In 2025 alone, Australian children lost an estimated 800,000 days of early learning due to climate-related closures of early childhood education and care services. Floods, bushfires, storms and extreme heat are already disrupting the services children rely on to learn, grow and thrive, and the impacts are not felt equally. Children in disadvantaged and climate-exposed communities face the greatest risk.

This Evidence to Action Brief, the first in the State of Australia’s Children Deep Dive Series, produced by ARACY and UNICEF Australia with support from Minderoo Foundation, examines how climate-related hazards are affecting early childhood education and care across Australia, and sets out the practical policy and investment actions needed to build a more resilient, equitable and sustainable system.

Key findings

In 2025:

  • One in six early childhood education and care services experienced climate-related closures due to floods, fires and cyclones
  • This resulted in more than 11,000 closure days nationally
  • These closures contributed to an estimated 800,000 days of lost early learning for Australian children.

The first five years of life are critical — 90 per cent of a child’s brain development occurs in this period. Early childhood education and care services play a central role in supporting children’s development, relationships and sense of security during these years. When climate events force services to close, children miss out on opportunities to learn, build relationships and develop critical social and emotional skills.

What needs to change

The report calls on governments to:

  • Recognise early learning services as essential community infrastructure in climate adaptation planning
  • Strengthen climate resilience through targeted investment and improved planning frameworks
  • Adopt climate-adaptive design standards for early learning services
  • Prioritise support for services in high-risk and underserved communities