The impact of climate change on education and what to do about it

The study is aimed at examining the intersection between climate change and education, with specific focus on how extreme weather events negatively impacts education outcomes. The study aims to highlight the urgent need for governments to prioritize and implement strategies to protect education systems from the effects of climate change, in order to sustain and enhance their positive contributions to economic development, poverty alleviation, and social cohesion.

This paper lays out four concrete ways in which governments can protect education systems from climate change so that their positive impacts on economic development, poverty alleviation, and social cohesion can be sustained and boosted. These are: (i) education management for resilience; (ii) school infrastructure for resilience; (iii) ensuring learning continuity in the face of climate shocks; and (iv) leveraging students and teachers as change agents. The paper presents an actionable agenda for each of these with operational examples in different contexts.