Learning from COP 26

After three thought-provoking days spent at COP26 in Glasgow, I was more concerned than ever about our impact on the environment. However, I also felt encouraged by the many people I met who are dedicating their lives towards progress.

On my journey up, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Professor Alun Hubbard a Glaciologist, who has spent the last three decades conducting research in places like Antarctica, Alaska, Patagonia and Greenland – looking at the connection between ice, landscape, ocean and atmosphere. Alun showed me some breath-taking footage of vast ice sheets in Greenland melting, and how much the landscape has changed since he has been visiting the region each year. Ice sheets melting have a direct impact on global sea levels, which can cause catastrophic flooding in other parts of the world.

While I was in Glasgow, I was also able to meet with colleagues from the British Council, who were hosting a group of international postgraduates who had been supported by scholarships for sustainability related studies and research. Lyfta has worked with the British Council for the last three years, and seen the impact that quality education in sustainability and global citizenship can have on children and communities. Education and Climate ministers from all over the world acknowledged this when they recognised that education is vital, to equip everyone with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed for urgent action.

Sustainability education has been a core part of what we do, since our inception in 2016. Our vision is that by the time a child leaves school, they will have had a meaningful learning experience in every country in the world. They will have seen for themselves how interconnected and interdependent we are, and will have developed the skills, values and attitudes needed to make a positive contribution to our planet.

Our content and lesson plans have always been aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we take great pride in the fact that we have trained and equipped thousands of teachers to deliver high quality global citizenship and sustainability education in classrooms across the UK and Finland. In 2019, Finland's National Agency for Education made Lyfta an entitlement to Finnish schools for sustainability and environment education, and the British Council in the UK chose Lyfta as a specialist provider on the Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning Programme.