Young climate protectors

On behalf of WWF Germany, UfU conducted a social science study on the topic of “How do children and young people want to protect the climate?”. 60 schoolchildren of different age groups were each interviewed intensively for around two hours in a total of four focus groups. The result:

• Climate protection plays only a subordinate role in the everyday reality of children and young people. Their knowledge of climate protection issues comes mainly from the media, school and only to a limited extent from their parents.
• The older the respondents are, the more important the credibility of the players is. The main responsibility for climate protection is seen to lie with politicians and large corporations. Only when these groups actively do something for the climate will children and young people be prepared to do their bit for climate protection.
• The children and young people have clear ideas about what a future world should look like. The oceans are clean, the continents are green and the air is pure. Energy is generated_CO2-free by solar and wind power plants. Happy people live here who use high-tech bicycles, public transport or electric cars to get around. In children’s and young people’s visions of the future, the implementation of climate protection is often linked to the elimination of poverty and wars.

Children and young people use very different evaluation criteria to motivate their behavior. While the welfare of animals (panda) is the main focus for 10-12 year olds, opposition to the status quo (protest) is decisive for 14-15 year olds. Among 18-20-year-olds, only those people who are committed to climate protection without benefiting from this commitment themselves (political independence) are role models. The study was received in various media, including the Süddeutsche Zeitung.