Project leader: Dr Steve Cayzer, Department of Mechanical Engineering

This project, which was funded by the Teaching Development Fund (TDF) in 2020/21, aims to develop a Climate Education Action Programme (CEAP), incorporating both the Climate Literacy induction and Climate Leaders course, both of which were piloted at the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year. The CEAP is fully in line with the University’s ambitious Climate Action Framework (CAF) aims.

The Climate Literacy induction will provide a broad introduction to climate action in general, with specific reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), CAF and our own related activities. It will be offered to all incoming students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, regardless of their subject discipline. Exchange students will be included if feasible.

The design of the Climate Literacy induction draws inspiration from the Carbon Literacy Project (https://carbonliteracy.com/) (CLP). We seek to accredit our induction via the CLP, and offer individual CLP accreditation to incoming students and potentially staff.

The induction will also help recruit a Climate Leaders cohort, who we help to achieve their own pathway to impact, for example by proposing initiatives, connecting with local community and organisations, contributing to “Our Shared Future” and participating in Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs).

The CEAP is ambitious in its scale and impact, and so, with appropriate marketing, it will help to create national recognition for our CAF.

Update This TDF bid was centred around creating a pilot Climate Literacy Induction and a cohort of Climate Leaders.

The Climate Literacy Induction was made available to over 5000 students, with around 150 staff and students going on to achieve full carbon literacy accreditation.

We have presented this work at national events (including AdvanceHE) and are currently preparing a publication to be submitted to the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

The Climate Leaders provided valuable benchmarking analysis on climate related research and education strategies in the higher education strategy.

A key output of their work was a set of principles – Engage, Enable, Empower – that are being used to frame the education activities in the Climate Action Framework.

Dr Cayzer gave an update at our TDF Launch event 2023