6 November 2022
Two young leaders, supported by a team of nine young delegates, all from the United Kingdom (UK) are set to join in the world’s biggest climate change conference, COP27, are calling for finance to ensure a just energy transition that is inclusive of youth participation.
COP27, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be the 27th of its kind. Each year, the presidency rotates and in 2022, COP27 will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 6 - 18 November under the Egyptian Government’s presidency.
Since 2021, the Future Leaders Network (FLN) has selected young leaders to represent the UK at COP, including for last year’s COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. After fierce competition, FLN selected two young leaders - Anna Gardner and Marc Tilley - to represent the views of UK youth at this year’s COP27 negotiations in Egypt.
Supporting them, in the areas of advocacy, communications and research, is a team of nine young delegates from the UK - Josh Oxby, Patricia Gonçalves, Nikita Shrubsole, Katie Riley, Hannah Harrison, Kayley Curtis, Madelaine Constance, Amy Campbell and Jasmine Brittan. The youth delegates’ purpose is to ensure that decisions and agreements reached by world leaders COP27 represent the views and needs of young people from across the UK. Our young team represents a talented and ambitious cross-section of the UK; spanning a range of interests, skills and experiences, but ultimately all converging on the desire to elevate young people's voices and promote youth leadership in climate action.
In practice, this involves both speaking and listening. Before COP27 the delegation have been researching youth perspectives, especially in relation to progress since COP26 in Glasgow. During COP27 the delegation will connect with other young people to listen to their experiences and advocate collaboratively for meaningful youth participation in climate negotiations. After COP27, the delegation will produce a report reflecting on the processes of decision-making as well as the formal decisions that have been made. Social media will be used throughout to make COP27 accessible and engaging for as many young people as possible.
The COP27 youth delegates call for Dr Sameh Shoukry, the appointed COP27 president and Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his world leader counterparts to ensure a just energy transition by:
Implementing finance for the jobs and skills agenda, promoting inter-industry and intergenerational equality;
Providing specialised and ring-fenced finance to ensure youth inclusion;
Ensuring youth-specific inclusion and participation in the energy transition policy process, including through regular consultations, accessible information and impact assessments and progress indicators.
Anna Gardner, COP27 Climate and Environment Delegate, commented:
“As young people from the UK, we are in a unique position to hold leaders accountable to the agreements made at Glasgow. If we’re serious about keeping 1.5 alive, we have to push harder for implementation.”
Commenting, Marc Tilley, COP27 Climate and Environment Delegate said:
“COP27 will be known as the "loss and adjustment" summit in recognition that we have collectively failed to mitigate the harm of climate change, and must now instead adapt to the irreparable damage we have done to our environment. Despite this, young people have been a continuous source of hope for the future, and I look forward to seeing young people take the lead at COP27 and beyond.”
Applications to represent the UK at the COP Summits open every year in late autumn (November/December).
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Notes to the Editor:
For more information about the support available to young people in the UK, particularly our Youth COP27 opportunity, please visit our website: https://www.futureleaders.network
For interviews or more information, including details of how you can interview the COP27 Delegation, please contact Sophie Daud – Chief Executive, directly on +44 7788 990041 or at sophie.daud@futureleaders.network.
About Future Leaders Network
Future Leaders Network is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at discovering and developing the next generation of social, economic and political leaders in the United Kingdom. We are revolutionising the leadership development landscape, by equipping young people with the leadership experience, skills and network they need to deliver positive change in the world. We make a difference today with the leaders of tomorrow.
Since 2011, FLN has selected and supported young people (aged 18 - 30) to represent the United Kingdom at the G7 and G20 Youth Summits (known as the Y7 and Y20). These are the official youth engagement groups for the multilateral Heads of State Summits.
In 2021, in line with the U.K.’s G7 Presidency, FLN held the title of the Y7 Presidency. FLN successfully coordinated the engagement and participation of over 50,000 young people ahead of the Carbis Bay Leaders’ Summit last June, and ensured young people’s voices were reflected in the G7 Leaders’ Declaration for the first time in history.
In 2021, FLN also selected and sent youth delegates to a COP Summit for the first time and seven young people represented the UK youth at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Website: https://www.futureleaders.network
About COP27
COP27 refers to the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference. COP27 will be the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference and will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 6 - 18 November.
COP27 is under the Egyptian Government’s presidency and the COP27 appointed president is Dr Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Throughout the year, there have been regular multilateral meetings and consultations at the level of heads of delegation in preparation for COP27.
Website: https://cop27.eg/#/
About Anna Gardner
Anna Gardner is a COP27 Climate and Environment Delegate. Anna is also a writer for ClimaTalk.
She recently graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-g-841834186/
About Marc Tilley
Marc Tilley is a COP27 Climate and Environment Delegate. Marc currently works as a Migrations Associate within the Operations Thematic Unit in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Human Rights Law from Aberystwyth University and a Master’s degree in International Humanitarian Action from the University of Malta.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilleymarc/