Green Education: Training climate change actors today

How can teachers “green” their courses and inspire young people to act?

The urgency of “greener” education

In the face of climate change, schools can no longer limit themselves to simply transmitting knowledge. Today, education must prepare citizens who can understand environmental challenges and act for a greener, more sustainable future. Schools, universities, and vocational training centers are true incubators of change. They shape the skills, behaviors, and values that will allow young people to actively contribute to the ecological transition.

In Mali, the Go Green program (part of the project Youth Entrepreneurship and Employability in Mali, funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands) illustrates this well. Between 2023 and 2025, it trained hundreds of young people in green professions—sustainable agriculture, solar energy, waste management—while also strengthening their ability to develop economically viable and environmentally responsible projects. The results show that integrated training can change mindsets and inspire a new generation of green entrepreneurs.

Why train for green jobs now?

Because the signs are already here:

Droughts, floods, deforestation, declining yields and crop losses, urban pollution …
But also, new opportunities in green sectors: agroecology, circular economy, waste recycling, renewable energy.

Training students in green professions means giving them:

Knowledge to understand the causes and effects of climate change;
Skills to design solutions adapted to their context;
A mindset oriented toward innovation, responsibility, and collective action.

Tips to “green” your programs

No need for heavy reforms. Small, progressive changes can already make a difference:

Green existing courses: Integrate local, concrete case studies: ecological farming, sustainable water management, green finance, circular economy. Rooting lessons in real-life examples helps students connect climate challenges to their own context.
Encourage practical projects: Suggest small reforestation activities, composting, campus energy audits, or participatory recycling. These projects link theory to action and build environmental responsibility.
Create green clubs: Provide spaces where students can promote eco-actions, raise awareness among peers, and mobilize communities around green initiatives.
Set up green traineeships: Partner with companies, NGOs, and local authorities engaged in ecological transition. These hands-on experiences help young people acquire green professional skills, discover the reality of sustainable job markets, and connect training to employment.
Train the trainers: Strengthen teachers’ skills in active pedagogy, environmental assessment, and green project facilitation. Well-equipped teachers become catalysts for change in their institutions.
Measure and celebrate progress: Monitor initiatives, showcase results, and reward the best actions (certificates, recognition, internal communication). The goal: make greening a gradual, collaborative, motivating process, where teachers, students, and institutions all contribute to a more responsible learning environment.

Teaching spotlight: when teachers become greening actors

In March 2024, through the Go Green program, iCRA organized training for 17 teachers from vocational training centers and universities in Bamako, Ségou, Sikasso, and Mopti, using the Competency-Based Approach (CBA).

Over six days, these trainers learned to:

Design green, market-relevant courses (sustainable poultry, agroecology, local processing, agricultural economics, solar energy);
Link theory to practice with tools such as the diagnostic matrix and learning staircase;
Integrate digital tools (flipped classrooms, constructive feedback);
Work with local companies to organize internships and educational visits.

This shows that greening education is not just about adding content—it’s about transforming pedagogy to put learners and climate challenges at the heart of training.

Three quick actions you can start now

Start small: organize a Green Week on campus.
Make courses come alive: arrange field studies or invite green entrepreneurs.
Involve communities: co-create projects with municipalities, NGOs, or businesses.

These steps strengthen the link between theory and practice, making sustainability tangible, motivating, and meaningful for students.

Focus on agri-education

To prepare the future actors of the rural world:

Introduce agroecology and climate change adaptation techniques;
Teach agricultural green finance and sustainable value chains;
Promote action-research with rural communities to test local innovations;
Train in digital tools (mapping, carbon tracking, territorial planning).

Every lesson, project, and partnership can be an opportunity to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to tackle climate challenges and create sustainable futures. Whether through small classroom changes or larger institutional shifts, teachers and trainers have the power to spark transformation. The question is simple: what first step will you take to make your teaching greener?

This expert bite was written by Dr. Lassana TOURE, Economist and Project Analyst, Lecturer-Researcher at the University of Social Sciences and Management of Bamako (USSGB), and Director of Studies for Green Economy & Entrepreneurship at Durable Solution Group Mali.

Economist – Project Analyst