This paper analyses how youth-driven initiatives are reshaping global climate governance and sustainable development beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) timeline. It examines the mechanisms, barriers, and institutional conditions affecting youth influence in climate decision-making.
Using a conceptual and comparative case study framework, the paper systematically reviews youth-led climate initiatives (2011-2025) from the Global South and North. It assesses mobilisation, agenda setting, co-production of policy, climate finance, and litigation as key pathways, supported by empirical cases from Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Youth activism has shifted from symbolic protest to substantive participation in governance. However, tokenism, institutional exclusion, and resource inequality persist. The study identifies three key barriers, institutional, political, and socio-economic, and presents scalable solutions such as co-governance mandates and equitable finance models.
The paper reframes youth as strategic co-architects of sustainability rather than peripheral actors, integrating ethical, political, and practical dimensions of intergenerational equity.
Embedding youth participation in law, simplifying access to finance, and aligning education with green-economy pathways are essential to institutionalising intergenerational collaboration and accelerating equitable climate action beyond 2030.
Alzain, H. M. and Majuto, K. (2025): Youth as Catalysts of Climate Action: Advancing Environmental Sustainability and the SDGs Beyond 2030. In Ahmed, A. (Ed.): United Nations: What Next After 2030 Agenda and SDGs. World Sustainable Development Outlook 2025, Vol. 21, pp. 367-385. WASD: London, United Kingdom.
