It’s the Law: Italy’s Children Now Get Climate Change Lessons in School

Starting in September, Italy will become the first country to require children to be educated about climate change in schools – starting from the age of six all the way through high school.

“The entire ministry is being changed to make sustainability and climate the centre of the education model,” says education minister Lorenzo Fioramonti to Reuters. “I want to make the Italian education system the first education system that puts the environment and society at the core of everything we learn in school.”

The country’s education minister is adding 33 hours of climate change education lessons per academic year, with plans to include the topic into other subjects such as geography and mathematics – giving students a sustainable perspective to traditional subjects.