COP reflections - 22/11/2021.

Mike Bromfield is an events producer: he is also a YMCA England & Wales Youth Ambassador, the Chair of the Board of Trustees for YMCA Essex in the UK, and a graduated Change Agent of the World YMCA. Commissioned by YMCA Scotland, he produced ‘Creating Youth-Led Solutions’, a film short that documents how young people are championing climate action in communities around the world. He joined YMCA’s COP26 delegation in Glasgow from 7-12 November 2021.

As my sleeper train pulls out of Edinburgh Waverley making tracks back to the south of England, leaving Scotland after 10 nights for the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, my mind turns to my own journey over the last few months, all leading up to what may have been one of the most important international Summits in living history.

It has been a journey of learning and of privilege, honour and inspiration, as I was commissioned by YMCA to produce a documentary short on six stories about youth-led solutions leading the way in climate action – not in preparation for a net-zero future by 2050, but right now.