Young people are often described as the generation that will inherit the climate crisis. That is true, but it is only part of the story. Young people are not simply facing climate change in the future; many are already living with its effects today. Here, Maryam Rab and Zarif Mohammadinia look at research that shows the more opportunities young people have to learn, the more likely they are to recognise climate change as an urgent issue and care about what happens next.
Climate change is not something young people experience in isolation. For many, concern about the environment sits alongside other urgent worries, including poverty, unemployment, conflict, inequality, disinformation and uncertainty about the future. In that crowded landscape of concerns, climate change may be deeply felt, but it is not always the only issue competing for attention.
Drawing on data from our Next Generation research in Albania, Bangladesh, Brazil, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Sudan, our analysis shows that climate concern is widespread among young people, but uneven. Overall, 63 per cent of young people aged 18 – 30 in these seven countries say they are concerned about the environmental impacts of climate change. Climate change also appears among the top global issues they identify, alongside poverty, unemployment, violence and conflict, and economic inequality. In the British Council’s 2025 Global Perceptions survey of young people in G20 countries excluding Russia, concern appears even stronger, with climate change ranked as the second most commonly selected global issue after poverty.
What shapes young people’s climate concern?
These figures are important, but the more interesting question is what lies behind them. What does climate concern actually look like in young people’s lives? When does concern translate into action? And what gets in the way?
One striking finding is that young people do not all experience climate change in the same way. Education, gender and national context all appear to shape how likely someone is to express concern. In the seven-country Next Generation data, young people with only primary education or no formal schooling are the least likely to say they are concerned, while concern rises steadily with each step up in education, reaching its highest level among those with postgraduate qualifications. Women are also slightly more likely than men to say they are concerned about climate change.
This pattern matters because it suggests that climate concern is linked to access: access to education, to information, to language that helps people interpret what they are seeing, and to spaces where climate issues can be discussed and understood. In other words, people are more likely to recognise climate change as a defining issue when they have more opportunities to learn about it and connect it to their own lives. Wider research supports this, too. A recent cross-country study found that additional years of education increase climate concern, pro-environmental behaviour and support for climate policies.
But national differences are just as important as educational ones. In the Next Generation data, young people in Brazil and Pakistan show the highest levels of concern, followed by Bangladesh and Sudan. Concern is much lower in Albania, Iraq and Kazakhstan.
Climate change is experienced differently in different places
At first glance, that difference might suggest that some young people care more than others. But the reality is more complex. In many places, climate change is understood through immediate experience. Where floods, heatwaves, drought and environmental disruption are frequent and visible, climate change is easier to recognise as a direct and personal threat. Where its effects feel less dramatic or less clearly named, concern may be lower, even though disruption is still present. As one participant in Next Generation Albania put it, ‘though the intensity of climate challenges is not like Bangladesh or Pakistan, it is affecting, especially this year. In the village, agriculture, there is very little production this year.’
These words are a useful reminder that lower headline concern does not mean climate change is absent. Rather, it may be experienced in more localised ways, especially where livelihoods such as farming are under pressure.
The reverse is also true: in places where climate shocks are repeated and disruptive, climate-related action may become part of daily life whether or not people describe themselves as highly concerned. Bangladesh is a good example. There, concern and action do not align in quite the same way as they do elsewhere. Even young people who say they are not especially concerned still report taking some form of action. A likely explanation is that environmental disruption is not a general idea, but part of everyday life. As one participant from the Khulna region explained:
"Due to climate change, people’s lives are disrupted in many ways. Every year, floods occur, and floodwaters rise in different areas. People’s houses, agricultural lands, and fishponds get destroyed. During floods, schools and colleges are also affected, causing problems for students to continue their education. People lose their jobs, and mental stress due to these disasters is prevalent. Since 2009, every year, we have seen significant disasters hit the country. These floods and tides occur due to climate change."
Why concern does not always lead to action
Across the four countries where the relationship between concern and action was explored in more detail, the picture is clear but uneven. In Sudan, for example, concern is strongly associated with willingness to act, but there is a wide gap between willingness and actual behaviour. Similarly, around three-quarters of concerned young Sudanese say they are willing to change their behaviour to protect the environment, but only around 37 per cent say they are actually taking action. In Brazil, willingness is especially strong, even among some who are not highly concerned. Kazakhstan sits somewhere in the middle. Taken together, the results suggest that concern matters, but it is not enough on its own.
That raises the next question: if many young people care about climate change, why does that concern not always lead to action?
Here, the research is very consistent. Young people are often not lacking motivation. They are lacking pathways. In Brazil, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan, a major barrier is limited knowledge about what practical action looks like. Some young people say they do not know how to take action. Others point to lack of training, lack of expertise, low trust in institutions, or too few opportunities to participate meaningfully. In Kazakhstan, more than half of those who are not taking action cite lack of expertise as the main barrier. In Bangladesh, many young people say they need more education and training on how to respond.
This is a crucial insight for anyone interested in youth climate engagement. It shifts the conversation away from a simplistic question of whether young people care enough. The evidence suggests that many do. The more pressing issue is whether they are being equipped, trusted and invited to contribute. If young people are expected to help shape a more sustainable future, they must be given the opportunities, tools and support to do so.
Creating pathways from awareness to action
This is where our role as an international cultural relations organisation becomes especially important, and where our research connects to our practice, programmes and partnerships. The findings from this analysis point clearly to the need for climate education, skills development and more meaningful forms of youth participation. But we are not just identifying the problem. Across our climate work, the British Council is also trying to be part of the solution, by helping young people move from awareness to action.
One way we are doing this is through the Climate Connection Hive campaign, which is working with young researchers to advocate for green skills initiatives that enable young people to be part of an inclusive transition to a sustainable future. The programme trained 25 young researchers from 15 countries to design and deliver their own global research on green skills, including interviews, youth diaries and a global survey. This matters because it places young people not only as participants in the climate conversation, but as producers of evidence and ideas.
We are also translating these insights into action through partnerships and collaborations. Through our Climate Skills partnership with HSBC, the British Council is supporting Global Collaboration Grants between UK and international institutions to strengthen the links between education, training and employment in the green economy. This responds directly to one of the gaps highlighted in this article: young people need clearer routes from learning into work, and from climate concern into meaningful action.
This work is strengthened through our wider engagement with external climate action stakeholders, particularly at the annual United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP). A central objective in our climate work is to use the platforms provided by COPs to promote youth voice in climate policy. At COP30 in Brazil, British Council support helped the Climate Youth Negotiator Programme grow to 151 young negotiators from 75 countries, with young people taking part in advocacy events and meetings with country delegations. We also helped create spaces for young people to bring their evidence and experience directly into climate discussions, including through the Children and Youth Pavilion and youth-led research.
These efforts respond directly to the gap highlighted by our Next Generation research and analysis: the gap between concern and action.
We want to bring a hopeful message from this analysis. If concern about climate change is shaped by what young people learn and experience, then climate action can be strengthened through better climate education and stronger public engagement. If action is limited by a lack of knowledge, training and opportunity, then those barriers can be addressed. Young people already recognise the disconnect between awareness and action. Institutions such as the British Council and our partners can respond by creating clearer pathways from education and training into employment, from participation to influence, and from local experience to global engagement. This is exactly the kind of inclusive transition our climate work, including the Climate Connection Hive campaign, is seeking to support.
