The Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) USA brings over 125 youth delegates from across the country together to network, advocate, and collaborate on youth climate policy demands. Endorsed by the United Nations (UN), LCOY is led by youth advocates that work to ensure that their calls for climate action are considered by national and international leaders. This conference is also hosted in over 70 countries around the world.
In 2024, nine Ohio State student delegates were selected to attend the weekend long LCOY Conference at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The Ohio State Sustainability Institute (SI) sponsored three students, amplifying their voices to communicate climate change concerns in Ohio and advocate for national policy consensus.
“Representing Ohio State as a student delegate at LCOY was an incredibly rewarding experience,” says Hifsah Ayub, a fourth-year Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability student sponsored by SI. “I learned how to engage others in climate advocacy from such a driven group of young leaders. Their passion reignited my motivation to advocate and work towards climate solutions.”
Youth delegates at LCOY draft the National Youth Statement on Climate (NYS) that includes policy recommendations and demands for youth inclusion efforts, mitigation, adaptation, and climate finance. The NYS is presented to US climate negotiators and federal officials.
To promote youth inclusion in the US, the 2024 NYS calls for leaders to develop a National US Youth Office for young advocates to coordinate Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the Office of Global Change, and the White House interests and actions during climate policy processes. On an international level, the NYS seeks to mandate the Office of Global Change to include an annual report on how youth interests and strategies are incorporated in climate policy.
“I think LCOY USA was a great conference for youth to get connected with one another and learn more about policymaking and the current state of US climate policy domestically and internationally,” said Luke Hawes, a third-year Environmental Policy major and attendee of the 2023 Conference of the Parties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (COP28), the annual UN Climate Change Conference. “It was much more structured than COP, but also it was less than 200 people compared to the 80,000 at COP. Ultimately, the policymaking at LCOY was much more progressive than the talks at COP28, largely because this was a Youth Nongovernmental Organization (YOUNGO) conference, so the age range was 14-35.”
LCOY is an organizing body of YOUNGO, the youth constituency to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). YOUNGO organizes the Conference of Youth (COY), which joins youth from around the globe to compile their climate demands into the Global Youth Statement (GYS). The GYS is presented at COP to inform world leaders of global youth demands and recommendations.
The NYS urges the US to commit to an equitable fossil fuel phase-out by 2031 with a total national mitigation goal equivalent to emission reductions of 203% below 2005 levels by 2035, including decreasing domestic emissions by 80% from 2005 levels. This would be achieved by federal investment in high-speed rails, bus network expansion, and micro-mobility infrastructure. The NYS seeks to achieve a 50% reduction in car dependency in the US by 2030. Globally, the NYS calls for the adoption of a Mitigation Work Program to achieve an equitable fossil fuel phase-out and its byproducts by 2050. The NYS rejects carbon capture & storage (CCS), nature-based carbon sequestration, and geoengineering as alternatives to a phase-out and decarbonization.
“LCOY gives the youth a platform to influence climate policy that we need to protect our futures,” says Isabel Rosario-Montalvo, a third-year Environmental Policy and Communications student who contributed to discussions and policies for reducing emissions. “Government officials must listen to our demands for increased renewable energy and climate resilience.”
To advance adaptation efforts in the US, the NYS demands the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and NOAA to develop a National Sea-Level Rise Preparedness program to manage green-gray sea-level rise, coastal communities, and coastal ecosystems. The NYS also calls for insurance companies to be banned from raising premiums and retracting coverage for climate-vulnerable communities; it also demands for the National Flood Insurance Program to include all climate hazards to increase climate resiliency investments in local communities.
In the US, the NYS urges for all corporate tax breaks, investments, and subsidies for fossil fuel companies to be redirected towards climate resiliency and renewable energy by 2030. The NYS advocates for a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) internationally to prioritize equitable grant-based finance for marginalized communities, including children, youth, women, and Indigenous Peoples. It also seeks for nations to create financial percentage targets for adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage funds.
“As a former COP28 attendee with background in climate finance, I was able to facilitate finance sessions for the NYS,” said Cat Adams, a fourth-year Geography major sponsored by the SI. “There were fierce debates between those who support green market mechanisms and those who want to stop fossil fuel production altogether. Through participating in the drafting of the NYS, I had the opportunity to advocate for the policies I was passionate about with leaders of our future.”
“This conference connected passionate youth from across the country in engaging policy debate and taught us how to engage with US diplomats to advocate for policy change.” Cordelia Van der Veer, a third-year Public Policy Analysis and Political Science student sponsored by SI. “I appreciate the opportunity SI gave me to learn and engage with diplomacy, advocating for progress in a variety of international issues.”
Learn more about LCOY and read the full 2024 NYS.
Story by Christine Andreeva, SI Student Communications Assistant