Climate Change Education in India: Current Status and Future Directions

Climate change education (CCE) is increasingly recognised as essential for strengthening climate literacy, resilience, and sustainable development. This paper presents a narrative policy review of the status of climate change education in India, examining how global frameworks and national education policies shape curricular integration and implementation practices. The review draws on peer-reviewed literature and institutional policy documents published between 2008 and 2024, including reports from UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFCCC, and the World Bank, alongside key Indian policy frameworks such as the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023. Findings indicate that while policy acknowledgement of climate education has increased, classroom implementation remains uneven due to gaps in teacher preparedness, limited infrastructural and digital resources, and fragmented curricular treatment of climate change. The paper concludes by recommending stronger integration of CCE across disciplines, systematic teacher capacity-building, and expansion of contextually grounded, experiential, and technology-supported pedagogies to strengthen climate education outcomes in India.