Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the COP 28 UN Climate Change Conference, will take place from November 30 to December 12, 2023.

This annual gathering features hundreds of events where governments representatives report on progress, set goals, make agreements to share scientific and technological advances of global benefit, and negotiate policy.

The COP28 conference is a key opportunity to spotlight the role of education systems to power the shift to safer, greener and fairer societies.

GPE will co-organize the following events during COP28:

Tuesday, December 5

Schools at the heart of climate-resilient education and food systems

• Time: 14:00 – 14:45
• Location: Food4Climate Pavilion
• Stream/Register
• Partners: GPE, Teach For All, Proveg
• Overview: This event will discuss the importance of schools as sites of building climate resilience, and the role that schools, students, teachers and school leadership play in increasing resilience to climate change and driving the development of sustainable and climate-smart food systems. The discussion will feature youth speakers and institutional representatives, speaking on their work at all levels - community, national, regional, and global- and sharing their specific experiences.

Climate-smart education systems for a sustainable future

• Time: 16:30 – 17:30
• Location: Al Fanar Room, Greening Education Hub
• REGISTER
• Partners: GPE, Save the Children, UNESCO
• Overview: This session will highlight ongoing work within the education sector to  integrate climate change and environmental sustainability into education system planning, curricula, pedagogy, and teacher training, and also spotlight entry points for coordination across sectors around climate change and education.

Friday, December 8

Intergenerational workshop: The transformative power of education amid the climate crisis

• Time: 10:05-10:55
• Location: Children and Youth Pavilion
• Partners: GPE, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), Youth for Education in Emergencies (Youth4EiE)
• Overview: This event will explore the intersections between education and the climate crisis, including in conflict-affected humanitarian contexts, and showcase how global funds are meeting the educational needs of children and young people.

First annual meeting of the Greening Education Partnership, high-level session

• Time: 11:30-12:45
• Location: Greening Education Hub
• REGISTER
• Overview: This session is a dialogue among high-level representatives of Member States including Ministers of Education, Environment, Finance, Foreign Affairs, and key stakeholder representatives including youth, civil society, teachers, and international organizations on concrete actions and priorities to accelerate greening education through the 4 GEP pillars.

Placing gender equality and youth at the heart of education transformation for climate

• Time: 13:15-14:00
• Location: Hall 4, RewirEd
• Partners: GPE, Plan International, United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)
• Overview: This session will spotlight the links between climate change, girls’ education and gender equality. An intergenerational accountability roundtable, the session will feature girls’ and young women’s experiences and leadership in the promotion of gender transformative climate change education and further global commitments to climate change education while ensuring a strong focus on the link with gender equality, including financing opportunities.

Launch of the BRACE initiative: Financing climate resilient school systems

• Time: 14:15-15:00
• Location: Auditorium, RewirEd
• Partners: GPE, Save the Children, Green Climate Fund
• Overview: The event will underline the importance of taking an integrated approach to climate change and the need to embed climate resilience across education sector plans, strategies and budgets. Renewed focus will be placed on the use of climate data for decision making and for scaling-up finance that will bolster adaptive capacities to build climate resilience, sustainability, and equity in their education sectors. The event will feature a panel discussion with diverse voices, including ministers, youth leaders, civil society organizations and policy makers to generate momentum for action around the BRACE (Building the climate resilience of children and communities through the education sector) project, and the overall climate change and education nexus.

Breaking barriers: Gender transformative education as a catalyst for climate justice

• Time: 15:00-16:30
• Location: Side events room 2, Blue Zone
• Partners: GPE, Plan International, EmpoderaClima, Green Hope Foundation, Plant-for-the-Planet, UNFPA, UN Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI)
• Overview: This event will call attention to the links between the climate crisis and the education crisis with a gender equity and intergenerational lens. The event will raise awareness at COP28 of the crucial role of young women and girls in solving the climate crisis - and why education is the way to bridge the gender gap in the climate leadership field and support adaptive capacities.

Towards climate-smart education systems

• Time: 15:15-16:00
• Location: Hall 1, RewirEd
• Partners: GPE, Save the Children, UNESCO
• Overview: This event will share the groundbreaking work on climate-smart education systems by GPE in partnership with UNESCO and Save the Children. It will highlight concrete examples of how countries can mainstream climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability into education sector plans, budgets and strategies, and share specific experiences and learnings.

Building resilience for education in the face of climate change utilizing technology

• Time: 16:15-17:00
• Location: Hall 2, RewirEd
• Partners: GPE, UNICEF
• Overview: Global leaders, education ministers, and innovators will converge to explore the transformative power of education in the face of climate change. This event will spotlight how technology can be used to build resilience in education, so that learning continues during crises. Featuring insights from Ministries of Education, GPE, Microsoft and UNICEF this session will illuminate how we are leveraging emerging technology, public-private strategic partnerships, data and insights to build resilience in education and bring learning and skilling opportunities to children and young people.

Saturday, December 9

Co-benefits of investing in climate and education: Building the evidence base for climate-smart education systems

• Time: 14:45-15:45
• Location: Greening Education Hub
• REGISTER
• Partners: GPE, FCDO, Save the Children
• Overview: This session will spotlight emerging evidence at the intersection of climate change, environment, and education, and explore what evidence gaps need to be addressed in order to build resilient education systems and harness the power of education for adaptation and climate action. Featuring insights from global leaders, education and climate experts, and youth, we will illuminate what evidence gaps are critical for education policymakers, the type of evidence that climate funders look for, and our joint efforts to address these gaps and build a coherent evidence base that demonstrates the co-benefits of investing in education and climate change.