Younger generations will be disproportionately affected by the impact of climate change, facing growing numbers of increasingly extreme weather events with significant knock-on effects. It is no surprise, then, that young people are deeply concerned about the climate crisis – in 2021, over half of young people in Britain reported feeling anxiety about climate change. This anxiety and passion reached its peak in 2019, when millions of young people took to the streets as part of global climate strikes. However, it appears that some of the enthusiasm for climate action has since waned, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. 

As part of the London School of Economics and Political Science’s (LSE) research partnership with Hope for the Future over the last few months, a selection of LSE students conducted 44 interviews with young people from London and Sheffield to investigate this shift. This research aimed to explore how Hope for the Future can better support and mobilise young people to help to drive up their engagement in climate action. As the research intern compiling the findings from these interviews into a broader report, I had the opportunity to dig deep into what helped and hindered youth participation in climate action. 

What emerged as key to understanding this issue was the question of how much impact young people can hope to have on the climate crisis. Busy with tackling lots of practical, everyday concerns, many interviewees doubted their actions could make any real difference to an issue that seemed much bigger than they were. Even those who were politically active often reported feeling burnt out, causing them to scale back their efforts. 

Despite their scepticism, however, many of our participants remained eager to engage in climate action – they just didn’t know what to do that would actually be effective. This is one of the key areas where HFTF could have a significant impact in encouraging young people to act, showing them small-scale, achievable and local actions they can take to help the cause.  

Other important factors also cropped up during the interviews. Young people placed a high value on community and social networks, for example, and offered up countless examples of when friends and family had helped them to become more environmentally aware, and of times when they had encouraged others to take environmental action. 

In contrast, young people’s views on British democracy were more mixed. Whilst interviewees remained supportive of representative democracy, some of them were disillusioned with its current state in the UK and expressed pessimism about its future. 

Social media, too, was a contentious point amongst participants. Some young people saw it as a powerful tool that can help coordinate protests and spread useful information about the environment. Others, however, were wary of social media and pointed to its role in the rise of ‘slacktivism’ and polarisation.

So, what can we learn from all this? Here are the three key takeaways from the research: 

1. We should try to offer up clear and actionable information showing young people how they can make a difference on the key issues. 

Climate change is a daunting problem to grasp, much less consider trying to stop. By demonstrating simple and manageable ways for young people to get involved in tackling climate change, we can ease the transition from bystander to activist.

2. We should concentrate on small-scale, local action that doesn’t necessarily involve engaging with political systems. 

Politics is messy, slow, and not particularly inviting for young people who might feel excluded by its systems. Training young people to work to influence not just  local politicians, but also other local organisations such as businesses or universities, could provide an alternative way for them to get involved – and perhaps produce more visible results.

3. We should facilitate community bonding and help young campaigners connect and support each other. 

Taking climate action can be a tiring business, especially with few people around you who understand what it’s like. By bringing like-minded young people together and providing a space where they can get to know each other, we can make climate action more sustainable and help energise campaigners through this peer support.

At the end of the day, connecting with and empowering young people is crucial if we want to keep making progress tackling climate change. There are countless obstacles to participation and activism can be discouraging if results are slow to come. 

However, there is still hope. If we can break down these barriers and encourage more young people to participate in climate action, a brighter and more sustainable future is in reach. 

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