What kind of leadership is needed in the face of the climate crisis? Who gets to lead, and how do we prepare the next generation to step into this role—not as heroes with all the answers, but as thoughtful collaborators ready to listen, learn, and act?
These are the questions animating the new CARE Climate Leadership Program, launched on 23 April 2025. The program brings together 45 graduate students from CARE partner universities across France and Canada for a unique hands-on experience in climate learning and leadership development.
Rather than training traditional “climate leaders,” the program challenges students to rethink what leadership means in times of uncertainty, complexity, and contested transition. Whether students go on to work in public policy, research, grassroots organizing, journalism, or the private sector, CARE encourages them to locate their own leadership potential—and to act with humility, creativity, and courage in the face of planetary crisis.
A New Model for Transatlantic Collaboration
At its heart, the CARE Climate Leadership Program is a space for Franco-Canadian exchange and collaboration. Participants come from diverse academic disciplines—international affairs, public health, environmental studies, law, economics, planning—and bring a wide range of personal experiences and aspirations.
The program unfolds across four thematic modules, each blending asynchronous learning materials with interactive webinars, peer exchange, and reflection. Students engage with key debates, build practical skills, and develop new ways of thinking about leadership in a climate context.
The first module, Leadership in Times of Uncertainty and Complexity, was led by Arancha González, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). Through a keynote and live dialogue, Dean González invited students to confront the multiple forms of uncertainty facing today’s climate leaders—scientific, political, ethical—and to consider how power is exercised and challenged in different arenas of climate action.
Her message was clear: real leadership requires the capacity to hold complexity, to communicate across difference, and to push for just outcomes in deeply unequal systems.
Learning Through Systems, Justice, and Storytelling
Over the coming months, students will explore three additional themes:
- Seeing the Whole: Systems Thinking in Climate Action, led by Sara Elder at the University of British Columbia, will help students understand complex interactions across sectors, geographies, and timeframes—and why systemic perspectives are essential for meaningful change.
- Climate Policy, Governance and Justice, led by Laura Tozler at the University of Toronto, will unpack the legal, institutional, and political frameworks that shape climate action, while centering justice and equity in policy-making.
- Climate Communication & Storytelling, led by Jeanna Rex and colleagues at the University of Guelph, will equip students with tools to connect emotionally and meaningfully with diverse audiences—a critical but often overlooked aspect of leadership.
Each module is co-designed to offer both intellectual depth and practical engagement, with exercises, case studies, and opportunities for collaborative learning. Students are encouraged not only to absorb knowledge, but to challenge assumptions, reflect on their roles, and contribute to a growing community of practice.
Building Community Across Borders and Sectors
One of the defining features of the CARE Climate Leadership Program is its emphasis on community-building. Leadership is often framed as an individual pursuit—but in this program, it is a collective practice. Students are not competing for recognition; they are learning from one another, building trust, and supporting each other’s growth.
By connecting graduate students from across the Atlantic, CARE is also creating space for transnational learning. Climate action cannot be tackled within national silos—it requires collaboration across borders, institutions, and worldviews. The Franco-Canadian partnership at the heart of this program embodies that ethos, drawing on the strengths of multiple universities while embracing cultural and disciplinary diversity.
More Than a Program—A Platform for the Future
The CARE Climate Leadership Program is just one piece of a broader vision. It complements other CARE initiatives—including collaborative case competitions, visiting faculty programs, and the forthcoming CARE Summer Gathering on sufficiency—and reflects CARE’s long-term commitment to nurturing just, grounded, and globally connected climate action.
As the program unfolds, we look forward to sharing insights and stories from this remarkable group of students. Together, they are helping to shape a new kind of climate leadership—rooted in integrity, collaboration, and the urgent need to act.