AFRICA

HE, students pivotal in the climate change battle – COP30

Across Africa, universities, research institutions and youth-led movements are set to build on key outcomes of COP30 to demonstrate how knowledge can be transformed into agency, and education can become the foundation of climate resilience.

The 2025 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP30), held from 10-21 November in Belém, Brazil, focused on the theme, ‘Collective efforts to address climate change’.

Calls for climate education to be a foundational investment across all levels of learning – including universities – has been a feature of this year’s gathering.

Following the launch of the 2025 Global Youth Statement (GYS) at the start of COP30, highlighting education’s role in climate justice and representing 30,000 young voices, including from Africa’s most climate-vulnerable communities, UNESCO later unveiled new education tools under its existing Greening Education Partnership (GEP), which includes practical strategies to support governments, universities, educators and local authorities in the climate change battle.

Julia Heiss, chief of the section for Education for Sustainable Development at UNESCO, speaking about the new GEP tools, underscored the pivotal role of universities and young people in climate action.

“Positioning schools and universities as sustainability leaders accelerates progress because they act as influential voices on the ground … We also emphasise youth engagement, as young people are often the initiators of local initiatives and the future decision-makers,” she said.

The GYS, produced through YOUNGO, the youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and drawing on input from young people across 100 countries, places science, education and research at the heart of climate justice and resilience, calling on “all governments to integrate climate education into formal, non-formal and informal learning systems, ensuring access for all, especially those in vulnerable communities”.

It also emphasised that learning systems must equip the youth with “the scientific understanding, practical skills and civic capacity to participate meaningfully in climate decision-making”.

“We see higher education as a space where solutions can grow, where research meets community needs, and where young people can learn to lead with evidence. We highlight the role of academic institutions in fostering interdisciplinary research, promoting climate literacy and ensuring that education serves both people and the planet,” the statement said.

Gideon Agyapong, representing the Climate and Development Knowledge Network Ghana, and serving on the GYS taskforce, outlined the way forward: “We cannot stop when COP30 ends. In fact, on the contrary – we start when COP ends. Young people in Africa should personalise the GYS, piece out elements that reflect local experience and advocate for authorities to adopt and implement these demands.”

Several universities and technical institutions in Africa have already embarked on the roadmap the Global Youth Statement has outlined.

The University of Ghana, for example, through its Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies (C3SS), has been integrating multidisciplinary academic programmes with field research and policy dialogues that directly support climate governance. This approach aims to equip students to play a part in climate and infrastructure reform.

Agyapong stressed that Ghana’s higher education ecosystem is evolving into an incubator for the next generation of climate leaders, with a growing appetite for collaboration, innovation and youth partnership. He emphasised that Africa’s youth were actively involved in drafting the GYS through local youth conferences.

“Universities in Ghana are stepping forward as engines of climate action, turning research, learning and community engagement into real policy influence.

“At the University of Ghana, the C3SS is not just teaching climate science, it’s connecting classrooms to policymakers and communities in ways that equip young people to lead in finding meaningful climate solutions,” he said.

“At the same time, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is advancing collaborative climate research through the Ghana Climate University Network, creating platforms for cross-institutional learning and context-specific adaptation strategies. Their work is especially important in a country with diverse ecological zones and localised vulnerabilities,” Agyapong said.

He outlined that teacher training colleges across Ghana were also embedding sustainability principles into curricula and campus life, introducing initiatives such as e-waste recycling and environmental clubs.

“These efforts collectively support a wider national push to integrate youth leadership into climate policy, including the development of youth-led plans of action for Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions [country plans to reduce emissions] and strengthening climate-smart infrastructure participation. The GYS is our opportunity as youths to effectively demand policies that empower us to take action for the ‘Future We Want’,” said Agyapong.

According to Malebane Diana Poka, the executive director of the Climate Refugees Initiative and the national coordinator for Climate Live Lesotho, the Global Youth Statement reflects the lived experience of African youth.

“As an African youth, I feel the 2025 Global Youth Statement captures what many of us have been fighting for: real recognition, real solutions, and real inclusion in climate decisions,” she said.

She noted that African youth experienced climate shocks that affected food systems, jobs, education and physical safety, making the GYS, not only relevant, but essential for the region.

She outlined how universities in Lesotho are gradually stepping up their efforts in climate action, for example, the National University of Lesotho and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology were integrating climate-related content into their programmes.

“There is growing interest in environmental research, renewable energy studies and climate-focused student clubs, but the pace of change is slow compared to the urgency of the climate crisis,” Poka noted.

“This is exactly where my work comes in. We are engaging with universities to streamline students into the climate space in a more intentional way – not just through theory, but through practical exposure, activism and leadership development.

“Through Climate Live Lesotho and Fridays For Future, we are bringing workshops, dialogues and innovation spaces directly to students, helping them build the skills, confidence, and networks needed to tackle climate challenges.

“Our goal is to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world climate action by engaging a new audience, educating them, and empowering emerging climate leaders,” Poka explained.

Reekelitsoe Molapo, an environmental activist and youth advocate at the Lesotho youth climate network, explained why climate education is essential for building resilience, enabling informed decisions, and empowering communities: “I believe that, when we prioritise climate education, it will enable people to participate effectively in climate processes and action,” she said.

She explained that climate change awareness and education must start early and be embedded in formal curricula within learning institutions.

“At country level, we are ensuring that our curriculums are also adapted to integrate climate change education, starting from primary level to high school, and then obviously to tertiary institutions.

“As a network, we have partnered with the National Curriculum Development Centre in my country to push these efforts, and those partnerships also help to ensure that we advance the climate change education agenda,” she highlighted.

Meanwhile, higher education institutions can draw on UNESCO’s new suite or dashboard of GEP tools designed to position climate education as a cornerstone of preparing future generations for escalating climate challenges.

The GEP, which has been evolving during the past three years, bringing together 97 countries and nearly 2,000 organisations, is premised on the declaration that education is one of the most powerful levers available to governments seeking to build climate-ready societies.

Said Unesco’s Heiss: “The Greening Education Partnership is evidence-based … showing major gaps in climate education – nearly half of national curricula omit climate change, and most young people feel unable to explain it.

“Education is one of the most powerful tools in global efforts to address the climate crisis. We must ensure that every learner is equipped, not only to understand the challenges, but also to take action as part of the transition to a greener, more sustainable society,” she told University World News.

GEP’s four pillars to address this gap include: greening educational institutions, greening curriculums, greening teacher training and system capacities, and greening communities.

She also outlined that the curriculum greening tool has been widely embraced because it provides practical entry points for policy reform and is rooted in realities on the ground.

Higher education institutions, for instance, which train the majority of curriculum specialists, textbook authors, teacher educators and education leaders, are central to ensuring that such tools translate into effective national reforms.

Universities are also able to link their work with communities by drawing on indigenous knowledge, participatory learning, eco-audits, neighbourhood projects and community mapping.

Katerina Ananiadou, a team leader of the GEP, said that, through the tools, researchers and institutions are able to track progress across educational institutions, teacher education and community learning in a transparent way.

“We developed the platform in phases so that it can keep growing with the partnership – new tools, new datasets, and new commitments will be continuously added. This approach ensures that the dashboard [of tools] remains a living, dynamic resource for monitoring green schools, curricula, teacher training, and community action as they take shape around the world,” Ananiadou said.

* See the recent University World News