Shortly before joining ClientEarth I found myself standing on a verge in Germany, hiding behind a tree, dressed as a carbon emission. To the average onlooker, I was a young man who had lost his mind. To the trained eye, however, I was protesting against loopholes in the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry strand of the UN climate negotiations that would allow developed nations to ‘hide’ emissions through logging. Luckily for me and my colleagues in the UK Youth Climate Coalition, all dressed as greenhouse gases, we were being passed by lots of trained eyes:  the negotiators attending the UN climate talks in Bonn in preparation for the Copenhagen follow-up in Mexico this December.

As ‘youth’ participants and observers in the UN climate negotiations our job is to lobby the decision makers, acting as a moral voice untainted by ulterior motives (other than safeguarding our own futures) to commit to a bold, ambitious and binding climate deal. Copenhagen was obviously a disappointment. However, the youth climate movement, working for climate justice, continues to grow in strength and numbers and has an ever increasing enthusiasm for engaging decision makers at the highest level. Our actions in Bonn, culminating in a private meeting with Executive Secretary of the UN Climate framework, Yvo De Boer, demonstrate our increasing influence on the decision making process.

After the disappointment of Copenhagen, the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico and a growth in climate change scepticism it’s easy to feel disheartened about our prospects for the future. However, the tide is turning and more and more people, especially young people, are setting out a positive vision for their future and they plan to see it through.

In the short time I have been at ClientEarth I’ve realised the work of the youth climate movement has many overlaps with the work carried out here, in spirit if not in method (it’s unlikely you will find one of our lawyers hiding in a bush dressed up as a carbon emission). But the principles are the same. Both organisations are working hard to create a positive vision of the future and through changing the legal frameworks that guide the way our society operates, are mapping out the route to reach it.  This may be achieved through youth actions at UN negotiations or in deep level analysis of the complex laws surrounding corporate transparency. Whichever route is taken I have met a lot of people well on their way towards that positive future, and they’re leading the way for the rest of us to follow.