Strong training programs for marginalized groups is necessary to address climate change – anything else doesn’t solve the Paris Agreement.

To accelerate a green, just economic transition, a blueprint for action must start with people. To empower people, especially those who have been historically marginalized and harmed by climate change, the U.S. must adopt and deliver a national strategy around a human-centered green learning agenda (see Appendix 2). With a focus on climate education and workforce development, this national strategy can help feed into longer-term plans and programs throughout the country, and enable the U.S. to fulfill Article 12 under the Paris Agreement. This strategy would recognize state and local control over educational and training programs specific to individual regions, while giving the federal government a critical coordinating role in scaling action across multiple tiers of the U.S. education system, including formal education systems, higher education, career and technical education systems, teacher training institutions, and continuing education programs.2

To jumpstart action and set the country on this course, the Biden administration should focus on two key efforts. First, on the heels of rejoining the Paris Agreement, it should empower the USGCRP with a mandate and budget to serve the critical federal leadership role and interagency coordinating function of a nationwide new green learning agenda. Second, over the next year, the administration should create a USGCRP ACE Working Group that engages the ED and DOL to advance a 50-state strategy on the education and training of all learners—from school children to adults—for climate action. These two efforts together can lead to additional conversations and actions among federal agencies over the next four years and beyond, paving the way for state and local adoption.