Nearly every child on Earth is now exposed to at least one climate hazard, according to a new UNICEF report that offers one of the clearest warnings yet that the climate crisis has become a global childhood crisis.
The Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026, released Tuesday by the UN Children’s Fund, provides what UNICEF described as “the most detailed global picture to date” of how children are being affected by climate hazards across low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The findings show that climate disruption is no longer a future risk for children, but a present condition shaping daily life for billions.
According to UNICEF, nearly every child in the world is now exposed to at least one climate hazard, including riverine or coastal flooding, dangerous heatwaves, severe storms, or drought. Nearly half of the world’s children are exposed to at least three such hazards, placing their health, education, and survival at risk.
The report was released as scientists continue to warn that greenhouse gas emissions are making extreme weather more hazardous and pushing the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C further out of reach. It also comes as President Donald Trump pushes continued oil, gas, and coal extraction and the United States has formally withdrawn from the Paris Agreement for a second time.
There were 2.4 billion children on Earth in 2025. UNICEF estimates that 2.3 billion of them live in areas with air pollution, which the report identifies as “not primarily driven by Earth’s climate but… highly sensitive to and compounded by it.”
The scale of other climate hazards is also vast. About 1.8 billion children are exposed to drought. Roughly 1.5 billion live in areas facing heatwaves that have grown longer and more severe. About 1.2 billion children are exposed to extreme heat where they live. Around 370 million live in areas affected by riverine flooding or coastal flooding, while severe tropical storms affect 662 million children worldwide, frequently disrupting homes, schools, and health services. UNICEF also says one billion children are exposed to malaria.
Together, those figures point to a widening crisis in which children’s lives are affected not by one isolated danger, but by overlapping shocks that compound one another. A drought can threaten crops and drinking water. A heatwave can endanger health and make it harder to learn. A storm can destroy homes, close schools, damage clinics, and contaminate water systems. When several of these events strike the same communities, the harm can multiply.
“The climate crisis does not manifest as a single event. For millions of children, the reality is a complex and dangerous cascade of multiple, overlapping hazards,” reads the report’s executive summary. “This compounding of threats overwhelms the capacity of unprepared social services and undermines the resilience of families and communities. For instance, intense droughts can devastate crops and worsen food insecurity. Dry vegetation left behind by a drought can fuel wildfires, which in turn exacerbate air pollution and leave the land vulnerable to flash floods later in the year. These floods can destroy infrastructure such as homes, schools and hospitals, displace communities, and spread waterborne diseases.”
That cascading effect is especially dangerous for children because it attacks the systems they depend on most: families, schools, healthcare, food, water, shelter, and public services. When a home is destroyed, a child may lose not only shelter but also access to school, medicine, sanitation, and stability. When a school closes after a disaster, the consequences can extend far beyond the emergency itself.
“These effects can create a vicious cycle: Destroyed homes can lead to displacement, which can result in a lack of shelter, depriving children of protection from additional impacts and making them even more susceptible to future hazards,” continues the report. “Disrupted education can have lifelong consequences, making it harder for children to build a stable future and break free from hardship.”
The burden is global, but not equal. UNICEF identified children in sub-Saharan Africa as the most vulnerable to climate hazards, with communities facing extreme heat, drought, and heatwaves. Children in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh and Pakistan, were found to face some of the highest exposure to multiple hazards at the greatest intensities, including flooding and extreme heatwaves.
At the same time, climate disruption is increasingly visible in wealthy regions. Countries across Western Europe experienced a record-breaking heatwave last month, with temperatures not typically expected until summer. The report’s global scope makes clear that children in every income bracket are now living with climate risk, even as the most severe overlapping hazards fall heavily on regions with fewer resources to adapt.
UNICEF’s findings add urgency to the international climate commitments governments have already made. Nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Agreement, which came into force in November 2016 and aimed to curb global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Scientists have repeatedly warned that the target is unlikely to be met. In January, the United States formally withdrew from the agreement for a second time following an order by Trump.
The report calls on governments to reduce fossil fuel emissions and “take ambitious action” to secure a just transition toward renewable energy. It also calls for protecting children through inclusive climate adaptation and loss and damage funding, along with investments in climate education to ensure that “children’s needs and perspectives are reflected in local, national, regional, and global decision-making on climate policy and climate finance.”
The agency also points to practical steps that can already reduce harm. UNICEF emphasized that “we know what works: installing solar power to keep children learning during power outages, switching to groundwater aquifers for drinking water as surface water sources dry up, upgrading sanitation systems to recycle water for farming, and building shelters to protect children and their families from tropical storms.”
The report’s recommendations include mandating child-centric environmental impact assessments for new infrastructure projects, preparing primary care health facilities with climate-resilient infrastructure and early climate warning systems, prioritizing clean and resilient transport for children, and accelerating low-emissions, high-efficiency cooling technologies through financial incentives and updated energy performance standards.
Those recommendations frame climate action as more than emissions policy. They place children’s needs at the center of public planning, from schools and clinics to drinking water, sanitation, transport, and disaster shelters. They also expose the gap between what governments know can protect children and what they are willing to fund and implement.
Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, said the agency’s analysis “can help governments and decision-makers plan better and invest more effectively in resilient services.”
The report leaves little room for treating children’s climate risk as an abstract future concern. Billions are already living with polluted air, dangerous heat, drought, flooding, storms, disease exposure, and disrupted public services. Without rapid emissions reductions and child-focused adaptation, the risks UNICEF documented are expected to intensify.
“When we strengthen health and education systems, and improve infrastructure with children in mind,” said Russell, “we protect them from today’s climate threats and help secure their future.”
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