Introduction

This module is called “knowledge” because knowledge and values are closely linked. Just 50 years ago, people gave little thought to the impact their behaviour could have on the climate. Today, as our attention is constantly drawn to the causes and consequences of the climate crisis, things look very different. Many people – and young people in particular, as we have seen in Module 1 – have adopted sustainability as an important personal value that influences not only their consumer behaviour, but important life decisions such as career choices.
Knowledge about the climate crisis has some peculiarities. On the one hand, information is fast-changing, so existing knowledge must be regularly updated. On the other hand, diving into facts and figures about the climate crisis can also be very depressing. Therefore, it is important to find a good balance between curiosity and interest in (often unpleasant or threatening) phenomena and self-care. Because, only then, is it possible to build enough hope, strength and knowledge to get active in the struggle for the protection of the planet and climate justice.
As a youth worker, you need knowledge about the climate crisis if you wish to address the topic with young people and to advise them on how they can act for positive change. The aim of this module is to provide support with this.
The module will address the following themes:
- Sustainability and resource exploitation
- Climate crisis and climate justice
- Historical roots of the climate crisis and perpetuating factors: Industrial revolution, capitalism, colonialism & racism
- Current challenges and some important facts
- Towards change
Learning Objectives
- building knowledge on climate change, green policies and activism practices
- developing the skills to transfer this knowledge to young people
Expected Learning Outcomes
Knowledge
- Developing basic science and environmental literacy
- Understanding anthropogenic climate change, as well as the impact of climate change on the availability of natural resources of strategic importance at local and global levels
- Basic understanding of policies in the area of climate protection on the international and multinational level (UN, EU)
- Providing relevant information and resources on the climate crisis
- Understanding the root causes and basic facts of the climate crisis
Skills
- Critical thinking
- Active listening
- Planning for action and change
- Group management
- Providing feedback
Attitudes
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge about the impact of climate change on ecosystems, the availability of natural resources, and social justice
- Develop or strengthen values of sustainability and global justice
Core Learning Journey
Sustainability and Resource Use

Figure - Country Overshoot Days 2024
The term sustainability is not new. Its use is documented as early as 1713 in German forestry to claim that no more wood should be cut than can grow back. In recent years, the term has experienced a boom. In the face of an escalating climate crisis, appeals to bring human activity into harmony with nature are becoming louder and more frequent. There is no uniform understanding of sustainability. However, most definitions stress that the planet’s available resources should be exploited only to such an extent that all people, regardless of where they live in the world right now, as well as future generations, may live a good life.
The present, however, is far from sustainable, since the planet’s resources are currently being overexploited. In the year 2024, all of the Earth’s natural resources which are renewable within a year had been used up on the first of August. This day is known as Earth Overshoot Day.
A look at chart 1 shows that different countries exploit natural resources at different rates. While the countries of the so-called Global North had their country-specific depletion days almost entirely in the first half of the year, the majority of those in the Global South were in the second half. Generally speaking, the Global North contributes significantly more to the global overload than the Global South. This discrepancy lies at the core of issues addressed by the climate justice movement.
The expressions 'Global North' and 'Global South' are concepts “for the geopolitical categorisation of countries in the world.” They describe “relationships and inequalities”, rather than “geographical localisations … A country in the so-called Global South can therefore also be located in the north of the globe. … Countries of the so-called Global South are generally considered to be countries that are disadvantaged in a social, economic and political context compared to” countries of the Global North. Even though the concepts are meant to be less simplistic or judgemental than the earlier concepts of First and Third World, they are similarly criticised for representing the world in two “blocs”. Lacking more appropriate alternatives, we are using them in this module.
In 1970, one ‘planet’ was enough to meet people’s consumption needs. All resources consumed reproduced themselves within a year. Today, it would take 1.7 planets.
Climate Crisis and Climate Justice
Today, 98% of scientists agree that the climate crisis is human-made. However, it is important to emphasise that not everyone is equally responsible for the crisis and not everyone suffers equally from its consequences. While the richest 1% of the world’s population is responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorer half, it is precisely those who contribute the least who are affected the most. The concept of climate (in)justice highlights that the ecological crisis is just as much a social crisis on a global scale.

Figure - Global income deciles and associated lifestyle consumption emissions
The basic pattern that wealth correlates with high emissions applies both to inter-country (see chart 1) and to intra-country (societal) level (see chart 2). The chart shows that the richest 10% of the world’s population is responsible for almost half of the consumer emissions worldwide.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3 - CO2 consumption-based emissions per capital in G20 countries
While efforts to protect the climate should certainly concern everyone, those with the highest ecological footprint have a special role to play. A lot could already be achieved by changing unsustainable economic practices and individual behaviours in consumer societies. However, economic activity and lifestyles in the Global North are systemically linked to persisting structures of capitalism, colonialism and racism, making harmful patterns difficult to change.
Historical Roots of the Climate Crisis
Many scholars date the historical roots of climate change back to the 18th century where the industrial revolution, colonialism, and capitalism came together in a very specific conjunction. The invention of the steam engine and its use in the English cotton industry from 1760 onwards marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. When coal, mineral oil, or natural gas is burnt to release energy, they emit greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere and lead to global warming (see box below).
Greenhouse gases such as CO2, CH4, H2O, or CFCs in the Earth’s atmosphere are not harmful per se. In fact, if it wasn’t for them preventing a share of sun rays that are reflected by the earth from escaping into space, the average temperature on earth would be way below zero degrees Celsius. However, the more greenhouse gases there are in the Earth’s atmosphere, the more and faster the Earth heats up. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the concentration of greenhouse gases has increased faster during the 65 million years that preceded.
Watch this National Geographic video to understand the 'Causes and Effects of Climate Change': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4H1N_yXBiA
Today, the steam engine is not only symbolic of a changed mode of production (keyword: industrialisation), it is also symbolic of a changed economic system (keyword: capitalism, see box below). The use of fossil fuels allowed accelerated production, increased trade, and profits, and concentrated capital on the side of a few - the owners. Over time, the production of goods became more a means of making profits than of satisfying human needs, one of the central traits of capitalism (see box below).
"In capitalism, everything revolves around turning money into more money. Things are produced in order to sell them at a profit and accumulate capital in the process. It is not primarily about whether these things are useful. ... Competition ensures that companies constantly … produce and sell more and invest in ever more production sites."
For the Youth Worker: When discussing the interconnections between capitalism and climate change with young people, it’s important to bear in mind that overcoming capitalism does not automatically mean an end to climate change. Most probably, in any post-capitalist system, the fight for the protection of the environment will have to continue.
Capitalism engendered mass production and a global transport system for goods, with severe consequences for the climate. In chart 4, we can see how greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the beginning of the industrial revolution (see chart 4).

Figure - Increase in CO2 concentration in atmosphere since industrial revolution
The industrial revolution and capitalism would probably not have developed as rapidly had they not evolved in the context of European colonialism. Although capitalism always goes hand in hand with the exploitation of natural resources and human labour, this was taken to extremes in the colonised territories. Land theft, destruction of ecosystems, displacements, and enslavement of local peoples to increase the colonialists’ profits were daily routines. Racist reasoning served to "legitimise" violence and exploitation.
Even if the above-mentioned forms of European colonialism and enslavement are largely history, they continue to have an impact until this day. The expression ‘post-colonialism’ refers to the continuing effects of more than 500 years of colonialism, both in the form of economic exploitation and racism. The post-colonial reality also finds its expression in the current climate crisis, namely through large-scale extractives in post-colonial countries and the unequal distribution of root causes of, and suffering from, climate change between the Global North and Global South (see above). Some activists speak of ‘environmental racism’ and call for the adoption of a decolonial perspective in the fight against climate change. They argue that, for a just transition, racism, unequal exploitation, and social division need to be replaced with global solidarity and justice.
Protagonists of the global movement for climate justice focus on the global inequalities reflected and strengthened by the climate crisis.
“A climate-just world demands that those who have contributed most to the emergence and exacerbation of the current climate crisis must also make the greatest contribution to overcoming it. This is not necessarily about specific countries, but also about … income groups. This is because the consequences of the climate crisis are primarily felt regionally and globally by those who are hardly to blame for the climate crisis. … This means that a minority is increasingly endangering the living conditions of the majority of people through their exploitative behaviour..”
Additional material:
Watch Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate activist, talk about climate justice and racism (in German, with subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufcZE7EbBb0 (from minute 2:20).
Current Challenges and Key Facts
The current climate crisis is a very dynamic phenomenon. New facts are published daily and it may seem impossible to stay up to date. Nevertheless, it is important to stay informed, not least because there is also a lot of fake news out there. Many young people are well informed about climate change and its causes; however, they are also confronted with contradictory and dubious information. It is important to be able to provide reliable information and trustworthy sources.
Ten Important Facts
- The world is rapidly getting warmer: The average annual temperature in 2023 was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This made 2023 the hottest year on record. Globally, the Earth’s surface temperature has risen by around 1 degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. Although climate change has happened before, the climate has never changed so rapidly.
- The concentration of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere determines the temperature on earth: Global warming is due to the so-called Greenhouse Effect: just like in a greenhouse, the Earth’s atmosphere lets the sun rays through to us, which are in turn reflected by the Earth as heat radiation. The concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) [water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4)] in the Earth’s atmosphere determines what proportion of heat radiation escapes into space and what proportion remains in the Earth’s atmosphere, thereby warming the Earth. Since the beginning of the industrial age, there has been a steady increase in greenhouse gas particles in the atmosphere. We therefore speak of human-made climate change.
- Humans are causing the current climate change: Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, greenhouse gases have been released into the atmosphere in ever-increasing quantities. The main reasons are the growing use of fossil (carbon-containing) fuels for industrial production, mobility, deforestation or meat production.
- The consequences of climate change are unevenly distributed: People and landscapes in the Global South are more vulnerable to the climate crisis as are people with relatively low incomes. The world’s least wealthy countries are located in the Global South. Often, they lack a functioning crisis infrastructure and means to mitigate damage caused by weather extremes. Climate inequality also plays at population level. In general, poorer population segments have less possibilities to shield off consequences of climate change, as they suffer from higher exposure and less means to adapt. Potential risks are often increased when poverty intersects with other forms of social inequality such as gender, ethnicity, body/ability, etc.
- Scientific consensus: 98% of all scientists agree that the climate crisis is human-made as shown by a survey of more than 4,000 studies on climate change. As early as 1896, the Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius recognised that burning coal warms the earth.
- The ice is melting and the sea level rising: Due to the rise in temperature, the Arctic Sea ice and glaciers are melting. Melted ice accounts for 70% of the rise in sea level, with the other 30% caused by the expansion of warmed water. WWF assumes that rising sea levels will threaten more than 1 billion people who today live in coastal regions.
- The weather is becoming more extreme and more destructive: Extreme weather events are increasing as a result of the human-made climate crisis; particularly heatwaves and droughts. It can also be assumed that climate change will boost the frequency and severity of tropical cyclones and heavy rainfall.
- Climate change is a threat to human health: In addition to the direct consequences for human health caused by extreme weather events, there are a number of indirect consequences, such as food insecurity, air and water pollution or psychological consequences. Vulnerability potentials are once again increased or weakened by social inequality structures and gender, ethnicity, class, body/ability, etc.
- Animals and plants are affected: The rise in temperature also has a major impact on flora and fauna. On the one hand, it changes habitats which may cause species to migrate or relocate more frequently. This changes the co-existence of organisms in both abandoned and newly colonised ecosystems. These changes can be beneficial for some species (for example, when they find more food), but they can also have negative consequences (for example due to a growing number of natural enemies, the loss of food sources, heat stress, etc.). Rising temperatures and extreme weather events lead to higher stress levels in wild animals and result in increased mortality and reproductive failure. The more the Earth warms up, the greater the risk of further species loss.
- We can do something about it: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the highest international authority on the subject, stated in its Sixth Assessment Report of 2023 that the window of opportunity to create a liveable and sustainable future for all is closing fast. But there is still time to curb global warming. The IPCC proposes action in all sectors and areas of life, focusing on reducing CO2 through technological developments, efficiency improvements, behavioural changes and the restoration of natural habitats.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 5 - Risk of species loss due to the climate crisis
Path to Change
Current global warming poses great dangers for people and ecosystems. Stopping it requires efforts at all levels: political, societal and personal.
Political efforts
Climate change does not stop at national borders. Climate-damaging behaviour, no matter where in the world it occurs, affects the climate worldwide. Measures to combat global warming, therefore, need to be adopted at an international level. International regulations must target the economy as the inner dynamics of capitalism drive competition and the pursuit for profit, and will, if not regulated, cause more damage in the future.
On May 9, 1992, a first important step towards international regulation was taken, when 154 countries adopted the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The declared goals were the stabilisation of greenhouse gas emissions and the adoption of the principle of climate justice. Following the convention, the UN Climate Change Conference held annual meetings. The most impactful ones to date were held in Kyoto (1997), Cancun (2010), Paris (2015) and Dubai in 2023. Another milestone at UN level was the General Assembly’s resolution on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York in 2015. At EU level, some important steps have been taken since 2019 - see the table below.

Figure - Some important international and EU-level agreements in the combat against the climate crisis
Despite these numerous commitments to climate protection at global and European level, implementation by national governments is still too slow. The organisation Germanwatch undertakes an annual climate policy rating of the 57 countries with the highest emissions. Every year, places 1 to 3 remain vacant, as the organisation finds that none of the countries have an adequate climate protection policy. In 2024, ranked 4 to 10 were Denmark, Estonia, The Philippines, India, Netherlands, Morocco and Sweden. Achievements which were evaluated in a positive manner, included comparatively low per capita emissions (India), efforts in the area of energy efficiency (Morocco), renewable energies (Estonia) or circular economy (Netherlands).
Education
Education is an important lever for sustainability. Today, there are various educational approaches that aim to strengthen the understanding of global interdependencies and responsible global citizenship.
- Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is listed under goal 4.7 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It aims at enabling learners to understand the global interconnections and interdependencies relating to climate change and align personal decisions with the UN development goals. The focus is on decision-making and action skills for sustainable development.
- Global Education (GE) aims to overcome Eurocentrism in education by making the interconnectedness of living conditions worldwide a cross-cutting issue for education. People should understand global power relations and their effects, but at the same time, perceive themselves as competent citizens who can advocate for change.
- Global Citizenship Education (GCE) understands people as global citizens who should act responsibly. GCE focuses its education at the cognitive, social-emotional and behavioural level of personal development.
- GreenComp is a reference framework for sustainable competences for use in educational settings which was edited by the European Commission. It gives guidance related to the development of “knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote ways to think, plan and act with empathy, responsibility, and care for our planet and for public health” (for GreenComp, see more in module 5).
Activism
For many people, the change that is being initiated at the political level is too slow. In recent years, more and more civil society movements are being formed to increase pressure on governments to take more and faster action against global warming. The stories of climate activists tell of anger, courage, perseverance and, in some cases, also success.
To tell these stories is important since it can be uplifting to hear about activists fighting for shared values, especially when people feel hopeless in the face of the climate crisis.
Watch now an interview with young Austrian Aeron Treiblmayr who tells us how he became a climate activist and student in Social Economics. His journey there was all but linear and consists of a drop-out of a vocational training followed by a period of not knowing what to do next, just as much as a random selection for Austria’s climate council of citizens.
Interview with young Austrian Aeron Treiblmayr
Some examples for climate activism:
- In Europe, Fridays for Future is probably the best known among movements against climate change. The movement was started by the young Swede Greta Thunberg in 2018 but has spread throughout the world, reaching as far as Australia, China, Japan, East Timor, Thailand and USA. The movement is mainly made up of school and university students. However, supporter groups such as Parents, Scientists, Teachers and Entrepreneurs for Future have emerged in many countries.
- Climate activism is not a European phenomenon. Many indigenous peoples around the world are among the longest, loudest and most courageous among protesters. Their struggles are important as they often combine the preservation of ecosystems and the climate with a fight against extractivism, capitalist exploitation, post-colonial inequalities and racism, and thus the root causes of global warming (see above). Indigenous people’s battles for the preservation of nature are often struggles for survival and the cultivation of a lifestyle vastly different to consumerist and environmentally harmful ones. It is important to acknowledge movements in the Global South and by indigenous peoples in order not to reproduce Eurocentric misconceptions about climate activism.
Individual level
Many people are already further ahead in aligning action and personal convictions than governments. They see climate-friendly behaviour not as a restriction to their own freedom, but as a way of securing freedom in the future.
A youth study conducted by Greenpeace in 2022 showed that young people aged between 17 and 24 are more aware of sustainability than other age groups and want their politicians to act. At the same time, consumption is an important part of youth cultures in the Global North. There is thus a gap between problem awareness and behaviour.
Youth workers can be important role models with regard to climate-friendly behaviour.
There are plenty of little things that can be done to live more sustainably.
Here are 18 climate protection tips from WWF:
Nutrition
- Only buy what you can really use
- Eating vegetables is much more climate-friendly than eating meat
- Look out for fairtrade and organic labels when buying food
Waste
- Use reusable instead of disposable containers
- Recycle your waste properly
- Try to repair instead of buying new
Mobility
- Use environmentally friendly means of transport (bike, public transportation)
- Only use the car when absolutely necessary
- Minimise your ecological footprint by carpooling
Living
- Reduce your power consumption through greater energy efficiency
- Use green electricity
- Heat more energy-efficiently through ventilation and neighbourhood heating
Travel
- Go on holiday nearby
- Avoid flying within Europe
- Choose accommodation that respects the environment
Consumption
- Inform yourself about the products you buy
- Borrow instead of buying new
- Choose a bank with social and environmental standards
Sometimes, knowledge about how to act sustainably is there, but it’s the circumstances that prevent realisation. Working to ameliorate the circumstances so that sustainable action becomes easy for everyone is a rewarding thing to do. We then speak of an increase of the ecological HANDprint (as the positive counterpart to the ecological footprint).
Someone has left an ecological handprint when they intervened in existing circumstances in a way that enables sustainable behaviour for many by making it easier, cheaper or the standard performance.
Creating a physical map with green work and green training opportunities in a given territory to support local youth in their pursuit for sustainable careers, as is suggested in module 6, increases one’s ecological handprint!
Wrap Up
Module 2 focused on the topic of ‘knowledge’ and emphasised how closely knowledge and values are linked. It dealt with various aspects of the climate crisis and the struggle against it:
Sustainability means that resources should only be used in a way that allows current and future generations to live a good life. However, we are currently overexploiting natural resources. In 2024, Earth Overshoot Day fell on 1 August, primarily due to high emissions in countries of the Global North.
Although the climate crisis is human-made, not everyone is equally responsible or affected. The richest 10% of the population cause almost half of global emissions, while the poorer countries and specific population groups suffer most from the consequences. Climate justice refers to the claim that those responsible for the climate crisis have a higher responsibility in fighting against it.
The climate crisis has its origins in the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism, both of which are closely linked to colonialism and racism. Fossil fuels, mass exploitation of resources and forced labour have contributed to the current ecological and social crisis. Today, racism, capitalism and neo-colonialism are still important drivers of the climate crisis.
Climate change is progressing rapidly and 2023 was the warmest year ever recorded. A collection of key facts (e.g. on rising sea levels, increasing weather extremes and threats to biodiversity) is provided to highlight the urgency of the situation and to provide a solid foundation for discussion and debate.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, there is still time for change. Current activities on the levels of policy, education, activism and individual action to slow down global warming are presented.
References
- Global Footprint Network - 'Earth Overshoot Day'
- StudySmarter - 'Developing Countries'
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung - 'Global South'
- Oxfam America (2015) - 'Extreme Carbon Inequality'
- KONTRAST.at - 'Climate policy must affect the extremely rich'
- National Geographic - 'Causes and Effects of Climate Change'
- Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung - 'On the Beginning and End of Capitalism - Essay'
- Attac Bildung (2017) - 'Market economy and capitalism' (Automated translation from original German)
- World Economic Forum - 'Met Office: Atmospheric CO2 now hitting 50% higher than pre-industrial levels'
- Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung - 'Colonialism and Postcolonialism: Key Terms in the Current Debate'
- Taz - '500 Years of Environmental Racism'
- Klimabündnis Österreich - 'Climate Justice'
- Vanessa Nakate - 'Why Africa Should Be at the Center of the Climate Conversation'
- World Meteorological Organization (WMO) - 'Climate change indicators reached record levels in 2023'
- WWF - 'Feeling the Heat'
- SEN (Sustainability & Environment Network) - 'Global deforestation clears 10 football fields per minute in 2023'
- Our World in Data - 'The world has lost one-third of its forest, but an end of deforestation is possible.'
- WWF (2024) - 'The Amazon Rainforest: The Largest Rainforest on Earth'
- Journal of Health Monitoring (2023) - 'Climate change and health equity: A public health perspective on climate justice.'
- National Geographic - '7 facts about climate change' (German)
- IPCC (2023) - CLIMATE CHANGE 2023: Synthesis Report. Summary for Policymakers
- Sica, Julia/Pramer, Philip/Prager, Alicia (2023). Weltklimarat zeigt Wege in eine lebenswerte Zukunft (GERMAN)
- WWF (2024) - 'Arctic ice melt threatens people worldwide'
- Wikipedia - 'United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change'
- CCPI (Climate Change Performance Index) - 'CCPI 2025: Ranking and Results'
- UNESCO - 'Education for sustainable development'
- UNESCO - 'Global Citizenship Education: Preparing learners for the challenges of the twenty-first century'
- European Commission - 'GreenComp: the European sustainability competence framework'
- Wikipedia - 'Fridays for Future'
- Engagement Global (2022). Perspectives from the Global South in the classroom: what, how, why' (Automate translation from original German publication)
- Südwind (n.d.). Das Fair Fashion Toolkit
- WWF - 'Tips: 20 resolutions for more climate protection'
- Brot für die Welt and Germanwatch - 'What is the handprint?'
- EduSkills+ - 'Interconnected world: Working for climate justice – all around the world'
Resources
- Video: Interview with young Austrian Aeron Treinlmayer
- Study the IPCC’s propositions on how to curb global warming here
- Greenpeace - 'Reliable sources for facts and figures on climate change'
- Earthjustice
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- European Environment Agency
- WWF (World Wildlife Fund)
- UN Environment Programme
- Debt for Climate
- Generation Change - A documentary showcasing youth-led solutions to the climate crisis across Europe.
Activities
Once developed, these activities will link to the activities in the corresponding toolkit.