By: Jessica Enns

Edited by: Alicia Corner

Across North America and around the world, schools have increasingly begun integrating environmental literacy into the classroom. Through this shift toward “sustainable education,” students learn how environmental systems operate and how their personal choices affect the planet. However, access to this form of learning is far from equal. Instead, socioeconomic disparities largely determine which students benefit from environmental education, raising an important question: who gets to participate in shaping a sustainable future?

International studies consistently show that funding plays a critical role in shaping the learning opportunities available to students, specifically surrounding environmental concerns. One study on environmental knowledge found that the highest scores occurred in East Asia, Europe, and North America, while the lowest scores were in Africa, West Asia, and South America. These findings highlight a clear pattern: wealthier countries tend to perform better than countries facing greater economic barriers, revealing how economic conditions influence students’ ability to learn about sustainability practices. 

Furthermore, the impact of environmental education has a measurable impact, as another analysis found that access to environmental education significantly improves students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. When paired with the earlier study, this suggests that sustainable education is effective, but its benefits remain concentrated in higher-income areas. Students who lack such opportunities develop a weaker understanding of climate issues and have fewer chances to build the habits and behaviours that students in wealthier regions begin practicing early on.

This same research shows that environmental education becomes far less effective when broader community barriers prevent students from applying what they learn (Hu et al., 2025). For example, if schools lack recycling programs and supportive infrastructure, students cannot translate classroom learning into meaningful action. This reinforces a cycle in which students who lack access to sustainable education struggle to put climate-positive behaviours into practice. 

When environmental education is limited in wealthier schools, sustainability itself risks becoming a privilege. Students who gain exposure to these ideas at an early age often feel empowered to take climate action and influence their peers. Whereas, students without this exposure may view climate action as unattainable or overwhelming. 

Despite these disparities, many under-resourced schools and educators have taken the initiative to develop creative and meaningful programs with reduced funding. Programs like EcoSchools Canada display what is possible when communities make adaptations given limited resources. In the 2024-25 school year, EcoSchools recognized nearly one million students for their sustainability efforts, highlighting how accessible environmental action can be. 

Some of the strongest examples come from schools that have minimal budgets. In Saskatchewan, teachers and students took part in province-wide workshops and professional development sessions with a focus on environmental learning and climate action. In Newfoundland, community cleanups became a popular classroom activity, with students coming together to remove litter from school grounds and playgrounds. These low-cost, high-impact actions show that environmental stewardship does not require large investments, but instead depends on the community.

However, resourcefulness alone cannot repair systemic inequalities. Residents in lower-income communities experience the effects of environmental degradation most directly, yet have the fewest educational resources to respond to the issue. While grassroots initiatives demonstrate resilience within these communities, they also further emphasize the need for support to ensure that sustainable education goes beyond local successes.

Sustainable education cannot be truly “green” if it is not equitable. Environmental learning builds knowledge, attitudes, and empowers future action. But socioeconomic disparities determine which students receive these benefits and which are left behind. To close this gap, we need intentional investments, including policies that fund sustainability programming in underfunded areas and implemented resources to improve environmental literacy across all subjects. Community teamwork can lead the way, but systemic changes must follow. To build a sustainable future, all students need the opportunity to learn how to protect the planet. 

 

Image Citation: City of Greenville, North Carolina. (2022). Arbour Day Celebration 2022 [Photograph]. Flickr.com.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofgreenvillenc/52044969628/.

 

References: 

EcoSchools. (2025). Our Impact. EcoSchools Canada. https://ecoschools.ca/about/our-impact/ 

Hu, B., Wang, C., Xia, Z., Lu, C., Ju, X. (2025). Environmental education in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 104, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102613

Strello, A., Strietholt, R., Liaw, Y. L., Baghaei, P., Meinck, S. (2025, January 11). Inequalities on Environmental Knowledge. Knowledge and Willingness to Act Pro-Environmentally, 16, 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76033-4_5