Today, on 25 November 2021, the European Commission has launched the first Education for Climate Day, celebrating all education practitioners around Europe that work on education for environmental sustainability and its adjacent topics.

The Day was marked by an online event organized by the European Commission to facilitate the sharing of good practices across education practitioners, but also to open the online platform on which the Education for Climate Coalition actors can facilitate their collaboration and co-creation process. The Education for Climate Coalition represents a participatory education community that supports the changes needed for a climate-neutral society. The aim is to break all silos across education sectors, institutions and EU Member States, to ensure a concerted effort in building up bottom-up initiatives that can support the EU objectives linked to climate-neutrality. The online platform launched today serves as the co-creation hub of this Coalition, and SOLIDAR Foundation invites all to register on the platform following this link and to share their good practices linked to education for environmental sustainability while also to explore the possibility to scale up their practices or find new opportunities for partnerships with similar education stakeholders across Europe.

The Education for Climate Coalition is part of a package of three initiatives, with the other two being the Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Education for Environmental Sustainability – foreseen for December 2021 – and the European Competence Framework for Sustainability that the Joint Research Centre is developing. Commissioner Mariya Gabriel has launched this momentous day with a call to for all citizens to take part in the transformative change of education systems, making sure to participate in the co-creation actions on the Coalition’s platform.

SOLIDAR Foundation welcomes this approach to education for environmental sustainability in light of the topic’s standing across Europe and of the environmental crisis that looms over the entire world. However, upon attending today’s Commission event, SOLIDAR Foundation observed a focus on primary and secondary education, while the magnitude of the environmental crisis requires a coordinated response across all education sectors, and especially when it comes to adult education as this is the largest part of the world’s population while it also a part that is not that easily engaged in education. SOLIDAR Foundation will continue to monitor developments in this field, will contribute actively to the Education for Climate Coalition  and advocate for more focus to be given on the challenges of ensuring that all learners have access to education for environmental sustainability