Powerful climate training for public servants

An online platform plugs the sustainability knowledge gap within governments

Spotted: If governments are going to meet their climate targets, then public servants and other partners require the education, tools, and resources in order to achieve these goals. At the moment, though, there’s a significant education gap, with 65 per cent of public sector workers reporting that they haven’t received any climate training. Apolitical hopes to change that.

To do this, the organisation created its Government Climate Campus (GCC), which serves as an online platform and community for public servants to offer a holistic approach to climate training. The GCC was piloted in 2023 with founding funder the Bezos Earth Fund and founding expert partner the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford.

The GCC provides 13 flexible online learning courses, which are designed specifically for public servants across all levels of government by expert institutions, on topics ranging from climate change and mental health to sustainable finance. It also offers expert-led events and meet-ups, and opens up users to a community of other engaged public workers so that they can share best practices.

Apolitical’s focus is on practical and actionable education, so the Campus also provides in-depth reporting and evaluation data so that users can measure the tangible impact of their training over time. The GCC has already trained more than 40,000 public servants in the US, Brazil, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. 

The platform recently received a $2 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund, which will help it deliver seven new training modules on topics like forest management and the low-carbon transition. With the boost of this latest funding, Apolitical hopes to accommodate 12 million learners by the end of 2026.

Written By: Duncan Whitmore and Matilda Cox