Learning loss has long-term economic consequences that are rarely captured in climate damage reports. Research shows that disrupted schooling reduces lifetime earnings, increases dropout rates, and deepens inequality. In climate-affected regions, this loss compounds year after year, as children lose not only academic progress but also their motivation and attachment to the school system. When a school closes for 30 days due to heatwaves—as happened to 118 million students in April 2024, the cumulative effect is a massive erosion of human capital.

These losses are a "hidden tax" on future generations. While we invest billions in physical climate adaptation like dams and roads, we often ignore the "soft infrastructure" of learning. Global estimates indicate the education sector experiences a financial loss of $4 billion annually due to tropical cyclones alone, yet education receives less than 1.5% of total climate finance. Preventing learning loss today reduces the social and financial costs of unemployment and poverty tomorrow.

Investing in crisis-ready education tools is not charity; it is economic foresight. Climate adaptation that ignores the education sector simply shifts the massive financial burden of a semi-educated workforce onto the future. Protecting a child's education today is the most cost-effective way to ensure national GDP resilience in 2050.