Today, the COP30 climate summit kicked off in Belém, Amazonia, Brazil – And we need world leaders and other stakeholders to protect and prioritise education.
Because the climate crisis is an education crisis.
The challenges are acute:
🌎 The climate crisis is having a devastating impact on children and youth’s education, especially the furthest behind and most vulnerable are at risk.
📍 Globally, over 242 million students experienced school disruptions due to climate-related events in 2024, according to UNICEF.
🔥Heatwaves were the predominant climate hazard disrupting schooling last year, with over 118 million students affected in April 2024 alone.
🏫Adding to this, the loss of school infrastructure is alarming, with the education sector experiencing financial losses of US$4 billion annually due to cyclones alone, according to the World Bank.
But did you know that?
💡 Investing in education is a cost-effective way to address the climate crisis. A small investment in education can deliver returns for decades. On average, every extra year of schooling generates a 10% increase in annual earnings while also helping to advance health, gender equality, and to mitigate climate risks.
💪Moreover, education gives children and youth the skills and knowledge to tackle the crisis.
💰 Despite this, education has long been chronically neglected in climate discussions and financing.
Many agreements at the global, regional and national levels – including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) – do not adequately address the unique vulnerabilities children face. Less than half of the NDCs in the last cycle (2.0) met the standards for being child-sensitive. And in recent years, only 2.4% of financing from key multilateral climate funds was found to support projects incorporating child-responsive activities. (Save the Children and GPE, 2025)
⏰ #COP30 is an opportunity to change course.
We must ensure that education is resourced and prioritised in climate action strategies, and that it is a core focus of climate funding. Investing in education is one of the most efficient ways to tackle the climate crisis. Multilateral climate funds, donors, national governments, philanthropy and others must urgently begin to increase investments in climate-smart education strategies.
For the Irish government, there is work to do:
- Raise Ireland’s climate finance contributions to at least €500 million annually towards Ireland’s estimated fair share.
- Develop a new International Climate Financing Roadmap— one that also addresses the impact of climate change on education.
- Direct climate finance toward education-specific initiatives— supporting climate education in schools, upskilling teachers, while providing disaster preparedness, and building climate-resilient education systems.
- Endorse the COP28 Declaration on the Common Agenda for Education and Climate Change, which recognises the dual role of education: as a sector threatened by the climate crisis and as a driver of sustainable, just, and climate-resilient societies.
- Make education a priority at COP30 by:
- Ensuring that education is resourced and prioritised in national climate action strategies and related processes, including in NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
- Increasing investments in climate resilient education strategies, leveraging opportunities for more strategic co-financing across sectors. This includes prioritising education for all children and youth—especially in climate-vulnerable, conflict-affected and fragile contexts—while enabling the continuity of learning and the resilience of education system.
- Ensuring education is integrated in loss and damage strategies, assessments, costings and funding proposals of fragile and crises-affected countries.
- Enhancing inclusion, participation and representation of children and youth in climate policymaking, including through child-friendly mechanisms in NDCs, NAPs and other climate plans.
- Investing in climate-resilient school infrastructure and climate-related teachings and learnings, for example by embedding green skills and climate education in national curricula, including in emergencies, to empower children, youth and teachers as agents of change for resilience, climate action and a just green transition.
This list of calls to action for COP30 combines the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies’ global call for COP30, which we are supporting, with the recommendations in our 2026 Pre-Budget Submission. Many of our members are part of the EiE Hub, and together we are amplifying these priorities.
Please, stay tuned and follow us on LinkedIn to learn more about the vital links between education and climate action and COP30.
🔗 For more information, see the EiE Hub’s 2023 Flagship Report: https://eiehub.org/resource/leveraging-education-in-emergencies-for-climate-action
🔗 INEW’s Pre-Budget Submission: https://educationworldwide.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/INEW-Pre-Budget-2026-Submission-Final.pdf
🔗 The EiE Hub’s political statement: https://eiehub.org/news/cop30-put-childrens-education-at-the-heart-of-discussions
