Over the past few months, myself and other MSYPs have been enjoying regular meetings with the Scottish Government’s Climate Directorate to discuss with them young people’s views on their work.
We first got to know the Deputy Director of Domestic Climate Change and her team at our Executive Takeover event, an annual meeting between members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, the Children’s Parliament and directors-general from across the Scottish Government. In 2022, I raised the issue of climate anxiety in young people, a phenomenon fuelled particularly by a perceived lack of action being taken by decision-makers to combat the threat. In 2023 and in 2024, the environment was once again a central theme in young people’s concerns.
We were really pleased when the Climate Directorate reached out to us. I went with a group of MSYPs to St Andrew’s House to Chair our first meeting in which we covered a lot of ground, from how their team can help realise the UNCRC to what the best ways to engage young people are. Then, we invited them to SYP’s office where we met with representatives from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner and showed the director how we at SYP like to explore and discuss these issues.
We created climate storyboards – short comics demonstrating how each of us became interested in the environment and what we’ve done to advocate for it. Some of us touched on school recycling schemes, others our use of charity shops to buy clothes. We then used these to map out what we wanted Scotland to look like in 2045 and post-just transition.
These meetings have been really exciting and are an excellent example of just how easy it is to engage young people properly in your work, no matter how complex it is. All you need is an open mind and a willingness to allow the young people to conduct these conversations on their own terms. We planned these meetings carefully, making sure MSYPs were given the tools and information to understand what the directorates work was, and how this related to their own lived experiences. With the help of the Deputy Director’s team, we created a comfortable environment in which young people could express their opinions in creative ways. Ultimately, these conversations were productive and interesting – we hope the team learned just as much from us as we did from them.
There is a lot of work still to be done to improve this space – I know I would like to see more action from the Scottish Government to ensure we don’t miss any more climate targets in the future. However, engagement with young people is a key component in improving Scotland’s approach to addressing the climate crisis and enacting a smooth just transition. Taking the time to talk to us and understand our needs and wants is never a waste of time – it is what leads to good policymaking.
You can find out more about #ScotClimateWeek at netzeronation.scot.
