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Education for Climate Day 2025

This year’s Education for Climate Day on 23 October 2025 marked a timely and significant moment in the journey of education, training and learning institutions across Europe as they prepare for the twin transitions of green and digital transformation. According to the organisers of the Education for Climate Coalition, the theme of the day was “Learning to Prepare”, placing emphasis on how formal and informal educational institutions, digital learning platforms and community‑based initiatives can equip learners with the skills, attitudes and resilience needed for a climate‑ready society.

The day’s programme unfolded through a series of sessions that connect global policy frameworks with tangible education practice. After the opening and welcome, a first session, “Global Lessons for European Learning,” explored how international climate‑policy commitments can inform European education and training systems. Next came “Community Action for Future‑Ready Learners,” highlighting how classrooms, schools and communities can act together to build learners’ capacity to anticipate and respond to climate disruptions. There was also a Youth Climate LAB Action Outlook that gave space to youth‑led initiatives and traditional ecological knowledge—highlighting the contribution of young people and communities to climate resilience. Later in the day three thematic streams presented the winners of the annual call for green education action.

The call for submissions to that same day invited schools and education practitioners to share good practices across three thematic areas: transforming schools into living labs for sustainability; integrating the GreenComp framework into STEM education; and citizenship education in the context of the green and digital transitions. Eligible submissions were expected to be implemented in formal or informal education across Europe, build participation across actor groups, included concrete tangible action and leverage innovative learning and teaching methods.

Education is no longer simply about transmitting knowledge. In the face of climate change, digital disruption and societal shifts, learners must gain resilience and a mindset for adaptation—things that go beyond subject‑matter mastery. EFCD 2025 aimed to mobilise the education community around the transition to a ‘climate‑ready’ society: to connect policy with practice, local action with global purpose, and youth agency with institutional transformation.

The GreenVET Pathway project, with its focus on sustainability in vocational education and training aligns with the purpose and framework of EFCD 2025. Vocational schools become key actors in the green transition—by re‑orienting curricula, engaging students in sustainability practices, involving teaching staff and management and embedding green competencies into VET contexts. Just as EFCD 2025 highlighted schools as living labs and emphasised integration of green competencies in STEM and citizenship education, GreenVET Pathway offers a concrete, sector‑specific manifestation of that same logic. The project’s work of involving VET teams, documenting best practices, and supporting the uptake of sustainable practices in VET institutions mirrors the call for good practices in the EFCD submission. For example, GreenVET Pathway’s emphasis on team updates, breakout discussion of practical challenges (involving students, management and colleagues) and documentation of success aligns closely with the “Schools as Living Labs” theme of EFCD 2025.

Ultimately, this synergy means that GreenVET Pathway participants are well‑positioned to contribute to the EFCD community—not just as beneficiaries, but as contributors, sharing and scaling their experience. By mapping their efforts onto themes such as STEM + GreenComp, citizenship and sustainable institutional change, the VET schools engaged in GreenVET's Pathway become part of the Europe‑wide narrative of transforming education for the climate‑resilient future.

In conclusion, Education for Climate Day 2025 provided an important platform for education actors across Europe to come together, learn, share and act. Through its emphasis on preparing learners, institutions and communities for a changing climate, it resonated deeply with the GreenVET Pathway project. The two reinforce each other: the day provided inspiration, visibility and a network; the project delivers concrete implementation, experience and sector‑specific focus. Together they strengthen vocational education’s contribution to the green transition.

Sources:

- European Commission. (2025). Call for Green Education Action – Education for Climate Day 2025

- European Commission. (2025). Education for Climate Day 2025 – Programme and Sessions