Funding Youth Participation at COP26

We are cycling from London to Glasgow for COP26 (the UN Climate conference)!

Hi everyone, I'm Emily and I volunteer with the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC). Every year, we are given accreditations to attend the UN Climate Conferences, to hold global leaders to account. This year, we gave half of these away to youth activists on the frontline of climate change in Brazil, who would otherwise be restricted from attending. These activists are routinely excluded from global conversations on climate action, even though climate change is already affecting them the most.

I'm fundraising for the 'Global Voices to Glasgow' campaign, to provide funds and support for youth activists from Brazil, on the frontline of climate change. We have given our accreditations away to Fridays For Future Brazil and Brazillian youth group Engajamundo. Specifically, the money raised will help cover travel, accommodation, and any other costs associated with attending COP26 this year.

Full fundraiser details here

Please find our shared Strava channel here to follow our progress!

The Challenge

Together, we are participating in a group bike ride from London to Glasgow. Me and my Dad will be beginning this bike ride on Sunday, cycling from London to Oxford (106km), then Oxford home to Solihull (110km). From here, other members of the group will continue the ride up to Glasgow, while I will have to zoom ahead to make it in time for the Conference of Youth, which begins on the 28th. I'll rejoin for the last leg into Glasgow on the 31st October.

To add more miles to this challenge, I've also signed up to a gruelling hilly half-marathon a week after COP, in Scotland, with almost 1000m vertical incline - which coincides with my year anniversary of breaking my leg!

The Context

As well as mobilising UK youth around climate action, UKYCC exists to campaign for climate justice - ensuring that the voices most at risk from the climate crisis are at the forefront of any meaningful policy discussion.

We want to ensure that we, as a privileged UK-based climate group, are doing all that we can to help dismantle barriers and increase Global South inclusion ahead of COP26, hosted in Glasgow in November 2021.

That’s why UKYCC are embarking on this fundraising challenge!

Privileged activists need to pledge their support to underrepresented voices without speaking for them. This will allow us to ‘pass the mic’ - amplifying the voices of the Global South that have been silenced for far too long in climate politics.