Climate Science, not Climate Silence

We are more than 300 climate and mental health organisations, researchers, psychologists, educators, doctors, young people and community leaders who work at the intersection of climate change and youth mental health.

There has been a rise in mis and dis-information suggesting that climate education and mental health support are causing climate anxiety in children and adolescents in Australia. In May 2025, the Institute of Public Affairs released a report claiming that “alarmist” climate education is causing mental distress in pre-adolescent Australians. It recommended scaling back, or even removing, climate education from primary schools (and potentially secondary schools) to protect young people. On 20 May 2026, another report was released, this time arguing that both climate education and particular approaches/strategies for supporting children and young people experiencing climate distress are causing psychological harm. The report called for removing the sustainability cross-curriculum priority and proposing the ‘treatment’ of children and young people’s concerns via potentially inappropriate mental health interventions. Both reports’ claims are built on shaky ground: misquoting research, ignoring context, and most of all, missing the point.

Climate education and support strategies aren’t the problem. When done well, climate education doesn’t alarm; it empowers children and young people, equipping them with the skills to thrive in a changing climate. And when support strategies are implemented effectively, they build the resilience and coping capacity of children and young people, fostering their wellbeing over time. 

In short:

✅ We agree that climate distress in young Australians is real and rising.

❌ We reject that climate science and support are causing climate distress - the evidence points to real-world climate impacts, not education, as the primary driver of distress.

✅ We agree that climate education should be developmentally appropriate and delivered with care for young people's wellbeing.

❌ We reject that the solution is less climate education  - silencing young people's climate concerns does not protect their mental health, it undermines it. Instead, good climate education, which is accurate, holistic, developmentally-appropriate and psychologically safe, builds emotional resilience.

✅ We agree that all responses to climate distress should be based on the best available evidence, and tailored to young people’s climate concerns. But we caution identifying climate distress as a pathological anxiety, where treating it as such misrepresents both the evidence and young people's experience, and could result in inappropriate mental health interventions.

Our ask: This is why we are calling for safe, accurate climate science education and evidence-based approaches to help parents, teachers, clinicians, and the broader community build the emotional resilience, agency, and hope of the next generation.