Raising education and aWAReness on environMental sustaINability throuGh schools

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The mitigation of climate change CC and the consequent need for sustainable development SD are more urgent than ever. Key policies, such as the European Green Deal, Green Comp or international measures taken by different States, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, emphasize the need to protect nature and help consumers make more sustainable choices with an urgent component. Young generations play a key role in this achievement, as they will have to deal with all the present damages and a more demanding population in terms of demography and consumption intensity. The European Union is highly committed to moving towards sustainability - and highly dependent on other continents such as Africa, while African countries are among the most affected ones by this climate change. Therefore they could be a perfect match to accomplish all the climate and sustainability commitments. The secondary professional training institutes are strategic in defining the environmental challenges that we will face increasingly frequently in the coming years, thinking of energy production, agricultural production, drought, reduction of companies and farm emissions, etc. The need to create a learning course for schools about environmental sustainability, the circular economy, the role of renewable energies, the life cycle of products, and all the main aspects of the energy and agricultural economy's future is essential for European and African territories. Therefore, they must focus on the education field and especially on training the future managers of local resources to develop a sustainable model from an economic and environmental point of view. At the same time, it is highly strategic that it is the young people who propose themselves as ambassadors of a change that is still possible through a process of knowledge co-creation, awareness raising, context-based activism, and cross-pollination in peer-to-peer bases around CC and SD.