Education as a Strategy for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, education on climate change was envisaged in international instances as an indispensable and global strategy to achieve an ecological transition, but only emerged in education systems after 2010, and especially after the Climate Paris Agreement (2015). These international and national contexts are examined, as they have led to a wealth of scholar contributions, briefly reviewed here. Most of these converge, detailing the potential content and specifics of such education, its place within the broad Sustainable Development Goals, and its position with respect to classical subjects in primary and secondary formal education. Curricula changes and especially teacher practices are central to implement climate change education worldwide. Fortunately, promising initiatives are emerging in Europe, Latin America, India, and the United States. Some of these are described here in more detail and may inspire further developments.