At COP, a move from climate learning to climate action

Two areas that require more attention are teacher capacity-building and the development of knowledge platforms for communities that share a common geography and face similar disasters.

COP31 offers a historic opportunity to elevate CCE from awareness-driven learning to competency-driven transformation.

Written by: Rajiv Gauba

3 min readOct 26, 2026 06:21 AM IST First published on: Oct 26, 2026 at 06:21 AM IST

As a member of Gen X, I stand at the intersection of experience and transformation, having witnessed how environmental challenges have shaped development priorities. In 1972, the UN conference on the human environment catalysed international environmental action. In India, this momentum found constitutional expression in the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, which enshrined environmental protection as both a responsibility of the state and a duty of citizens. The real turning point in India’s environmental learning journey, however, came with the Supreme Court’s M C Mehta judgment in 1991 — it directed that environmental literacy be made a compulsory component of formal education.

The emergence of climate change education coincided with the growing recognition, since 2010, of climate change as a major developmental challenge. This called for a shift in understanding, as awareness had to expand beyond conservation to encompass resilience and sustainability. Climate literacy in education was strengthened through the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023. The national model, Mission LiFE, is also rooted in climate change education (CCE). Globally, CCE is undergoing a similar transition from awareness to action. Italy has systematically integrated climate change and sustainability as compulsory topics in schools, while the US state of New Jersey has incorporated climate change learning standards across multiple subjects and grade levels. The strength of CCE lies in its interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature, bringing together scientific, social, economic and policy perspectives. Led by UNESCO, the Greening Education Partnership has emerged as the world’s largest collaborative platform for climate-ready education. Around 100 countries and thousands of organisations have joined the initiative, which spans campuses, curricula, teacher training and community interventions.

COP31, which begins on November 9 in Antalya, Turkey, is particularly important for sustaining this momentum. It offers an opportunity to formalise measurable national commitments to CCE. Discussions at the summit are likely to highlight the growing international preference for cross-curricular climate learning. Two areas that require more attention are teacher capacity-building and the development of knowledge platforms for communities that share a common geography and face similar disasters.

COP31 also provides India with a platform to showcase its growing leadership in CCE. India can demonstrate how sustainability has been mainstreamed through the NCF-SE 2023, Eco Clubs for Mission LiFE and NISHTHA, the Centre’s flagship teacher professional development programme. The UGC’s Guidelines and Curriculum Framework for Environment Education at Undergraduate Level (2023) has a mandatory course that covers sustainability, climate policy, renewable energy and green technology. India can also highlight the need for a stronger regional approach to evolving CCE from an awareness-based initiative into a competency-based endeavour focused on climate literacy, resilience, innovation, entrepreneurship and green skills.

The COP’s Turkish presidency has already identified climate action education across all segments of society by 2035 as one of its key priorities, to be pursued through collaborative projects. COP31 offers a historic opportunity to elevate CCE from awareness-driven learning to competency-driven transformation.

The writer is director, Environment Education and Awareness Division, TERI