Youth Influencing Global Decisions at a Local Level

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend LCOY USA at Ohio State University. 

Each year, countries around the world prepare for COP, the United Nations Global Conference on Climate Change. At this conference, national delegates and ministries negotiate policies that shape the way governments prioritize climate change and mitigate the impact they have on it.

The decisions made at this conference directly impact the world youth will be left with in the future. Despite that reality, many youth voices from across the globe are excluded from these crucial negotiations. The United States is one of 110 countries this year to host an LCOY (Local Conference of Youth), which increases the impact youth can have in this process. 

At LCOY, I, amongst 100+ other youth delegates from 40 different states, spent 3 days working to draft a National Youth Statement for the U.S., which includes over 100 policy proposals across 12 issue areas that we would like to be included at this year's COP31 in Turkiye. 

I spent my weekend primarily working on 2 tracks: International Track and the Climate Governance Frameworks + Accountability Mechanisms Track. 

The International policy proposals were sent to YOUNGO, the official children and youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the days leading up to COP31, youth will read through and combine all the International policy proposals created at LCOY's into a singular Global Youth Statement (GYS) that youth attending COP31 will use to advocate for policies and influence negotiations.  

This framework allows students across the globe to have their voices and ideas heard. I'm so honored to be part of this process, and am so excited to be one of the students attending COP31 this year. 

While youth perspectives are crucial in global decision-making, uniting on national and local fronts are just as important. Most of the work for the international track was completed before LCOY this weekend. The rest of the tracks all focused on national policy proposals youth at LCOY USA will be supporting. Tracks ranged from Forests, Oceans, and Nature Based Solutions to Technology, Innovation, and Data. I spent the remaining time at LCOY working in the Climate Governance Frameworks + Accountability Mechanisms Track. We researched, came up with, and wrote 9 different policies that we shared out during our gallery walk on Sunday morning. Some of my favorite policies from my track include ratifying + rejoining the Paris Agreement, recognizing and upholding the 2026 UNGA Resolution 80/263, and the creation of a climate accountability dashboard for large companies. At that gallery, we were able to explain our policy proposals to other delegates, learn about the policies proposed in other tracks, and provide each other with feedback to finalize our national youth statement. 

The conference wrapped up with regional breakouts, where we came up with a plan of steps to take so that we could advocate and make change using our finalized youth statement. 100+ policies is a lot, but we need to take a lot of action in the fight against climate change. Each delegate will inevitably end up focusing on a specific issue, however, what matters most is that we are united with a common goal, and the common document we made at this conference.