From classroom to climate action: Invest to safeguard our future

‘With very little material, I can get my students to truly understand climate change experientially,’ says Maribel Fernández Baeza, Director of an elementary school in Veracruz, Mexico.

Climate change education empowers students to act and develop solutions to address local environmental challenges. © OCE

Situated on the Gulf of Mexico, Veracruz is home to vibrant reefs, lush mountains, and beaches; conversely, the region is susceptible to the extremities of climate change. Rising sea levels, coastal erosion, heavy rains, and prolonged droughts threaten not only the community’s livelihoods and natural resources but also the region’s infrastructure.

Raising awareness about environmental uncertainties is not enough to inspire action. It needs to be ingrained as life choices, behaviours and attitudes. There’s no better way than starting at an early age by introducing climate change education (CCE) in schools.   

Despite strong evidence of education’s impact on effective climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, honing green skills, and unlocking new employment opportunities, it remains largely overlooked in policy, planning, and financing. Investment in safeguarding our children’s future remains painfully scarce; a mere 1.5 percent of global climate finance is allocated to the education sector (World Bank). Even after, extreme weather has forced school closures for a staggering 400 million students around the world since 2022.

Narrowing disparities

International agreements like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement underlined the importance of ‘Action for Climate Empowerment’. Even at the last COP, the ‘Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience’ called to prioritise education, skills, health, and the labour market with specific attention to the needs of children and youth from vulnerable communities. Yet disparities loom large between ambition and reality. UNESCO estimates that 95 percent of teachers acknowledged the importance of educating students about climate change, but ironically, less than 30 percent felt equipped to teach the subject effectively. Climate and education crises are not isolated issues; each threatens to amplify the other.

Therefore, as internationally operative non-profit organisations, both Siemens Stiftung (Foundation) and Office for Climate Education (OCE) have developed a framework to address this acute issue. Embracing a three-pronged strategy, we successfully implemented CCE [JD1] through the América Latina para la Educación Climática (ALEC) program, a model of contextualised, community-driven climate change education.

1. Teachers as catalysts of change

Building teachers’ competencies through contextualised training © Siemens Stiftung

Firstly, teachers take on the role of change makers to drive a transformative shift. High-quality professional development ensures that educators can confidently navigate the complexities and impart lessons to their pupils. Teachers are trained to introduce project-based learning in classrooms that are relevant, regional, and rooted in students’ surroundings and environmental challenges. ‘Through workshops with experts, we’ve learned so much, gaining simple, hands-on strategies and practices that make it possible to unpack the myriad dynamics of climate change with our students,’ says Leopoldo Meneses Gutierrez, teacher at a secondary school in Veracruz.

2. Agile and scalable

Additionally, creating and disseminating scientifically and pedagogically vetted and openly licensed educational materials in the form of Open Education Resources (OER) has significantly improved uptake among students. Contextualised educational materials reflecting local realities enable students to connect global climate concepts to their daily lives—turning abstract science into tangible experiences. Students develop classroom-based solutions from rainwater harvesting systems to climate-resilient school gardens to support climate adaptation and mitigation within their own communities. These projects are uploaded as OER and made freely available online, allowing educators worldwide to adapt them to their local contexts.

Embracing a ‘glocal’ approach, these resources are designed to be both embedded in local realities and easily replicable across regions. We are taking this model forward by introducing our CCE program in Kenya, advancing the successful practices developed in Latin America to the African context.

3. Engaged Communities of Practice

Impact is amplified when we join forces with partners to create networks and nurture communities of practice. By uniting experts from the pedagogical and scientific fields, we cultivate a culture of shared learning grounded in practical experience. Local alliances with education authorities, policymakers, and civil society extend the reach and empower not only students but also their families and communities to act.

This has resulted in forming a robust network of allies across Latin America, who presented our approach at regional conferences, urging the formal integration of CCE in national educational plans and school curricula.

Advocacy to diversify investment

At Climate Week in New York this year, we took a leap: From the regional to the global stage. Together, we hosted a strategic roundtable: ‘Unlocking the transformative power of climate change education’. Bringing educators, experts, international institutions, youth, and civil society to facilitate cross-sectoral dialogue on the role of education and its integration into national climate strategies. Coinciding with the UN General Assembly, it stood out as one of the very few platforms that placed CCE at the centre of global climate discourse. Even more uniquely, it brought together a rich global perspective.

Roundtable participants at the Climate Week NYC © Siemens Stiftung

The roundtable highlighted the next frontier for climate education: Securing financing, embedding education in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): Climate targets set by countries under the Paris Agreement. NDCs outline individual plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and adapt to the impacts of climate change (adaptation). Participants called to broaden funding sources and integrate education into national climate strategies and financing mechanisms. Underscoring the importance of countering climate-related misinformation early on, speakers highlighted the value of translating climate negotiations into youth-friendly language to encourage larger engagement.

Combating climate change collectively

Early introduction of CCE has a lifelong positive impact © Siemens Stiftung

Dr. Ingrid Sanchez, Advisor to UNICEF, was among the roundtable panellists and offered reasons for optimism. ‘UNFCCC findings indicate: 78 percent of countries now include climate change education in their national strategies, up from 55 percent in earlier commitments. From establishing laws and policies to ensure children and youth have access to CCE, to providing training and resources for teachers, and making schools more low-carbon and climate-resilient; education is increasingly being recognised as a core component of effective climate action.’

As COP returns to Latin America, as a UNESCO Centre, OCE is happy to bring voices from the remotest regions to the fore through the fifth edition of TeachersCOP, the global platform for educators committed to addressing climate change through education. With over 500 project submissions from educators in 83 countries, the initiative demonstrates that CCE is far more than the transfer of knowledge; it is a transformative force of empowerment, collaboration, and leadership.

Siemens Stifting will share our shared approach on CCE at the session Powering Net Zero: The Case for Climate Education at COP30. ‘There’s no need to reinvent the wheel; with eight years of experience and important learnings working alongside cross-sector partners, successfully implemented evidence-based pilot programmes that demonstrate both effectiveness and affordability. We remain attentive to explore collaborative opportunities to take our approach to other regions, empowering climate action in a more informed and responsible generation,’ adds Badin Borde, Deputy Head, Education at Siemens Stiftung.’

Dr. Nina Smidt is the  Managing Director (CEO) and the Spokesperson of the Board of Directors of the international foundation, Siemens Stiftung. David Wilgenbus is the Executive Director of the Office for Climate Education.