Education systems can empower, equip, and skill young people for climate mitigation and adaptation. At the same time, climate change induced heat and extreme weather events are significantly disrupting learning, and low-income countries are disproportionately affected. Governments must act now to adapt education systems for climate change.
Education is a key asset for climate action. Education reshapes behaviors, develops skills, and spurs innovation-everything we need to combat the greatest crisis facing humanity.
Better educated people are more resilient and adaptable, better equipped to create and work in green jobs, and critical to driving solutions.
Yet, education is massively overlooked in the climate agenda. Almost no climate finance goes to education. Channeling more climate funding to education could significantly boost climate change mitigation and adaption.
At the same time, climate change is a huge threat to education. Millions of young people face lost days of learning because of climate related events. In low-income countries the situation is worse. Unless made up, this lost learning will negatively impact their future earnings and productivity. It will also lead to great inequality both within and across countries.
Governments can act now to adapt education systems for climate change.
Key-takeaways:
- The economic losses and human cost of climate change are enormous. Despite this, climate action remains slow due to information gaps, skills gaps, and knowledge gaps.
- Education is the key to addressing these gaps and driving climate action around the world. Indeed, education is the greatest predicator of climate-friendly behavior.
- Better educated people are more resilient and critical to spur innovation and climate solutions. An additional year of education increases climate awareness by 8.6%.
- Education can empower young people with green skills for new jobs, but also augment skills for existing jobs.
- Education is massively overlooked in climate financing and climate change is threatening education outcomes.
- Climate-related school closures mean students are losing days of learning. Even when schools are open, students are losing learning due to rising temperatures.
- Governments can take steps to harness education and learning for climate action by, for example, improving foundational and STEM skills, mainstreaming climate education, and building teacher capacity. And governments can prioritize green skilling and innovation in tertiary education to help supercharge a shift to more sustainable practices.
Inside the report
Four facts about green skills that policymakers and students need to understand:
- Green skills are broad. They include technical, STEM, and sector-specific skills. But also non-technical skills, socio-emotional, and cross-sectoral skills.
- Any job and any sector can become greener with the right set of skills.
- These skills are not just for 'new' jobs but also for augmentation of existing jobs.
- The demand for these skills can be unpredictable and inequitable.
Many countries experience one or more climate-related school closures every year:
- Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of climate shocks like heatwaves, floods, storms, and draughts.
- These climate shocks cause widespread school closures which generate huge learning losses.
- Despite their prevalence, climate-related school closures remain invisible because no one is tracking them.