Earth Notes #07

Welcome to Earth Notes, where we dive a little deeper into topics relating to environmental communications and youth voices.

This week, we’re exploring the power of young people and marginalised communities in steering global climate negotiations towards a better and fairer future for us all.

DEMANDS AT COP29

COP (Conference of Parties) is an annual United Nations climate change conference, where UN member states meet to discuss climate change policies and make a plan for climate action. This year, COP29 is being hosted by Azerbaijan in Baku, with the key themes including; climate finance, national climate commitments, adaptation, loss and damage, carbon markets and transparency reporting.?

Throughout the duration of COP29 Azerbaijan , we’ve been working closely with the COP29 Children and Youth Pavilion , Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and Entertainment + Culture Pavilion on delivering key messages to global leaders focused on driving impactful and inclusive climate action.

We’ve been working with the COP29 Children and Youth Pavilion (with Greenhouse Communications ) over the last year since COP28. And this year at COP29, we’ve joined the likes of We Are Family Foundation , Care About Climate and Groundswell ( Global Optimism ) to call for world leaders to adopt the Universal Youth Clause in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). To break down the climate lingo, NDCs are each country’s climate action plan under the Paris Agreement. The deadline to update these commitments again is February 2025, with the target being to achieve them by 2035.?

This week, we’re ecstatic to announce that the UK has become the first country to pledge the Universal Youth Clause. We’re now calling for more countries to #MakeThePledge and recognise the critical role that children and youth have in accelerating climate action.

Find out more about the demands from children & youth at COP29: here

Following on from New York Climate Week, we’ve been working with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative at COP29 to call for a transition towards a fair, fast and financed phase-out of fossil fuels. With 1,770 fossil fuel lobbyists present in Baku this year, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative is demanding that world leaders prioritise workers and vulnerable communities and fund the fight against climate devastation.

Find out more about the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative ’s demands at COP29: here

At Earth Minutes, we’re on a mission to challenge the environmental communications sector and shift away from traditional methods of storytelling. With this in mind, we were so excited to support the Entertainment + Culture Pavilion on Culture Day, exploring how creativity, culture and climate action intersect to shape a sustainable future.

Find out more about the Entertainment + Culture Pavilion : here

Active Hope

At Earth Minutes, one of our core values is ‘active hope’. This means mobilising mindsets towards hope and agency through our communications, to drive climate action and create a better and more sustainable future for us all.

In this space, hear moments from our team and network that inspired us to channel ‘active hope’.

Over the past two weeks, our team has been split across Azerbaijan and the UK. Our production team, Si?n Roe and Andre Moore , have been on the ground at COP29 in Baku, with our producers, Emma Askew and Nuriya Shoro , working remotely from Exeter and London respectively.

Here are some of our team highlights on working at COP29:

Emma: Working with the COP29 Children and Youth Pavilion is always such a privilege as we’re in a complete ‘impact bubble’... documenting huge amounts of action being taken and progress being made by young people.

Si?n: We went to a little coffee shop and the barista asked why we were in Baku. When we explained that we were here for COP, he said, 'Thank you for coming - and please, please save our planet. The world needs this, the world needs saving - so please do whatever you can.' That was a really nice moment for us, the people here are really amazing.

Nuriya: I’ve really enjoyed seeing young people at COP29 collaborating together on social media to call on world leaders to make impactful change for all of our futures!

Over to you!

We want to hear from you! Has your organisation been present at COP29 this year, or have you been following via social media? Are there any organisations at COP that have inspired you to take climate action?

Hope you enjoy your week!