Giving Compass' Take:

• Climate change youth activists read their lists of demands at the COP24 conference in Katowice, Poland that range from keeping fossil fuels in the ground to holding corporations accountable for the crisis we are in now. 

• The COP24 delegate for a youth-led nonprofit said that they have been negotiating with global leaders for 24 years and still have not found success. Is there any difference this year that might bring about hope for climate action? 

•Read more about the kids that are protesting, striking and suing their governments for not taking action against climate change.

As delegates entered the maze of the COP24 conference center in Katowice, Poland, they were greeted by the upbeat sound of a Polish marching band. On Tuesday it was a chorus: the voices of dozens of young climate activists from all over the world.

Long frustrated by the slow pace of climate action and what they view as the tendency among the United Nations' members to cave to industry interests, the gathered activists found little to be optimistic about in the opening ceremonies of the summit this year, where world leaders spoke repeatedly about the complexity of the negotiations and the need for compromise.

These activists are no longer interested in compromise, and, on Tuesday, they delivered the People's Demands for Climate Justice, an official list of climate action demands that organizers say are endorsed by 330 organizations and hundreds of millions of people from 129 countries.

Phillip Brown, a COP24 delegate for the youth-led non-profit SustainUS, set the tone for the action event: "We've been negotiating in these halls for over 24 years," he told the crowd, "and global leaders continue to fail us." One by one, Brown introduced a list of speakers from around the globe—one for each of the People's Demands.

  • Keep fossil fuels in the ground
  • Reject false solutions that are displacing real,  people-first solutions to the climate crisis
  • Advance real solutions that are just, feasible, and essential
  • Honor climate finance obligations to developing countries
  • End corporate interference in, and capture of, the climate talks
  • Developing countries must honor their fair shares for largely fueling this crisis

Read the full article about climate change youth activists by Kate Wheeling at Pacific Standard