COP30: About 136,000 children a day still affected by climate disasters despite pledges over 30 years

BRAZIL, 5 November 2025 – About 48 million children a year*, or 136,000 children a day, have been affected by climate disasters since the first COP climate summit was held 30 years* ago to address the escalating global climate crisis, according to new Save the Children analysis.

Despite three decades of pledges and some progress, the 30^th UN climate summit takes place against a backdrop of catastrophic climate disasters that are forcing millions of children from their homes, disrupting their education, and causing hunger and threats to their health and safety.[1] 

These disasters, that underscore the urgent need for decisive climate action, include heatwaves and wildfires across parts of Europe, deadly floods across Asia, Latin America and parts of Africa, as well as back-to-back tropical typhoons and cyclones in the Philippines.

Save the Children said the urgency to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming target set in 2015 is slipping away as most countries have not yet submitted new pledges [2] and urged remaining countries to submit their national plans with ambition.

The ambition gap is stark; pledges submitted so far would collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only 17% below 2019 levels by the year 2035, a fraction of the roughly 60% global reduction required to limit warming to 1.5°C.[3]

Research developed by Vrije Universiteit Brussel and released by Save the Children earlier this year showed that almost a third of today’s five-year-olds – about 38 million children – will be spared a lifetime’s “unprecedented” exposure to extreme heat if the 1.5°C target is reached. 

While the number of children affected each year since the first COP summit in 1995 has varied significantly, children in poorer countries are consistently disproportionately impacted. Children from low or lower-middle income countries make up over 80% of those affected each year on average.

Save the Children looked at the number of people affected by floods, storms, wildfires, droughts and heatwaves in the three decades since the first COP conference in 1995 using the EM-DAT International Disasters database to estimate the average number of children each year injured or rendered in need of shelter or other immediate assistance as a result of these disasters.*

Malietasi Bulu, 24, is deeply familiar with the impacts of the climate crisis.

Malietasi, a climate justice advocate who is part of Save the Children NextGen Youth Ambassador Initiative, comes from Vanuatu – a country that contributes minimally to global emissions yet suffers from the impacts of climate change. This includes rising sea levels and coastal erosion which contribute to food shortages and impact livelihoods. [4] 

Malietasi said:

“We need serious global collaboration and urgent commitment to climate mitigation, disaster risk reduction, adaptation and loss and damage. This is not just the Pacific’s fight—it is a global fight.”

Kisaki*, 17, from Colombia, said:

 "In my area, temperature changes are now common. Four or five years ago, the heat didn't reach 40 degrees Celsius like it does now. This causes children and adolescents to have health problems, headaches and difficulties studying. I would like governments to commit to including more youth participation because we are the ones who are going to act on climate change and live with it.”

As world leaders gather at COP30, Save the Children is calling for immediate and decisive action to protect children against the often lifelong and irreversible impacts of climate change. [4] 

Martina Bogado Duffner, Senior Climate Advocacy Advisor, Save the Children, said: 

“This isn’t someone else’s problem. The climate crisis concerns all of us and the children and planet that we all share.

The urgency of addressing climate change's devastating impacts on children has never been more apparent. An average of 136,000 children a day have been affected by climate disasters over the last 30 years – since the start of COP – and more children will have to live with the impact of climate change if we do not collectively work to limit global warming to 1.5°C.   

Even in the face of huge climate challenges we mustn't lose hope or motivation because there are solutions. Ambitious emission cuts and a transition to renewable energy and the urgent phase-out of fossil fuels is still possible. This is necessary to secure children’s rights and uphold countries’ obligations under international law to protect the planet.”

Save the Children is calling on decision makers, including those from high-income countries, corporations and multinationals to:  

• Recognise children as a priority group in climate negotiations, policies, and finance.

• Guarantee the meaningful participation of children in climate decision-making.

• Phase out fossil fuels urgently and equitably, in line with the 1.5°C goal.

• Invest in climate-resilient services – including health, education, water, nutrition, and child protection.

• Increase research and address data gaps to reveal the true impacts of climate change on children around the world.

*Methodology: 

 Save the Children looked at data on people affected by climate disasters between May 1995 (the month after COP 1)  to October 2025 in the EM-DAT International Disasters database totalling up all the people affected by disasters each year globally, and then averaging this across the 30 year period considered. Only disasters such as floods, storms, wildfires, droughts and heatwaves which may be attributable to climate change were included, while volcanic eruptions and earthquakes were excluded. Children affected were estimated by applying the national share of children in a population according to UN World Population Prospects to the number of people affected by each disaster. We broadly estimated people likely to have been double counted within a year by looking at duplicate disaster locations within the same country and year where available, only counting the biggest number in the total in cases of such duplication.

For this analysis we used the EM-DAT definition of total affected as those injured, requiring shelter or requiring other immediate assistance due to the disaster, acknowledging that precise definitions of affected may vary between entries in the database due to the variety of sources which EM-DAT uses. This definition may however exclude certain impacts of the climate crisis on children such as closure of their schools which past smaller analyses by Save the Children have included.

To estimate children affected by country income level, Save the Children used the World Bank’s country income groupings.  

Notes to editors: 

[1,4] Born Into the Climate Crisis 2 report (Save the Children):  https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/Born-into-the-Climate-Crisis-2.-An-Unprecedented-Life-Protecting-Childrens-Rights-in-A-Changing-Climate.pdf 

[2] https://climateactiontracker.org/climate-target-update-tracker-2035/

[3]  https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2025_08.pdf

[4] https://docc.gov.vu/index.php/mitigation/general-information-mitigation