Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
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Global Resources Outlook: 2024 Bend the Trend; Pathways to a Liveable Planet as Resource Use Spikes Year of publication: 2024 Author: Hans Bruyninckx, Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Stefanie Hellweg, Heinz Schandl Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) | International Resource Panel (IRP) The world is in the midst of a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste. The global economy is consuming ever more natural resources, while the world is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. The scientific community has never before been more aligned or more resolute on the need for urgent global transformation towards the sustainable use of resources. This 2024 edition of the Global Resources Outlook sheds light on how resources are essential to the effective implementation of the Agenda 2030 and multilateral environmental agreements to tackle the triple planetary crisis. The report brings together the best available data, modelling and assessments to analyse trends, impacts and distributional effects of resource use. It builds on more than 15 years of work by the International Resource Panel, including scientific assessments and inputs from countries, a vast network of stakeholders in the field and regional experts. The report illustrates how, since the 2019 edition of this report, rising trends in global resource use have continued or accelerated. The report also shows how demand for resources is expected to continue increasing in the coming decades. This means that, without urgent and concerted action, by 2060 resource extraction could rise by 60% from 2020 levels – driving increasing damage and risks. However, this fate is not sealed. The report also describes the potential to turn negative trends around and put humanity on a trajectory towards sustainability. For that, bold policy action is critical to phase out unsustainable activities, speed up responsible and innovative ways of meeting human needs and create conditions conducive to social acceptance and equity within the necessary transitions. This includes urgent action to embed resources in the delivery of multilateral environmental agreements, define sustainable resource use paths and roll out appropriate financial, trade and economic incentives. The pathway towards sustainability is increasingly steep and narrow, and the window of opportunity is closing. The science is clear: The key question is no longer whether a transformation towards global sustainable resource consumption and production is necessary, but how to make it happen now. Addressing this reality, based on evolving concepts of a just transition, is an essential part of any credible and justifiable way forward. 
Emissions Gap Report 2024: No More Hot Air … Please! With a Massive Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality, Countries Draft New Climate Commitments Year of publication: 2024 Author: Anne Olhoft | John Christensen | William F. Lamb | Minal Pathak | Takeshi Kuramochi | Taryn Fransen | Joeri Rogelj | Michel den Elzen | Joana Portugal-Pereira | Neil rant | Jiang Kejun | Stephanie Roe | Chris Bataille | Kornelis Blok | Kelly Levin | Eleonore Soubeyran | Costanza Strinati Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) As climate impacts intensify globally, the Emissions Gap Report 2024: No more hot air … please! finds that nations must deliver dramatically stronger ambition and action in the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions or the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal will be gone within a few years. The report is the 15th edition in a series that brings together many of the world’s top climate scientists to look at future trends in greenhouse gas emissions and provide potential solutions to the challenge of global warming. 
Empowering Learners and Teachers for Climate Action Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO Climate change is impacting every aspect of life around the world and posing a growing threat to people and their livelihoods. It is critical to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours to effectively address the climate crisis. Globally, there remain significant gaps in how climate change education and sustainability are taught in classrooms. Getting every learner climate-ready requires a holistic approach that involves adapting curricula, training teachers, rethinking schools and empowering communities. As part of its ongoing work on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and its role as secretariat to the Greening Education Partnership, UNESCO is currently developing a Green School Quality Standard and Greening Curriculum Guidance to mainstream climate education in schools and educational institutions. 
Education and Climate Change: Learning to Act for People and Planet Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: Global Education Monitoring Report Team | Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education Project (MECCE) | University of Sakatchewan How can education lead to climate change action?Despite strong evidence on the impact of education on other development outcomes and the role it plays in developing professional capacity for sustainable development transitions, education is often absent from other sectors’ strategic, policy, planning and financing considerations. The Global Education Monitoring Report is introducing a new series to advance dialogue on the interrelationship of education with the other Sustainable Development Goals.The first paper in the series focuses on climate change. It starts by reviewing the growing impact of climate change on education before turning to the role of education in climate action. Education has a somewhat underappreciated contribution to developing professional capacities for the transition to a green economy. Formal, non-formal and informal learning are also commonly believed to be playing a critical role in motivating actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation.Yet a positive association between education attainment and unsustainable consumption levels, as well as inconclusiveness of much research on the direct impact of education on climate change adaptation and mitigation actions has in part contributed to education receiving low priority in global and national climate change agendas.This paper argues that climate change education needs to adapt to fulfil its potential. The education paradigm cannot rely solely on knowledge transfer but needs to focus on social and emotional, and action-oriented learning.Much of the research has focused on the impact of education attainment and cognitive learning. More research is therefore needed to assess other drivers through which education can influence behaviours and motivate climate change action. Such research is needed to formulate viable education reform packages that improve the curriculum, strengthen climate-readiness of schools and education systems, engage learners and prepare educators accordingly. 
Curriculum in Transformation Mode: Rethinking Curriculum for the Transformation of Education and Education Systems Year of publication: 2023 Author: Renato Opertti Corporate author: UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) Through these pages, Renato Opertti shares a series of reflections that invite us to revisit the curriculum as an opportunity and lever for societies to express their visions and aspirations. Curriculum can serve to position education as the pillar of a renewed social contract grounded on the welfare of all learners as persons and supporting societies and communities give effect to sustainable and better futures for the younger generations. To do so, we need to re-conceptualize curriculum at large: from a mere specification of frequently fragmented learning contents to its understanding as both a process and product of public policy developments in which diversity of stakeholders own and take responsibility for education as a global common good. Curriculum and pedagogy, by going hand-inhand, and supported by effective teaching, learning and assessment processes, can play a key role in fulfilling the right to education for every learner equally, according to their own individual needs. Key ideas in this book help us to rethink curriculum with future-oriented approaches, entailing a stronger involvement of younger generations in the decision-making process and a careful attention to vulnerability and disadvantaged groups. A curriculum that embraces individuality and diversity within collaborative and caring learning settings, nurtures freedom and autonomous thinking, connects meaningfully the global and the local, and assumes the hybridization of education. The book also delves into perspectives for educational transformation prioritizing the development of learners’ foundational and transformative competencies as the barometer of a progressive curriculum. Crucially, this entails rethinking the mindsets and practices of education systems in light of the interconnected challenges posed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, post COVID-19, generative AI and the sustainability of the planet and the world. 
Consultation Paper on AI Regulation: Emerging Approaches Across the World Year of publication: 2024 Author: Juan David Gutiérrez Corporate author: UNESCO Since 2016, over thirty countries have passed laws explicitly mentioning AI, and in 2024, the discussion about AI bills in legislative bodies has increased globally. This policy brief aims to inform legislators about the different regulatory approaches to artificial intelligence (AI) being considered worldwide by legislative bodies. The brief explains nine emerging regulatory approaches, each illustrated with specific cases worldwide. The order in which the nine AI regulatory approaches are presented is deliberately structured to guide readers from less interventionist, light-touch regulatory measures to more coercive, demanding approaches. These regulatory approaches are not mutually exclusive and AI bills often combine two or more approaches:1. Principles-Based Approach2. Standards-Based Approach3. Agile and Experimentalist Approach4. Facilitating and Enabling Approach5. Adapting Existing Laws Approach6. Access to Information and Transparency Mandates Approach7. Risk-Based Approach8. Rights-Based Approach9. Liability Approach The policy brief suggests parliamentarians how they can address three key questions before adopting AI regulations:1. Why regulate? Determine whether regulation is needed to address public problems, fundamental and collective rights, or desirable futures.2. When to regulate? Reach a consensus on why regulation is needed, map available regulatory instruments, compare them with other policy instruments, and assess the feasibility of adopting the former.3. How to regulate? Identify a combination of AI regulatory approaches that are tailored to specific contexts. 
AI Competency Framework for Teachers Year of publication: 2024 Author: Fengchun Miao | Mutlu Cukurova Corporate author: UNESCO AI processes vast information, generates new content, and helps decision-making through predictive analyses. In education, AI has transformed the traditional teacher–student relationship into a teacher–AI–student dynamic.This shift requires a re-examination of teachers’ roles and the competencies they need in the AI era. Yet, few countries have defined these competencies or developed national programmes to train teachers in AI, leaving many educators without proper guidance.The AI competency framework for teachers addresses this gap by defining the knowledge, skills, and values teachers must master in the age of AI. Developed with principles of protecting teachers’ rights, enhancing human agency, and promoting sustainability, the publication outlines 15 competencies across five dimensions: Human-centred mindset, Ethics of AI, AI foundations and applications, AI pedagogy, and AI for professional learning. These competencies are categorized into three progression levels: Acquire, Deepen, and Create.As a global reference, this tool guides the development of national AI competency frameworks, informs teacher training programmes, and helps in designing assessment parameters. It also provides strategies for teachers to build AI knowledge, apply ethical principles, and support their professional growth. 
AI Competency Framework for Students Year of publication: 2024 Author: Fengchun Miao | Kelly Shiohira Corporate author: UNESCO Artificial intelligence is increasingly integral to our lives, necessitating proactive education systems to prepare students as responsible users and co-creators of AI. Integrating AI learning objectives into official school curricula is crucial for students globally to engage with AI safely and meaningfully.The UNESCO AI Competency Framework for Students aims to help educators in this integration, outlining 12 competncies across four dimensions:- A human-centred mindset- Ethics of AI- AI techniques and applications- AI system designThese competencies span three progression levels:- Understand- Apply- Create The framework details curricular goals and domain-specific pedagogical methodologies.Grounded in the vision of students as AI co-creators and responsible citizens, the publication emphasizes critical judgement of AI solutions, awareness of citizenship responsibilities in the AI era, foundational AI knowledge for lifelong learning, and inclusive, sustainable AI design. 
Adolescents in a Changing World: The Case for Urgent Investment Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: World Health Organization (WHO) | United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) This report focuses on the strong returns on investment associated with investing in adolescent health and well-being. Today, adolescents make up more than 16% of the world's population. They are a demographic that is often overlooked or misunderstood. Investments in adolescents can reduce inequalities and help to protect their human rights. The economic and social returns from a wide range of investments to address adolescent well-being are significant. The report makes a compelling case for investing in adolescents, they are living in a world facing multifaceted crises, and they will be tomorrow's changemakers and leaders. The staggering cost of inaction is estimated at US$110 trillion over a period of 27 years (2024-50). That amounts to 7.7% of the total GDP of those countries included in the models, which themselves include around 80% of the world's population. Many interventions will yield high returns, including those focused on health services and multisectoral interventions, for example on SRHR, HPV, TB, myopia, education and training, child marriage and road accident prevention. This evidence base is crucial for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, educators, donors, and civil society organizations as we map the road ahead for a better and more sustainable future. Investing in adolescent health and well-being strengthens the human capital of a country, and hence a country's potential for future development and for ending extreme poverty and creating more inclusive societies. 
World Public Sector Report 2023: Transforming Institutions to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals After the Pandemic Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: United Nations (UN) The World Public Sector Report 2023 examines the role that national institutional and governance innovations and changes that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic can play in advancing progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report focuses on three main questions: How can Governments reshape their relationship with people and other actors to enhance trust and promote the changes required for more sustainable and peaceful societies? How can Governments assess competing priorities and address difficult policy trade-offs that have emerged since 2020? What assets and innovations can Governments mobilize to transform the public sector and achieve the SDGs? The report addresses them in chapters composed of short overviews followed by a set of in-depth contributions from a wide range of experts which examine institutional changes observed in different contexts, sectors and policy processes and explore the potential of those with a positive impact on the achievement of the SDGs to be sustained beyond the pandemic. The report aims to draw attention to institutional change as a key component of the societal transformations required to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.