International organizations (IOs) of the UN system have played a central role in the development of global policies related to climate change education (CCE) (Kolleck et al., 2017). The importance of CCE in global climate policy is enshrined in article 6 of the UNFCCC and article 12 of the Paris Agreement, since then rebranded as the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) Programme to guide member states’ efforts on this agenda (UNESCO/UNFCCC, 2016). UNESCO continues to champion Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the recently adopted global framework ESD for 2030, with a substantial thematic emphasis on CCE (UNESCO, 2019). These policy programs led by UN IOs constitute transnational policy networks involving not only member-state governments, but also a growing array of non-state individuals and organizations from across global civil society, highlighting the turn to ‘network governance’ (Rhodes, 2006) in the evolution of global policy programs related to CCE. The specifics of how particular actors in transnational policy networks interact with and influence the global CCE policy agenda has received little attention in the literature. Using a network ethnography research design (Ball & Junemann, 2012), we have sought to map out these networks, identified key actors across UN IOs, member states, and civil society involved with global CCE policy-making, and traced the interactions and practices of network governance that have made an impact on the global policy programs. Data collection consisted of 32 semi-structured interviews with UN IO staff, government officials, and civil society representatives. We also conducted extensive “web-audits” (Sperka & Enright, 2019) of online material (both individual and organizational) to inform interviews, and further investigate data that emerged from them. Our findings will focus on the ways that face-to-face meetings are an integral form of networking labor underlying the network governance of CCE policy programs at a range of scales, from international gatherings hosted and convened by UN IOs, to smaller regional meetings organized by civil society. At these meetings, policy guidance is provided; policy orientations are legitimized, modified, or contested and taken in new directions; positions of individuals and organizations are affirmed, solidified, or shifted; policy documents are produced, negotiated, and circulated; commitments are made, resources are called for, and agendas are set for ongoing work; and perhaps most importantly, new relationships are made. These activities point to the significance of face-to-face meetings as a social practice—and crucial networking labor—that animates transnational policy networks in CCE.

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