Global extreme weather events forced one in eight children to flee homes

It urged world leaders to act when they meet at the Cop29 summit in Baku on Monday.

The 300m figure represents around 12.5% of the global population of children.

Some of the major events which caused damage included:

• A heatwave in southern Asia which suspended school for 256m children.
• Tropical Storm Trami, which tore through the Philippines in October and suspended schools for 19.5m children.
• The worst drought in southern Africa in over 100 years which led to 12.2m children requiring humanitarian aid 
• Floods across western and central Africa that forced 10m children out of school.
• Typhoon Yagi, which tore through Southeast Asia in September and put around 1.5m children in need of humanitarian assistance.

Save the Children says with climate change, children are often “bearing the brunt” of the extreme weather disasters.

“With the majority of the children affected living in low- and middle-income countries, world leaders need more than ever to prioritise the voices and experiences of children living with poverty, inequality and discrimination," it said.

The World Meteorological Organisation estimates that the number of extreme events has increased five-fold in the last 50 years.

At Cop29 in Baku, Save the Children is calling for children’s rights, voices, and unique vulnerabilities to be factored into the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance that will be agreed.