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Climate Action Schools Impact Report 2025/2026

Keep Scotland Beautiful's Climate Action Schools Impact Report 2025/2026 covers its Scottish Government-funded programme of award programmes, lessons, training and project-based learning that helps schools and nurseries embed Learning for Sustainability and take action on climate change. In the year 22,800 pupils attended one or more Live Lessons, 340 schools were awarded their Green Flag (18 with commendations for excellence), and 28% of local authority settings are active Eco-Schools. 1,624 young people took action as part of their setting's Eco-Committee and 164 educators attended teacher training.

Report snapshot
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About

Keep Scotland Beautiful is the charity that campaigns and acts on litter, the environment and climate change in Scotland. It manages the Climate Action Schools programme, including Eco-Schools Scotland, working in every local authority in Scotland.

Key Metrics

22,800 pupils attended one or more Live Lessons
340 schools awarded their Green Flag
28% of local authority settings are active Eco-Schools

Key Outcomes

  • 1,624 young people took action through being part of their setting's Eco-Committee
  • 18 schools received commendations for excellence in Learning for Sustainability
  • 164 educators attended teacher training to deliver Learning for Sustainability and climate education

Geography

Scotland

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
5,999 active volunteers contributed 776,242 hours in 2025/26
Key Metric 2
137 winter maintenance projects across 45 canals; 109 lock gates replaced
Key Metric 3
101,640 children participated in Explorers/STEM outdoor learning, including 67,896 water-safety participants
Over 80% of the network kept fully open despite drought.
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
The Eco-Schools programme reached over 1.4 million pupils, with 2,162 schools awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
326,000 volunteers pledged to the Great British Spring Clean, picking up 425,626 bags of rubbish, supported by 288 local authorities and parish councils
Key Metric 3
2,227 Green Flag Awards given to parks and green spaces in the UK; 151 beaches given a Blue Flag and/or Seaside Award
98.3% of educators felt the Eco-Schools programme significantly supports young people's development of 'green skills'
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
First known breeding success of spoonbills in the Norfolk Broads in around 400 years, recorded at Hickling Broads and Marshes
Key Metric 2
Over 60 nature reserves managed across Norfolk, with land owned or managed for wildlife exceeding 5,000 hectares
Key Metric 3
1,500 volunteers helped protect wildlife across the county during the year
New urban nature reserve co-designed with the local community, expanding accessible green space in Norfolk
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
61,819 native oysters deployed across UK restoration projects in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
15,064 people participated in the Beachwatch beach clean programme, submitting 1,256 litter surveys — the highest in the programme's 31-year history
Key Metric 3
17,613 young people engaged through in-person or online youth programme sessions
£11.5 billion Ofwat investment package secured for storm overflow cuts in England and Wales following sustained MCS advocacy