Climate change and its resulting impacts on global populations have prompted huge investments by national and international governments, banks, NGOs and private individuals into finding lasting solutions through scientific research. However, the role of education and continued education is not left out. Education is often described as one of the most powerful tools for development, in this case, sustainable and inclusive development. The levels of education of a population go a long way in determining how people behave including their production and consumption styles or patterns. Their willingness and readiness to take caution, accept and adhere to legislation on climate change can also be associated with the levels of educational attainment and or availability of information through continued education. A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability revealed two key findings: (1) Increasing educational attainment of a population tends to lead to lesser emission that drives climate change. (2) The higher the educational attainment of a population, the lesser their vulnerability to climate change. By implication, education can reduce both the causes and impacts of climate change. Hence, improved education and continued education are imperative in the fight against climate change. Education helps people to make informed decisions – decisions that may have either direct or indirect impact on the general population. Such decisions might be to adopt environmentally friendly production and consumption methods, use green-alternative electricity generating sources such as solar, properly manage agro-chemical and solid waste and efficient recycling, control bush burning and hunting, eco–investing, obey environmental legislation, etcetera. In as much as education is vital, continuous education is even more important. It is necessary to update the population about the direction of the tides because, new and better ways of thinking and doing things are developed over time, and the conventional ways may become environmentally inefficient. Likewise, new policy issues may be formulated that should be made known to the population.
Overall, education and climate change are well connected, and education is imperative in the fight against climate change. Multi-governmental organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank should remain committed to promoting education, especially in the Global South where there is a greater knowledge gap. Likewise, the Global North and industrialized regions of the world should be encouraged to show practical commitment toward attaining a green future.