Climate change education for social transformation: Whole-institution approach to greening every school
At COP27 in 2022, the UN Secretary-General emphasized “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” as we struggle to transform our societies to reach the 1.5-degree path recommended by the Paris Agreement. In an increasingly complex and interconnected world with a real, existential threat such as climate change, there is a growing call for education to enable individuals, as agents of change, to acquire knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that lead to green transition of our societies, as enshrined in SDG Target 4.7, and, indeed, in the entire 2030 Agenda.
In order to accelerate urgent action on climate sustainability, the Greening Education Partnership was launched during the Transforming Education Summit as a global initiative to deliver strong, coordinated, and comprehensive action to advance and improve the implementation of climate change education. The partnership encourages countries and key stakeholders to focus on 4 action areas:
- Greening schools
- Greening curriculum
- Greening capacities of teachers and education systems
- Greening communities
Following the success of the first series of eight monthly conversations on climate change education for social transformation on the road to COP27 which gathered 15,000 participants from 184 countries and focused on greening every education policy and curriculum, UNESCO and UNFCCC are launching a second series of six webinars, from May to December 2023, on greening schools on the road to COP28 in Dubai, UAE.
The discussions will focus on how to ensure that all learning institutions, from early childhood through adult education, are climate-ready and integrate a whole-institution approach to ESD to transform their teaching and learning, school facilities and operation, school governance and community engagement. The webinars feed into the ACE Hub, an initiative launched by UNFCCC and the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2022 to foster education and public awareness, training, public access to information and participation in climate action.
The webinars are conducted in English. Live interpretation in French and Spanish will be provided.
Participate online
Webinar series
#1: What is a "green school"?
3 May 2023
A “green school” may be understood as an educational institution that delivers knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to promote social, economic, cultural, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development through a whole-institution approach to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in its teaching and learning, facilities and operations, school governance and community partnerships. The discussion kicked off the series of conversations on what it means to embrace a whole-institution approach to ESD, with a particular focus on climate change.
- More information
- Video recording: English - French - Spanish
#2: What does a climate-proof and climate-ready school look like?
20 June 2023
Reflects on how to transform learning environments to ensure that facilities and operations embody sustainability principles in response to climate change. The conversation also explored how school governance and culture become inclusive and participatory.
- More information
- Video recording: English – French - Spanish
#3 How can schools collaborate with communities?
25 July 2023
Explores ways in which schools can engage with community members to contextualize and enrich the content of climate change learning as well as serves as innovation hubs for building climate resilient communities.
- More information
- Video recording: English - French - Spanish
#4 How can transformative learning environments shape the learning content?
12 September 2023
Discusses how these reflections on school facilities and operations, school governance and community engagement can be widened into teaching and learning on climate change to ensure holistic learning environments where learners can live what they learn and learn what they live.
- More information
- Vidéo recording: English - French - Spanish
#5 Getting ready to promote greening schools at COP28
31 October 2023
Presents key messages and strategies to promote the greening of every school, particularly around COP28. The conversation also shared green schools’ good practices in view of the UNESCO green school quality standard.
- More information
- Video recording: English - French - Spanish
#6 Post-COP28 greening schools: Where do we go from here?
12 December 2023, 14:00 CET
Closes Season 2 by looking back at COP28 and its key takeaways, achievements, commitments, and ways forward on how to promote climate change education for social transformation including greening schools.
- More information
- Video recording: English - French - Spanish
