Youth Must Lead Climate Action Beyond COP30: Experts

New Delhi, December 13, 2025 — Leading Indian academics and global sustainability thought leaders underscored the pivotal role of youth in advancing the sustainability agenda, urging young people to lead from the front by translating climate commitments into concrete action.

This was the central message of the 2nd Yuva Sustainability Conference, held as part of the Yuva Sustainability Internship Programme. The online conference, organised on the theme “Beyond COP30: Empowering Youth for Climate Action”, brought together experts, practitioners and young changemakers to deliberate on post-COP30 priorities and pathways for meaningful climate action.

The conference was organised by Voices of Bharat: Yuva for Sustainability, a Sustainability Karma initiative, in collaboration with Lok Samvad Sansthan and in association with the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Jamia Millia Islamia.

Speakers noted that while COP30 reaffirmed the global community’s commitment to addressing climate change, a significant gap continues to exist between high-level international commitments and their implementation on the ground.

Global agreements, they said, provide an essential policy roadmap, but effective climate action depends on bridging the divide between ambition and action by translating international pledges into locally relevant and socially inclusive solutions that respond to diverse economic and environmental contexts. In this process, the role of youth was described as crucial.

The importance of youth leadership emerged as a recurring theme throughout the conference. Participants highlighted that young people are uniquely positioned as both stakeholders and agents of change, bringing innovation, creativity and energy to climate solutions. Youth voices were particularly prominent at COP30, where they advocated for stronger ambition, intergenerational justice and greater accountability from decision-makers.

Despite this growing engagement, speakers pointed out that meaningful youth participation remains constrained by limited access to technical knowledge, decision-making platforms, funding and mentorship opportunities. Without targeted support, they cautioned, the vast potential of youth-led climate action aligned with COP30 commitments risks remaining underutilised.

The conference emphasised that integrating youth perspectives is critical to enhancing the legitimacy, inclusivity and long-term sustainability of climate interventions, especially in local communities that are disproportionately affected by climate impacts. Participants called for sustained investments in youth capacity-building, leadership development and institutional support to ensure that young people are able to truly “walk the talk” on sustainability.

The 2nd Yuva Sustainability Conference concluded with a renewed call to empower youth as leaders of climate action, moving beyond policy discussions towards transformative, ground-level change.

The conference featured a wide range of speakers, including Prof (Dr) Rihan Khan Suri, Director, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Jamia Millia Islamia; Prof Seema Agrawal, Principal, Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya; Prof Bijayalaxmi Nanda, Principal, Miranda House, University of Delhi; Prof K G Suresh, Director, India Habitat Centre and former Vice-Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University and former Director General of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication; Prof (Dr) Shahid Rasool, Dean, School of Media Studies, Central University of Kashmir; and Dr Richa Yadav, Acting Dean, Faculty of Mass Communication, Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Sustainability experts who addressed the conference included Santhosh Jayaram, Adjunct Professor of Practice at the School of Sustainable Futures, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham; Erik Solheim, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme; Richard Rekhy, Vice Chairman, Grant Thornton Bharat; Sandeep Chandna, Chief Sustainability Officer, Tech Mahindra; and Snigdha Kala, Deputy General Manager, Investment and Business Development, Blueleaf Energy.

Other speakers included Rajendra Bhanawat (IAS), Trustee, Foundation for Education and Development; Rajiv Tikoo and Kalyan Singh Kothari, Convenor and Co-Convenor of Yuva for Sustainability; Naina Gautam, Editor, Sustainability Karma; Dr Manisha Pandit, Senior Manager, Yuva for Sustainability; along with 10 Yuva Sustainability Storytellers from across the country.