The world spends more on fossil fuel subsidies every three days than the amount needed to support the education of nearly 750 million children over a five-year period, Save the Children said.
The analysis comes ahead of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Replenishment Summit this week at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, where world leaders are gathering. At the summit, GPE - which works with governments to strengthen education systems – will seek at least US$5 billion to support education across 96 countries.
Annually, governments worldwide spend about US$725 billion on direct fossil fuel subsidies - financial support that lower the cost of producing or consuming coal, oil, and natural gas. These measures come in the form of tax breaks, low-interest loans, and other policies that reduce the operating expenses of oil, gas, or coal industries.
It would take just two-and-a-half days in direct fossil fuel subsidies to reach the US$5 billion GPE is seeking to strengthen education systems for 750 million children – about one-third of all children globally - by 2030, Save the Children found.
Burning fossil fuels for heat, electricity, transportation, and manufacturing and construction is the single-largest contributor to the climate crisis, which is now the biggest threat to children's lives, including their education.
At least one in 10 students globally had their schooling disrupted due to climate-related hazards in 2025, according to the UN.
Last month in Nepal, a deadly flash flood, triggered by a partial glacier collapse due to warming permafrost, disrupted the education of thousands of students, including 13-year-old Roma*, with dozens of schools damaged, destroyed or are being used as shelters.
Roma was at school when word spread that the river was rising. Her father rushed to the school to pick her up and together they headed to safety at a temporary holding centre. Within hours, the flood had swept away her family's home and belongings.
"Everything was taken by the flood," she said quietly. "But we all survived. That is the biggest thing. My school bag and books were buried in the flood. I had hoped to come first in the second term. Now I don't know what will happen. I don't even know whether exams will take place."
Today, Roma, a Grade 8 student, is living in temporary accommodation with her parents, brother and two sisters while her family begins the long process of recovery.
While humanitarian assistance has helped meet some immediate needs, it is her education that she worries about most.
"I miss school," she said. "I miss studying and seeing my friends."
As the climate crisis continues to increase the frequency and severity of these hazards, students will keep being affected directly through school disruptions - and indirectly through lost learning, reduced lifetime earnings, and widening education inequities.
Marian Hodgkin, Head of Education at Save the Children said:
"The world is currently grappling with an unprecedented learning crisis that urgently needs investment. World leaders have no problem spending public money to fund fossil fuel subsidies - investments which are fuelling the climate crisis and further deepening the global learning crisis. Yet, when it comes to funding aid and education responses, budgets are drying up.
"Every year, governments spend US$725 billion tipping the scales in favour of oil, gas and coal. Yet just US$5 billion over five years could help fund the education of nearly 750 million children whose learning is being disrupted by the climate crisis these same industries are fuelling. The money exists. It is a question of what we choose to invest in - the industries driving the climate crisis, or the children who will inherit it."
Save the Children is calling on world leaders gathering in New York this week for the UNGA, to change course and reinvest in tackling the global learning crisis. This includes pledging at least US$5 billion to fund the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) replenishment, so governments can build stronger, more resilient education systems, so that every child can access their right to education even when disasters strike.
Save the Children is also calling on leaders to fund an additional US$600 million at the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) replenishment event in November, to help ensure 10 million of the world's most vulnerable children in crisis can continue learning.
Ahead of COP31, the child rights organisation is calling for the urgent phase out of fossil fuels to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and increase investments being directed towards renewable energy.
Save the Children works with GPE to help governments across 35 climate-vulnerable countries and territories strengthen school safety, access new climate finance, and build education systems that can withstand increasing floods, storms and extreme weather, helping protect the learning and future of millions of children.
