Universities as Responsible Governance Actors: A Delphi Study of Chinese Universities' Roles in Advancing Public Climate Awareness

Climate change increasingly demands sustained public awareness alongside scientific and technological responses. Although universities are widely recognized as important actors in sustainability, limited research has examined which institutional roles should be strategically prioritized to strengthen climate awareness, particularly within China's policy‐driven higher education system. This study employed a two‐round modified Delphi method involving 22 experts from climate‐related and interdisciplinary fields to identify and prioritize the governance roles of Chinese universities in advancing public climate awareness. The findings revealed eight role dimensions and a differentiated governance‐role hierarchy. Talent development and capacity building, research, innovation and evidence generation, and public knowledge and awareness building emerged as the highest‐priority roles, whereas community engagement and international communication were perceived as comparatively peripheral. The study advances climate governance research by proposing a governance‐role hierarchy framework that demonstrates that universities' influence varies with institutional legitimacy, epistemic authority, and governance proximity.