Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This article explores the various roles of youth digital participation in the fight against climate change in the context of the United Nations (UN). The UN, under the leadership of Secretary General Guterres, has made climate change an organizational priority and planned a Climate Action Summit in New York City in September 2019. However, increasing nationalism and lack of compliance toward environmental agreements has led the UN Secretary General (SG) to make unprecedented comments such as calling on youth to “please be disruptive. Put pressure on your governments. Without you, the UN will fail.” This article proposes a nuanced understanding of youth climate activism at the UN, as well as to distinguish the role of digital activism per se. Based on 25 semi-structured interviews with youth activists conducted in July 2019 during the UN High-level Political Forum in New York City, I show that digital networks are mobilized by youth activists both to express support for, and well as destabilize, the UN climate sphere. On the latter, the digital is used collectively to connect with other youth climate groups, such as Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for the Future, and build larger coalitions that can pressure the UN and its Member States. The paper thus proposes to understand how youth digital participation both exists alongside and impacts the legitimacy of international organizations who struggle to adapt to the needs of the twenty-first century, such as the United Nations.