Italy introduces mandatory climate change lessons in schools

Climate change and sustainable development will become a mandatory part of education in Italy this fall. Specifically, each school will be required to devote at least one classroom per week to climate change learning, and other subjects, such as geography, mathematics and physics, will be taught from a sustainable development perspective.

Italian public schools will soon have to offer one hour of climate education classes a week. The move, which will take effect in September, makes Italy the first country in the world to introduce compulsory climate education into public schools. “Other school subjects will also have to be taught from a sustainability perspective,” the Italian Ministry of Education said.

Italian Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti said on this occasion that he wanted the Italian education system to put “the environment and society at the heart of everything we learn at school”.