UK school leavers still unprepared for green careers

A critical gap in the UK’s green transition

Royal Meteorological Society warns that climate literacy must underpin the UK’s green transition.

The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) has released the results of its 2025 Climate Literacy Survey. It reveals that many UK school leavers still lack the understanding and skills needed to participate fully in the transition to a green economy. 

The annual survey gathered responses from over 1,000 school leavers across the UK. It found continued limited understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change. It also discovered low awareness of the policies and actions that can help people prepare for and adapt to a changing climate in the UK. 

Professor Sylvia Knight, head of education at the Royal Meteorological Society, said: 

“As the UK moves toward a clean energy economy, climate literacy will be fundamental to preparing young people for green careers. Our latest survey shows that while students care deeply about climate change, many are leaving school without the knowledge and confidence they’ll need to make informed choices – both as citizens and as workers in a decarbonised economy.”

The findings come after the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) and the Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum. This placed climate and environmental education at the heart of its recommendations, and the UK government’s plan to create 400,000 new clean energy jobs by 2030. Together, they highlight both the urgency and opportunity in strengthening climate education across the UK’s nations. 

Knowledge gaps and regional disparities

Among the key findings of the 2025 Climate Literacy Survey: 

• Students show good awareness of which countries are currently emitting the most greenhouse gases. However, they show less understanding of per capita and historical emissions, as well as regional variations in future climate impacts. These issues underpin global discussions on climate justice.
• Trust is highest in teachers, reinforcing the need to ensure teachers have access to high-quality, up-to-date training and classroom resources. 
• Trust in social media is comparatively low. This highlights the importance of teaching media and data literacy to help students evaluate information sources and biases. 
• Students in Scotland showed the strongest awareness of wind power’s contribution to the UK’s energy mix. This suggests stronger visibility of careers in this sector. 
• 10 per cent of respondents in Wales reported not learning about climate change since primary school. This is considerably higher than in other nations. 
• The current geography curriculum’s emphasis on past climate change and its natural causes has led to limited recognition among students in England that the warming since the Industrial Revolution has been driven almost entirely by human activity. Without this awareness, students may struggle to recognise that people can – and should – take meaningful action to reduce climate change and its impacts on both society and the natural world. 

Building a climate-literate workforce

RMetS has long championed the integration of climate literacy across the curriculum. It published its Curriculum for Climate Literacy earlier this year. This now serves as a benchmark framework showing how all subjects can contribute to high-quality climate education. 

Professor Knight added: 

“As the curriculum is revised or developed in all four Nations of the UK, we have an unprecedented opportunity to significantly improve the climate literacy of our school leavers. If we want a workforce ready for a net-zero economy, we have to start with education.”

The full results of the 2025 Climate Literacy Survey, along with analysis, are available from the Royal Meteorological Society’s education platform, MetLink.

Schools in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will be invited to contribute to this critical piece of ongoing research early in 2026.