Climate Action
The European Union Climate Negotiators Focus On Climate Education
February 7, 2025
Climate education took center stage as 27 EU Climate and Environment Government Departments gathered in Gdansk, Poland, under the Polish Presidency of the EU Council.
Since COP26 in Glasgow, EARTHDAY.ORG has been pushing for climate education and green skills training to be included in the National Climate Commitments (NDCs) of every signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement. As a result, over 40 countries have now integrated climate education in some capacity into their contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC. Not all of them have prioritized it enough and there is much more work to be done but we have made a great deal of headway.
So, Is Climate Education Finally on the Planet Saving Agenda?
It’s getting there! EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest environmental movement promoting formal climate education through initiatives like the Climate Education Coalition and the global Climate Education Campaign. We have been championing climate education for over ten years, starting in 2013 with an early climate education report funded by the World Bank. In 2022, we hosted the first Climate Education Pavilion at COP27 in Egypt, and since then, we’ve continued our campaign to include climate education in school curricula worldwide.
Last year we released our influential Climate Education vs the Climate Crisis Report which helped to inform our working meetings with climate negotiators from the Polish EU Presidency and the European Union Member States at COP28. We continued our efforts at the UN Bonn Conference in June, 2023, then at New York Climate Week, 2024, and during the UN Climate Conference in Baku, for COP29. Not to mention making hundreds of phone calls, sending thousands of emails, and planning a plethora of meetings – all to push for the inclusion of climate education in the EU’s NDC.
EDO’s work has started to make real headway, and last week at a critically important European Union, EU, meeting in Gdansk, Poland. Climate education was firmly on the agenda at the meeting, according to Katarzyna Wrona, Director of Clean Air & Climate Negotiations at the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment. What is more, the EARTHDAY.ORG NDC Tracker was presented officially to all 27 delegations of the EU.
The NDC Tracker is an easy-to-use ranking of how well countries are doing on adding climate education as laid out in their NDCs. The United Kingdom, Cambodia and Dominican Republic are among the leading champions, but check out the NDC Tracker to see where your country is on the list!
“Climate education on the table of EU negotiations is a big step forward. The Paris Agreement, signed on Earth Day 2016, requires countries to invest and commit to formal climate education at schools in their NDC which is fundamental to implementation of the goals of the Agreement.”
Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG
What Drove the Recent Momentum Behind Climate Education?
The Heads of European Climate Delegations were in Gdansk to prepare and discuss EU priorities for the forthcoming COP30 summit in Belem, Brazil in November 2025. So it was timely that Brazil’s Climate Minister Marina Silva, at EARTHDAY.ORGs request, recently announced her support for climate education as a subject that should be taught in all schools. Her support for adding it to NDCs means this EDO’s campaign is garnering real traction both from the EU side as well as from the host country for COP30 itself.
“It is essential to include processes of climate education and climate environmental education, both in the formulation and implementation of the NDCs, to ensure they are truly aligned with the 1.5’C mission.”
Marina Silva Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil.
You can see Marina Silva’s message in full here but her strong support is an important step, especially as it comes just ahead of the official, international deadline for NDC submissions to the UNFCCC in February, 2025. EARTHDAY.ORG urges all countries to integrate climate education into their Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs.
“The culmination of the presentation was in line with the EARTHDAY.ORG diagnosis, signaling the introduction of a clear climate education framework into the EU NDC, which was well-received and understood by the representatives of EU Member States”
Julia Galosh, President of Polish Youth Climate Council
There is still time for your country to integrate climate education in the NDC, use the EARTHDAY.ORG NDC Guide and advocate for your government to meet the Article 12th of the Paris Agreement.
Climate education is what students, teachers, parents, and industry are ALL calling for, the time to act is NOW. Negotiators – make this Earth Day super special and in honor of our 55th anniversary give us the gift we deserve and the world needs – put climate education in your NDC.
