To fight climate change, people need to change their behaviours towards emitting fewer greenhouse gases and build a system that is resilient towards the future shocks that climate change will create. Education can be seen as a key factor in behaviour change. Climate change education, in particular, provides people with the knowledge they need to transition towards a more sustainable state. Education does not only involve giving people information on natural and social systems, though: Since climate change can potentially threaten life on earth, it evokes strong emotional responses, such as depression and helplessness. When students feel that they cannot do anything about climate change, when they feel hopeless and pessimistic, they are less likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. Even if they have adequate knowledge of what to do. This constitutes the gap between cognitive and emotional learning where I enter with my study. With an online survey addressed to German grammar school pupils and university students (N = 438), I examine how the design of content on climate change can influence the perception of content. I used techniques of presenting content from Constructive Journalism to write five short texts on climate change for half of the participants. The other half represented a control group that read texts using the opposite of these constructive techniques of presenting. The participants answered questions regarding the two dimensions of learning: cognitive, and emotional. Within the emotional dimension, I asked students about their feelings of engagement, hope, depression, self-efficacy, and collective efficacy toward climate change. Constructive techniques of presenting content influence mainly the emotional dimension of learning, not the cognitive dimension and not the feeling of cognitive engagement either. The study showed, however, that if students understand the challenges of climate change well, they showed to be more prone toward feelings of depression. Teachers can engage with these negative feelings by including such framings as solutions-orientation, community-orientation, or long-term trends. While keeping cognitive learning and engagement at the same level, teachers can increase the positive emotions students have towards the content by designing it constructively. This study provides a way to encourage behavioural change in young people that is easier than transforming the entire global educational system. The insights can also be used for the broader public. Empowering people through information can inspire them to take action for mitigation and adaptation.

Created in 2018, the Climate Fresk workshop aims to raise awareness on climate change issues in an engaging and accessible way. This thesis draws on Social Interactionism, Uses and Gratification and Sociocultural Theory of Learning to conceptualize the workshop’s communicative strategies for conveying the complexities of climate change to the workshop participants. Through a synthetization of insights from various disciplines and exploration of innovative communication strategies, the study bridges the gap between knowledge and action, contributing to the semi-underexplored field of communication roles in game-based learning approaches to climate change education. Key findings reveal that tools such as informational materials, visuals, simplified scientific data, and creative techniques significantly enhance participants' understanding of climate change. The emphasis on group autonomy and collective discussions fosters a deeper understanding of climate change's complexities, highlighting the necessity for collective action. These results underscore the potential of effective communication in educational workshops to inspire individuals and communities to proactively respond to climate change, through collaborative action and by shifting the focus from individual to broader community-based efforts.

Climate change creates an urgency for action to be taken at government, corporate and individual level. Changing behaviours is a necessity to meet the global temperature goal of 2 °C increase, and companies have a significant role to play in this transformation. To change these behaviours, a change needs to happen in both attitudes and actions. Climate change education is one of many important methods to perform this transition. This study therefore aims to explore employee's perception of their ability to engage in their company's climate strategy and which development possibilities there are to increase their engagement. This is studied by looking at the effects of the game-based workshop, Climate Fresk, implemented in the Swedish sector of the global technical company Schneider Electric. Prior to collecting data, a pre research was conducted where background knowledge about Climate Fresk and Schneider was attained through observations of workshops and focus groups as well as an interview with the head of sustainability at Schneider. Data collection was thereafter made through 11 semi-constructed interviews with employees who had previously participated in Climate Fresk. The data given was processed through a thematic analysis to present three themes with eight sub themes, representing the results. These three themes visualizes employees' feelings, understandings and takeaways, as well as their perceived behavioural changes, attitude changes, hindrances and development suggestions for both Climate Fresk and involvement in Schneider’s climate strategy. The results show that employees have more understanding for climate change, feel more strengthened and more able to engage in Schneiders climate strategy after having participated in Climate Fresk. This is expressed both individually, but also collectively and with the support from role models and the positive climate change culture in Schneider. Still, some employees express credibility issues with Schneider due to high carbon-emitting activities. To make it easier for employees to engage in Schneiders climate strategy, development suggestions are made. Concretization of Schneiders goals for both employees and clients, a Schneider specific follow-up workshop and action accelerator programs both for collective climate change groups and individual aspiring climate role models within the company. / För att hindra klimatförändringarna behövs åtgärder tas på statlig, företagsmässig och individuell nivå. Omfattande beteendeförändringar är nödvändiga för att möta det globala målet på 2 °C, och företag har en stor roll att spela i den transformationen. För att förändra beteenden behöver tankar och attityder omformas, samt aktioner tas. Klimatrelaterad utbildning är en av de viktiga metoder som behövs för att genomföra transformationen. Denna studie syftar därför till att utforska anställdas uppfattning om möjligheterna att engagera sig i sitt företags klimatstrategi och vilka utvecklingsförslag som kan öka engagemanget. Detta studeras genom att se på effekterna av den spel-baserade workshopen, Climate Fresk, implementerad i den svenska sektorn av det globala, tekniska företaget Schneider Electric. Före datainsamling genomfördes en förundersökning om Climate Fresk och Schneider genom observation av en workshop, diskussion med en fokusgrupp av facilatorer samt en intervju med hållbarhetschefen på Schneider. Data insamlades därefter genom 11 semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda som tidigare deltagit i Climate Fresk. Datan bearbetades genom en tematisk analys för att presentera tre teman och åtta underteman som representerar resultaten. Dessa tre teman innehåller uppfattningar kring medarbetarnas känslor, förståelser, beteendeförändringar, attitydförändringar, hinder och utvecklingsförslag för både Climate Fresk och Schneiders klimatstrategi.Resultaten visar att medarbetarna har större förståelse för klimatförändringar, känner sig mer stärkta och har större möjlighet att engagera sig i Schneiders klimatstrategi efter att ha deltagit i Climate Fresk. Detta kommer till uttryck både individuellt, men också kollektivt och med stöd av förebilder och den positiva hållbarhetsskulturen på Schneider. Fortfarande uttrycker vissa anställda trovärdighetsproblem med Schneider på grund av verksamheter med höga växthusgasutsläpp. För att göra det lättare för de anställda att engagera sig i Schneiders klimatstrategi ges flera utvecklingsförslag. Dessa är t.ex. konkretisering av Schneiders mål för både anställda och kunder, en Schneider-specifik uppföljande workshop och tillhandahållande av program både för kollektiva klimatförändringsgrupper och enskilda aspirerande klimatförebilder inom företaget.