Children in Poverty Bearing the Brunt of the Climate Crisis
19 October 2026
Children living in poverty contribute least to the climate crisis, yet they bear the brunt of it. On October 19, 2026, two days after the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty brought members together to look at how climate shocks push children deeper into poverty, and what policies can break that cycle.
The cycle we need to break
Oliver Fiala (Save the Children UK) opened the webinar by revisiting the Coalition’s report A Disproportionate Burden: Children in Poverty Bearing the Brunt of the Climate Crisis. The report shows that child poverty is both a driver and a result of climate risk. Poorer regions are often more exposed to climate hazards. Children in poverty are more likely to suffer harm and less able to cope. And each shock deepens deprivation, leaving children even more vulnerable to the next one.
Shocks in childhood last a lifetime
Fiona Curtin (Young Lives) drew on more than two decades of longitudinal data from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. That data shows that early exposure to climate shocks affects children’s growth, learning, and socio-emotional skills well into adulthood, and can pass from mothers to their children. These impacts are not inevitable: gender- and shock-responsive social protection can reduce them and even reverse them. Young Lives, UNICEF, Save the Children, YOUNGO and partners have used this evidence to push for children’s needs to be reflected in indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation. Ahead of COP31, their latest joint policy brief calls for better data disaggregation, child-focused indicators, and adaptation finance that addresses the specific vulnerabilities of children and youth.
Reaching children when you can’t predict who will be hit
Chris De Neubourg (SPRI Global and Tilburg University) highlighted a hard truth: children’s vulnerability to climate risk is highest in countries where birth registration and population registries are weakest. Proxy means testing already targets on probabilities and often excludes many of the people it is meant to reach. Climate uncertainty makes this worse, especially for sudden shocks. He argued that universal approaches are often more effective. But even universal programs depend on up-to-date registries, which makes investing in them essential.
El Niño: a predictable shock we can prepare for
Nataliya Borodchuk (UNICEF) closed the presentations with a call to act now. A very strong El Niño is expected to peak in late 2026, and its impacts will run well into 2027. The 40 countries most at risk are home to 742 million children. Between 200 and 280 million of them already live in poverty, and 9 in 10 of those children receive no child benefit. Because El Niño can be forecast months in advance, early warning, agreed triggers, and pre-arranged financing can get cash to families before the impacts escalate. Zambia and Bangladesh offer examples. As she put it: “We can’t stop El Niño. We can decide whether children face it with support or without.”
The discussion was moderated by Jennifer Yablonski (UNICEF).
Watch and read more
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Global Coalition Report: A Disproportionate Burden
Young Lives Materials: