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<p>Climate awareness is the starting point for understanding how climate change triggers and contributes to the climate crisis. A public that is aware is made up of citizens who are able to manage the best way to learn about the climate system and its changes and to understand how climate interacts with the individual and collective sphere of each person. Climate awareness provides everything citizens need to play an active role in addressing the negative impacts of climate change on people's lives, seize opportunities and be conscious actors in the present we are living and the future we shape for younger generations. Given the multidisciplinary, cross-cutting and all-comprehensive dimension of the interaction between climate and socio-economic systems (both on a local and global scale), improving Climate awareness requires more than just making reliable information and data available. There is an urgent need for strategic perspectives, critical thinking, and innovative outreach platforms and tools. </p> <p>To answer this challenge, the CMCC is implementing an outreach and communication strategy that addresses the complexity of the issue by implementing a multi-platform approach to climate literacy. The target audiences for this approach are as diverse as many social actors are involved in the process of improving their own climate literacy and, thus, contribute to the spread of more advanced climate awareness. These include public opinion as a whole, but specific initiatives and languages should be used to target specific audiences, such as students, journalists, policymakers, and civil society. Thus, the CMCC multi-platform approach addresses the climate crisis in the relationships between target audiences and media in their cultural, social, historical, economic and technological contexts. We present a series of concrete and ongoing initiatives that make up an integrated climate literacy strategy combining storytelling of climate impacts and adaptation solutions, the journalistic vision of a magazine, visual storytelling, podcast, art/science dialogue, science/communication collaboration about IPCC reports and the building of a community/network of climate communication initiatives through a climate communication international award.</p>

<p>Climate literacy means making individuals aware of the daily interactions we all have with the world around us and, consequently, supporting them in making responsible and informed decisions on how to make such interactions sustainable and not harmful to the environment. The idea behind climate literacy is not only to educate people on such principles but also to provide learners with practical applications and equip them with tools they can use to become active change agents in their communities. CMCC is actively taking part in this ambitious challenge through an innovative, interactive platform in which climate change information, tools and data are narrated in a new, multidisciplinary way to help people understand what climate literacy is and what is the meaning of successful adaptation to climate change - and how to practically do it.</p> <p>Focused on the Adriatic area, the multimedia platform collects a series of nine success stories taking place in the context of the Italy-Croatia Interreg AdriaClim project, which involves local authorities, experts, scientists and citizens in a common effort to adapt to climate change impacts in coastal areas.</p> <p>The nine stories are presented through the use of new - or different - words, images,  unheard voices and multimedia contents to provide a new narration for innovative solutions. We simplify scientific jargon, giving new life to the words of climate science and sharing information that appeals to facts, and data but also emotions. We dived into the heart of the climate change discourse to extract the most useful keywords to talk about adaptation: we collected and organised them in a simpler, non-canonical dictionary, with practical examples, general context scenarios, differentiated sources and more. Images represent reality but can also be used as access points to knowledge, and impactful visual narratives to explain and illustrate complex concepts and phenomena. Getting in touch with experts and institutional representatives who are at the forefront of the adaptation activities carried out in their areas gives life to a peer-to-peer process that can be an inspiration for different stakeholders. </p> <p>Our Climate Literacy platform narrates stories that are born within science but are able to reach non-experts and citizens and help them understand and act about the challenges and solutions of coastal adaptation. Through a multimedia and interdisciplinary dialogue, the platform provides a unique hub for the contamination of knowledge and ideas to act in the face of future impacts.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Climate change is one of the most prominent challenges of our times. A pervasive topic that actively involves countless actors around the world, conditioning every sector of society. More and more initiatives worldwide are devoted to spreading awareness on climate change and engaging the public to bring the change we need. </p> <p>In this context, the <em>CMCC Climate Change Communication Award “Rebecca Ballestra”</em> showcases and promotes innovative projects and initiatives that deliver engaging messages and communicate climate change in education, advocacy, media production and social engagement activities through different forms of communication such as <strong>art, theatre, video making, music, photography, journalism, gaming, education, data visualization, and the use of digital channels and tools</strong>.</p> <p>Through this initiative, the CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change is building <strong>an innovative and continuously growing global platform </strong>(www.cmccaward.eu) that collects and rewards the best climate communication projects worldwide, and <strong>connects their authors in a network that fosters collaborations, offers opportunities and opens a space of discussion</strong> for climate change communication experts.</p> <p>Now at its second edition, the CMCC Award honours the memory of the artist Rebecca Ballestra, who was committed to shaping a sustainable future and promoting positive transformation processes in the fields of science, humanities, economy, ecology and art and collaborated with the CMCC in various cultural initiatives.</p> <p>The CMCC Award focuses on projects that:</p> <ul> <li aria-level="1"><strong>increase public awareness</strong> on climate change and its interactions with society, the economy, the environment, and policy-making processes;</li> <li aria-level="1"><strong>disseminate science-based information and data </strong>related to climate change through the application of innovative ideas, technologies and methodologies in the field of media, journalism, and communication at large;</li> <li aria-level="1"><strong>communicate the threats and opportunities</strong> posed by the climate change challenge using multiple languages and innovative mediums, including journalism, art, videos and music;</li> <li aria-level="1"><strong>trigger action</strong> in the audiences addressed, including students, consumers, businesses and politicians.</li> </ul> <p>The biennial initiative is developed through:</p> <ul> <li aria-level="1"><strong>a Call for Proposals</strong> to collect the best ongoing climate communication projects from all over the world. Over 100 projects were admitted from the 1st call for proposals. The 2nd call for proposals was launched in November 2022 at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and will close in June 2023;</li> <li aria-level="1"><strong>a series of online and in-person events </strong>in which international experts in the field of climate change communication debate with scientists on the best strategies, initiatives and solutions to build a stronger awareness on the climate crisis;</li> <li aria-level="1"><strong>the evaluation of the admitted projects by an international Jury of outstanding experts</strong>;</li> <li aria-level="1"><strong>the final event hosting the Award Ceremony</strong>, climax of the initiative, during which the winners and other selected projects have the opportunity to present their work; </li> </ul> <p><strong>a series of interviews, articles and podcasts</strong> on the CMCC magazine climateforesight.eu in collaboration with the authors of the best projects.</p>

<p>Although the topic of climate change has gained more prominence in recent years, many people still struggle to understand the complex and widespread implications that it is likely to have on almost every sector of our society and natural environment.</p><p>Climate change is a complex issue. The physical process that regulates the feedbacks and interactions of the Earth System’s components are complicated, the consequences for society and ecosystems are extensive, as too are the implications for the economy. Many effects are not yet fully understood and are difficult to envisage.</p><p>Improving climate literacy and the public’s understanding about the causes and consequences of climate change are important to increasing civic participation and engagement. They are necessary for the deep and systemic transformation needed to create resilient and zero carbon societies, in line with the Paris Agreement goals.</p><p>Videogames have been identified as an ideal means through which to represent complexity, simulating different scenarios and testing alternative paths. ‘Change Game’ was developed by the CMCC Foundation, with a view to representing the climate system and its interactions with society and with natural ecosystems. The game was designed to be scientifically grounded, but also engaging and entertaining. </p><p>A simplified model was developed to establish the game’s values, which covered energy and water consumption, historical GHG emissions by sectors, scenarios to reach net zero emissions, technological solutions, climate impacts, etc.</p><p>The player is put in charge of the growth and development of a city on a planet inhabited by a pre-set number of players (5-30) who are also developing their own cities. They have to provide energy, water and food to satisfy their population’s needs, build manufacturing and services industries, manage their resources, trade them with other players, invest in research, education and entertainment, and care for the health, happiness and prosperity of their community.</p><p>However, the higher the emissions that all the players on the same planet generate, the greater the challenges they will face. These include heat waves, droughts, floods, rising sea levels or the spread of new diseases.    <br>The activities in the game are organised within 9 macro categories: houses, factories (steel, cement, sawmill, food factories), services (school, university, hospital, mall, museum, sports center, trading center, warehouse), mines (rock, mineral, rare elements), agriculture (crops, livestock and fish), forestry (forest, ancient forest, land and marine protected areas), energy (fossil fuel, hydroelectric, solar, wind, offshore wind, tidal, nuclear, biofuel, batteries), water (well, aqueduct, water reservoir, desalination plant), negative emissions technologies.</p><p>Through education players can learn to promote sustainable behaviors which affect resource consumption as well as the growth and happiness of their populations. Investment in research determines access to more advanced technological solutions and buildings aimed at reducing GHG emissions or increasing resilience to climate change effects.               </p><p>Finally, players can interact with neighboring cities on the same planet in the multiplayer environment through trade, climate strikes, corruption attacks and fake news.</p><p>Change Game is freely available as an app for Android and IOS mobiles.</p>