This blog is from COBIS Partner Planet Mark.

Net zero and sustainability are two of the most discussed conversations globally, yet many people are still unaware of how they can contribute to these conversations and make positive changes. Educators have a unique opportunity to support global net zero targets by helping students understand the importance of sustainability and climate change whilst making incremental steps towards reducing their carbon emissions and transitioning to net zero.

Why now is the time to accelerate sustainability and net zero as educators?

The UK has set a target to be net zero by 2050, whilst The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050, as a knock-on effect organisations within public and private sectors must begin to look at how they can support their relevant national and regional net zero goals.

The education sector is a significant carbon emitter, and reducing its emissions would support the global transition to net zero. For example, it’s estimated that schools in England alone emit around 9.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. Educators can help achieve the global goal of zero emissions by decarbonising the sector and setting meaningful net-zero targets.

Climate action will help the sector explore its own emissions and how they can be reduced, whilst climate education can prepare the next generation on what it means to live with todays environment and how we can prevent further climate damage.

Climate Education

Sustainability has increasingly been high on the agenda of young people and children, with over 80% of young people eager to take action to help the environment. Educators can support their agenda through climate education to help their pupils learn about net zero and sustainability and encourage their students to think about these topics - especially as they relate to their own life.

The education sector is progressing to make sustainability education a priority and creating positive behaviour change. For example, the UK’s Department for Education (DfE) published a ’Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy’ that set the direction of travel for UK state schools and will feed into the proposed Climate Education Bill in the UK. Whilst this does not directly affect independent or international schools, it is indicative of the likely direction of travel for the education sector globally and will impact the expectations of students and parents considering private education. In light of this, for the rest of this article we will cover some of the key government and public campaigns affecting UK schools that may be a sign of things to come around the world.

UK DfE’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy

The UK Department for Education's (DfE) Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy is designed to ensure that all children and young people have access to high-quality education on sustainability and climate change.

To do this, they have set out the following goals:

• Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
• Increasing awareness of the impacts of people's behaviour on climate change.
• Encouraging schools to meet their energy needs through renewable technologies or low-carbon alternatives.
• Reducing the environmental impact of school travel through greener modes of transport, such as walking and cycling.

Their strategy has been developed to support the government's wider aim of delivering a green economy - improving quality of life and reducing carbon emissions.

The UK Climate Education Bill

The Climate Education Bill is a proposed bill to make climate change education mandatory in schools. The bill will also require the government to provide teachers with training and support, as well as resources for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Educating pupils on climate change will make them better placed to understand their impact on the environment and facilitate positive change, which will help reduce their carbon footprint.

Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges

The Race to Zero, is a UN-backed global campaign rallying non-state actors to take rigorous and immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer zero carbon world. The campaign advocates a five-step process: pledge, plan; take meaningful action; publish efforts and results.

Over 1000 colleges and universities have made a pledge with Race to Zero, committed to developing concrete plans for improving campus climate and carrying those plans out through meaningful action.

Lets Go Zero Campaign

Similarly, the Let's Go! Zero campaign is a national effort that unites British teachers and students with their schools as they all work together toward becoming zero-carbon by 2030. More than 2,000 UK schools have pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 100 percent in 12 years—an ambitious target but one that could help to build a more sustainable future.

Approaching climate action by supporting campaigns will help schools and educators create more credible targets for making the shift to net zero, while planning thoroughly. It also invites collaboration from students, staff and parents that can further promote new ways of cutting carbon.

Climate Action with Planet Mark

Planet Mark has seen first-hand how schools can introduce climate education and climate action into their everyday life. For example, Planet Mark has worked with Cobis members, Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar International School (KTJ) over the last three years, they have installed nearly 3,000 solar panels on-site to source their own energy and held a staff-wide engagement session to introduce their sustainability plan. They've also embedded sustainability within educational programmes.

Similarly, the partnership between Childbase and Planet Mark has led to yearly reductions in the childcare provider's carbon emissions and its credible pledge to go net-zero by 2030.

Educators are working together to support the global target of eliminating greenhouse emissions, both through proposed legislation and education-based campaigns. In addition to the educational and legislative efforts, there are also many schools that are taking steps to reduce their own carbon footprint.

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The rise of both government policy and public campaigns to decarbonise education and bring sustainability into the curriculum are strong examples indicating the likely direction of travel for the education sector as a whole worldwide. As these initiatives begin to take force, parents and students considering educational institutions will increasingly be looking for the school to be taking a leadership position in both climate action and climate education and British International Schools who embrace this challenge will benefit from doing so.

Find out more about the COBIS partnership with Planet Mark, and what that means for COBIS members, here.