Always on
This project successfully funded on 20th April 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Climate Courage Schools
Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Aim
Teaching climate truth requires emotional support. Help schools move from anxiety to action: empower teachers to teach honestly & with care.
The story
Every day, teachers stand in front of classrooms where students are – rightfully – frightened or feeling hopeless about the future. They are expected to teach the truth about climate change, but they are often left to navigate the complex emotions that climate and nature breakdown can bring up without specific training, time, or support.
Our short film The Hardest Lesson shows what that feels like. Over 500 educators and campaigners joined our launch event. Many cried watching it – because it captures something real that isn't being talked about.
Over the past year, Climate Courage Schools has gone from idea to movement. We've produced The Hardest Lesson, published nine pioneering case studies of schools already doing this work, and built a strong network of organisations, teachers, psychologists, and researchers who agree that teachers and young people deserve far more support from government in navigating the most important questions of our time.
We've built something. Now we need to make it last. But our current funding runs out in four months. Without this crowdfunder, the campaign risks stalling just as it's gaining traction.
This £30,000 could keep a team in place for the rest of the year, turn what we've built into a permanent national resource, and give us the capacity to secure long-term funding and push for real policy change.
What your donation will unlock
- At £5,000: A media push to get teachers' and students' voices from the film into national newspapers and onto radio – shifting the public conversation.
- At £15,000: An expanded library of case studies and a searchable directory connecting teachers with mental health practitioners and climate adaptation experts.
- At £30,000: A fully developed national hub – a go-to resource for any school wanting to do this work – plus staff capacity to secure long-term funding and influence the curriculum review.
- At £40,000+: Connection spaces for educators and the groundwork for a national Community of Practice.
The problem
Young people's anxiety is rising far faster than their access to support.
- 67% of young people in the UK say climate change makes them afraid.
- 85% of teachers in England doubt the current education system is adequately preparing pupils for the future
- Yet only 13% of UK teachers had any climate training during Initial Teacher Education (and this is a best case scenario – self-selecting study)
Schools are already dealing with the physical reality of climate breakdown: heatwaves, flooding, disrupted learning. Teachers are holding their students' fears alongside these pressures, often alone.
But schools can become one of the most powerful places to help society adapt – emotionally and practically – if we support educators properly.
Our approach
Climate Courage Schools brings together teachers, students, parents, mental health professionals and researchers around a simple idea: education should help young people face reality – and find the courage, connection and skills to act.
We focus on four things:
Leadership: School leaders who put climate, wellbeing and adaptation at the heart of their school.
Culture: Staff who can talk honestly about climate facts and feelings without overwhelming students.
Action: Schools that empower young people to co-create real-world solutions – from food growing to flood preparation.
Curriculum: Climate and nature woven through every subject, linked to wider issues from AI to the cost of living.
This isn't about adding pressure to teachers' workloads. It's about showing what's already working and helping it spread. Teachers tell us that climate-informed approaches improve engagement, reduce anxiety, and give young people a sense of purpose.
Why us?
Climate Courage Schools is a campaign from the Climate Majority Project, backed by Imperial College London's Climate Cares Centre, the Climate Psychology Alliance, and the PSHE Association. Our advisors include Caroline Lucas, Louise Edgington, and Siobhan Currie.
Our work is built on the expertise of teachers and psychologists. We have the strategy, the endorsements, and the evidence. Now we need the capacity to reach every school that needs this.
Join us If you believe young people deserve an education that prepares them for the world they're actually inheriting, support Climate Courage Schools.
If 600 people gave £50, we'd hit our target. Every donation matters.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made