Authors

Madison Buchholz, Ole Siever

Research Question

How can a School Risk Index be created to assess the risk schools in each country face from climate and weather hazards—such as water scarcity, flooding, heat waves, and air pollution?

Background

Climate change has had a disproportionate and devastating impact on children’s education globally. Yet, education is often overlooked in climate policy agendas. The climate and education analytical framework offers an opportunity to identify new connections and pathways for positive change. To support the framework’s development, the School Risk Index takes a crucial first step in mapping some of the most impactful challenges faced by schools around the globe.

Methodology

For each country, schools exposed to climate hazards—such as water scarcity, flooding, heat waves, and air pollution—are calculated, transformed logarithmically, and scaled from zero to ten. These values are then used to compute a geometric average for each indicator. The School Risk Index (SRI) is derived by calculating the geometric average of the individual indicators’ averages across all indicators. The SRI enables comparisons across countries and regions, accounting for differences in school numbers and country size, providing valuable insights into the risks schools face due to climate change.

Deliverables

• Technical Report
• Data Library with cleaned datasets
• School Risk Index Values and Documentation for each country
• School Risk Index Global Visualization Dashboard
• Visualization of Climate and Education Data Availability Worldwide

Datasets