02/08/2026
Reframing Climate Action Through Decolonial Climate Pedagogy in Higher Education
Climate colonialism and the politics of climate knowledge
Climate colonialism requires a fundamental reorientation of how responsibility, agency and accountability are understood within the climate crisis. As Doreen MartĂnez (2014) argues, “the climate is failing to change” not because of an inherent instability, but because it is being actively transformed through systems of domination that seek to control, extract from and reorganise ecological relations. From this perspective, climate disruption represents not merely an environmental failure but a consequence of colonial and capitalist structures that continue to shape relationships between humans, nature and knowledge production.
Viewed through the framework of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 on climate action, climate colonialism exposes the unequal distribution of responsibility and vulnerability embedded within dominant climate narratives. Communities and nations that have contributed least to historical greenhouse gas emissions frequently experience the most severe consequences of climate change, while institutions and actors in the Global North continue to exercise disproportionate influence over how climate problems are defined and which solutions are considered legitimate.
This uneven distribution of authority extends beyond economic and political systems into the production of climate knowledge itself. Higher education institutions have historically played a central role in determining whose knowledge is recognised as credible, whose experiences are prioritised, and which forms of expertise influence climate policy and practice. As a result, dominant academic approaches to climate change often privilege technical, scientific and managerial responses while marginalising Indigenous, local and community-based knowledge systems.
Such hierarchies limit the range of possible climate responses available to decision makers, researchers and students. Addressing the climate crisis therefore requires more than expanding scientific knowledge or increasing institutional commitments to sustainability. It requires a transformation of the educational structures through which climate knowledge is produced, taught and applied.
Decolonial climate pedagogy provides one pathway for this transformation. By challenging colonial assumptions embedded within climate education, it creates opportunities for more historically informed, locally grounded and socially just approaches to climate action. Through this lens, climate literacy becomes not only the acquisition of knowledge about climate systems but also an examination of power, responsibility and the unequal conditions shaping climate vulnerability.
Investigating decolonial approaches within higher education
To explore how decolonial climate pedagogy is currently reflected within higher education, this research examined teaching and learning practices associated with the International Association of Universities (IAU) SDG 13 Global Cluster on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development. The Cluster provides a relevant context for analysis because it brings together universities engaged in collaborative climate action initiatives and represents an institutional space where alternative approaches to climate education may emerge.
The study focused on two institutions within the Cluster: the University of the West Indies (UWI), the lead institution for the SDG 13 Cluster, and the University of Nairobi, Kenya, an institutional partner. These universities were selected as examples of Global South institutions engaging with climate education within regions experiencing significant climate vulnerability while also navigating complex colonial histories.
The research used a qualitative document analysis approach, reviewing publicly available institutional materials to identify climate-related teaching and learning activities. These findings were supplemented by a short qualitative survey distributed to institutional representatives to clarify practices that were not clearly documented online. Respondents were asked to describe their institutions’ primary SDG 13 teaching and learning initiatives, assess the extent to which these incorporated decolonial approaches, and discuss the role of South–South partnerships in shaping climate education.
The collected evidence was analysed through four markers of decolonial climate pedagogy: community knowledge, locally situated teaching and learning, climate justice framing and action, and South–South knowledge exchange. These markers were developed from existing literature on decolonial education, climate justice and alternative knowledge production.
Markers of decolonial climate pedagogy
Although teaching and learning provides the broader context of analysis, it is not itself considered a marker of decoloniality. Rather, it refers to intentional climate knowledge development through courses, programmes, workshops, training, student projects, fieldwork, curriculum initiatives, online learning and community-based education.
Community knowledge
A decolonial approach requires recognition of communities as knowledge producers rather than passive recipients of academic expertise or research subjects. This includes Indigenous knowledge systems, local ecological knowledge and other forms of situated expertise. Evidence of this marker requires more than community engagement; it requires communities to actively contribute to the creation and delivery of climate learning, for example as co-educators, knowledge holders or partners in curriculum development.
Locally situated teaching and learning
Decolonial climate education challenges universalized approaches that present climate change as an abstract global issue detached from place. Locally situated learning recognises that climate impacts, vulnerabilities and responses are shaped by specific historical, social and ecological contexts. This may be demonstrated through fieldwork, local case studies, community-based learning and programmes addressing regional climate priorities.
Climate justice framing and action
A climate justice approach positions climate change as a political and historical issue rather than solely a technical environmental challenge. It examines questions of responsibility, inequality and historical exploitation, including the relationship between colonialism, development patterns and contemporary climate vulnerability. Educational activities demonstrating this marker explicitly engage with questions of who has contributed to climate change, who experiences its consequences and what forms of justice are required.
South–South knowledge exchange
South–South collaboration has the potential to challenge traditional knowledge hierarchies by enabling reciprocal learning between institutions and communities with shared experiences of colonialism, unequal development and climate vulnerability. However, geographic location alone does not make a partnership decolonial. Such relationships must demonstrate shared knowledge production, mutual benefit and meaningful influence on teaching and learning practices.
Findings: emerging evidence and limitations
The analysis found strong evidence of locally situated teaching and learning and climate justice framing at both institutions, although evidence of community knowledge and South–South pedagogical exchange remained limited.
At the University of the West Indies, climate education initiatives demonstrated strong alignment with regional priorities, particularly through attention to Small Island Developing States and Caribbean development challenges. Programmes within the International School for Development Justice positioned climate change within broader questions of historical exploitation, reparatory justice and the unequal distribution of climate impacts. This represents a significant movement beyond technical climate education by connecting environmental change with historical and political structures.
However, while UWI materials referenced community-based projects and locally relevant solutions, there was limited evidence that communities were recognised as active producers of knowledge within teaching and learning processes. Community engagement appeared primarily as an applied learning activity rather than as a transformation of academic authority and knowledge production.
The University of Nairobi similarly demonstrated strong evidence of locally situated climate education. Its Master of Science in Climate Change programme is grounded in Kenyan policy frameworks, including national climate strategies and development priorities. The programme addresses the social and political dimensions of climate change alongside scientific and technical knowledge.
Nevertheless, the programme provides less explicit engagement with colonial histories and unequal global responsibility for climate change. Although climate vulnerability is examined within national and regional contexts, the relationship between historical structures of extraction, colonial development patterns and contemporary climate injustice is less visible.
Across both institutions, community knowledge emerged as the weakest marker. References to fieldwork, community projects and external contributors indicate engagement with communities, but there was insufficient evidence that community members were positioned as co-creators of climate knowledge or as partners shaping educational processes.
Similarly, evidence of South–South pedagogical collaboration was limited. While both universities participate in international partnerships and broader climate networks, there was little indication of jointly developed curricula, shared teaching initiatives or reciprocal knowledge production between Global South institutions specifically related to SDG 13 education.
Implications for decolonising climate education
These findings demonstrate both the possibilities and limitations of current approaches to climate education within Global South higher education institutions. Universities are increasingly incorporating locally relevant climate priorities and justice-oriented perspectives; however, decolonial transformation requires deeper changes in how knowledge authority is distributed.
Current SDG 13 assessments often prioritise institutional commitments, sustainability strategies and the presence of climate-related terminology rather than examining whether educational practices challenge existing power structures. This creates a risk that climate education becomes an institutional performance measure rather than a transformative process.
For higher education to engage meaningfully with SDG 13, universities and international networks such as the IAU Global Cluster on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development should develop qualitative indicators that assess climate justice, community knowledge, locally situated learning and reciprocal partnerships. These indicators should move beyond measuring whether climate education exists and instead examine whose knowledge informs it, whose experiences shape it and who benefits from it.
Greater investment is also needed in collaborative teaching initiatives between Global South universities, including jointly developed courses, shared research-based learning and community-led climate education. Such approaches can support alternative models of knowledge production that challenge colonial assumptions embedded within existing climate responses.
Ultimately, decolonial climate pedagogy represents a critical but underdeveloped dimension of climate action. By transforming how climate change is understood and taught, higher education can move beyond approaches that reproduce existing inequalities and contribute instead to forms of climate action that recognize resistance, resilience and justice as central to addressing the climate crisis.
Here are SAT-style reading comprehension questions based on the passage. Each question includes four answer choices and an explanation.
Question 1: Main Idea
The primary purpose of the passage is to:
A. argue that climate change is primarily caused by failures in scientific research
B. explain how higher education can use decolonial approaches to create more equitable climate action
C. compare climate policies between universities in developed and developing countries
D. demonstrate that international partnerships have failed to address climate change
Question 2: According to the passage, climate colonialism refers primarily to
A. the replacement of environmental science with traditional knowledge systems
B. the unequal distribution of climate responsibility and authority between groups and nations
C. the refusal of developing countries to participate in climate agreements
D. the inability of governments to predict environmental disasters
Correct Answer: B
Explanation: The passage states that climate colonialism involves shifting responsibility onto those least responsible while allowing powerful actors to define climate problems and solutions.
Question 3: The author mentions higher education institutions primarily to emphasize that they
A. have failed completely to address climate change
B. possess the financial resources needed to solve global warming
C. influence which forms of climate knowledge are considered legitimate
D. should replace governments in creating climate policies
Question 4: The author would most likely agree with which statement about climate literacy?
A. Climate literacy should focus mainly on understanding scientific climate models.
B. Climate literacy should avoid discussions of politics and history.
C. Climate literacy should examine power, responsibility, and inequality.
D. Climate literacy is only necessary for environmental science students.
Correct Answer: C
Explanation: The passage defines climate literacy as more than scientific understanding; it includes examining historical responsibility and unequal climate impacts.
Question 5: The passage suggests that community knowledge is important because it
A. provides evidence that academic research is unnecessary
B. allows communities to participate as producers of climate knowledge
C. replaces scientific approaches with cultural traditions
D. guarantees successful climate policies
Question 6: The discussion of the University of the West Indies (UWI) primarily serves to show that
A. UWI has completely implemented decolonial climate pedagogy
B. UWI demonstrates strengths in locally relevant climate education and climate justice framing
C. UWI has avoided discussing historical causes of climate change
D. UWI has created the strongest South–South partnerships in the world
Correct Answer: B
Explanation: The passage praises UWI’s focus on Caribbean priorities, Small Island Developing States, historical exploitation, and climate justice, while noting limitations in community participation.
Question 7: The author presents the University of Nairobi’s climate programme as
A. focused primarily on international climate agreements
B. disconnected from local climate challenges
C. strong in local relevance but less explicit about colonial histories
D. an example of ineffective climate education
Question 8: The phrase “geographic location alone does not make a partnership decolonial” most strongly implies that
A. Global South universities should avoid international collaboration
B. partnerships must involve genuine reciprocal knowledge exchange
C. only Indigenous communities can produce climate knowledge
D. international partnerships are always unequal
Correct Answer: B
Explanation: The passage argues that South–South partnerships must demonstrate shared knowledge production and mutual influence, not merely involve institutions from the Global South.
Question 9: Which of the following best describes the author’s view of current SDG 13 assessments?
A. They are too focused on measuring institutional commitments rather than educational substance.
B. They accurately measure climate justice in universities.
C. They prevent universities from creating climate programmes.
D. They focus too heavily on community participation.
Question 10: The final paragraph suggests that decolonial climate pedagogy is valuable because it
A. eliminates the need for scientific climate research
B. shifts climate education toward justice, resilience, and alternative knowledge systems
C. encourages universities to withdraw from global climate initiatives
D. focuses only on historical explanations of climate change
Correct Answer: B
Explanation: The conclusion argues that decolonial climate pedagogy can transform climate education by centering justice, resistance, resilience, and more inclusive knowledge production.
SAT Vocabulary-in-Context Question
Question 11: As used in paragraph 3, the word “marginalising” most nearly means:
A. excluding
B. expanding
C. documenting
D. comparing
SAT Inference Question
Question 12: The author would most likely predict that universities adopting decolonial climate pedagogy would:
A. reduce attention to local climate challenges
B. focus exclusively on technological solutions
C. incorporate broader perspectives into climate education
D. abandon international climate cooperation
Correct Answer: C
Explanation: The passage argues that decolonial pedagogy expands climate education by including local experiences, justice concerns, and diverse knowledge systems.
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The passage introduces Shrika Madivanan, a student in the Master in Research and Innovation in Higher Education (MARIHE) program through Erasmus Mundus. She recently completed an internship with the International Association of Universities (IAU), where she focused on the role of higher education and research in advancing sustainable development.
It also notes that the article is a commentary, meaning it reflects the author’s personal views and opinions and does not necessarily represent the position of Bright Prep.
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