AUCKLAND — The Aotearoa Youth COP brought rangatahi together in Auckland on 19 September 2026 for a day of workshops, speakers and discussion on climate action, with participants drafting an Aotearoa Youth Climate Statement intended for New Zealand decision-makers and the road to COP31.
FAKTA
- Aotearoa Youth COP 2026 was held on 19 September in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, hosted by Save the Children New Zealand through its Generation Hope youth programme.
- Participants were rangatahi — the te reo Māori word for young people — aged about 14 to 20, taking part in workshops, guest speakers and discussion focused on climate action.
- The key outcome is the development of an Aotearoa Youth Climate Statement bringing together the priorities and recommendations of participating rangatahi.
- The statement is to be formally presented to the New Zealand Government ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, scheduled for 9–20 November 2026.
- Coverage describes a drafting and consultation process that continued after the Auckland day, moving through Pacific pre-COP channels toward COP31.
- Generation Hope Ambassador Betty, 18, who has grown up in areas exposed to significant weather events, said young people are “the ‘now’ that needs to be part of the conversations and decisions” on climate.
How the Aotearoa Youth COP statement takes shape
Save the Children’s preview said participants would explore climate action through workshops and guest speakers, and the organisation’s international newsroom confirmed the day’s central task: building the Aotearoa Youth Climate Statement from the views and recommendations of the young people in the room.
This article does not list final statement demands — the drafting process was still underway after the event, and inventing its contents would misrepresent the work. What coverage does establish is the process: rangatahi bringing lived experience, including Pacific perspectives, into sessions on youth leadership, water, food and loss and damage, with the aim of ensuring young people who will live with long-term climate decisions have a genuine voice in them.
As Waatea News reported ahead of the gathering, the statement is expected to move through Pacific pre-COP channels before COP31 — connecting a New Zealand youth process to the wider Pacific climate conversation.
Why youth voices matter on the road to COP31
The COP31 summit focuses on turning Paris Agreement commitments into practical delivery. For rangatahi like Betty — who told Save the Children that climate change “is something our generation is going to live with for the rest of our lives” — the Youth COP is a platform for turning concern into practical action alongside other young people.
Save the Children has run the Youth COP as a recurring pathway: earlier statements have been delivered to the New Zealand Government and carried by youth delegations to global COP summits. The 2026 edition continues that model — a national youth process feeding directly into the international negotiations that will shape the participants’ futures.
Related on Watan News: Aotearoa Youth COP: rangatahi draft climate statement toward COP31.
