanding and awareness of climate intervention among youth. Youth are future leaders, decision-makers, and planet stewards who can become active contributors in researching and assessing solar climate interventions. A clear illustration of youth-led initiatives unfolded in the third session, spotlighting Operaatio Arktis, a project that aims to ignite conversations about climate interventions in Finland and foster research. Orchestrated by a team of 16 young adults, Operaatio Arktis showcased a remarkable model of youth engagement for us all to appreciate. Empowering youth voices necessitates creating ample avenues, akin to this platform, for us to come together, exchange ideas, and mutually enrich our understanding of climate intervention. SilverLining’s Global Young Leaders Initiative stands poised to bridge this gap, aiming to facilitate similar opportunities for youth engagement.
Support equitable research: The summit dialogues echoed a call for offering research guidance, resources, and financial support to young researchers who harbor an interest in studying climate intervention and fostering their growth as future leaders in this field. Jyoti and Irfan underscored the significance of this support, particularly for young researchers in the Global South who often confront unequal access to such opportunities. Research support is crucial for youth involved in climate intervention, as it enables them to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding climate intervention. Research provides a foundation of knowledge and evidence-based insights and makes young people able to contribute substantially to discussions, policies, and planning around climate intervention research.
“The lack of funding and the lack of exposure are definitely two things that are limiting the research on climate intervention.”
— Jyoti Singh
Postdoctoral Researcher, Rutgers University
“Can We Keep 1.5°C Alive? A Global Youth Summit on Near-term Climate Risk and Climate Interventions” was a unique platform which united young leaders, experts, and activists to discuss the pressing impacts of our warming planet and the potential of climate interventions to mitigate emerging risks. As the urgent need to limit global warming to 1.5°C becomes more apparent, we need more platforms like this one.
Our summit underscored the pivotal role of youth engagement in discussions about climate intervention research and policy. By empowering and involving youth in policy dialogues and decision-making processes, youth voices can play a powerful role in shaping effective climate intervention strategies. With a resounding call to action, it illuminated the path forward, urging us to empower youth voices, continue the important work of reducing emissions, support comprehensive research on climate intervention, and foster collaborative initiatives for a safe and equitable future.
Irfan Ullah is a climate adaptation expert, the Founder of Sustainability Week Pakistan, and a youth advisor at Global Center on Adaptation (GCA). He works as a Consultant with UNICEF. He is a SilverLining International Strategy Fellow.
Aarushi Shah is a Research Analyst at SilverLining. She completed her undergraduate degree at Georgetown University, where she studied Economics, Business Administration and STIA (Science, Technology and International Affairs) with a concentration in Energy and Environment. Aarushi also manages a blog dedicated to the latest news and developments in environmental sustainability.
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