3 Awareness-raising

Adaptation options no-regret low-regret win-win flexible
Generic examples
Education and training (formal and informal), including integration into curriculum and targeted programmes or activities.
Promoting conservation and efficiencies in the use of resources (e.g. water and energy).
Capacity building programmes, including communication programmes.
Identifying and promoting successful adaptation initiatives – lessons learned.
Conferences, events and publications.
Specific examples
Defra is leading a cross-Governmental initiative (Tomorrow’s Climate, Today’s Challenge) aimed at telling the story of climate change and inspiring collective action. The initial focus of this communications initiative is to change attitudes. This initiative has produced a website which carries easy-to-access information about climate change and how best to communicate about it, and provides free-to-use resources including a short film about climate change, a series of radio adverts, animations and a downloadable written guide about communicating climate change. Also included as part of this initiative is the Climate Change Fund initiated in 2006 to support local and regional climate change communication projects and the selection of young climate change champions.
Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change conference (and publication, pdf 170 KB ) held at Exeter in 2005 ahead of the UK-led G8 Gleneagles Summit. Focus is on three specific questions: 

  1. For different levels of global warming, what are the key impacts for different regions and sectors and for the world as a whole?
  2. What would such levels of global warming imply for stabilising concentrations of greenhouse gases and pathways to achieve those levels?
  3. What are the technological options for achieving stabilisation of GHG in the atmosphere, accounting for economics costs and uncertainties?.
The Environment Agency has developed a website that provides information about climate change, its causes and effects, the work they are doing to mitigate and adapt to it, international efforts and steps that all can take to reduce their climate footprint – their contribution to global warming.