Welcoming the Declaration for Education and Climate Change
08 December 2023
We have welcomed the publication of The Declaration on the Common Agenda for Education and Climate Change, which was presented during a high-level session on greening education today (8 December) in the Greening Education Hub as part of COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.
The date marks Youth and Education Day at COP28 and the document was launched at a session focussing on youth based action and green education.
Drafted based on the inputs from the Greening Education Partnership member states, stakeholders as well as the partner countries of Global Partnership for Education, and with the support of the UK as an Advisory Group member of the Greening Education Partnership and the host of COP26, the document aims to renew country commitments and actions on the role of education in adapting and mitigating climate change and the need for more investment to accelerate greening education globally during COP28 and beyond.
You can access the Education Climate Declaration with the current list of countries recognised as founding partners on the COP28 dedicated page.
Catherine Gee, our Deputy CEO, commented: “The need for green and sustainable schools has never been more important. We recognised that there are significant gaps in how climate change education is taught in classrooms in Scotland, with educators and young people demanding more support. In response to this we created our Climate Action Schools framework, embedded the climate and nature emergencies into our Eco-Schools topics and developed the innovative Climate Ready Classrooms programme.
“For those of us working to deepen and broaden climate change education this is a significant moment and we recognise the commitment and leadership that has been shown by the UK Department of Education, and the support of our colleagues in the Scottish Government for ensuring this declaration was made.
We are proud to be the Scottish member of the International Eco-Schools programme, now implemented in more than 43,000 schools globally which helps embed environmental education in schools worldwide.
This announcement today will help galvanise political support and mainstream the priority that is climate education in schools across the globe and we are proud to play our part.
