The Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change Education (MECCE)

So far, there is a lack of a clear understanding of climate change education (CCE) worldwide. Moreover, no global CCE monitoring has been carried out so far. However, global CCE monitoring is necessary in order to be able to evaluate and compare competencies and measures on a country-specific and cross-country basis and thus improve the quality and quantity of CCE.

Article 12 of the Paris Climate Agreement

"Take measures to improve education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information in the field of climate change[...]"
(Paris Climate Agreement, 2015, p. 20)

The MECCE project significantly contributes to the implementation of Article 12 of the Paris Climate Agreement and thus to advancing a societal transformation towards sustainable development. A total of almost 80 international partners (including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report (UNESCO GEMR), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada) are involved in the project, working together on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary solutions to the rapidly advancing global climate crisis. The goal of the international MECCE project is to improve the quality and quantity of climate change education (CCE) in education, training (e.g. teacher training) and public awareness worldwide in order to effectively address climate change.

The MECCE project team aims to achieve this goal through the cooperation of three interconnected axes (project groups) and with a project duration of six years (2021-2026).

  • Axis 1: Based on case studies and comprehensive, systematic literature research, a deeper understanding of CCE is to be developed.
  • Axis 2: A set of CCE indicators will be developed for global CCE target setting and global CCE monitoring. This will be followed by initial data collection.
  • Axis 3: The knowledge and findings gained in the various project groups are to be effectively communicated and conveyed to the public in order to provide effective impulses for policy and (educational) practice.

In cooperation with the Freie Universitäts Berlin's (FU) Institut Futur as well as with international partners of the MECCE project the research team of the Freiburg University of Education (PH) is working on the tasks of Axis 2: Development of CCE Indicators.

As an interdisciplinary team (Prof. Werner Rieß, Dr. Eva-Maria Waltner, Biology and its Didactics; Prof. Astrid Carrapatoso, Political Science and its Didactics and Julia Münch (born Stössel), M.A. Educational Science - Teaching and Learning) we bring many years of expertise in the fields of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and climate policy. We integrate different perspectives in the development of CCE indicators and the further development of teacher training in this areath.