Climate Change Learning

In Bangladesh, where catastrophic flooding now affects millions of households annually, an organisation called Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha has been operating solar-powered floating schools for over two decades — but the model is gaining renewed international attention in 2026 as climate adaptation moves from policy documents into infrastructure design. The boats function as classrooms, libraries, digital learning centres, and clinics, reaching children who would otherwise lose months of schooling each year to seasonal flooding. ⛵📚 The scale of the problem these schools address is significant. Bangladesh is one of the world's most flood-vulnerable countries, with over 17% of its land at risk of permanent inundation by 2050 under moderate climate projections. During monsoon season, rural communities in the northern and central river delta regions can be cut off for weeks. Conventional school buildings simply stop functioning. Children — particularly girls — are disproportionately affected when schools close and families prioritise boys' continued education. 🌊👧 The floating school model inverts the infrastructure assumption: instead of building land infrastructure that floods will damage, build infrastructure that operates on the water. The boats are solar-powered for both propulsion and onboard electricity. Digital tablets, satellite connectivity, and trained local teachers bring curricula aligned to Bangladesh's national standards. Women and girls also receive training in climate-adaptive agriculture, water management, and financial literacy aboard designated floating training centres. ☀️📱 In 2026, international development organisations including UNICEF and World Bank are studying the model for replication across other flood-affected regions — the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, low-lying areas of Nigeria's Niger Delta, and parts of Pakistan's Indus floodplain. The challenge is not the concept — it is the local organisational capacity and funding continuity required to sustain fleets of boats over decades. 🌏💡 The structural lesson Bangladesh offers to the world is this: climate adaptation is not only about seawalls and early-warning systems. It is about redesigning core social infrastructure — schools, clinics, markets — to function under the climate conditions that are already here, not the ones we hope to avoid.

We are in an educational crisis in my view. I'm speaking with startups that are scaling and large corporate executives who are scaling their businesses and hiring like hell. >> They all have two things they look and most people don't have those skills because to be honest it's new and schools, and the educational systems are trying to keep up: 1. Green skills. 2. AI Skills. One of my focus areas these days is to work with universitiesto build new educational value propositions to create more and more leaders who are proficient in both areas. >> The latest LinkedIn 2024 Green Skills report shows a remarkable picture of incredible demand for talent with green skills vs. the low supply of talent. I don't think that you will see a job post without the two skills of sustainability and AI today, from small and large companies. In just one year, the skill of sustainability was among the fastest-growing in the technology industry across so many countries, including Switzerland with over 150%, Brazil (61.9%), India (56.4%), the US (46.9%), and France (41.4%). Here are a few thoughts of how we should approach this in my view globally: 1. Start early for the long term - Schools should implement green skills education and integration of AI tools from a very young age. Don't get me wrong, I believe that play and hands on experience is most important in education, but bringing in the language and tools to class, will develop and prepare our next generation to be ready for the jobs and opportunities ahead. 2. Executive Education for short term - Educating our kids is a long term strategy and will take us 20-30 years, but we need those skills now. I believe that Executive Education focusing on leadership, AI, Green skills is a great mechanism to bring leaders up to speed with green skills and sustainability. I am working with great universities such as London business School, Harvard and Stanford to do just that. 3. Corporations and Startups taking an active education role - In the past it was common that large corporations would take an active role in training and skilling people in their communities to create supply for their demands of jobs in factories and facilities. Startup founders should think about it and Corporate CEOs too. Build a training program with your expertise and your people, even charge for that, create academies, in cooperation with universities around you. 4. Education and skill is infrastructure as well - In climate, I deal a lot with the investments of energy infrastructure in parallel to breakthrough technologies. I believe that we need to funnel investments to sustainability education, it's a part of our infrastructure, and if we start to think systems, it would be clearer why we must invest in EdTech, programs as much as we need in new materials and data centers. #GreenSkills #Sustainability #GreenerTogether #Education #Technology #Jobs #AI #Leaders #Climate #GreenEconomy #UpSkilling

Kym Field School Reimagining Education in Africa Collectif M.A.M.O.T.H., 2015 A school inspired by the oldest tree in the village where learning traditionally happens in shade, community, and climate harmony. 🔹 Design Philosophy Rooted in African vernacular wisdom rather than imported models Architecture that works with climate, not against it Education infrastructure as a community asset, not an isolated building 🔹 Key Architectural Strategies Floating roof canopy made from plant fibres, functioning like tree foliage to provide shade and ventilation Earth walls acting as the “trunk,” offering thermal mass and protection from heat and rain Central patio that enables passive cooling, daylighting, and rainwater collection Bioclimatic layout optimized for Sub-Saharan climatic conditions 🔹 Social & Community Impact School doubles as a community gathering space Encourages social interaction beyond formal classroom hours Reinforces local identity, culture, and collective ownership 🔹 Scalability & Future Readiness Evolutionary design allows incremental expansion Covered forecourt can be transformed into classrooms as the community grows Low-tech, low-cost, locally adaptable construction approach 🔹 Why It Matters Demonstrates how architecture can support education, climate resilience, and social cohesion A strong example of context-driven, sustainable African architecture Simple. Intelligent. Deeply African. This is what future ready education infrastructure looks like. Project reference: https://lnkd.in/gTym45CM #africanarchitecture #educationinafrica #bioclimaticarchitecture #vernaculararchitecture #sustainablearchitecture #architectureforcommunity #subSaharanafrica #designwithpurpose #greenarchitecture

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Great discussion as the East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) team delved into Green Skills; which refers to the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes required to support and promote the sustainable development of society and economy in a liveable planet. The global shift toward sustainability is not only a moral and environmental imperative but also an economic one, requiring urgent adaptation across sectors, educational systems, and workforce policies. The demand for green skills is increasing rapidly, as industries and governments look to meet sustainability goals. Green skills encompass a broad range of competencies—from technical know-how in renewable energy technologies to knowledge about sustainable supply chain management and eco-friendly design. A few EASTRIP Action Items taken on: ❇ Revise national qualification frameworks, strategy and guidelines to explicitly include competencies related to sustainability, climate change mitigation, and green technologies. ❇Identify and standardize key green competencies across sectors. ❇Integrate sustainability into core curricula at all levels . ❇ Create green certification programs or update existing qualifications to ensure they meet new sustainability standards.Ensure that certification systems align with evolving industry needs, or green certification bodies. ❇ Expand programs related to green technology (e.g., solar, wind, electric vehicles) and climate change mitigation and adaptation to equip students with the technical knowledge needed in emerging industries. ❇ Update teaching materials and create new pedagogies that blend sustainability principles with real-world applications. ❇ Invest in lifelong learning platforms (both online and offline) that offer continuous education in green technologies and sustainable practices. ❇Foster cross-sector collaboration to promote the sharing of knowledge and best practices on integrating sustainability into industry models and daily operations. ❇  Establish public-private partnerships to fund re-skilling programs tailored to individuals in high-emission industries. ❇Promote partnerships with industry leaders to provide hands-on training or internships in sustainable industries. There is much to consider and address as we move towards a green economy; however, as the saying goes -''If we are not paying for it - someone else is!'' #skilldevelopment #tvet #integration #eastafrica #education #ethiopia #kenya #tanzania

NEW PAPER! Something that's been on my mind lately: How can we (in the education sector) build better links between climate finance and education? One answer: By strengthening the evidence of the multitude of climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience outcomes made possible by education investments. This task of measuring the climate impacts of education has driven an entire portfolio of my work lately. The latest is a think piece focused on: 1) mapping out the known and potential education pathways to climate outcomes (beware--it's a messy map!) 2) examining the state of evidence supporting these pathways (beware--it's humbling!), and 3) providing recommendations on how we might leverage data and evidence to fast-track efforts toward co-investing in education as a climate strategy by climate funders. My main takeaway: For those education investments for which the evidence base is slim, this isn't a reason why we should distance ourselves from them. Rather, this is a signal that we need more R&D into innovative data collection approaches and modeling methodologies. I hope that some of the ideas I've laid out in the paper will help stir up discussion across the education community! Don't forget to check out the map! (linked in the paper to a MiroBoard) And if you want to learn more about international climate finance instruments that the education sector should be exploring, check out Manisha Kabra Gulati's paper, linked below! Both our think pieces provide complementary perspectives from the education and climate finance sides. Link to my paper on education pathways to climate finance: https://lnkd.in/eRtXeX4e Link to Manisha's paper on climate finance instruments: https://lnkd.in/e6SNrx_3 A huge thanks to Sarah Lane Smith and Camilla Pankhurst (nee Lewis) at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Shanice Mohanlal and Nhlanhla Mthembu at the CLEAN Helpdesk at SouthSouthNorth for the opportunity to work on this piece!

I’ve realised something over the years while running workshops at Techno India University and through our work at the rebalance institute: sustainability is quite easy to explain on a slide, but much harder for students to feel if they’ve never actually interacted with it in real life. When I walk into a room where learners have never sorted waste, wandered around town after a flood, noticed air quality shifts, composted, or connected climate events to what we teach in class, there’s often a gap. As tangible as these events can be in Kolkata, students nod, try to follow, but the ideas stay suspended in theory. Then there are classrooms where students connect the dots instantly. They relate what’s on the board to the world outside the window. When we facilitate Climate Fresk sessions or sustainability workshops in places where students have been encouraged earlier in life to observe their environment, ask questions, or participate in even the smallest community action, the energy is entirely different. The dots join faster. They bring in their own examples. Their solutions are grounded in what they know, have lived, or have felt. It’s not about geography. It’s about exposure and critical thinking. It's about how our education systems are built - and to date, most of them don’t give young learners the tools to bridge that theory–practice divide. The four walls often stay too thick. This is exactly why hands-on learning matters. The moment students step out of the classroom, whether they’re running a cleanup drive, talking to people in the community, composting their own waste, or just standing by a riverbank or a busy street and looking at it through a sustainability lens, you can literally see the difference. Climate change stops feeling theoretical and starts feeling real and connected to their own lives. So as we build our portfolio of learning experiences at the rebalance institute, we keep that in mind. When we facilitate the Climate Fresk workshop, we give local examples of Cyclone Amphan, summer heatwaves, and the latest flood a few weeks ago during Durga Puja (from the heaviest rains in 37 years). We also facilitate clean-up drives, in partnership with and in continuation of the incredible work that The River Rangers have been doing along the Ganges ghats since 2019. We want students to actually go out, observe real ecosystems, notice how things work, and take small actions that fit the place they live in. And the shift shows up faster than you’d expect. Climate change stops being this huge “global issue” floating somewhere out there. It becomes their river, neighbourhood, and air quality. Once learning becomes something they’ve actually lived, climate literacy naturally turns into climate responsibility. When students match what they’re taught with what they see around them, that’s when they start feeling like they can do something about it.

In the era of escalating planetary crises, the way we discuss climate change is just as important as the actions we take. As someone working at the intersection of advocacy, youth engagement, and climate justice, I often find myself in rooms filled with complex terminology like “NDCs,” “loss and damage,” “just transition,” and “resilience mechanisms.” While these terms resonate within policy circles, they often leave grassroots communities, youth, and local journalists behind. Climate science isn’t the problem; communicating it is. Despite the growing urgency, climate communication still struggles with jargon-heavy language, top-down narratives, and a lack of contextual sensitivity. Whether it's climate justice, adaptation policies, or carbon markets, messages often fail to reach the communities most affected. Too often, climate messages are designed for donors, diplomats, or data scientists, not for farmers, fishers, or frontline youth. This disconnect limits understanding and hinders action. That’s why I co-founded the Climate Communicators Community in Bangladesh with my friend Nayoka Martinez-Bäckström . Our goal? To bridge the gap between science, policy, and people by equipping a new generation of climate storytellers who can decode complexity, translate urgency, and amplify community voices. From climate journalism to strategic communications, from social media to policy briefs, Bangladesh needs a diverse, inclusive, and locally rooted communication ecosystem that can amplify the unheard voices from the frontline, influence policymakers, and share the Bangladeshi climate justice narrative on the global stage. We also need to embrace diverse platforms whether it’s TikTok, community radio, or local storytelling forums, to reach different audiences where they are. We’re building a space where young communicators, researchers, journalists, and activists can collaborate, experiment, and learn from each other. Because communication isn’t just a tool, it’s a frontline of climate justice. Here’s what we need instead: 🔹 Localisation of climate narratives, not just translating English to Bangla or another language/ dialects, but embedding messages in cultural, emotional, and community contexts. 🔹 Storytelling over statistics—people remember stories, not numbers. The tale of a family displaced by river erosion can convey climate impacts more powerfully than a temperature graph. 🔹 Dialogue over monologue—communication shouldn’t be top-down. Engaging communities in co-creating solutions can bridge trust and inspire action. 🔹 Reclaiming platforms—youth, frontline communities, Indigenous people, and climate-vulnerable groups must not only be “consulted” but empowered to communicate their own truths in their own words. I’m committed to reimagining climate communication from Gaibandha to Geneva to ensure the people most affected by the crisis are not just spoken about, but spoken with. #ClimateCommunication

3 Powerful Lessons from Jordan’s Climate Resilience Front Lines What truly happens when global climate goals meet local community realities? The recent Training Workshops for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Climate Change Adaptation Practices in Jordan—part of the Building Resilience to Cope with climate change in Jordan through improving water use efficiency in the agriculture sector (BRCCJ) project—offer compelling answers from Madaba, Karak, Tafileh, and Ma’an. The goal was to strengthen community capacity in areas like Rainwater Harvesting and Environmental Farming. While the training achieved its technical objectives, the most impactful insights came from the unexpected human takeaways. Here are the three lessons shaping how we approach resilience and engagement: 1. Women are Dominating the Adaptation Movement. Across all training sessions, women consistently represented a higher proportion of participants. Overall, women constituted approximately 66% of the total participants. This was not a minor difference; in Ma’an, female attendance reached an incredible 77% on the second day. This highlights the critical, often understated, role women play as active leaders and drivers of environmental awareness at the local level. 2. Climate Action is Inseparable from Economic Justice. Trainers faced difficulty adhering strictly to the planned curriculum because discussions frequently diverted from the technical material. Why? Participants were constantly complaining about economic hardships and unfair development between Amman and their governorates. This reveals that for communities, effective climate action requires addressing the underlying financial capacity and holistic needs, proving that the real conversation is often the one that isn’t on the agenda. 3. Targeted Local Training Delivers Measurable Results. Focused, community-level education works. Using pre- and post-training assessments, the workshops demonstrated a concrete and measurable improvement in participant knowledge. Knowledge increases ranged from 7.4% to 21.1%. The most dramatic success was seen in Ma’an, which showed a 21.1% increase in understanding of the training topics on water harvesting and water use efficiency, and conservation. Furthermore, participant satisfaction was overwhelmingly high, with 85% to 90% of attendees agreeing or strongly agreeing on the training's quality and organization in governorates like Madaba and Karak. The successful mobilization of 49 CSOs and the use of interactive activities like group discussions and practical exercises confirm that the path to climate resilience must be built on local knowledge and led by community voices. #ClimateAction #Jordan #WaterSecurity #CSOs #SustainableDevelopment #GreenEconomy #BRCCJ #FAO #SSV

We keep saying the next generation will save us. Jeffrey Chang is teaching them how. In the middle of schoolyards facing extreme heat, students in #HongKong are using drones, sensors, and climate models to track the problem for themselves, not hypothetically, but with real data, in real time. This week, I’m therefore proud to spotlight Jeffrey’s work as part of my summer series. He’s a young geographer, urban climatology researcher, and founder of GeogSTEM Education Limited and he’s building one of the most relevant education models I’ve seen in climate adaptation. His project Micro Campus turns secondary schools into living laboratories. Students learn how to measure microclimates, detect urban hotspots, and understand social vulnerability. They’re not just learning about climate, they’re engaging with it, critically and locally. Jeffrey isn’t publishing for a shelf. He’s building tools that meet the crisis where it lands: • Drone-based thermal mapping • Citizen-powered heat audits • Schoolyard strategies that feed back into city planning. Because climate isn’t abstract anymore. It’s reshaping rooftops, playgrounds, and the uneven surfaces we walk every day. And we need educators, designers, and systems that reflect that reality. Jeffrey is one of them. If you’re working in climate, education, research, or policy — reach out to Jeffrey Chang directly. His approach is innovative, scalable, and exactly the kind of thinking we need more of. Next week, I’ll share the third voice in this series — more brilliant, quiet work worth seeing. #UrbanHeat #CitizenScience #UrbanClimate #SummerSpotlight #PassTheMic

What if every lesson your students had was deeply connected to their local environment? I'm excited to share a PBL Future Labs guide I've created that transforms how we approach environmental education. "Connecting Curriculum to Community" bridges the gap between abstract standards and real-world learning experiences. "Research indicates that place-based education, which connects learning to local environments and contexts, improves students' understanding and retention of scientific concepts." Here's what makes this approach transformative: -Local Lens Integration: We're using AI to map curriculum directly to your community's environmental features. Your neighbourhood becomes your classroom. -Real Environmental Impact: By connecting the Australian Curriculum V9 Science standards with local environmental issues, students don't just learn about sustainability issues, they live it. -Practical Implementation: From safety considerations to data collection schedules, we've created a framework that makes environmental investigation accessible and meaningful. At PBL Future Labs, "all learning experiences are connected to Sustainability." Want to transform how your students engage with science and their community? Let's explore how AI-enhanced place-based and project-based learning can transform your teaching practice. Curious about bringing this approach to your school? Let's connect and discuss how we can make environmental education more engaging, relevant, and impactful for your students. Thom Markham, Ph.D. #EnvironmentalEducation #ProjectBasedLearning #SustainabilityEducation #TeacherResources #AIinEducation