A new research initiative aims to shed light on just how much schools contribute to climate change—and what they can do so their buildings can withstand climate impacts and students can be involved in mitigating the effects.
The initiative, called SustainableEd, launched in July with a new report that synthesizes research examining the relationship between climate change and education. It identifies key areas in need of further research and exploration, including the costs that climate change poses to district budgets, students’ knowledge of climate change, and more detailed information about schools’ infrastructure and how school facilities serve communities in climate emergencies.
“This paper is one that really grew out of an attempt to better understand these issues for myself and then teach about them at Brown University,” said Matt Kraft, a professor of education and economics at Brown and SustainableEd’s founder. “Through the process, we began to learn how complex and interwoven the relationship between climate change and education was, and also had a sense that, among education policymakers and researchers, this is a topic that is hard to see the forest through the trees.”
In their report, the SustainableEd researchers conclude that schools are a major contributor of carbon emissions, the vast majority have not adopted solar energy or electric school buses to cut down on those emissions, and many schools across the country are not equipped with adequate heating and cooling systems to operate safely in extreme weather. They also note that millions of students miss class time each year due to climate emergencies like wildfires and storms that make it impossible for schools to stay open.
“These are increasingly common threats to schools, infrastructure, and students, teachers and staff,” Kraft said. “And we can see that threat bearing out in real, direct impacts on schools’ operations and their budgets.”
The findings are not necessarily new or groundbreaking but, put together, they offer more clarity on the scope of schools’ contributions to climate change, their ability to weather its consequences, and opportunities they have to involve students in problem-solving and expose them to sustainability-oriented careers.
Schools consume large amounts of energy and produce emissions
Estimates suggest that public school infrastructure—primarily from heating and cooling systems—contributes 41 million to 72 million metric tons of emissions annually, which isequivalent to the annual emissions of 15 million cars, according to the report. While that’s a small fraction of national totals, it’s still a significant footprint.
There is substantial variation in the carbon footprint of education systems across states due to the average age of school buildings, the heating and cooling requirements of the local climate, and the locally available power sources.
Only about 10% of public schools use solar energy and about 3% of school buses are electric, the report says. Electric school buses emit virtually none of the toxic chemicals and unpleasant noises that emanate from America’s half-million diesel-powered buses every day. And in the long term, they could save districts money on fuel—despite the higher, upfront purchase cost.
Montana, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island have more than five electric buses per 10,000 students, while states including Alaska, Delaware, Ohio, Texas, and Wyoming have less than 1 electric bus for every 10,000 students.
“This variation likely reflects not just differences in need or fleet size, but also state policy priorities, funding access, and administrative capacity,” the report says.
School meals generate major food waste
The meals schools serve to students—more than 7 billion annually—also contribute to the country’s carbon footprint, generating an estimated 1.9 million metric tons of carbon emissions both from the food production and the decomposition of scraps from the substantial school meal-related waste in landfills, the report says.
Serving an individual school lunch is roughly the equivalent of driving 4.3 miles in a gasoline-powered car, and the roughly 530,000 tons of food schools waste collectively each year adds to the environmental impact, according to the report.
“While we have the data necessary to arrive at broad estimates of the U.S. public education system’s carbon footprint, we lack research that systematically documents and quantifies efforts to reduce green gas emissions in the education sector,” the report says. “Research on food selection, sourcing, and preparation in U.S. public schools can also inform cross-cutting efforts to reduce food waste, increase the nutritional content of school meals, and support local economies.”
Schools are at the center of potential environmental crises
As wildfires, floods, and other climate threats expand across the United States, more schools are located in areas that are deemed “high risk.”
Using data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, SustainableEd estimates that more than 24,000 public schools (about 25%) are located in census tracts that face a high risk of at least one environmental hazard, which could include heat waves, hurricanes, extreme winter weather, wildfires, flooding, and hail.
The data suggest schools must prepare for the consequences of potential climate disasters, including significant damage and disruptions to operations.
And schools have a lot of work to do on that front: In 2020, about half of school districts participating in a U.S. Government Accountability Office survey reported that they needed to replace or repair infrastructure, such as HVAC systems and plumbing.
Those upgrades are expensive and districts often struggle to find the money to fund them, the report says.
And as extreme weather occurs increasingly often, more schools have had to temporarily close in recent years to keep kids safe, cutting into classtime and, ultimately, students’ ability to learn.
For example, in January, devastating wildfires ravaged parts of southern California, closing schools for several days in some areas, affecting more than 211,000 students.
Extreme weather can also hurt children’s mental health, attendance, and social development, research suggests.
And there’s still a lot more that’s unknown about the fallout on schools from climate-related disasters.
“Although we have ample evidence that environmental pressures and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change create operational challenges for schools, we lack consistent data on the frequency, nature, and consequences of these events,” the report concludes. “More formal financial accounting of the immediate and persistent financial pressures caused by climate change would help policymakers understand the effects of climate change on district budgets.”
Schools are uniquely poised to educate students, partner with the community
By virtue of their educational mission, schools play a key role in educating children about climate change—the drivers, the solutions, and potential careers in clean energy.
But educators also need more training on how to teach about the topic effectively, surveys suggest.
Compared to educators in Canada, France, India, and Brazil, U.S. K-12 teachers are far less likely to report having the time, knowledge, instructional materials, and professional support to teach topics related to sustainability, according to the report.
Beyond teaching about how climate change functions and what society can do to address it, schools also prepare students with the critical thinking and technical skills required to adapt to and mitigate climate change by bolstering career and technical education to include introductions to jobs related to sustainable construction, agriculture, renewable energy, and aquaculture, the report says.
“More direct research on the efficacy of CTE programs focused on the clean economy would better inform both federal and state policy efforts to strengthen and scale CTE career pathways,” the report says.
Caitlynn Peetz is a reporter for Education Week who covers school district leadership and management.
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