Climate change a threat to education, lifetime earnings
Australian schools’ resilience to natural hazards should be improved to counter “significant impacts” from climate change on education, future employment and wage outcomes, a Zurich-led report says.
The Zurich-Mandala Climate Risk Index examines the effects of global warming on Australian schools, including the impact of extreme heat on lifetime earnings.
Two-thirds of the nation’s 9829 schools face considerable climate and natural peril risk, it says, with students projected to experience 34 heatwave days a year by 2060.
That could reduce writing, spelling and numeracy scores by up to 7% because high classroom temperatures can slow cognitive function and impair the way students make decisions and process and retain information.
Schools in regional and remote locations are disproportionately affected. NSW and Queensland have the highest proportion of schools at risk, with more than 90% in the three highest risk categories. The ACT and NT follow closely behind.
Zurich Financial Services Australia head of general insurance Alex Morgan says the insurer covers many schools and is “acutely aware of this growing physical and societal risk”.
“Key social infrastructure such as Australia’s schools, which currently support the development of more than 4 million children, have repeatedly suffered the consequences of our changing climate, resulting in reduced capacity to effectively teach and learn,” he said.
“The risk intelligence held by insurers can be used to tangibly understand and respond to the very real impacts of climate change and inform our collective action.”
The proportion of schools facing high climate risk is expected to increase to 84% by 2060 under 2 degrees of global warming.
About 80% of schools in low socio-educational advantage areas face significant climate risk, compared with 60% in high-advantage areas. Of the 10 most at-risk schools in Australia, most are government sites facing high bushfire and flood threats.
Increased chances of bushfire and hail pose the greatest climate risk to schools, the report says. Inland schools face greater risk than those on the coast, and Adam Triggs – a partner at consultant Mandala – says climate risks compound inequality.
“The same schools already facing socio-educational disadvantage are often those most exposed to climate impacts. Our modelling shows this could equate to ... missing an entire year of employment,” he said.