<h2 class=" eplus-wrapper" id="crosshead">Listen up </h2>

It is 2050. After wading through a flood to get to school, you sit and learn how you could save food in a drought. The windows are closed, keeping at bay lingering emissions from last month's wildfires.

One billion children are at "extremely high risk" from the impacts of climate change.¹ Food, water and education could be snatched away by droughts, storms and flooding. Children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are particularly at risk.

By 2040, one in four children could live in areas of extreme water shortage. By 2050, 24 million additional children are expected to be undernourished because of the climate crisis.²

It seems right, then, that as COP27The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP). kicks off in Sharm El SheikhAn Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea. this week, children and young people have their first dedicated "pavilion".

The Children and Youth Pavilion - led by Fridays for FutureThe student movement is supported by many teachers and scientists, including 26,000 German-speaking academics who formed Scientists for Future. and Loss and Damage Youth Coalition - will be at the heart of the UN negotiations, in the conference's "blue zone".³

"A child born today would experience four times the extreme weather events than we do," warns Dr Omnia El Omrani, the COP27 youth envoy. "This impact is unjust."

This generation of politicians and leaders have had a chance to halt the crisis. Most agree: so far, there has been little success. Last week, the UNUnited Nations. An intergovernmental organisation based in New York that aims to maintain international peace and security. environment agency found there was "no credible pathway to 1.5C in place".⁴ Meanwhile, global oil companies Shell and TotalEnergies doubled their quarterly profits to roughly $10bn (£8.6bn).

The report called for "rapid transformation of societies". And young activists are ready to take radical action - the School Strike for Climate in September 2019, led by teenager Greta Thunberg, is considered the largest climate protest in world history.

But others say that climate policy could be child-focused without being child-led. The solutions to climate change are undoubtedly complex. Older experts have the technical know-how to build genuinely effective solutions.

Policies need international agreement - so we need diplomats to negotiate and compromise. They need funding - so we need economists. And they need technological innovation - so we need scientists. To put their demands into practice, some argue, young activists should embrace the experience of older generations.

Climate change is a global problem. It will affect people of all ages and all nationalities. This is why many think that above all, climate change policy must be inclusive. Policymakers with decades of experience should talk to, and learn from, children.

Yes: The older generation does not have the same incentive to stop climate change. The only way to create radical change is to hand over to the people it will truly effect - children.

No: Climate change solutions are scientific, technological and extremely complicated. We need to harness the expertise of older academics and experts.

Or... There should be a collaborative process for tackling climate change, which combines policy-making expertise with the enthusiasm and passion of the younger generation.

COP27 - The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP).

Sharm El Sheikh - An Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea.

Fridays for Future - The student movement is supported by many teachers and scientists, including 26,000 German-speaking academics who formed Scientists for Future.

UN - United Nations. An intergovernmental organisation based in New York that aims to maintain international peace and security.