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Press release | 07.12.2018

UN Climate Secretariat recognises children’s action on climate

150,318 youngsters prove most active group ever in history of Climate Alliance Green Footprints campaign

Today a group of primary school children from Katowice presented their efforts on climate change along with their wishes for the future in a letter to the decision makers at the 24th UN Climate Summit. The pupils underline that their actions will be futile if they - the leaders - do not give them an example.

Andreas Wolter, Climate Alliance President and Mayor of the City of Cologne emphasized that “the children from our twin city Katowice are better role models than us adults. They just spring into action without debating on details year in and year out.”

Over 1,200 schools spread across 9 European countries participated in the 2018 Green Footprints or ZOOM campaign. Together they collected some 2.2 million green footprints. Andreas Wolter presented footprints carrying the expectations of participating children as well as those of municipal representatives to UNFCCC Deputy Executive Secretary Mr. Ovais Sarmad. The ZOOM encourages children to reflect on sustainable mobility and lifestyle choices. This year’s participants were the most active since the Paris Agreement, collecting even more green footprints per child for sustainable travel and behaviour in order to convince the decision makers in Katowice to draw up a strong action plan for our future as well.

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