In this Jan. 1. 2017 file photo, confetti falls as people celebrate the new year in New York's Times Square. (Photo: AP)

This year’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will spotlight efforts to combat climate change when high school science teachers and students press the button that begins the famous 60-second ball drop and countdown to next year.

“On New Year’s Eve, we look back and reflect on the dominant themes of the past year, and seek hope and inspiration as we look forward,” Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins said in a statement Saturday announcing the plan. The honorees, he said, “are working to solve this global problem through science.”

Jared Fox, who teaches at the Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, and seniors Ricardo Herrera and Diane Arevalo are working on a clean-air and greening project in the school’s Upper Manhattan neighborhood.