Graded High School Students Bring Their Voice to COP30

Global leaders, scientists, organizations, governments, and young activists are gathering in Belém for COP30. While the conversations happening there may feel far from our São Paulo campus, our high school students have been preparing to contribute to the dialogue.

As part of a COP30 initiative from Escolas pelo Clima (Schools for the Climate), of which Graded recently joined, students in grades 9–12 explored a guiding question: Why is climate and environmental education essential for our collective response to the climate crisis and for the well-being of present and future generations?

To engage with this question, each grade took on a sustainability topic through their mentoring classes:

• Grade 9 studied sustainable food systems
• Grade 10 examined responsible consumption and waste reduction
• Grade 11 focused on water conservation
• Grade 12 explored energy use

Students considered what Graded is already doing in each of these areas, researched new possibilities, and discussed how individual and collective choices shape our environmental impact. After weeks of collaboration, each grade synthesized its thinking into a shared sustainability statement.

A central message from our students reads:

"Learning about climate change allows us to face one of humanity’s greatest challenges with awareness rather than apathy. It shapes not only what we know, but who we become. It empowers us to move from knowing to doing, it challenges us to reduce waste, conserve resources, and innovate for a sustainable future. It turns awareness into responsibility, and responsibility into action."

Our students’ voices will now join those of schools across Brazil through the Escolas pelo Clima network at COP30. By contributing to this national declaration from young citizens across Brazil, our students are practicing civic engagement and helping to shape the world they will inherit.