Climate Ambassador Programme

In April 2022, the 17郭肱利 launched the Climate Ambassadors Programme in collaboration with and with support from .

The programme was expanded nationwide in March 2024, backed by £2m of funding from the Department for Education, and further extended until September 2027. The 17郭肱利 and (The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges) are leading a consortium of partners to grow the programme's reach, so that every education setting in England can gain free access to expert support to become greener and more climate resilient.

What is the Climate Ambassadors Programme?

The connects volunteers passionate about climate change and sustainability action in education with settings in England – early years settings, primary and secondary schools, and further education colleges. Climate Ambassadors provide free support and guidance to help education settings develop and deliver impactful climate action plans – covering decarbonisation, adaptation and resilience, biodiversity and climate education and green careers, and decarbonisation.

The scheme has been developed in response to Action 8 in the National Climate Education Action Plan. It has been adopted as a core part of the UK government , published in April 2022, with a vision to make the UK’s education sector world-leading on this issue by 2030.

Climate action planning has also been further embedded through the published in 2026, alongside the new , which identifies “nature, outdoors and adventure, for example time outdoors, climate education and sustainability projects, gardening, residentials and camps” as some of the opportunities settings could offer their learners.

Benefits for educators and school leaders

Climate Ambassadors provide free guidance that is tailored to the needs of your education setting. They can assist in a number of ways, for example:

provide support and advice for your setting to make strategic and practical change
inspire your learners, staff and wider network to act, focussing on why action on sustainability and climate change matters for you, your community and the world
build knowledge of our connected environmental challenges and what can be done to tackle them
provide the expertise to help you build a credible climate action plan that will break down barriers to action
help you to navigate the support available to you to help deliver your climate action plan.

To find out more and request a Climate Ambassador for your school or college, visit the website.

Becoming a Climate Ambassador

We are looking for Climate Ambassadors from a broad range of jobs and backgrounds to help deliver meaningful change on sustainability and climate change within the education system.

You don’t need to be an expert in all topics covered by climate action plans – you can focus your time working on things that align with your experience. We will provide you with training and development to help you make the most of your skills.

There will be opportunities for you to work with the leaders, staff, young people and governors within your paired education setting and we hope you will develop a long-term relationship so that you can deepen and see the impact of your work with them over time.

To find out more and sign up to becoming a Climate Ambassador, visit the website.

Supporting the programme

If you are an organisation looking to embed the Climate Ambassadors offer into your operations or function – whether through corporate volunteering schemes, working strategically across a local authority or region, or collaborating in other ways, we’d love to hear from you.

We have dozens of supporter organisations, some of which form our Steering Group, and help us to strategically expand and deepen our work within the programme. If you are interested to find out more, please visit our , or contact Jane Dickson, Partnerships Manager, to discuss how we could collaborate.

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