Climate and Environmental Literacy
Transform Education Into Action at EARTHDAY.ORG’s COP27 Climate Education Hub
October 13, 2022
The United Nations Transforming Education Summit noted the important and clear intersections between the education and climate sectors. In particular, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres shared, “If there was one seed to prevent climate change, violent conflict or poverty, it was education.”
Next month, EARTHDAY.ORG will build on the remarks of UN leadership and calls to action of youth, nonprofits, businesses, researchers, and world leaders at the COP 27 Climate Education Hub. The hub will be a first of its kind space to encourage dialogue, deliberation, and solidify plans to integrate diverse actors from the education and climate sectors.
Youth Statement Calls for global climate change education
Youth groups like Fridays for the Future, SOS International, TheirWorld, YOUNGO and others have taken leadership positions in the education and climate activist arenas. In the lead up to the summit, UNESCO and youth organizations mobilized a global consultation of more than 450,000 youth from 170 countries to create a Youth Declaration. While the declaration has 25 demands, demand 7 calls upon “Decision-makers to invest in education for sustainable development across curricula, particularly climate education to build skills and knowledge needed to build resilience, mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis and ensure climate justice, as well as invest in early-warning systems and resilient infrastructure to ensure safety, security, and education continuity.”
Join us in the Climate Education Hub to hear how youth will continue to pressure and advocate for climate change education and justice in their countries and communities.
UNESCO’s Greening Learning Partnership Initiative
Greening Education was one of seven global calls to action. The Greening Education Partnership, led by UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development sector, “Aims to deliver strong, coordinated and comprehensive action that will prepare every learner to acquire the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to tackle climate change and to promote sustainable development.” The first steps of the partnership included focus groups and survey responses that represent global youth perspectives. Future work will include teachers, school leaders, and curriculum design.
Follow EARTHDAY.ORG and UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development at the Climate Education Hub to learn more about the Greening Education Partnership Pathways.
World leaders call for transformational climate change and environmental education
In a United Nations review of submitted leader statements on transforming education, about one third of 80 submitted statements, “Committed to integrating climate-change education into curricula and to efforts to ensure school infrastructure exemplify carbon-neutrality.”
On June 19, 2022, 64 world leaders stood up and made verbal commitments to transform education at the United Nations headquarters. EARTHDAY.ORG reviewed and analyzed the six round tables of leaders’ statements and found that 21 (about one third) mentioned climate change or environmental education, confirming the UN review of written submissions.
Countries that called for climate or environmental education included: Turkey, Guatemala, Romania, Pakistan, (Roundtable 1) Colombia, Malawi, Peru, Finland, (Roundtable 2) Bulgaria, Suriname, (Roundtable 3) Samoa, Austria, (Roundtable 4) Japan, Mauritius, Fiji, Malaysia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ecuador, Solomon Islands, (Roundtable 5) and Andorra (Roundtable 6).*
Justification for climate and environmental education inclusion corresponded closely to the five climate change categories discussed in the EARTHDAY.ORG review of the thematic action tracks.
Join EARTHDAY.ORG at the Climate Education Hub as we meet with world leaders to follow up on these statements and seek additional commitments.
Transform Education into Climate Action at the COP27 Climate Education Hub
The education community is mobilizing for COP27 and ready to share its important contributions, engage with social, technical, and environmental communities to drive meaningful climate action. Follow EARTHDAY.ORG’s COP27 agenda and Global Education Programs including its climate literacy campaign.
