Centring the demand for critical climate education

Too often, governments and international institutions engage children and young people through rhetoric alone. Facing climate crisis, children and young people globally find themselves at the centre of liberal policy and advocacy spaces, thanks to their own mobilization and their moral position as those most impacted by current and future ecological catastrophes and their socio-political consequences. This chapter identifies how neoliberal institutions have foregrounded children and young people as global political actors in the climate crisis, often co-opting their participation for their own aims. Such institutions highlight the nexus of education and climate action while prioritizing a narrative that discounts the root causes of climate injustice and the possible solutions, often coming from marginalized voices. Using first-hand knowledge of the potential of ‘transformative education’ in (re)making global political worlds, we argue for the importance of creating a critical education approach and praxis that will inform current and future climate action.