Protecting Our Future Now: A Policy Framework for Climate Change and the Early Years

Key Messages

  • In the face of climate change, focusing on our youngest children and families is an important avenue for ensuring an equitable, sustainable future for all.

  • Aligning early years and climate change policies, practices, and financing protects those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and drives action on adaptation, mitigation, and reducing loss and damage.

  • The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals provide an optimal framework for aligning action on climate change with action on the needs of young children.

Summary

This paper offers a unifying framework to address social, economic, and environmental challenges in our society by leveraging the transformational power of early years policies and programs. It proposes that by interweaving early years and climate change policies and practices, we can protect those most exposed to the immediate impacts of climate disruption, including pregnant women, young children, and their families. Meeting their needs today provides fundamental building blocks for resilient communities and drives systemic change in the short and long term. Long-term impacts also go far beyond the urgent threats posed by climate change: they boost the capacity of communities and nations to achieve policy goals and targets of environmental sustainability and social and economic development.

In light of the ever-evolving nature of climate change science and policy, as well as national and global trends, this paper reflects the current state of knowledge on these issues. As a result, it is intended as the first in a series of papers that will explore how young children, families, and communities can flourish in the face of climate change. We expect this exploration to deepen and to provide more practical applications as more sectors recognize the importance of the early years and join the conversation.

This paper was originally commissioned to enrich the reflection and dialogue of the Capita/Aspen Early Years Climate Action Task Force and to help it select the most promising approaches to help young children flourish in the face of climate change in the United States.

Authors

Angelica Ponguta, MPH, PhD
Yale Child Study Center, Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut

Jessica Scott, MEM
Early Years and Sustainable Development Research Project, University of Maine, Portland
Gateway, Portland, Maine

Adrián Cerezo, PhD
Yale Child Study Center, Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut

Early Years and Sustainable Development Research Project, University of Maine, Portland
Gateway, Portland, Maine

Senior Fellow, Capita