How can parents and carers help children with climate concerns?
Just like many adults, young people are deeply concerned by climate change. To support them, we first need to listen to their concerns.
In 2025, we carried out our first ISP climate anxiety survey, reaching 5,000 students across 25 countries. It revealed that 75.1% of students believe the threat of climate change should be taken more seriously. However, fewer than half believe their actions can make a difference and only 21.4% say they consistently take part in sustainable behaviours.
So, how do we talk about climate change in a way that recognises its importance without adding to feelings of worry or helplessness? We believe one of the most powerful approaches is empowering children to feel they can act and protect the world they are inheriting.
Across ISP schools, we are creating opportunities for children to feel more confident that they can make a difference. This includes integrating learning for sustainability into existing subjects, expanding student-led sustainability projects and designing activities that strengthen agency and emotional resilience.
Parents and carers, too, can play a similar role in helping children take environmental action in age-appropriate and real-world ways.
Use your ISP school as a guide
One of the simplest ways to support your child is to understand what is already happening in the school community and encourage them to get involved.
At ISP schools, our ISP Changemakers initiative supports students to lead climate-related initiatives that have an impact on their school and wider community. In 2025/26, over 12,000 ISP students acted on their ideas for social and environmental change through our programmes. Across just three months, students from around the globe prevented over 20,000 kg of CO2 emissions, the equivalent to driving a petrol car 80-100,000 miles.
Programmes like this give students opportunities to contribute to climate action in practical ways while developing confidence, leadership and collaboration skills.
By encouraging your child to take part, you’re giving them the space to think about the climate and explore how their actions can make a difference within the supportive environment of their school.
Get involved too
Your actions can inspire and support your children too. Find out about the sustainability projects, family events or community activities happening nearby.
Joining a school clean-up, attending an event or supporting a project at home can show your child that caring for the environment is a shared responsibility. It also creates opportunities for positive family conversations, where climate action is associated with working together.
How parents and students created a sustainability learning space at Tenby Schools Setia Eco Park
One example of parents working in partnership with schools to bring a sustainability idea to life is from Tenby Schools Setia Eco Park, an ISP school in Malaysia.
Students there set out to transform an unused outdoor area into a learning space that supports sustainable education. What began as a simple mural idea grew into a teaching tool that highlights key concepts, such as the water cycle, pollination, composting, renewable energy and healthy eating.
Once the final design was created, painting the mural became a true community effort, with parents joining teachers, maintenance staff and secondary volunteers working alongside street artist Mr Lee over six days.
The impact has been powerful: students feel proud seeing their ideas on the wall, teachers now use the space for outdoor learning, and the project has strengthened the school community’s sustainability culture. The team is already planning their second project – upgrading the garden with new planters and plants, to continue expanding hands-on learning and environmental stewardship.
How CS Academy students encouraged 900 households to reduce energy use
At CS Academy in Coimbatore, India, students acted as energy ambassadors and demonstrated that student voice and agency can create measurable community impact.
The project, titled the Watt Warriors Energy Conservation Initiative was conducted in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and ran from January to April 2025. Students reached 900 households and engaged almost 2,800 individuals, driving awareness of energy-saving techniques and encouraging friends, neighbours and members of the local community to change their behaviours.
Through structured learning, community outreach, data collection, and reflective action, students demonstrated measurable leadership and developed essential executive function skills such as planning, communication, responsibility, collaboration, and problem-solving.
Climate ideas at home
To bring climate action into the home environment, start by asking your child about the kind of impact they would like to make.
For younger children (ages 4–8): Keep questions close to things they can see and experience.
- “What do you love most about being outside?”
- “What could we do at home to waste less food?”
- “Can you spot anything we could reuse instead of throwing away?”
- “How could we help the birds, insects or plants where we live?”
- “If you were in charge of looking after the planet for a day, what would you do?”
For older children (ages 9–12): Introduce choices, trade-offs and problem-solving.
- “Where do you think our family creates the most waste?”
- “What’s one thing we buy that we could use less of, reuse or buy differently?”
- “Could we make one of our regular meals more environmentally friendly?”
- “What could we change about how we travel locally?”
- “Is there an environmental issue you’ve learned about that you’d like us to do something about as a family?”
- “How can we save energy at home?”
For teenagers (ages 13-18): Give them more autonomy and invite critical thinking rather than prescribing the “right” behaviour.
- “Which environmental issue matters most to you, and why?”
- “Where do you think our family could realistically make the biggest difference?”
- “How could we shop differently without making life impractical?”
- “Are there sustainability claims you see online or from brands that you’re sceptical about?”
- “Would you rather change something we do ourselves, support a local initiative, or campaign for a wider change?”
Sustainability projects families can do together
You can then explore manageable projects to do as a family.
For example, with younger children, you could grow herbs or pollinator-friendly plants together, introduce a weekly ‘food rescue’ meal using ingredients that might otherwise go to waste, or challenge them to find creative ways to reuse everyday materials. With older children, you could carry out a simple household waste or energy audit together, plan a lower-impact family meal, organise a clothes swap, or let them choose and lead a sustainability project that reflects an issue they care about.
These projects extend learning for sustainability beyond the classroom and into everyday family life. Giving your children the opportunity to choose these habits can also help them feel a sense of ownership and responsibility.
Connect with local environmental groups
Many local environmental organisations offer child-friendly activities, such as tree planting, litter-picking, wildlife projects or awareness campaigns, all of which help to build more resilient communities.
By working with others, children will learn that collaborative action is one of the most effective ways to create lasting change. There may also be opportunities for your child to make connections with others and feel a sense of belonging.
Nurturing citizens of the world
ISP’s Learning.First™ approach means that our students are supported to take ownership of their learning. That’s the case for sustainability-related learning too. ISP schools encourage children to connect learning with real-world impact to understand that their voices and choices matter.
By creating opportunities for action and open conversations, parents and schools can work together to help children feel more confident about the future and build confidence that their actions can make a difference.
Parents can reinforce this sense of purpose at home. You do not need to have all the answers or expert knowledge. Instead, you can take inspiration from your school and other sources you trust. You could also refer to resources from mental health and children’s charities for guidance on handling conversations about climate concerns.
If you’d like to find out more about how ISP students and schools around the world are making a positive impact on the climate, our sustainability report is a helpful place to start. It takes you through what ISP is doing and provides language that you can mirror when discussing climate change and sustainability with your child.
