Raising awareness about climate change is at the heart of the StartClim research project.
The StartClim research programme deals with climate change and its impacts and has been contributing to the implementation of Austria's adaptation strategy for years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, four of the nine sub-projects from StartClim2019 were only recently completed. These projects focus on raising awareness among young people and urban planners, the role of science amongst school pupils, climate change in the arts, and the climate-resilient city of tomorrow.
Climate change for young people
A large proportion of young people find it difficult to establish a personal connection to climate change, act in a climate-friendly way, and get personally involved. How can this be changed? This is where "Junges Klima" stepped in, working with pupils at a secondary school in Vienna's 16th district. The school is located in a densely built-up part of the city where the impacts are already particularly noticeable. Together with the young people, the teaching staff, and a team from the neighbourhood renewal service, the project team developed proposals for how awareness could be raised and the willingness to act strengthened. Through experience- and activity-based learning methods — such as visiting a recently redesigned park near the school — connections to pupils' personal and local living environment were established, deepening their knowledge of climate change. To motivate young people to act in a climate-friendly way, it's important to show them concrete options for action that are actually within their reach. For longer-term behavioural change, the topic must be addressed continuously as part of the school curriculum.
StartClim was founded in 2003 on the initiative of scientists and the then Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, with the aim of investigating the consequences of climate change and developing countermeasures. Current topics have so far been addressed in 114 projects by more than 100 Austrian researchers. The programme is led scientifically by the Institute of Meteorology and Climatology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU) and is administered by the Environment Agency Austria. The StartClim projects carried out in 2019/20 were funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the Climate and Energy Fund, and the State of Upper Austria.
Find out more at umweltbundesamt.at or startclim.at
