Too hot to learn: how climate change hurts children’s chances from birth

Children across Europe have returned to school after a summer of extreme heat. As the climate warms, one question is becoming harder to ignore: how can students learn when classrooms become dangerously hot?

Extreme weather is likely to disrupt schooling more often in the years ahead. But climate change can influence a child’s education even before they set foot in a classroom.

In research conducted with my colleagues, we examined evidence on exposure to extreme weather during pregnancy and early childhood, including floods, droughts and unusually high temperatures. Such exposure has been linked to lower birthweight, poorer childhood development, starting school later, lower enrolment and completing fewer years of education. The effects can be particularly severe in low- and middle-income countries, where families may have fewer resources to cope with a sudden loss of food, income or access to healthcare.

The reasons can be painfully simple. When crops fail or floods destroy livelihoods, families may have less money for food and medical care. Pregnant women may eat less, work longer hours or struggle to reach health services. Young children may miss out on adequate nutrition or care while their bodies and brains are developing rapidly.

Research is beginning to show how these early shocks can reverberate years later.

In Ecuador, researchers studied children whose mothers experienced severe flooding caused by El Niño during pregnancy. El Niño is a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific that disrupts weather around the world and can bring unusually heavy rain to Ecuador. Each additional month of flood exposure was associated with lower household income and food consumption in the following year. Children exposed before birth were also more likely to have a low birthweight and anaemia. They were shorter for their age and performed less well on some tests of thinking and language development.

In rural Burkina Faso, children exposed before birth to unusually low rainfall scored lower on tests of thinking and learning ability. They were also more likely to start school late, less likely to be enrolled and more likely to work.

Heat appears to pose risks too. A study using data from 29 tropical countries linked climate conditions during pregnancy and early childhood with later educational attainment. In south-east Asia, children who experienced temperatures far above the local average during these early years were predicted to complete about 1.5 fewer years of schooling than those exposed to average temperatures.

Unequal risks

These studies formed part of a wider review conducted by my colleagues and I. We examined 254 studies, with 90 statistical studies forming the core analysis. The review found a consistent pattern: exposure during pregnancy and early childhood can affect health, learning and the amount of education children eventually receive.

This does not mean that every flood, drought or heatwave will have the same effects. The consequences depend on the timing and severity of the exposure and on a family’s circumstances.

Climate change can therefore deepen existing inequalities. A failed harvest or flooded home may be devastating for any family. But families with savings, insurance or reliable public services have more ways to recover. For someone already struggling to afford food or healthcare, the same event can mean smaller meals, missed appointments or children leaving school to work.

The children at greatest risk often live in countries that have contributed relatively little to the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming.

Exposure to a climate shock early in life does not mean a child is destined to struggle. Some studies find that children can recover, particularly when families receive effective support.

One possible form of support is social protection: government programmes designed to help people avoid or cope with poverty. These include cash transfers, which provide families with money, sometimes on conditions such as children attending school or receiving healthcare.

In our review of interventions, four of the six studies that examined cash transfers during droughts, floods or cyclones found positive effects on education. The benefits varied according to factors including the child’s age, the size of the payment and the severity of the shock.

Research from rural Mexico offers an example. Children exposed to adverse rainfall around the year they were born went on to complete fewer school grades and were less likely to continue into education after secondary school. But children whose families were assigned to receive payments through the Progresa cash-transfer programme experienced smaller educational losses.

Cash transfers cannot stop a drought, rebuild a flooded school or replace the wider action needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. But they can help families maintain food, healthcare and schooling when their income suddenly falls.

That is particularly important as international development budgets come under pressure. In 2025, the UK government announced that official development assistance would fall from around 0.5% of national income to 0.3% by 2027.

Protecting support for pregnant women and young children deserves particular attention. Climate shocks experienced in the earliest stages of life can reach far beyond childhood, influencing how children learn, how long they remain in education and the opportunities available to them long after the floodwaters have receded.