By Manos Antoninis, GEM Report, Aaron Benavot, University at Albany-SUNY; and Marcia McKenzie, University of Melbourne
Education systems worldwide are adapting to prepare younger generations for tackling the environmental and climate challenges that increasingly shape our future. A new indicator has been developed and absorbed into the SDG global indicator 4.7.1, which measures how countries are integrating ‘green’ content into their curricula. This blog explains how this greening curriculum indicator was prepared and why it is important.
How did this indicator come about?
The greening curriculum indicator seeks to evaluate how thoroughly environmental themes are woven into primary and secondary education. It is based on the understanding that concepts related to sustainability, environment, climate change and biodiversity should influence teaching and learning processes comprehensively, rather than exist as a separate subject. It connects curriculum content to tangible outcomes such as student knowledge and country fulfilment of SDG and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change commitments.
Following the UN Transforming Education Summit in 2022, the SDG 4 High Level Steering Committee decided to add new indicators to measure the summit’s outcomes, including on ‘greening education’ as reflected in the work of the Greening Education Partnership. It requested the GEM Report and UIS to coordinate the efforts.
Up to that point, SDG global indicator 4.7 on sustainable development had one indicator measuring. the ‘Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment, which had been measured with self-reported country data, raising questions of validity and reliability.
A proposal for an indicator that would offer an objective source of information for one dimension (sustainable development) and one intervention (curriculum) of SDG global indicator 4.7.1 was constructed by the Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education (MECCE) Project and the GEM Report in coordination with UNESCO.
How the greening curriculum indicator fits into the SDG global indicator 4.7.1
The proposal was first submitted to the Education Data and Statistics Commission (EDSC) in July 2024 and EDSC members approved the proposal. Subsequently, it was presented to the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) in October, 2024, which decided to endorse it as part of indicator 4.7.1 in the 2025 Comprehensive Review, the second and final review of the SDG monitoring framework.
What does the indicator measure?
The indicator focuses on three themes:
- Environment and sustainability
- Climate change
- Biodiversity
For each theme, 4-5 representative keywords were selected based on their relevance, translatability and prevalence. As per the table below, these include terms like environment(al), sustainability, climate change, greenhouse gas, biodiversity and ecosystem. The keywords have been translated into 40 languages and validated by experts. These words are aligned with the Greening Education Partnership’ curriculum guidance and its focus on six key concepts – climate science, ecosystems and biodiversity, climate justice, resilience-building, post-carbon economies, and sustainable lifestyles.
The coverage of these keywords is measured in two types of documents:
- National curriculum frameworks (outlining curriculum-related aims, philosophy, structures, guidelines)
- Subject curricula/syllabi in science and social science domains
The analysis covers grades 3, 6 and 9, examining up to four subjects per domain. Countries are included if they have at least three of the four main document types required.
The first presentation of the data for 90 countries was reported in the GEM Report and MECCE Report, Learning to Act for People and Planet in 2024. Subsequent analysis covers 110 countries, of which 29 are missing one of the four target documents. The global average score is 40 out of 100, with a median of 43 and scores ranging from 9 to 66.
The analysis suggests four key findings:
- Environment and sustainability content in integrated much more frequently in curriculum documents than climate change and, especially, biodiversity content.
- All topics are covered more extensively in grade 9 than in grade 6 or 3.
- Coverage of green content in national curriculum frameworks is not correlated with coverage in syllabi, suggesting different intentions and preparation processes for the respective documents.
- Green content is more prevalent in documents published after 2015 than in those published before that year.
Why this indicator matters
The greening curriculum indicator provides education policymakers and other interested parties with concrete data to assess how well the respective themes are being integrated into national education systems. By identifying gaps in current curricula, particularly in climate change and biodiversity education, countries can make targeted improvements to enhance the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students and better prepare them for environmental challenges.
In the coming weeks, all countries will be invited by UNESCO to contribute their up-to-date curriculum documents to ensure that the latest materials are included in a planned mapping exercise in 2026.
The indicator offers an informative tool for tracking global progress toward building environmentally literate generations capable of creating sustainable solutions and mitigating the effects of climate change. Discussions about the indicator, and how to ensure it aligns with existing global efforts and initiatives to green education are ongoing. We look forward to country and other partners’ engagement so that the indicator can better support their advocacy efforts.
