The Youth Climate Report is a multilinear, interactive, database documentary film project. Simply put, it’s a digital map containing videos of climate research produced by the global community of youth from 2008 to the present. It is presented on a platform of a Geographic Information System map of the world. The Youth Climate Report was recognized with an Honorable Mention at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Action Awards in 2021.
Conceived in 2011 as a feature-length documentary film project showcasing approximate five video reports made by youth for presentation at the United Nations’ 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17), it has evolved into an interactive format to better engage and inform the delegates, negotiators, and policymakers of youth climate action. In 2016, it was designated as a partner program of the United Nations Climate Change secretariat and today serves as a resource for those attending the climate conferences. The project is supported by the UNFCCC as well as by UNESCO and the Foundation for Environmental Education.
Many of the videos are curated through a series of global workshops and competitions. Each year the participants submit videos pertaining to the themes identified as priorities for that year’s COP conference as well as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Some of the workshops are based in remote and Indigenous communities to give voice to youth who might otherwise not be heard at the UN climate summits. The films are screened by a selection committee and are then added to the Youth Climate Report project. They are then presented at the COP conferences each year.