Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Developing Global Datasets and Indicators for Monitoring Climate Change Education and Communication (CCE)

Abstract

Climate change education and communications (CCE) has long been recognized as a critical vehiclefor increasing human and institutional capacity to mitigate against further climate change and to adapt to its impact. However, the global community lacks robust cross-national data and global indicators to measure and monitor progress in the planning, implementation, and delivery of CCE at the national and intergovernmental levels. This paper offers a synthesis of insights from interdisciplinary literature on indicator development conducted across the areas of education, education for sustainable development (ESD), communication and biodiversity and climate change. Bringing together independent histories of developing indicators for global benchmarking and target setting supports insights for the more nascent area at their intersections, that is, CCE. On the basis of the literature review, the orientation of ideal indicators could be synthesized as a guiding idea for indicator development. Ideal indicators have real-world congruence and are built on feasible data elicitation; they facilitate solutions for climate change and leverage political and public attention. In this article’s conclusion, we identify key challenges that can compromise indicators in the context of CCE (e.g., “smallest common denominator” -solutions) as well as possible countermeasures against these challenges.