The Lowdown on Climate Education

The International Day of Climate Action (October 24) is the perfect time to call for ALL nations across the world to embrace the teaching of climate education in every single school on the planet.

To date 40 countries have stepped up to support climate education in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). What Is an NDC you might ask? They sound like a mouthful but Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are pretty simple - they are essentially what each signatory country of The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) says they will do to reduce their national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement requests that each country outlines their post-2020 climate actions every five years. These actions are essentially what an NDC is.

The Paris Agreement itself does not explicitly mandate education programs within Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), but it emphasizes the importance of enhancing climate change education and public awareness.

In the Agreement, Article 12 specifically addresses the importance of education, training, and public awareness as essential components for effective climate action. While the specifics of how education is incorporated into NDCs can vary by country, the encouragement to include climate education is inherent in the broader goals of the Agreement.

EARTHDAY.ORG produced an NDC Guide that outlines how climate education can be added to an NDC. But with just four months to go before these national commitments to the Paris Agreement are updated, the world's nations need to step up and commit much more to teaching climate education. Civil society calls on all countries to increase their ambitions and investment for climate education and to include this pledge in the next round of updates for 2025.

So, What Exactly is Climate Education?

Climate education is straightforward: it involves teaching students globally, from K-12, about the climate crisis, its causes, and ways to mitigate it. By integrating climate education across all subjects-art, math, science, and languages-the issues of climate change will become an unavoidable part of the curriculum.

EARTHDAY.ORG's Bryce Coon, Director of Climate Education, makes the case for teaching climate education in every school in his report Climate Education vs The Climate Crisis report. There is also a two page summary of this report: THE CASE FOR CLIMATE EDUCATION IN EUROPE, and a version in Spanish.

Why Should You Embrace Climate Education in Every School?

Climate education is not just knowledge that experts and governments should have. It should be everyone's right to know the truth. That is why it should be on the curricula of all schools, from kindergarten to Grade 12, worldwide. It is an important tool in combating climate change misinformation, it eases student's very real climate anxiety, and it helps to students' make instinctively planet-friendly choices.

Johnny Dabrowski, EARTHDAY.ORG and the Climate Education Coalition

Given that climate change is a global crisis, it cannot be solved by one group or a single country, it is a collective effort but as with so many issues, students are at the heart of real change. It will make a BIG change for students to be more informed - if just 16% of secondary school students around the world, in middle and high-income countries, studied climate change, it would result in cutting almost 19 gigatons of CO2 by 2050. There are more astounding take away facts like this captured in EARTHDAY.ORG's Climate Education vs the Climate Crisis Report.

International Finance Backs Climate Education Too

The World Bank group recently released a report, Choosing Our Future: Education for Climate Action, which emphasizes the link between climate centric education and green jobs, as well as highlighting the need for integrating climate change education into Nationally Determined Contributions. Similarly the Global Partnership for Education encouraged countries to integrate climate education into their NDCs in a pledge they released ahead of COP28 in Dubai.

Furthermore the International Trade Union Confederation, the G7, and the European Union all understand the importance of climate education in developing a green skilled workforce. A work- force that the world economy wants.

Whether it is manufacturing, engineering, farming, communication, banking and so on, being climate educated is increasingly a necessity for the world we live in. Industry increasingly needs a green skilled workforce and teaching about our changing climate in schools is the best way to meet that demand.

Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG

Who Else Wants Climate Education in Classrooms?

Additionally, UNESCO has created the Greening Education Partnership which serves as a platform for countries and stakeholders for advancing the climate and environmental education cause. A position which EARTHDAY.ORG and the Climate Education Coalition has been advocating for years!

Another tool available to government's released by The NDCs Partnership is the NDCs Navigator, an interactive tool that helps enhance the ambition of a nation's commitments and accelerates their implementation in the lead up to 2025 and the submissions deadline to the UNFCCC at Cop 30 in Brazil.

NDCs need to reflect each country's leadership, actions, and commitments to the Paris Agreement, particularly in promoting climate change education and training. By highlighting these efforts, countries enhance the credibility of their national climate policies, and make them more appealing to international funders

Which Countries are Leading the Way With Climate Education?

The United Kingdom's NDC puts emphasis on the Department for Education's Strategy which sets out key actions in climate education and green skills. Their submission to the UNFCCC contains information on mandatory courses in climate education in school and highlights their Green Jobs Taskforce55 which advises on how industry and education can work together to create the skilled workforce to deliver net zero, so that GHG emissions and carbon removal cancel each other out.

The Dominican Republic's NDC aims to have integrated climate change fully into teacher training institutios by 2030. Their NDC also recognizes the importance of education infrastructure, like school buildings, as a critically important component for climate resilience. Additionally, it highlights the importance of youth engagement by acknowledging the creation of a National Network of Youth and Climate Change, which allows for the perspective of young people to be considered when making national climate policy.

The European Union member states, in their 2023 NDC update, highlighted their support for meaningful engagement with youth and children about climate change decision-making processes, climate education and training as well as the importance of raising public awareness for climate change.

President Lula da Silva, of Brazil, announced recently that climate change will be recognized in Brazil's National Environmental Education Policy (PNEA), leading the way for the COP30 conference in Belem next year which will focus on progress reported in the NDCs including climate education.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Cambodia, Jordan, Cabo Verde, Argentina, Mauritania have all integrated climate education into their NDCs in one form or another. As a meaningful next step we recommend a comprehensive review of the Climate Change Education Ambition Report Card, created by our partners at Education International, representing more than 30 million teachers worldwide to further engage the world of education in this endeavor.

Students Gain So Much From Climate Education

Learning about the climate crisis is good for promoting green skills but it also gives children access to age-appropriate information. As well as the time to process their emotional responses and hearing about our changing world from their trusted teachers, alongside their peers is the best environment to learn about the realities of climate change. Realtors that millions of students are already living as extreme weather events disrupt their lives and their schooling.

As we collectively face the growing very real climate crisis, we know children are struggling with their mental health. So, it is critical that we talk to them about what is happening to the planet and what better way to make that happen and ensure it is based on facts, than in the classroom?

Bryce Coon, Director of Climate Education at EARTHDAY.ORG

Climate education also gives students the knowledge to flex their Green Muscle Memory, so they instinctively make the right choices, such as rejecting single use plastics, using less energy and picking careers in the renewable energy field.

We encourage all countries to integrate ambitious language into their NDCs, committing to teaching formal climate education with emphasis on green jobs and civic skills, both so desperately needed for the renewable energy transition. A summary document for model language can be found here.

If you want to get involved, join the EARTHDAY.ORG network as a supporter. Please use and share our free guide on teaching climate education in your classrooms: School Guide to Teaching Climate Change. It is packed with information on how best to teach this subject effectively because climate education in every classroom worldwide is our goal and it is critical for our planet. Join us.

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