Why we need Edtech for climate to pick up
Awareness about climate change has risen in the past few years, along with a sense of urgency to cope with one of the biggest challenges of our generation. There have never been so many resources about climate change, from scientific papers and reports to articles, podcasts, and documentaries. Yet, climate literacy remains low and CO2 emissions keep rising. There is a widening gap between this general sense of urgency and the lack of practical action from governments, companies, or civil society as a whole. As a consequence, a growing share of the population falls into eco-anxiety and the rest is split between climate activists who demand rapid change and more conservative individuals who are reluctant to it.
Solving climate change requires structural societal changes, as we need to foster behavioral change and place sustainability at the core of our socio-economic system. This transition requires a need for better climate education in its broadest meaning, addressing not only children in pre-K, K12 or Higher Education, but empowering every individual in their personal or professional life to learn and act about climate change.
Considering the urgency and the lack of effectiveness in existing measures, we’ll need this learning shift to happen rapidly and target individuals at scale. We believe in leveraging technology to meet our current climate education needs. We share here our conviction that Edtech for climate is a promising sector that will see many exciting impact start-ups emerge.
This article follows a 6-month research on climate education I undertook, traveling by train to meet with +100 experts on climate education before joining Educapital, the largest European VC investing in Edtech and theFuture of Work.
Climate education at an Early Age: learn, play, and assess
Pre-K and K12 are critical learning periods, where children build their worldviews and opinions through social constructs and education.
Talking about climate to children is hard, the topic is complex and can be frightening if not addressed properly. That is why most teachers, schools or parents still don’t know how to talk about climate change to children and don’t have the appropriate material to do so.
Games are key to keeping children engaged, and interactive online content can be used to help understand the climate situation and the importance of Nature. Companies like Earth Cubs or the Planet Academy are already doing it, combining science-based content with gamified learning.
My opinion is that we got to find children where they are, and they are already in front of Ipads and TV, so I’d rather them use Earth Cubs than other games
Toby Hunt, CEO of Earth Cubs
We also need to empower children to adopt a problem-solving approach to harness climate change issues in the future. Climate education solutions focusing on action are key, so that kids identify a problem of their own related to climate change and are offered the tools to find a solution by themselves. Several initiatives like Lumi Network or Apps for Good have adopted this approach. The most important part here is to have an assessment tool integrated into the solution, so that children can measure the consequences of their behavior and accordingly act more responsibly in the future.
Technology can also help us better apprehend climate change, especially to bring closeness and practicality to a topic that seems far from us sometimes. Immersive learning is now taking a critical part in a children’s learning journey, and opportunities to leverage technology to teach differently also apply to climate education.
You only protect what you love. Jacques-Yves Cousteau
The trigger to protecting our environment could start by discovering the richness of our biodiversity and its complex mechanisms. Using immersive learning can help students experience issues like climate change or social justice in places within the real world, to increase awareness about their surroundings. On a different scale, AR/VR can transport children into different universes and help them experience the consequences of climate change like natural disasters happening in other parts of the world. Companies like Lyfta, Biosphere VR or in:Expeditions operate in this space.
Another important issue is to help teachers upskill and give them the tools to talk about climate change at school. They play a crucial role in providing the right information to children and offer objective knowledge about what’s happening. Some initiatives like Edugems or Educcate Global exist but we believe there is still room to fill to answer the teachers’ needs.
Higher Education: climate education in courses and career paths
There is an ever-rising demand from students to integrate climate education within their degrees. Universities need to adapt their programs to attract new students or create new courses on climate change and sustainability, to cater to the upcoming need for jobs in the green economy.
Some initiatives can be led on a national scale, as we need collaboration between universities and schools to reach a considerable amount of students in a short period of time. Finland is often used as an example for its remarkable education system, and is already making a big leap forward in terms of climate education. The University of Helsinki recently launched the Climate University, a collaborative initiative between 18 Finnish universities, putting their in-house climate experts to work on state-of-the-art courses on climate change. If you are part of one of the 18 universities, you are free to follow some of the 8 courses designed and earn university credits accordingly. Quite successful already, the initiative may extend to the entire European Union. This collaborative work could be key to widespread climate education and create a ripple effect on the entire education system.
Climate change offers a huge opportunity for education to reinvent itself, placing sustainability at the core of all pedagogical approaches and setting up students for the challenges of the 21st century. Edtech is the fastest to adapt, start-ups like Tomorrow’s education could lead to exciting initiatives and challenge the status quo in secondary education.
Lifelong Learning & Corporate Training: upskilling or reskilling to take part in the climate transition
The need to find a purpose at work also fosters professional reskilling. We’re only witnessing the premises of a much broader socio-economic change, which could create up to 24 million new jobs by 2030. The Edtech ecosystem can participate in closing that skills gap and help millions of people work in climate. Bootcamps formats like Terra.do address the needs of experienced professionals looking for opportunities in sectors within or outside the tech industry, and connect them with companies looking to hire specific profiles. Others like AimHiEarth take a more generic approach by providing inspiring courses on climate change to encourage vocational careers.
As the entire economy shifts towards a more sustainable model, companies are in desperate need to upskill their workforce and adapt to new regulations or consumption habits. This affects all business sectors, from blue-collars, and construction to financial services or insurance. Hyper-personalized and engaging learning like the Axa Climate School are great starting points to address upskilling on climate education.
In a more general sense, fostering climate education within organizations can help improve talent retention and employee engagement, by empowering people to do their part for climate at work and with their colleagues. This could also help corporates align their sustainability strategy with their workforce, hence improving their brand inside and outside the organization. That is why employee engagement solutions like Ducky or Deedster include climate education and action in their platforms to nudge people to act responsibly.
Climate change is here to last. We are at the forefront of massive changes driven by governments and companies, but this shift will not happen without the consent and approbation of the entire society. We need more solutions to provide knowledge and skills about climate change to current and future generations. Edtech is already playing an important role to innovate in education, and there is a massive opportunity to contribute to a thriving future by innovating in the climate education space.
We believe strongly in Edtech for climate and want to support mission-driven founders innovating in the space. Educapital is the largest European VC specializing in Edtech & Future of Work (and also the only Impact fund in the space), if you have an idea or a start-up related to climate education please reach out to us and we’ll be happy to chat!
