World leaders out of excuses on climate change, Thunberg, youth activists say

In the first index of its kind, published on August 20, U.N. children’s agency UNICEF found that almost all the world’s 2.2 billion children are exposed to at least one climate or environmental risk.

The world’s children cannot afford more empty promises at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), youth activists including Greta Thunberg said, after a U.N. report found virtually no child will escape the impact of global warming. In the first index of its kind, published on August 20, U.N. children’s agency UNICEF found that almost all the world’s 2.2 billion children are exposed to at least one climate or environmental risk, from catastrophic floods to toxic air. Last week a U.N. climate panel of the world’s top atmospheric scientists warned that global warming is dangerously close to spiralling out of control, with deadly heat waves, hurricanes and other extreme events likely to keep getting worse.