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How can education strengthen climate action?

17 March 2021

Last update:20 April 2023

Since the breakout of COVID-19, the world’s attention has been focused on the pandemic and the emergency response to the crisis. However, major sustainable development challenges, such as climate change, remain unresolved. 

While 2020 was one of the hottest years in recorded history, 2021 provides us with a unique opportunity to strengthen climate education and act towards sustainability. In May 2021, the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development will bring countries together to mobilize support for ‘ESD for 2030’, the new global framework for Education for Sustainable Development. In November, a new work programmed on climate change education and related areas will likely be adopted at COP 26.

In preparation of the Conference, UNESCO had been organizing , in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany and the German Commission for UNESCO. The February edition focused on Climate Change Education and addressed the following questions

How can Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) contribute to urgent action for green and sustainable societies in light of the climate emergency?
What can we learn from the Covid-19 pandemic on how to educate and act in times of crisis?

During the opening remarks, Ms Vibeke Jensen, Director of the Division for Peace and Sustainable Development at UNESCO shared her hopes for COP 26: “We hope that on the occasion of COP 26 governments will be willing to commit to enhanced action on Education for Sustainable Development, and to strengthening the collaboration between the education and the environment sectors”.

At the workshop, speakers addressed different aspects of Climate Action through Education, including the Action for Climate Empowerment international agenda, Climate Friendly Schools, Gender Equality and Curriculum.

Education as a key element of climate action

Ms Fleur Newman, Action Empowerment Unit Lead at the UNFCCC shared that Education has been recognized by the international community as a crucial element to counter climate change. She emphasized that the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis opens a chance to recover better by transitioning our social and economic models towards fair, inclusive and sustainable development: “While COVID-19 is one of the greatest challenges global economies have faced in modern times, recovery also opens an unprecedented window of hope and opportunity for nations to shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, safe and just – for all people, especially in the most remote and vulnerable parts of the world.”

Building climate friendly schools

In charge of environmental education projects at the Hassan II International Center for Environmental training, the academic entity of the Mohammed VI Foundation for environmental protection, Ms Meryem Khorari shared her experience with the Eco-Schools programme, through which the Foundation has been contributing to the development of climate-friendly schools in Morocco. Beyond awareness raising, the programme aims to strengthen the knowledge acquired by schoolchildren from an early age, by adopting a whole school approach, going beyond the inclusion of climate change in curriculum to include it as a consideration in education infrastructure design, such as energy and water resource management, healthy food and biodiversity conservation.

Climate Change through the lens of Youth and Gender Equality

Climate Change Education also happens outside of schools, through youth networks and civil society organizations. Ms Menna Mosbah, a young activist from Egypt, has been educating youth on the concept of Ecofeminism for Climate Change. Founder of the Young Egyptian Feminists League (YEFL) and a member of ESD network for Arab Youth, she has been organizing workshops on gender and climate inequalities.

To ensure integration of gender perspective in climate change education, Menna recommended that education on the Sustainable Development Goals should be integrated in the formal educational systems and school infrastructures. She also raised the importance of encouraging the leadership of women in green economies and standing against climate gendered inequalities of violence and displacement

Where we are and where to go: Recent data on climate change education

To promote climate action, education systems should mainstream Climate Change Education in curriculum. At the event, Ms Marcia McKenzie, Researcher from the University of Saskatchewan, in Canada, shared some of the findings from two recent UNESCO commissioned studies to strengthen countries’ education response to climate change.

Marcia stressed the need for countries to connect their climate change and educational governance by increasing collaboration between the Education and Climate Sectors. She also emphasized that the whole school approach as key to climate action and that Climate Change Education teaching should go beyond cognitive science-based, to integrate social-emotional and behavioral aspects, supporting learners to take action.

Watch the workshop: - -