Recommendations
Recognizing the urgent climate crisis and their unique position to catalyze action, school boards have a responsibility to take immediate, comprehensive and measurable action to address climate change. These recommendations serve as a blueprint for guiding Canada’s education system towards a more just and sustainable future.
School Boards
Develop Holistic Climate Action Plans:
Create a whole-institution climate action plan that outlines clear greenhouse gas emission targets and climate action initiatives at all levels of school governance.
Enhance Policy Transparency:
Ensure that climate policies are readily accessible to the public, fostering transparency and allowing community members to engage and understand the board’s commitment to environmental stewardship.
Allocate Staff and Resources:
Devote dedicated staff time and financial resources to the implementation and ongoing support of climate action initiatives.
Collaborate with Local Authorities:
Create collaborative partnerships with municipal authorities, health units, and climate policy experts to develop a climate action plan that aligns with regional priorities and leverages collective expertise.
Provincial and Territorial Ministries of Education
Mandate Environmental and Sustainability or Climate Action Plans:
Direct every school board to establish mandatory environmental and sustainability or climate action plans outlining their commitments and initiatives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Mandate Accountability Reporting:
Make it mandatory for each school board to submit comprehensive energy and emissions reports, covering all structures above and under 50,000 square feet, in order to evaluate and track progress effectively.
Allocate Funding for Sustainability Positions:
Provide financial support to facilitate the creation of dedicated sustainability positions within school boards. Research by Beveridge et al. (2019) has revealed that only 25 school boards in Canada employ staff members specifically focused on sustainability engagement.
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
Standardize Reporting:
Sponsor the monitoring and reporting of pan-Canadian research in education-related statistics associated with climate leadership and climate policy.
Make Climate Action a Priority:
Add climate change as a strategic priority for CMEC, undertaking work to support data collection, best practices, teaching training, and ongoing dialogue on this issue.
Educate and Empower:
Contribute to the fulfillment of Canada’s international treaty obligations by enhancing climate change education and awareness, aligned with Article 12 of the Paris Agreement.
Government of Canada
Allocate funding for monitoring and evaluation of climate policies:
Liaise with and provide funding for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada to monitor and evaluate formal education and climate policy.
Allocate funding to Ministries:
Provide funding to Ministries of Education to allocate for climate action planning and reporting.
Enhance Policy Transparency:
Develop a Canadian Action for Climate Empowerment strategy, in line with Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Climate Agreement, that reports on formal education system’s climate policies and environmental sustainability. Include reporting on formal education system climate policies and environmental sustainability with National Determined Contributions as required by the Paris Climate Agreement.
This review is a living document, which will be updated annually.