UK Students Tackle Climate Change Data as World Leaders Meet at COP30

The world’s attention is fixed on Belém, Brazil, where the 30th United Nations Climate Conference (COP30) is underway from November 10th to 21st, 2025. This gathering is held in the Amazon rainforest, a once-lush symbol of biodiversity that is now critically threatened—a powerful, backdrop for the world’s most critical climate discussions.

COP30 marks the halfway point to 2030, the deadline for countries to meet their crucial climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. These pledges are the collective global promise made by countries (the Parties of the UNFCCC) in 1992 to avoid “dangerous climate change.”

As COP30 discussions rest in the hands of world leaders, it can make the crisis feel overwhelming and out of the control of the average citizen or school. However, the path to reducing Climate Change isn’t just in the negotiating hall, but also in the classroom, the kitchen, and the journey to school.

At Primary Engineer, we believe that making pledges is the essential link between abstract global goals and tangible local action. Our national competition, STATWARS: Climate Change Challenge, is designed to give students the agency and the data literacy skills to bridge that gap.

Our national competition, STATWARS: Climate Change Challenge, empowers and educates pupils in Key Stage 2 and 3, aged 8-14, to tackle climate change and influence others through social agency using data they capture themselves.

Pupils use our bespoke carbon footprint calculator to work out their own footprint.

Identify three changes they can personally commit to in their daily lives to lower their carbon footprint.

They must produce an infographic explaining their three pledges, complete with visual charts and graphs to explain the data that influenced their decisions. They then create a poster or other creative communication (like a letter to an MP or a video) to encourage others to make the same pledges. This year, common themes included shopping locally, walking/cycling to school, and reducing home electricity usage.

For Schools: UK schools can get started today by registering and accessing our free resources for your classroom: www.statwarscompetition.com

For Industry Partners: If you want to become a partner and help us shape the future of data literacy in the UK, get in touch today to learn about funding opportunities: https://www.primaryengineer.com/funding-enquiry/