Hong Kong youth delegates to Cop28 call for better environmental education in city’s schools
- Activists called the city’s climate change education ‘shallow’, saying it focused too much on recycling and green technology and not enough on people and the planet
- Delegates also hoped to see a more inclusive UN Climate Change Conference in the future, highlighting importance of young voices, those from the global south
A total of seven Hong Kong youth delegates attended this year’s UN Climate Conference in Dubai, known as Cop28. Photo: HandoutBefore you read: The recent UN Climate Change Conference, also known as Cop28, ended with a historic call to move away from fossil fuels, a major contributor to climate change. However, many countries were frustrated by the lack of clear guidelines, saying there were many loopholes.
Think about it: Why did the Hong Kong youth delegates call for increased climate education in the city?
With extreme weather and destructive typhoons affecting Hong Kong in recent years, a group of local youth climate activists has called for more environmental education in the city after attending the world’s largest climate summit.
The UN Climate Change Conference, better known as Cop28, took place over two weeks in Dubai last month, bringing countries together for negotiations about efforts to confront climate change.
Lorraine Wong, 21, one of the seven Hong Kong delegates who attended Cop28, delivered a two-minute speech at a youth climate forum, urging world leaders to understand the need for urgency.
“The message I wanted to convey is that climate injustice exists everywhere. We shouldn’t consider climate change [to be] someone else’s problem when our own people are suffering,” said the final-year student studying geography resource management at Chinese University.
Athena Yau, 26, an environmental, social, and corporate governance adviser in Hong Kong, said attending the conference opened her eyes to the plight of vulnerable communities affected by climate change.
She recounted a conversation with a young advocate from Malaysia, whose home had been plagued by air pollution for years, causing him and his peers to miss school for an extended period: “As he grew older, he noticed that the time they could not attend school kept [getting longer]. It made him realise the significance of addressing this issue.”
“While many youths worldwide are directly facing the consequences of climate change, young people in Hong Kong have been relatively fortunate,” Yau said. “But it’s only a matter of time before Hong Kong is also affected. I want to bring back what I learned from the conference and find ways to influence my friends and peers.”
Why climate education is needed
Before heading to Cop28, the delegates attended Climate Advocacy Training for Youth, organised by CarbonCare InnoLab, a Hong Kong NGO dedicated to teaching the younger generation about sustainability.
Participants, all aged under 35, are mentored by climate advocacy leaders and taught to launch their own green campaigns. Top participants have the chance to attend the UN climate summit.
The delegates all described experiencing some form of climate anxiety.
“In December, I was still wearing short sleeves,” Yau recounted. “Today, I was thinking, how can I survive until [I am] 80 years old? When I have a baby, will they be born into a world without seasons?”
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Youth delegate Joanne Chu, 23, said she felt “anxious and helpless” about climate change and was disappointed in those in power who failed to make a change: “Those who suffer are the future generations ... We [will be] left with a heated world.”
The delegates noted the alarming lack of climate change awareness among Hong Kong students, calling the city’s environmental education “shallow”.
“There is too much focus on recycling and aspects like green finance and green technology while neglecting the relationship between people and climate. This is a significant reason why the awareness level among Hong Kong people is not very high,” explained Wong.
“When we went to Cop, we delved into ... climate justice, mitigation, adaptation, and other topics not covered in environmental education in Hong Kong.”
For behavioural change to happen, it is key to start building emotional connections to the changing climate from a young age, the group explained.
“If you truly want someone to understand something, they need to feel its impact,” Wong said. “Many children in Hong Kong live in subdivided flats, experiencing extreme heat during the summer. There were also cases of construction workers dying from heatstroke. These are real issues in our city, yet they are not included in climate education.”
Importance of inclusivity
Though a record-breaking 84,000 people attended Cop28, most participants came from the business sector. The Hong Kong delegates called for greater representation of young people and civil society of vulnerable countries, with Wong saying: “I hope this opportunity [to attend the conference] could be given to people who genuinely want to bring about change”.
Chu said she was disappointed when her group was denied entry to a youth orientation session: “Ironically, the reason given was that the venue was full ... However, we saw plenty of standing room inside.”
The group also noted that the high cost of food at the conference – a small portion of salad cost around HK$90 – would be unaffordable for many young people, especially those from developing countries.
Yau hoped to see a more inclusive conference in the future, one which included more individuals from the global south. Future summits should place more value on what youth have to say; though young people could participate in side events and share their experiences, their reach often did not extend to high-ranking negotiators.
“Adopting our ideas is one thing, but first, let us have our say,” Yau said.