U.S. and Chinese Youth Prepare for Paris Climate Talks During International Summit

Last week, Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) organizers were in Shenzhen, China attending the International Youth Summit on Energy and Climate Change 7.0 (IYSECC). At the Summit, U.S. and Chinese youth facilitated trainings and exchanged ideas about organizing strategies and grassroots youth campaigns in the U.S. that are also applicable in China.

Last year, the U.S. and China -- the two largest emitters of carbon pollution -- came together last year to make commitments to the world that they would address climate change by taking action in their countries to cut back on emissions. This was a significant moment because it helped build trust in the international community that large emitters were actually taking initiative.

Although this announcement was crucial for the international community to start creating a global deal as a global community, the youth from the United States and China think this plan should only be the start. In order to stay below a 1.5°C world, more action is needed from both countries.

Together, SSC and the Chinese Youth Climate Acton Network (CYCAN) wrote a joint youth statementencouraging the U.S. and China to be more ambitious when it comes to climate change for our future. In 2014, we presented the youth statement at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 20 in Lima, Peru. As we have moved into 2015, SSC and CYCAN have been working closely together to build momentum in the U.S. and China around making significant contributions to address climate change through tthe #OurFuture campaign. We have also  been working to build our base of organizers to make changes at a local level to have a global impact.

Throughout last week at the youth climate summit, we discussed ways to engage these young people as we put pressure on our countries to help develop and support an ambitious agreement at the climate talks in Paris this December.

In order to secure a healthy planet for our future, the time to act is now. To learn more about the #OurFuture campaign, sign on to the #OurFuture climate statement.