Climate change hot topic at youth 2020 summits

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Australian schoolchildren have put forward ideas mostly about climate change from their own 2020 summits.

More than 500 schools held talks during the past month ahead of the Federal Government's Youth Summit in Canberra this weekend.

Ms Gillard says she is not surprised the environment is the number one concern of many children.

"A lot of the ideas are about the environment, they're about climate change, water, about better transport systems, better ways of getting around without creating greenhouse gas emissions," she said.