Climate change is the greatest threat we all face today. Whether it is rising sea levels, extreme weather events, global temperature rise, shrinking ice sheets, the world altogether collectively must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Education plays an important role in the global fight against climate change. Education can shift the consumption patterns towards being more sustainable by providing individuals and corporate leaders with information to develop better strategies. Thus, as adult education and learning plays a central role for personal and professional development, including the development of communities and society as a whole, we have conducted research based on our previous joint work among the project partners and additional gaps analysis which has led us to focus this project on the topic of climate change and the environmental goals.
Through our research we have concluded the following:
- There’s a good amount of information on climate change and the environment, however, it is often addressed by and to governmental organisations, agencies, institutions providing statistical data and goals to be achieved, using scientific language rather than plain or business such to be easily digested by the specific target groups
- There are courses regarding climate change, often targeting young people, however, for educators to be able to deliver trainings on this topic or for entrepreneurs or SMEs owners and/ or managers to be able to foster innovation to create their sustainability strategies and change their organisational culture and values inspired by the fight against climate change, the content needs to be specifically tailored to their needs so they can smoothly transfer their knowledge either to others or to the implementation of their own strategies in becoming more sustainable.
The main goal of the project is to produce a set of empowering tools to contribute to the fight against climate change through collective innovation and efforts. The specific objectives of the project are structured as follows:
- Educate educators on the topic of climate change and the UN SDGs and equip them with interactive training instrument to embed within their trainings
- Upskill entrepreneurs and SMEs owners/ managers on how to use the innovation management process in developing their sustainability strategies to contribute to the fight against climate change
- Guide entrepreneurs and SMEs owners/ managers on becoming agents of change for their colleagues/ employees and transforming their business culture and values to eco ones
- Provide a user-friendly digital platform to educators, entrepreneurs, SMEs and individuals to measure their carbon footprint and provide valuable tips on how to help reduce the negative impact on the environment and support the fight against climate change.
