THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON EDUCATION AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT - April 2024 - Part 1 - policy and education resilience overview

Jul 19, 2026

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Education is positioned as a crucial lever to end poverty, yet climate change is actively undermining schooling and learning. Increasing extreme weather events—cyclones, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires—disrupt attendance, drive learning losses and dropouts, and create long-term damage even under mitigation efforts. The document describes large-scale school closures, learning losses from extreme heat, and cascading health and fragility effects that erode education outcomes, with policy guidance for building resilience across education systems.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages52

Reading Time2 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Summary

Climate change is threatening education outcomes

Climate change is causing massive school closures

Rising temperatures threaten children and their education

Health and fragility impacts on education outcomes

The education impacts of climate change are an economic time-bomb

What should policymakers do?

Adapt education systems for greater resilience through four steps

Education management for climate resilience

School infrastructure for climate resilience

Ensuring learning continuity in the face of climate shocks

Leveraging students and teachers as change agents

Education as a key to ending poverty in a livable planet

Public Disc losure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disc losure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON EDUCATION AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT Sergio Venegas Marin, Lara Schwarz, and Shwetlena Sabarwal © 2024 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 [Internet: www.worldbank.org](Internet: www.worldbank.org) This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or currency of the data included in this work and does not assume responsibility for any errors, omissions, or discrepancies in the information, or liability with respect to the use of or failure to use the information, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed or considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) [http://](http://)[ ](http://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under)[. Under](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under) the Creative Commons Attribution license, you are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under the following conditions: All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: [pubrights@worldbank.org](pubrights@worldbank.org). THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON EDUCATION AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT1 Sergio Venegas Marin, Lara Schwarz, and Shwetlena Sabarwal2 APRIL 2024 1 Note: This is the first part of the forthcoming global report on Learning to Propel Climate Action (June 2024) . The second part of thereport will discuss how the education sector can serve as a powerful catalyst for climate change mitigation and adaptation through mindset and behavior change, green skills, and innovation. 2 This work has been done under the guidance of Luis Benveniste, Harry Patrinos, and Halil Dundar. We would like to thank Diego Ambasz, Marla Spivack, Noam Angrist, Anshuman Kamal Gupta, Surayya Masood, Devika Singh, Natasha Ahuja, and Debi Spindelman for their inputs and comments. The team received helpful feedback from Syud Amer Ahmed, Juan Baron, Pedro Cerdan-Infantes, Gabriel Demombynes, James Gresham, Julia Liberman, Craig Meisner, Meskerem Mulatu, Norbert Schady, Monica Yanez Pagans, and Penny Williams. CONTENTS SUMMARY ........................................... 5 CLIMATE CHANGE IS THREATENING EDUCATION OUTCOMES ............... 6 Climate change is causing massive school closures .................... 8 Rising temperatures threaten children and their education................ 11 Climate change impacts on health and fragility further erode education outcomes .. 14 The education impacts of climate change are an economic time-bomb......... 16 WHAT SHOULD POLICYMAKERS DO? ADAPT EDUCATION SYSTEMS FOR GREATER RESILIENCE THROUGH FOUR STEPS ............................ 17 Education Management for climate resilience ....................... 19 School infrastructure for climate resilience.......................... 21 Ensuring learning continuity in the face of climate shocks ................23

FAQs

How does climate change harm education outcomes?

Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events that disrupt schooling, causing learning losses, dropouts, and long-term impacts. Even with strong mitigation, harmful effects on education outcomes persist.

What effects do school closures have on learning?

Over the past 20 years, many extreme weather events led to prolonged school closures due to infrastructure vulnerability and sheltering needs. Evidence cited indicates that each day of closure corresponds to a day of learning lost.

What policy actions does the report recommend for education resilience?

It outlines adapting education systems through four steps, including climate-resilient education management, stronger school infrastructure, maintaining learning continuity during shocks, and leveraging students and teachers as change agents.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Patrick