Climate change is becoming a strong presence in our lives even if humanity takes concrete steps to minimize its tremendous effects and prepare the new generations to cope with the growing pressures. Climate action has become a core effort for global sustainable development just as poverty reduction, fighting inequalities and injustice, promoting a world of security and opportunities for us all. As evidence that humanity is aware of the rising risks is the new UN global sustainable development agenda 2016-2030. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) no.13 "Climate Action" calls for efforts to ,,Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning” [1]. Climate change constitutes a risk to many dimensions of sustainable development. Lack of adaptation and mitigation will make other SDGs more difficult to achieve, and problematic to sustain over time beyond 2030 [2]. The solution for meaningful climate action is in education. Climate change is a key sustainable development issue included in Education for Sustainable Development among others such as disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. ESD allows human beings to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behavior and take action for sustainable development. ESD promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way [3]. The way the human beings can deal with climate change is twofold: 1) take preventive measures to slow down planet destruction by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and 2) mitigate and adapt to the modifications that occur due to human activity and climate inertia. Both require a pool of skills: environment preservation is related to acquiring green competencies and building eco- consciousness whe reas human adaptation to environmental change is related to strengthening certain life competencies, particularly psychosocial skills. Although ESD has been in focus for the past 10 years, still more effort is needed to mainstream it as it requires far-reaching changes in the way education is practiced today. How, when and where these skills are to be developed best is at the heart of worldwide debate. This article explores the potential of education to build up the relevant environmental and climate-resilient life skills.  Green ideas have become rather trendy lately and bear an important effect on a variety of political, social, ecological and even individual processes. There is common understanding that development of green competencies is key to sustainable growth, innovation and progress. These should be nurtured in young people to enhance their abilities to understand the processes of sustainable development, be aware of key sustainable actors, feel responsible and act in that matter. Systematic development of eco-consciousness as well as green competencies and practices is being infused into curricula contents, teaching/learning materials, teacher training programs, development of infrastructure for education. Greening minds and behavior is also addressed by non- formal educational and civic initiatives such as ,,go green!” awareness campaigns, incubators of green- businesses, fairs of green solutions etc. With psychosocial skills required for resilience to extreme climate conditions, the situation is different. School curricula and leisure education activities tackle generic skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, responsible decision-making and problem-solving in sporadic and fragmented ways. Skills such as coping with emotions, stress management, self-efficiency, a sense of mastery in life, functional independence, social adaptability are less explored if at all, for a variety of reasons: cultural, social, etc. Therefore, we consider that a training program – with special focus on youth – is highly needed, not only to bring cutting-edge science into the classroom but also to support development of personal and interpersonal/social skills that will be activated and function as coping strategies when facing challenging life situations. One part of the program could focus on exploring and managing oneself including personal perception and action in different situations, resilience and inner resources of the person, managing emotions, feedback and self knowledge; another part would cover managing one’s relationships with others and in groups, and refer to communication and active listening, conflict resolution, leadership, motivation and community mobilization [4]. The important thing for this intervention is not to be a plain teaching experience, but more a counselling and mentoring one. The underlying philosophy is to shape behavior patterns, values, interpretation of events, and life outlook of individuals and reduce the maladaptive attempts to cope with the demands of the environment (e.g. home, school, workplace, extreme weather conditions etc.). That – along with tailored teacher training – would make this kind of education finally be effective. To conclude, education should be green (contribute to sustainable development) and should be about having good quality life (contribute to happiness and successfulness of individuals). Education has a crucial role in combating global climate change and boosting resilience to its effects. Climate change is often thought of in terms of its effects on our physical environment: melting icecaps, rising sea levels, heat-waves and storms. But increasing evidence shows that the human impact – and in particular the impact on human health – will be a major challenge for scientists, politicians and ordinary people in years to come. Climate change brings with it an increase in malnutrition, mental health conditions, infectious disease spread and even death [5]. That is precisely why psycho-educational counselling models are so important to be applied with youth to better prepare them for coping with existential challenges of such kind as early in life as possible. Research shows that acquisition of personal and interpersonal life skills is mainly rooted in a peaceful, non-aggressive and balanced environment, which is undoubtedly a sound approach. However, natural disasters, terrorism attacks, epidemics, war conflicts – phenomena that have known massive spread and gained geographical proximity lately – call for a new generation of life skills. The challenge now is to enlarge the focus of education for life from the traditional settings and predictable situations to exceptional scenarios such as climate change consequences and other out-of-the-ordinary phenomena, and empower the young generations to pass successfully the nature’s test.Educational programs and other types of learning experiences should enlarge scope and adapt contents as to provide more exposure to the life skills needed to elevate preparedness for changing livelihoods and unstable health, encourage a green modus vivendi as well as foster a flexible, creative and adaptable mindset.