Global Youth Demand Ecocide Law Ahead Of COP30
Summary
The 2025 Global Youth Statement representing thousands of young people from over 100 countries has called for the adoption of ecocide laws to hold corporations and states accountable for environmental destruction, while explicitly recognising that "wars, genocides and conflicts cause environmental degradation, exacerbate climate change through unchecked, boundless emissions."
The 91-page policy document, developed through YOUNGO - the official children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC - will be presented at COY20 and COP30 in Belém, Brazil this November.
The statement identifies five key priorities:
Strengthened NDCs — delivering clear commitments to limit warming to 1.5°C through a full, fast and fair fossil phase-out, ensuring a just and rights-based transition.
Intergenerational equity — institutionalising it as a foundational principle across all climate governance, aligned with the July 2025 ICJ Advisory Opinion.
Peace and protection — recognising the environmental and climate impacts of war and calling for an immediate global ceasefire to safeguard vulnerable communities.
Climate finance justice — ensuring accessible, equitable and grant-based finance for grassroots, youth-led and marginalised groups, alongside reform of global financial systems.
Adaptation priority — elevating adaptation to equal standing with mitigation and finance, strengthening national plans and supporting community-led resilience.
Compiled through Local Conferences of Youth (LCOYs) across dozens of countries, the statement represents a unified global youth position linking environmental destruction from both corporate activity and military operations to demands for criminal accountability.
Paulina Slawek, Student Ambassador Lead at Stop Ecocide International, said:
"When thousands of young people from over 100 countries formally recognise that wars and conflicts constitute environmental destruction - ecocide - within the official UN climate process, it sends an unmistakable signal to world leaders: our generation will not accept a future where mass environmental harm goes unpunished. As students and young people, we see clearly what many in positions of power refuse to acknowledge: that the climate crisis and ecological breakdown are not separate from questions of justice, accountability and criminal law.
Salsalina Larasati, Stop Ecocide Student Ambassador and Contributor to the GYS, said:
“Mass environmental destruction is not just a threat to livelihoods, but a threat to one’s sense of belonging. The environment carries a deeper meaning beyond giving life, it is the foundation to life. The least that we can do is to protect it by striving for ecocide law; serving as our call, including youth, for solidarity for justice in upholding intergenerational equity.”
You can read the full Global Youth Statement here.