In July 2015, the International Labour Organization (ILO) joined the UN Alliance on Climate Change Education, Training and Public Awareness. The mission of the Alliance is to promote meaningful, results-oriented and effective international cooperation in support of action on climate change education, training, public awareness programmes, access to information and public participation in the development of climate change response measures.

The UN Alliance is currently comprised of 13 member organizations, namely FAO, ILO, UNDP, UNEP, UNDPI, UNFCCC, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNITAR, UNU, WHO, WMO and UN Women.

ILO's participation was enthusiastically received by all member organizations as it sends a clear signal that cooperation is steadily increasing. With the ILO, the Alliance has gained a valuable partner, devoted to promoting the creation of green jobs and skills development for the transition to low-emission and climate-resilient economies.

ILO initiatives such as the Cash for Work programme in Fiji, which employed local people to move a village away from coastal areas prone to sea level rise and flooding; skills and employment-focused climate disaster relief in the Philippines; technical education and vocational training for environmental sector employment in Central America; green entrepreneurship training interventions in East Africa; skill development for greening the construction industry in Zambia; and technical and entrepreneurial training for solar technicians in rural Bangladesh, are directly in line with the objectives of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) activities under the UNFCCC and provide relevant experience and lessons learned.

Each year, the UN Alliance organizes a side event at the UN Climate Change Conference, where initiatives of UN Alliance members are showcased and plans are made to move the agenda forward. At the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, to be held in Paris in December, the Alliance will host a high-level side event to scale up climate change education and call for ambitious commitments to support today's young generation in developing their climate-related knowledge and skills.

The UN Alliance on Climate Change Education, Training and Public Awareness was launched at the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP) in December 2012 to actively respond to the increasing impact of climate change on development and to set the wheels in motion for long-term interagency cooperation between UN Agencies.