The climate crisis is one of the most pressing challenges of the global development agenda. In recent years, young people have been publicly recognised as key stakeholders in efforts to address it. One of the platforms through which young climate activists and advocates engage in climate governance is the annual Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Typically accompanied by widespread media coverage, COPs provide opportunities for both State and Non-State Actors - including youth - for claim-making, agenda-setting, advocacy, and awareness raising.    Despite the growing attention to youth-led climate activism, research on the ways in which youth participate in the COPs, their experiences, and perceptions of their participation, has been limited and has tended to focus on youth from the Global North. To begin to address this gap, this research explores the experiences of youth climate activists and advocates from the Global South at the COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021. Informed by theories and frameworks of participation, the objective is to understand how these young people participated, the factors and dynamics which affected their experience, and how they viewed their participation. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews conducted in March and April 2022 with 11 young people who were all first-time attendees of the COP.   During COP26 they were engaged in activities in both the formal spaces of COP, such as side-events and negotiations, as well as informal or civil society spaces like marches and offsite events. Perceptions of youth participation varied among the interviewees and depended on the spaces or interactions discussed. Many expressed frustrations with the narrow opportunities for young people to engage in the official decision-making processes. However, despite the challenges to their participation in the formal spaces of COP26, young people experienced strong community connections with other youth, acquired new knowledge or skills, and established links and collaborative opportunities with other organisations and youth. In spite of the limitations, many saw value in the continued participation of young people in formal spaces of the COP and shared suggestions for enhancing young people’s engagement.