12 September 2025

Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues (CGCI) has recently published a new working paper by Senior Advisor Joan Lombardi and Lauren Simmons.

The paper offers a concise overview of the risks and opportunities at the intersection of early childhood development and the changing climate. It also showcases a dozen innovative approaches where the early childhood and climate sectors have successfully converged. These examples range from research and evidence generation to national and community-level planning, as well as programmatic innovation.

Across these initiatives, the authors note a growing capacity and commitment to promote cross-sectoral partnerships. Such collaborations aim to strengthen climate resilience, raise public awareness, and support healthy development for children worldwide.

The paper emphasizes the importance of continued collaboration between early childhood and climate stakeholders to ensure that young children can thrive in an era of environmental uncertainty.

It is worth noting that CGCI was launched in September 2021 at Georgetown University, with the aim of generating a network among scholars, students, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders to maximize critical thinking and advance solutions-oriented problem-solving on the most pressing issues facing children worldwide.

You may access the full paper here.