G20 Education Ministers Urged to Back Quality Climate Education Ahead of UN COP26 Conference in Glasgow

G20 Education Ministers Urged to Back Quality Climate Education Ahead of UN COP26 Conference in Glasgow

Hundreds of Millions of Workers, Teachers, Youth, and Environmentalists Say Education Key to Climate Action and Strong Sustainable Economy 

Washington, D.C. (June 3, 2021) — Education Ministers from across the globe are being urged to prioritize quality climate education as a major outcome at the next UN Climate Conference when they meet in Italy as part of the Group of 20 (G20) round of meetings.

An international alliance of labour and teachers’ unions, green groups, youth and parents’ organizations, research institutes, and international organizations issued a statement today underlining the importance of climate literate citizens in combatting climate change.

The groups involved, representing hundreds of millions of people across the globe, also see quality climate education linked to strong civic engagement as key to better decision-making by governments, green jobs, and building a new, stronger, and more sustainable 21^st century economy.

The Joint Civil Society Statement on Climate Education Ambition, focusing on the G20 meeting in Sicily on 22 June, argues technological shifts and innovations in areas such as clean energy and electric mobility will be crucial towards achieving the goals of the landmark Paris Climate Change Agreement.

But it also states that without the behavioral change made possible through climate and environmental literacy, the long-term goal of ‘net zero’ by 2050, to which increasing numbers of nations aspire as the safety line, will be tough to realize—if not impossible.

Research suggests that individual behavior changes around food and waste, agriculture, transport, and heating can reduce 20-37% of emissions—this is vital for the world to keep climate change in check and within science-based safety limits, the statement argues.

Rebecca Winthrop, Co-Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, said: “Early studies also suggest that students who learn about climate action influence not just their own choices, but their families’ and communities’ as well. Education systems should urgently empower young people with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to act on climate in their families and communities.”

Kathleen Rogers, President of EARTHDAY.ORG, said: “We wanted to issue this collective statement to let the Italian G20 Presidency and the G20 Education Ministers know that a strong outcome on climate education would have strong backing worldwide—citizens, labor, teachers, youth, parents, development organizations, academics, and green groups are right behind them.”

Since its official launch in Sept. 2020, EARTHDAY.ORG’s Climate and Environmental Literacy Campaign now has over 550 signatories from organizations in over 100 countries representing hundreds of millions of professionals from the environmental, education, faith, justice, and labour sectors. 

David Edwards, General Secretary of Education International, which represents nearly 33 million unionized teachers in close to 180 countries, said: “2021 needs to be the year where climate education moves from being a nice to have to being a core in every child’s educational life—it also needs to be the year when governments agree that teachers are supported to deliver this.”

“It is fitting that the crucial meeting of G20 Education Ministers is happening under the Presidency of Italy, one country that has already announced its commitment and its understanding of the urgent need for quality, compulsory, climate education,” he added.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said: “Climate education and environmental literacy is going to be a cornerstone upon which a sustainable, net zero economy and climate-friendly jobs can be built now and over the long term. We need governments to step up to this reality sooner rather than later.”

Liesbet Steer, Director of the Education Commission­, a global initiative chaired by UN Special Envoy for Global Education and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said: “Creating a climate-literate generation is perhaps the single most valuable public investment to help solve climate change. Well-educated citizens are essential to drive the technological and behavioral shifts needed to dramatically improve adaptation and resilience. But under current trends, half of all graduating students in 2030 will be woefully ill-equipped to thrive in our changing world. Education and climate leaders must act together – as more than 600 international organizations, CSOs, and activists have called for in the #SaveOurFuture campaign.”

Amel Karboul, CEO of the Education Outcomes Fund at the United Nations, said: “85% of youth globally believe they have a responsibility to tackle climate change, yet almost half do not know what they can do about it. What we teach matters. 2021 must be the year the global community listens to the call for climate education, empowering young people to make a real difference to the future of the planet.”

The G20 Education Ministers conference, which takes place in Sicily on June 22, comes six months before the UK-Italy hosted UN climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

Taking place six years after the 2015 UN climate conference where the Paris Agreement was adopted, the November conference aims to ratchet up ambition across the climate change challenge.

To date, few countries have included quality or ambitious climate education in their revised national climate action plans. However, a strong outcome from the G20 Education Ministers could change that and open the door to a declaration or decision in Glasgow where governments agree to implement stronger provisions in national education systems under Article 12 of the Paris Agreement.

To view the Joint Civil Society Statement on Climate Education Ambition, please visit: https://www.earthday.org/joint-civil-society-statement-on-climate-education-ambition/

To view the Brookings Institution Education Plus Development blog co-authored by Kathleen Rogers and Rebecca Winthrop, please visit: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2021/06/02/will-2021-be-the-year-governments-commit-to-quality-climate-education-a-growing-call-for-action-ahead-of-the-g-20/

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 75,000 partners in nearly 192 countries to build environmental democracy. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. Learn more at earthday.org.