Climate change isn’t just a future problem – it’s already impacting the lives of children and young people across Australia. I know this because I’ve lived through it.
My name is Layla, and I grew up in a small village on NSW’s South Coast. It’s a beautiful place, famous for its scenic views and wineries. But behind this image is a community that’s increasingly vulnerable to climate disasters.
Living in a regional area already made studying harder, with long travel times, patchy internet, and semi-frequent climate disasters. Floods used to mean taking a day off school every now and then. When this would happen, often my dad would say, “This is a once-every-couple-years situation, don’t stress.” He said the same thing when we had to evacuate our home during the Black Summer bushfires in 2019.
But things became worse during the 2022 floods, when I was studying for the HSC. Both roads out of our town were blocked by fallen trees and landslides, meaning the entire village was completely isolated. I missed over a week of school and couldn’t keep up because we had no power or internet at home. When I complained again to my Dad, he repeated his line: “This is a once-every-couple-years situation, don’t stress.”
Then, just weeks before my HSC trials, the only road connecting our home to the village was washed away. We had no power, no internet, no running water, no updates – just pure isolation. We were cut off from the rest of the world, and my family had to ration food and supplies. The floods didn’t just disrupt my studies; they affected my whole life.
Even now, after moving to Sydney, the trauma of that experience still stays with me. It had a major effect on my mental and physical health, and I often avoid going back home in fear of being trapped there again.
When I recently brought up the 2022 floods to my Dad, this time he said to me: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” That seems to be how many older people see the climate crisis. But why are young people expected to treat such disasters as a lesson in resilience, rather than a warning sign about the very real impacts of climate change?
Climate change is changing childhood
Climate disasters are having real, measurable impacts on the lives of Aussie kids and young people like me.
In 2024, a landmark report by Deloitte Access Economics for UNICEF Australia looked at the economic and social costs of climate disasters on children and young people in Australia. It found that more than 1.4 million children and young people experience a climate disaster or extreme weather event in an average year – that’s about one in six children.
1 in 6
children and young people experience a climate disaster every year in Australia
$6.3 billion
the average annual cost of the impacts of climate disasters on Australian children and young people in 2025
The cost of climate disasters is rising quickly
The 2025 update to the Deloitte report expanded its scope, using new data to measure impacts across four areas: mental health, physical health, social harm, and disruption to education and employment.
The findings are alarming. The average annual cost of disasters on children and young people in Australia has risen to $6.3 billion in 2025. Most of this comes from lifetime income losses due to missed schooling, mental health treatment, child abuse, job disruption, and displacement.
" The biggest impacts on children who experience disasters come from the disruption of normal life, including school, and the trauma of a shocking event that destroys homes and communities. The strain these disasters put on families, and disruption to services that are a safeguard for children can also lead to increased incidence of emotional and physical child abuse. All of these things have impacts beyond the disaster occurring and create real costs to society."
Looking ahead, the report projects that by 2060, if Australia’s current emissions trajectory continues, the average annual cost could rise by 65%, from $6.3 billion in 2025 to $10.4 billion in 2060. Unless urgent action is taken to reduce emissions, the total cost of disasters to children and young people between now and 2060 is estimated to reach as high as $300.5 billion.
Read the report"Climate change is already disrupting the lives of many young Australians like me by negatively impacting our wellbeing and participation in school and the workforce. Without urgent climate action, these impacts will continue to worsen over the coming decades and impact many more generations to come."
How UNICEF Australia is responding to the report
The huge costs that climate disasters pose to children and young people now and into the future highlight the urgent need to develop stronger, child-focused policies in consultation with children and young people.
That is why UNICEF Australia is calling for:
- The establishment of a national disaster framework for children and young people to meet children’s immediate and long-term disaster needs, covering health, education, housing, and protection;
- The incorporation of a dedicated child-focused input to key national risk assessments, such as the National Climate Risk Assessment and the National Natural Hazards Disaster Risk;
- The development and funding of child-sensitive disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, particularly in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, which account for most disaster costs;
- Investment in child-sensitive climate adaptation strategies, focusing on enhancing education continuity and climate resilience;
- Increased investment in child-sensitive climate mitigation strategies to reduce emissions;
- Increased climate finance, particularly for programs that support the needs of children and young people;
- Improved data collection, sharing and coordination to monitor progress and improve planning, preparedness and responses to future disasters; and
- Meaningful engagement with children and young people on climate action and disaster preparedness.
"First and foremost, Australia must take urgent and ambitious action to reduce emissions and transition to renewable energy. At the same time, we must protect children and young people against future impacts and economic costs."
A liveable planet, for every child
Many young people already recognise that urgent climate action is needed now more than ever. It is also clear that intergenerational collaboration is essential to achieving meaningful climate justice.
"With natural disasters now occurring more frequently, I urge Australians to not only reflect on the urgency of climate action, but to actively engage with the young people in your community on the issue. We have a voice but are waiting for a listening ear."
This article was co-authored by Layla, a UNICEF Australia Young Ambassador, whose lived experience of climate disasters helped shape this piece. Layla’s story offers a powerful reminder of how climate change is already affecting the lives of young Australians - and why their voices must be central in addressing it.
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