H.R. 8406 — Climate Change Education Act

This section states 13 congressional findings on human-induced climate change, including its causes and solutions; public support for teaching climate change in schools across all 50 states and over 3,000 counties; gaps in teacher understanding (30% of middle school science teachers and 45% of high school science teachers); the annual graduation of more than 3.5 million U.S. high school and college students; and the suitability of expanding NOAA's Environmental Literacy Program—established in 2005 and funding less than 5% of 2020 applications—to provide climate education for educators and students, consistent with NOAA's education mandate under the America COMPETES Act.

This section establishes definitions for 10 terms used in the Act, including (1) climate change education (i.e., nonformal and formal interdisciplinary learning at all age levels about climate change, adaptation, mitigation, resilience, justice, and related effects on U.S. environmental, energy, social, and economic systems); (2) climate justice (i.e., fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, culture, national origin, or income in climate policies to ensure equal protection from climate change effects); (3) climate literacy (i.e., knowledge of climate change causes, impacts, and solutions); (4) environmental justice (i.e., fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, culture, national origin, or income in environmental laws, regulations, and policies for equal protection from hazards and access to agency actions); (5) environmental justice community (i.e., communities of color, low-income, or Tribal and Indigenous communities experiencing or at risk of disproportionate health or environmental effects); (6) green economy (i.e., an economy improving human well-being, economic well-being, and equity by reducing environmental risks and scarcities); and (7)-(10) institution of higher education (as defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965), local educational agency and State educational agency (as defined in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965), nonformal (i.e., out-of-school programming by nonprofits and public agencies), and nonprofit organization (i.e., 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity).

This section directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a Climate Change Education Program within NOAA's Office of Education not later than one year after enactment of this Act. The program must (1) increase U.S. climate literacy by broadening understanding of climate change, including its short-term and long-term consequences, disproportionate impacts, and potential solutions; (2) apply NOAA's latest scientific and technological discoveries to provide formal and nonformal learning opportunities for individuals of all ages and diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds; and (3) emphasize actionable information on new technologies, jobs, career training, programs, and incentives related to climate change, climate adaptation and mitigation, climate resilience, climate justice, and environmental justice.

This section establishes a program, as part of the Climate Change Education Program under section 4, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator to award grants or enter cooperative agreements not later than one year after enactment of the Act. Awards may be made to (1) state educational agencies (in partnership with local educational agencies and local nonprofits) and, subject to subsection (c), local educational agencies for developing and implementing climate literacy plans for grades 4 through 12 (aligned with state standards and ensuring high school graduates achieve climate literacy) and related projects such as educator training, integration of climate concepts into standards and curricula, applied project-based learning (e.g., using school green infrastructure improvements), and climate-related career pathways; (2) institutions of higher education (or networks thereof) for applied climate research and community services on mitigation and adaptation (prioritizing scalable, inclusive projects with student input); (3) professional associations and academic societies for capacity-building in green economy continuing education; and (4) youth corps organizations for community-based climate work with educational components. The program requires NOAA to establish communities of practice for each recipient category. NOAA may not award to local educational agencies under paragraph (1) unless appropriations exceed $5 million that fiscal year; if appropriations exceed $5 million, awards to paragraph (1) recipients must total at least $1 million per entity that fiscal year. Amounts appropriated are allocated as 50% to paragraph (1), 30% to (2), 10% to (3), and 10% to (4), except if $5 million or less then 60% to (1) and 40% to (2); additionally, 40% of amounts for paragraphs (2) and (4) must go to environmental justice communities.

This section directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to submit to Congress, not later than two years after enactment and annually thereafter, a report evaluating the scientific merits, educational effectiveness, and broader effects of activities carried out under this Act.