Mark Hirons and James Robson on sustainability education

Addressing climate challenge, inequality and biodiversity loss through education

There is growing awareness of the importance of addressing the interwoven crises of climate change, inequality and biodiversity loss. Education, as always, is seen as a critical component in addressing these challenges. But in light of growing concerns about climate and ecology anxiety, political polarisation and rapid technological advancements associated with artificial intelligence, critical questions about the ‘how’, ‘what’ and ‘why’ of sustainability education become increasingly significant. The 2025 Green Templeton Lectures will explore the topic of sustainability education with speakers reflecting on three critical and central issues.

At the heart of sustainability issues are questions of fairness and flourishing. Addressing climate change and ecological loss is not merely a technical or managerial issue. For example, the poorest and most marginalised in society bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change, yet often have the least voice in decisions about how to tackle climate change and, importantly, who should bear the costs associated with reducing carbon emissions. Equipping students to engage with questions of fairness and justice is central to sustainability education. Justice and fairness in society can be seen as one area of human flourishing, which broadly refers to taking a holistic understanding of human well-being. In a society which tends to reduce questions of well-being to economic growth, students should be able to evaluate existing strategies from a wide range of social and environmental considerations and be provided with the foundation to help create new approaches to sustainability challenges. Fairness and flourishing will be addressed at the first lecture on Wednesday 12 February, in a dialogue between Chukwumerije Okereke and Dr Amanda Power.

Engaging with questions of fairness and flourishing inevitably means engaging with questions of power and politics. This means equipping students with the intellectual tools required to understand how the structures of knowledge and power shape contemporary society and to assess how diverse values and priorities are expressed or oppressed through patterns of exclusion and inclusion. Climate change and biodiversity loss occur on a range of scales, from the global to the back garden. Understanding the links between international, national and local scales and connecting this to their personal experiences is essential to enabling students to find their own way to fit in with efforts to tackle sustainability challenges. In the second lecture, Chris Skidmore will discuss these issues with Dr Debbie Hopkins.

Finally, Sam Barratt and Ann Finlayson will turn to hope and humility. Against the backdrop of chronic under-achievements in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss is growing interest in the role of hope and humility in sustainability education. Hope is different to optimism. Optimism is usually associated with the feeling that a desired outcome is likely to occur. Hope, however, involves being open about the scale of the challenges and difficulties involved. As Desmond Tutu reportedly put it: ‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.’ Hope has a rich history in educational theorising and social life not only because it motivates action in the face of unfavourable odds, which is essential in responding to climate change, but also because it provides the conceptual tools to engage with, and address, fear and despair.

These issues, and what they mean for the higher education sector, Oxford University and Green Templeton College, will be explored in a series of dialogues held at Green Templeton in Hilary Term 2025. We hope some of you will be able to join us for what we expect will be a stimulating and provocative series.

Research Fellows Dr Mark Hirons and Dr James Robson are co-convenors of the Green Templeton Lectures 2025. Mark is a Senior Researcher based at the Environmental Change Institute and James is Associate Professor of Tertiary Education Systems and Director of the Centre for Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance, University of Oxford. This article is extracted from the forthcoming issue of  Observatory magazine.