Gisela Cebrián, Jon Xavier Olano, Anna Boqué and Juan Prieto
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
To promote new ways of life and sustainable social practices, people and communities must be able to engage in transformative and community learning processes that promote environmental awareness and action, as well as the acquisition of new sustainability knowledge and competencies. This paper presents the processes and outcomes of Empowering the Educational Community to Adapt to Climate Change (EMPOCLIM) project, an innovative initiative held in the region of Tarragona (Spain) to raise awareness and involve youngsters in sustainability and climate change issues. School climate assemblies have been created and implemented in 5 Secondary Education Schools involving over 500 youngsters actively participating in co-creation processes to identify sustainability actions and to develop an action plan and policy recommendations at local and regional levels. EMPOCLIM emphasizes the strengthening of environmental awareness and the empowerment of young people through education, recognizing their potential to become ambassadors and change agents for climate action and sustainable development in their communities through sharing knowledge and experiences with their families, local communities and policy makers. School climate assemblies, conceived as innovative democratic processes to learn, deliberate, make decisions and seek solutions for change climate and local and regional sustainability, while evaluating its influence on environmental awareness and the development of sustainability competencies. An action plan and policy recommendations document has been produced with all the outcomes and actions proposed during the school climate assemblies, where 8 main recommendations have been identified focused on: energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies; environmental management of industries and control mechanisms; sustainable mobility; preservation and expansion of green and natural spaces; reduce, recycle and reuse and sustainable consumption; Water management and use; environmental education and awareness; sustainable cities and communities.
Keywords: Youth, Environmental education, Climate change, awareness, Spain