Can climate change training promote pro-environmental behavior in the long term? A pilot study with teenagers

Environmental education (EE) programs are critically important. The EE within the EU Project "I-CHANGE" (https://ichange-project.eu/) aims at global citizenship, in order to generate new knowledge and new, more participatory and conscious ways of acting in the environment. The present study aims to verify the effectiveness of a training intervention based on education on the issues of climate change and on the active participation of the subjects in the small psychological group. 309 students participated in the intervention, equally distributed by gender (52.1% males), 64.4% enrolled in primary school and 35.6% enrolled in lower secondary school. A quantitative protocol was administered to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The study shows an increase in pro-environmental behaviors and their stability even after 15-30 days. The intervention appears to be effective in triggering pro-environmental behaviors and maintaining them over time. The results of this study highlight the need to develop environmental education programs in schools to increase levels of knowledge and awareness on the topic of climate change.