Environmental Literacy: A Global Perspective

Ten Strands is a flagship, state-wide effort to promote environmental literacy in California schools. The front-line work of teachers, with the support of their school leadership, departments of education, and NGOs, is at the heart of all climate change education work. In this article, I’d like to share some information about UN endeavours at the global level to promote just these kinds of efforts, including my most recent work with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The imperative for greening education is conveyed not only by this global crisis but the general failure so far of national education systems to integrate this approach. An analysis of one hundred national curriculum frameworks reveals that nearly half (forty-seven percent) do not mention climate change (UNESCO, 2021, p. 1). Unsurprisingly, only one-third of teachers felt able to effectively explain the effects of climate change in their regions (UNESCO, 2021, p. 6) and seventy percent of the youth surveyed in 2021 could not describe the broad principles of climate change due to a lack of quality in the way it is currently taught (UNESCO, 2022, p. 3). Yet, most teachers and students believe that climate change is occurring and view education as necessary in addressing it (Battacharya et al, 2020, p. 7). Clearly, there is an urgent need for greening education. 

From the education sector, education for sustainable development (ESD) has been promoted for decades and is enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on quality education Target 4.7 to ensure all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.

From the environment sector, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (1992), Article 12 of the Paris Agreement (2015), SDG 13 on climate action and its Target 13.3 on improving education, awareness raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning, and more recently, the COP28 Declaration for the Common Agenda for Education and Climate Change, recognized the essential role of education in addressing climate change.

Children and youth activism has been a key impetus to extend long-standing treatment of ESD to highlight the climate crisis. It is also an end goal: more youth need to be activated to address sustainability in their own lives, to educate others, and to influence public sector decision makers and private sector actors with authority to address climate change. The “Youth demands for quality climate change education” (UNESCO, 2022) report calls for increased investment in education to tackle the climate crisis, interdisciplinary approaches, and empowering young people to become agents of change. The “Youth Statement on Quality Climate Education” (Mock COP, 2023) highlights the need to teach young people to recognize the greater historic responsibility of governments and corporations in the Global North for the climate crisis and the unequal burden of the climate crisis on already marginalized communities. Other relevant youth declarations are the Youth Manifesto for Action on Climate Change (Youth4Climate, 2021) and the Youth Declaration on Transforming Education (United Nations, 2022). The Global Youth Statement (COY17, 2022), released during COP27, emphasizes the imperative for sustainability practices that foster harmony between nature and humanity, safeguard and replenish biodiversity and ecosystems, coordinate actions across all stakeholders, and promote sustainable economic development. Additionally, there is a growing demand among young people for climate policies that secure their constitutional right to information and preparedness regarding climate change, as evidenced by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment (2023) for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  This comment urges governments to take decisive action to safeguard the welfare of children amidst the escalating climate crisis.

Four key approaches collectively emerge from these youth declarations: 

• the recognition of the interconnectedness of climate change and the need for a systems-thinking approach to address it
• the importance of adopting a holistic perspective that recognizes the oneness of all things rather than a dualistic worldview that sees the world in terms of binary opposition between human beings and nature
• the recognition of the power of diversity in nature, culture, and knowledge, including recognizing the value of traditional and Indigenous knowledge systems
• the need for a radical rethinking of our economic system, including a rejection of the unlimited growth-centric model and a shift towards a post-growth, post-carbon economic system that prioritizes sustainability, equity, and well-being for all

The task of defining this latest educational approach to climate change with clear learning outcomes is the focus of UNESCO’s Greening Curriculum Guidance (GCG), for which I was the lead author. Greening education aims to highlight the interconnections of the climate crisis to social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development. While climate change is the thematic entry point of greening education, the holistic approach of ESD is the basis for improving the quality and delivery of education responses to the climate crisis and moving learning beyond conventional subject areas and traditional content. 

Education systems are particularly well positioned to equip learners with a foundation of scientific understanding and social and emotional learning related to climate change. This foundation should also include an understanding of how society can respond to climate challenges, integrating a justice-focused approach, fostering constructive coping strategies, and building leadership skills for transformed futures.

The GCG, released in June 2024, is not a curriculum per se but a scope and sequence that covers topics and learning outcomes for the following key concepts:

• climate science
• ecosystems and biodiversity
• climate justice
• resilience building
• post-carbon economies
• sustainable lifestyles 

The objective is to have ninety percent of all countries include climate change in their curricula by 2030. This guidance aims to support countries, schools, and individual practitioners in reassessing their ongoing practices to adopt a more action-oriented, holistic, scientifically accurate, justice-driven, and lifelong-learning approach to climate change.

What does it mean to be climate ready? It means that people are prepared to understand and address the impacts of the climate crisis, empowering them with the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to act as agents of change. I’d like to briefly present four strategies for designing and implementing climate change education that the project team kept in mind when working on the GCG.

The first strategy involves recognizing that we need every actor in society (individual and institutional) to focus on sustainable behavior. The GCG identifies a range of actors who have roles to play in moving societies towards sustainability, including government authorities, energy companies, workplaces, and all educational settings. The burden and potential to promote sustainability will vary by individual group, but it is a responsibility shared by all.

The second strategy, linked with the previous point, is a cross-disciplinary approach to climate change education. Research shows that when this topic is treated in the classroom, it is most likely located in the natural sciences. The project team worked with the three domains already established by UNESCO—environmental, social, and economic—to promote teaching and learning across all subjects and the school as a whole.

The third strategy entails developing learning outcomes in the skills area to move learners into action, such as using green products and engaging in local debates to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation. We also developed learning outcomes for the social-emotional domain not only to foster holistic learning but also to promote climate resilience.

The final strategy was localization, recognizing that effective climate change must take into account local climate conditions, socioeconomic realities, Indigenous cultures, and other features of the local environment that help to focus greening efforts.

I warmly invite you to explore the GCG.