A global-scale examination of associations between education and climate vulnerability and adaptability

This study examines the relationships among formal educational attainment, climate vulnerability, and climate adaptability. To do so, panel data of 107 selected countries are used to draw a fixed-effect model. Findings reveal that secondary education is significantly associated with reduced overall climate vulnerability, exposure, and sensitivity, while tertiary attainment is associated with enhanced adaptive capacity and mitigated vulnerability, particularly in health and ecosystem sectors. Sectoral analyses also reveal that secondary attainment is associated with reduced vulnerability in ecosystems, habitats, and infrastructure. In contrast, tertiary education is positively associated with food security, health resilience, and mitigation of ecosystem vulnerability. Hence, education policy prioritizing climate adaptation strategies may be able to enhance national and community-level adaptive capacity to better tackle climate vulnerability.