EARTHDAY.ORG LAUNCHES FIRST EVER CLIMATE EDUCATION HUB PAVILION AT COP 27

Washington DC (October 18, 2022)- As the global pressure grows for immediate action on climate change, EARTHDAY.ORG (EDO) is organizing the Climate Education Hub, the first-of-its-kind multimedia pavilion, to urgently elevate ideas, solutions and actions to promote climate education and build the green economy. Debuting at COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt this November, the Climate Education Hub will bring together a diverse portfolio of stakeholders to collaborate and debate on issues related to education and climate action. Individuals, investors, business leaders, regulators, and legislators from across all sectors will devise education-based solutions to catalyze civic participation, green jobs, and equitable solutions to the climate crisis.

“We must use all of the tools at our disposal to tackle the climate crisis and to protect our planet. Empowering youth from all walks of life with a strong foundation in climate literacy, starting with mandatory climate education combined with civic participation, is vital if we are to solve the urgent challenges we face. Planet Earth is a wondrous place, it’s our duty to keep that way for all its inhabitants, now and in the future,” said Sam Rose, education and climate solutions philanthropist and COP 27 Climate Education Hub supporter.

“Underlying the mission of The Climate Education Hub is the understanding that education has the power to revolutionize the world we live in from the economy, to the energy sector, to everyday lives, and remains the foundational key to creating a sustainable, equitable, and just future. Educators, youth and corporations are all calling for universal climate education to provide a new generation of leaders with the skills and knowledge to ramp up this inevitable sustainable economic revolution. To invest in our planet means investing in climate education,” said Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG™.

“The workers of tomorrow must be prepared today and climate education is a key to ensuring a sustainable future with good jobs and shared prosperity for everyone,” said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation.

“At the UN Transforming Education Summit in September, world leaders made commitments to gear learning to the huge stakes of the green transition. Education is crucial to empowering learners with the knowledge, skills and values they need to be resilient, adaptable, and able to take action for a sustainable future. Following the launch of the Greening Education Partnership at the Summit, we must seize the momentum to get all countries and partners on board to ensure that every learner is climate and environmentally ready,” said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education.” 

“Closing the gender gap in education can help countries better adapt to the climate crisis and decrease the rate and the impact of climate change,” said Vanessa Nakate, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

“The climate crisis cannot be the only crisis that we do not learn at school. Climate education is a human right,” said Fridays For Future.

“Today, educators are helping students address deep scientific questions and tackle broad societal needs, such as biodiversity, food security, vaccine hesitancy, mosquito-borne diseases, environmental justice, and climate change. Complex socio-scientific problems and phenomena like climate change cannot be explained or solved by looking at them through one perspective; nor can they be solved by one sector alone,” reports Carol O’Donnell, Executive Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center and member of the InterAcademy Partnership Global Council on Science Education. “Climate change education, led by dedicated organizations like those supported by EARTHDAY.ORG at The COP27 Climate Education Hub, can provide youth and our future workforce with the new skill sets required to reach a sustainable future, taking local action to achieve global goals.”

“Climate change threatens to exacerbate inequalities around the world, including learning and skills gaps that reinforce climate vulnerability and hinder the capacity to adapt. Investment in quality education for all—including climate change education—is fundamental to putting communities worldwide on a path to climate resilience while transforming underlying drivers of inequity. Governments must heed the call of youth climate activists to step up and take action to prepare citizens with the knowledge and skills for climate empowerment,” Dr. Christina Kwauk, Head of Climate and Education, Education Commission.

“We simply cannot meet or sustain our climate goals without robust and interdisciplinary education in all settings. Climate literacy is not only key to mitigation and adaptation, it is also essential to achieving climate justice and advancing community-based solutions to our most urgent problems. We must all call on leaders from local to global to leverage the power of education for a more just and sustainable world,” said Judy Braus, Executive Director of the North American Association for Environmental Education.

“The climate crisis adds a devastating layer to the existing crisis of learning poverty. We must work together to build education systems that are resilient and safeguard access to education even through unpredictable times. Quality universal education is essential to ensuring we leave no one behind as we transition to a low carbon global economy and more sustainable ecosystem practices. GPE is thrilled to be collaborating with EDO at COP27 to spotlight how resilient education systems support students and communities to adapt and respond to climate change.” Jo Bourne, Chief Technical Officer, Global Partnership for Education.

The Climate Education Hub will feature exhibition space, live streaming and metaverse events, and other on-going media opportunities to amplify solutions and activate a global audience. Sessions at the Hub will convene heads of state, ministers, thought leaders, influencers, and diverse voices from multiple sectors with panels on the advancement of global climate literacy and education policy, master classes on executive education and new business standards, day-long series on setting the green agenda and climate solutions, interviews with decision-makers on the true costs and paths to net-zero, capacity-building strategy workshops and public/private receptions and roundtable discussions.

As an official NGO observer at COP 27, EARTHDAY.ORG will oversee the production and management of The Climate Education Hub, working in partnership with civil society organizations, global partners, and supporters to bring daily programming, actions, and commitments during the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh from November 7-18, 2022. All events will be livestreamed on EARTHDAY.ORG, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube as well as partner sites and other platforms to be announced.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLIMATE EDUCATION HUB

ABOUT THE CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY CAMPAIGN:

EARTHDAY.ORG (EDO) believes each student in every school in the world should receive fully integrated, assessed climate and environmental education with a strong civic engagement component. Over fifty years ago, the first Earth Day started an environmental revolution. Now, EDO is igniting an education revolution to save the planet. This formal campaign, launched in Summer 2020, combines grassroots support and on the ground efforts by students, educators, and nonprofits with national level commitments from Ministries of Education and Environment. Through our Climate and Environmental Literacy Campaign, we are ensuring that students across the world benefit from high-quality education to develop into informed and engaged environmental stewards.

ABOUT EARTHDAY.ORG:

EARTHDAY.ORG’s mission is to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day (1970), EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners in nearly 192 countries to build environmental democracy. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day actions each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. Learn more at earthday.org.