Want to Stop Climate Change? Put More Girls in School, New Study Says

Educating girls ‘is most effective’ way to combat climate change, Brookings Institution says

By Daniele Selby

When natural disasters, often made worse by climate change, strike, it is typically the most vulnerable populations that suffer most — and in many countries that means girls and women.

But making sure girls and women get educations is a sure-fire way to help a community recover more quickly when disaster strikes, a new study says.

“Educating girls is one of the most effective but overlooked ways to mitigate against climate change,” the Brookings Institution wrote in a post about its findings.

Climate change tends to exacerbate poverty as well as gender inequality, particularly in places where girls are not valued as equals to boys, and therefore, receive less investment in their development and education, the study said.