Clarios Foundation and UNICEF USA’s Partnership: Protecting Children from Climate Change Impacts
Partner since 2020
UNICEF and Clarios Foundation believe every child has the right to a healthy environment. We are working together to protect and promote child survival, health and well-being from the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.
In 2020, the Clarios Foundation, UNICEF and the NGO Pure Earth launched Protecting Every Child’s Potential (PECP), a three-year initiative to raise global awareness of this critical issue and support programs in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Georgia and Ghana.
Building on the successful impact of this collaboration, in July 2022, the Clarios Foundation announced a four-year, $20 million commitment to support UNICEF's Healthy Environments for Healthy Children (HEHC) program, an ongoing initiative to reduce environmental hazards that impact children's health. The partnership works to advance progress on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and UNICEF’s global health strategy and climate action plan. The Foundation’s support will go toward identifying, treating, and reducing the impact of climate change and pollution on children’s health, starting in 14 countries: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ecuador, Georgia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Viet Nam.
The Clarios Foundation’s support is allowing UNICEF to launch a Collaborative on Children’s Environmental Health, which will bring together multi-stakeholders to advocate for change, broker knowledge and catalyze collective action for children.
“This partnership represents Clarios Foundation’s deep and continuing commitment to help children globally by supporting their healthy development and potential,” said Mark Wallace, Clarios CEO. “Expanding our commitment will allow us to have a greater impact on children’s lives, while shining a spotlight on the importance of improving local conditions around the world.”
About Healthy Environments for Healthy Children:
HEHC is one of the top programmatic priorities of UNICEF’s Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (SCAP), and through HEHC, UNICEF aims to reach 500 million children in 70 countries with environmental health programs. HEHC outlines five major actions intended to guide UNICEF country programs:
- Mobilizing collective action
- Enhancing primary health care
- Improving resilience in health care facilities
- Integrating climate and environmental education into school programs
- Empowering children and young people to be agents of change
Children are the least responsible, yet the most vulnerable to environmental harm. Almost every child on earth is exposed to at least one major climate and environmental hazard. Clarios Foundation is helping UNICEF’s work to build a safer and healthier future by addressing the increasing threats from environmental degradation that put children’s health at risk.
Clarios Foundation’s investment has also supported UNICEF’s life-saving work for vulnerable children and families affected by conflict and contributed to UNICEF’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other emergencies.
