Talking about Transitions features critical conversations on systemic transitions at the interplay of technology, society and sustainability. Our Dialogue series provides a platform for thinking together about three major areas of change and challenge – urbanisation, climate change and digitalisation.  

This dialogue, “How Is Climate Change Reshaping Childhood?” was  held on October 15, 2025, 

Overview: How is climate change reshaping childhood? How can we protect the right to safety, education, health, and play for every child in a world where climate change is deepening injustices? Building on Transitions Research’s assessment of climate-induced loss and damage to children in Udaipur, this dialogue focuses on the often overlooked non–economic losses children experience as climate risks intensify.

Climate change compounds existing vulnerabilities: fragile schools, playgrounds and community learning spaces become unsafe or unusable; droughts and crop failure reduce food security; floods and displacement raise disease risk and force families into temporary living situations. Gendered impacts follow, and economic stress can push girls into child marriage and boys into precarious work. Alongside these tangible harms are deeper, invisible losses. Shifting seasons weaken festivals and cultural practices that anchor children in community life. Interruptions to education and play curtail the freedoms that shape childhood. The psychological burden of anxiety, trauma, and depression grows as children live with repeated shocks and uncertain futures.

Addressing these harms requires coordinated, multi-level action: community-led measures (local care networks, child-centred psychosocial support), systemic and infrastructural interventions (climate-resilient school infrastructure), and supportive research to scale and sustain them. Strengthening practice and policy requires centring children’s voices, safeguarding vulnerable groups, and translating evidence into concrete investments and services. This dialogue aimed to examine:

• The visible and invisible ways climate change is altering children’s health, education, play and cultural life.
• Gaps in systems and services that leave children vulnerable, with attention to gender and intersectional inequities.
• Practical, evidence-based pathways (community, policy and research) to realise children’s rights in climate action.