Press release

Only half of the national curricula in the world have a reference to climate change, UNESCO warns

漏 Foundation for Environmental Education
2021/47
31 October 2021
Last update:20 April 2023

Education systems do not currently address the gravity of the climate crisis, warns the UNESCO, the UN's leading education agency, ahead of the first joint meeting of environment and education ministers at COP26 in Glasgow on 5 November.

New UNESCO  from 100 countries shows that only 53% of the world鈥檚 national education curricula make any reference to climate change and when the subject is mentioned, it is almost always given very low priority. 

Furthermore, fewer than 40% of teachers surveyed by UNESCO and Education International were confident in teaching about the severity of climate change and only about one-third felt able to explain the effects of climate change on their region or locality.

The climate crisis is no longer the threat of a distant future, but a global reality. There is no solution without education. Every learner needs to understand climate change, and be empowered to be part of the solution, and every teacher given the knowledge to teach about it. States must mobilize for this.
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General

When asked about the challenges of teaching climate change, 30% of the 58,000 teachers surveyed reported that they were not familiar with suitable pedagogies. Over a quarter of those surveyed felt some approaches to teaching climate education were not suited to online teaching. This is of particular concern given that 737 million students in 66 countries are still affected by full or partial school closures.

In view of these findings, UNESCO decided to organize with the United Kingdom and Italy, co-Presidents of COP26, the event 鈥楾ogether for Tomorrow: Education and Climate Action鈥, the first joint meeting of environment and education ministers, at COP26 in Glasgow on 5 November. 

Climate and sustainability education must be mainstreamed into the curriculum to go beyond the mere concept of sustainability and re-generate the school and the entire planet.
Patrizio Bianchi, Italian Minister of Education

UNESCO will underscore the need for collaboration between the education and environment sectors to successfully integrate climate change in education systems worldwide in every level of schooling. 

The event builds on the  jointly organized by UNESCO and the Italian Education Ministry, where young climate activists discussed their calls for quality climate education with six education ministers.

鈥楾ogether for Tomorrow鈥 will take place on 5 November, 4 pm to 5.30 pm, in the Blue Zone, and will be open to those who have tickets to the area.

 

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