Education: a powerhouse for driving climate ambition
A staggering 400 million students globally experienced school closures from extreme weather since 2022, with climate change disproportionately impacting those boys and girls who are displaced or affected by conflicts, violence and other humanitarian crises.
The challenge is clear, and so are many of the solutions. Specific actions to undertake are set out here.
They include specific measures to involve children and youth in decisions about their own future, and ensuring they have the means to take charge of that future – which by necessity means access to quality learning, green skills and climate education. Actions can also be taken to increase funding for adaptation and mitigation projects focusing on sectors – such as education – that enhance resilience of vulnerable communities. To support those priorities, and to address the impacts on education from the climate crisis, education must have its place in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and other climate plans at local, national and international levels.
These messages are important for policymakers and stakeholders ahead of COP29 and beyond. To further discuss them and explore country solutions, the EiE Hub and its members will, for example, host a policy dialogue on 8 November. The event will share knowledge among governments, policymakers, donors, international representatives and partners, with an overview of the developments and progress on climate change and EiE, one year after the launch of the first-ever report on the topic. It will explore solutions that work for safe, inclusive education continuity in the face of the climate crisis – with a focus on crisis contexts – and implications for policymaking.
Only 2.4 per cent of climate finance from major multilateral funds is currently directed towards projects with children as primary beneficiaries, and less than half of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are child- or youth-sensitive. This needs to change. The education sector experiences estimated financial losses of US$4 billion annually due to tropical cyclones alone, and some 62.1 million children were displaced within their countries due to weather-related disasters between 2016 and 2023.
With only about half of national curricula worldwide mentioning climate change, and usually with minimal depth, this represents a significant missed opportunity to raise awareness and drive climate action for mitigation and adaptation. Teachers are struggling to effectively teach climate issues due to a lack of proper training and support, while climate shocks further hinder their ability to perform.
Education gained prominence among topics discussed at COP28, through a dedicated day during the conference as well as the Declaration on the common agenda for education and climate change at COP28. This momentum must be maintained through COP29. Together we can drive climate ambition, adapt and minimise learning losses for all children and youth.