Education plays a big part in shaping our understanding of the world. In today’s landscape of heightening crises, learning about the environment, climate change, and sustainability early on in school can be vital to how youth respond to global challenges. To what extent have young learners received education on environment, climate change, and sustainability?

Youth’s Future

A large portion of our youth is spent planning and building the future. Yet, the accelerating climate crisis is adding an unwanted variable to the equation, sadly making a better future seem further out of reach.

A survey across 10 countries found that 75% of respondents aged 16-25 believe the future is frightening. Children and young people bear, and will continue to experience, an unacceptably high burden from the crisis, making them prone to climate-related distress. 

However, the crisis’s complexity can be unraveled, starting with awareness. Education is a crucial catalyst for building a better understanding of climate change and sustainability. One way to do this is to integrate climate change education and sustainability topics into school curricula.

Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability in Education

Promoting climate change education will enable learners to understand the impacts of climate change in their own contexts and communities, and to identify possible actions to contribute to climate resilience. 

Many countries, such as India and the UK, have begun introducing the topics in school. Globally, UNESCO supports this effort through the Greening Education Partnerships, aimed at equipping learners with the knowledge, skills, and values to tackle climate change and promote sustainable development.

However, accelerated efforts are still needed. In primary education, a UNESCO study across 88 countries finds that 66% of grade 3 and grade 6 curricula mention environment, climate change, and sustainability at least once. Yet the specific focus on the topic remains low, with climate change being the least referenced. Moreover, environmental and climate change issues are more prevalent in science curricula than in social science curricula, where sustainability is generally included in both.

Secondary education is also similarly lacking. Around 69% of grade 9 curricula in 85 countries contain no references to climate change, and 66% contain no references to sustainability. The learning is focused on cognitive learning and less on social and emotional or action-oriented learning. Additionally, Indigenous knowledge and justice-related issues are rarely addressed, despite their importance in tackling climate change.

Instilling Hope

The threat of climate change is daunting. Therefore, instilling awareness and hope is essential for children and young people; so is equipping them with knowledge that would empower them to meet this challenge without succumbing to despair. 

Collaboration among schools, policymakers, and government bodies is key to mainstreaming environment, climate change, and sustainability issues into school curricula. This integration should go beyond science and encompass all relevant school subjects, , as addressing the complexity of climate change requires knowledge and understanding across all disciplinary areas. All in all, sustainability education is hoped to serve as a building block to strengthen resilience in society, for current and future generations.

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma

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