This Spotlight reflects a growing recognition that education must play a far more transformative role in addressing today’s interconnected climate, nature, and societal challenges. Insights from the Villars Institute’s global community—spanning its Global Learning Conference and Global Issues Survey—underscore the urgent need to shift how we learn: towards systems thinking, interdisciplinary understanding, and action-oriented approaches that enable learners to thrive within planetary boundaries. Young people are actively seeking the skills, agency, and pathways to navigate this complexity. Reimagining education to embed planetary boundaries, real-world problem solving, and a strong sense of agency is therefore not optional—it is essential to move the next generation from eco-anxiety to eco-ambition.
The diversity, scale, and impact of these education solutions demonstrates the potential that education has in supporting planetary health: To maximise positive impact, action must be taken on all fronts, and education is a key lever that must be recognised and supported.
How did we review innovations?
Throughout the review process, the HundrED Research Team and The Villars Institute team looked for solutions that demonstrated clear evidence of making an impact on planetary health. This impact was evident not only through the innovations’ direct instructional programming, but more importantly demonstrated by the way in which learners were engaged in creative, systemic, and solutions-oriented thinking. The criteria for the Spotlight required the innovations to go above and beyond simply educating students about the climate crisis and sustainability. Solutions brought about a deeper understanding of the interdependent nature of planetary and societal challenges, while also prompting action on the part of learners, educators, and communities, with tangible impact for their target audiences.
Map displaying the geographic origins of the shortlisted solutions
These 20 educational solutions will now be reviewed by the Advisory Board to select a final 10 for the Spotlight.
The 20 Shortlisted Solutions
- Compass Education - The Sustainability Compass
- Coolplus Education
- Creating Resilient Schools for Quality Education
- Curriculum-Activated Climate Change Projects
- Educating the Solutionary Generation!
- ESCUELA DE EDUCACION ASES
- Global Children's Designathon
- iLearnabout
- International Climate Policy and Advocacy Course
- Junior Agripreneur Hub Africa
- Klimaatspeelplaats
- Kopila Valley School
- Meraki (Merdeka Anak Muda Indonesia)
- Nature based Education for Regenerative Futures
- NutriKids Lab
- Project Vaayu
- Ripples of kaitiakitanga an Enviroschools approach
- School of Humanity
- SDGs2SavetheWorld- Collaborative Project
- 50°C: Climate, Heat and Resilience
