Shaping a resilient future: #GreeningEducation at the core of COP29

“From early childhood to higher education and vocational training, we must ensure that learners are equipped with a robust understanding of climate science as well as of social and economic aspects of climate change. Beyond just knowledge, learners need to empathize with others and harness their own agency to actively drive climate solutions,” said Christopher Castle, UNESCO’s Director of Peace and Sustainable Development. 

UNESCO, the COP Presidency and at least 15 international and financing organizations* launched the Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience. This new initiative integrates human development—including education, health, social protection, and job creation with special attention to children and youth—into climate action. In a joint statement, the organizations made a collective pledge to create greater synergies to tackle the climate crisis. 

At the heart of this Initiative are the Baku guiding principles on human development for climate resilience. This is a comprehensive framework outlining 12 actionable principles which aim to integrate human development into climate action. It recognizes that education must empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to create sustainable solutions. 

It also includes the development of climate resilient, low-carbon education systems, to better cope with climate shocks; and better national and international learning assessments to track learning outcomes on sustainable development and climate change.

To achieve this ambition, pledges need to be turned into action. This means accelerating political and financial support for greening education, accompanied by increased overall financing for the education sector, with a particular focus on targeted investments in green transitions, research and innovation. As a founding signatory to the Baku guiding principles and joint statement, UNESCO is actively advancing this agenda. 

Political commitment for greening education has been strengthening, as evidenced by the Declaration on the common agenda for education and climate change at COP28 which has been endorsed by 90 countries to date. However, more needs to be done.

Earlier this year, UNESCO released two new global standards for greening schools and curricula, highlighting the need to empower young people to play a concrete role in tackling the climate crisis. Prepared together with the Greening Education Partnership (GEP), the green schools quality standard  and the green curriculum guidance, which provide countries with concrete advice on how to mainstream environmental education across school subjects, at all levels of education. To further enhance this initiative, guidance on teacher training and community involvement is being developed through global consultations, launched by the GEP in conjunction with COP 29.

UNESCO is also firmly committed to strengthening and scaling collective global efforts to green education, building on its long-standing work in education for sustainable development, and its role as the host of the GEP.  This Partnership, which includes 93 countries and over 1400 organizations illustrates the enormous potential of bringing organizations together to advance climate action. 

^{* The following international organizations, multilateral development banks, and international climate and environmental funds are signatories of the joint statement to date: COP Presidency (Azerbaijan), Adaptation Fun, Asian Development Bank, AIIB, Green Climate Fund, ILO, ISDB, IOM, The Global Fund, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNIDO, UN Women and WHO.}