Green School Movement
UNESCO Assistant Director General for Education, Gianni, stated that the education system bears the responsibility of providing students and communities with solutions to climate challenges. On this World Environment Day, she congratulates schools that have implemented UNESCO's environmental initiatives and calls on policymakers, educators, and students to join the Green Schools movement.

Under the promotion of the Director General of UNESCO, the organization has prioritized environmental education, emphasizing its integration into both the school curriculum and daily campus life.

In 2024, the organization released the "Green School Quality Standards", which for the first time defined the minimum requirements for creating a green learning environment from four dimensions: governance structure, facility operation, teaching practice, and community participation.

This action guide focuses on specific practices and requires each school to establish a green governance committee composed of students, teachers, and parents to oversee sustainable management on campus.

The guide also proposes to carry out teacher environmental education capacity training, implement energy, water resources, food, and waste audits, and establish cooperation with local stakeholders to motivate students to contribute to environmental protection.

Since its publication in four languages, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, this guide has been adopted by 27450 kindergartens, 39587 primary schools, 13329 secondary schools, and 507 higher education institutions worldwide. These educational institutions are mainly located in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Pacific region.

Environmental education is becoming a global trend
In addition to the "Green School Quality Standards", UNESCO also released the "Green Curriculum Guidelines" in 2024, providing specific recommendations for governments on how to integrate environmental issues into the curriculum of various subjects at all levels of education. The goal is to have 90% of countries incorporate climate change into their school curriculum by 2030.

Through the 'Climate Inclusive Education System Program', UNESCO is helping the education departments of 35 countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change to enhance their relevant capacity building.

These projects are all part of the 'Green Education Partnership'. Under the framework of this program, UNESCO has currently gathered 97 member states and over 1700 institutions to collaborate on four action pillars: building green schools, incorporating environmental education into all curricula, adapting teacher training to climate change needs, and promoting the development of green communities.

The latest data shows that countries joining the partnership have shown a firm commitment: 85% of countries plan to incorporate climate change and sustainable development into their education systems, 66% have committed to establishing a national level green school certification system that meets UNESCO standards, and 69% will build a national network of green schools.

On the eve of the United Nations Ocean Conference, UNESCO is promoting ocean education through three major initiatives: firstly, the "Blue Curriculum" program aimed at incorporating ocean science into school curricula; The second is the "Blue School" network that gathers over 2400 schools; The third is the "Boundless Ocean" education project in collaboration with Prada Group, which has promoted ocean conservation awareness to over 35000 primary and secondary school students in 56 countries.