Energy & Climate
Decarbonising UK schools
Working with governments to catalyse private finance into the UK’s 32,149 schools can close the £16.3bn investment gap.
29 May 2025
Extreme heat fuelled by climate change is once again forcing US schools without air conditioning to close.
A 2021 study from the Center for Climate Integrity found that, as climate change heats up classrooms more each year, US school districts faced $40 billion in added costs by 2025 to install, upgrade, operate and maintain HVAC systems.
Many districts that did not need air conditioning decades ago are now experiencing a dramatic increase in school days over 80 degrees – often needing to send students home early on dangerous ‘heat days’ and cutting into education time.
Just last week, public schools in Denver and South Dakota were forced to close due to extreme heat.
Big Oil companies knew decades ago that their products fuel climate impacts such as extreme heat – but instead of sharing their knowledge with the public, they funded a massive deception campaign denying the reality of climate change.
As communities bear the harms of Big Oil’s climate deception, CCI’s study calls for the polluters to be held accountable for the damage their lies have caused.
‘Oil and gas executives turned up the heat in these classrooms; they need to pay their fair share to cool them down’, the study says.
‘It’s not fair that students, teachers, and parents are paying the price for more extreme heat days, while the Big Oil companies that turned up the heat in these classrooms and lied about it for decades continue to rake in profits and pay nothing.‘Hotter school days mean more school closures, lower academic performance and more strain placed on hardworking families. The fossil fuel industry must be held accountable for the harm and costs their climate deception has caused to America’s education system.’
RICHARD WILES
President of the Center for Climate Integrity
10 US states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington and Puerto Rico – have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change.
These cases collectively represent more than one in four people living in the United States. Last year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.
Working with governments to catalyse private finance into the UK’s 32,149 schools can close the £16.3bn investment gap.
Free Carbon Literacy training is being made available for headteachers and sustainability leads in schools.
Private schools ‘driving a 47% increase in toxic air pollution and extensive bus delays’.
42,000 jobs could be created making UK schools safer, greener and more energy efficient.
