The Climate Academy Programme
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Welcome to The Climate Academy
The Climate Academy programme is a unique, systems-informed approach to climate education.
It is open to anyone who wants to get a deep perspective on the sustainability crisis & who wants to act with leverage.
Overview of the Climate Academy Programme
The programme has 3 Pillars
The first pillar is Systems Understanding. This is a systems crisis, which can only be understood fully from a systems perspective. It is not just an environmental crisis. There are economic and social systems, political and psychological systems in play. There are historical forces at work that we need to understand if we want to build a safe and fair future.
With a 360° clear vantage point of the crisis, the Civic Engagement we put our energy into in Pillar 2 will have so much more traction.
In fact, it could empower us to be the leaders who are recognised in the Systems Entrepreneurship of Pillar 3.
Pillar 1: Systems Understanding
Pillar 1 is fundamentally important.
The free Climate Academy Student Book maps out for you, in serious depth and in an engaging and readable style, the key details of the systems at work in this sustainability crisis.
It begins with the planetary boundaries — the scientifically defined limits within which humanity can safely operate. These boundaries are non-negotiable. This scientific map provides the only reliable starting point for any programme about sustainability. Without these boundaries clearly in place, any efforts to address the crisis risk being distorted by misinformation and disinformation.
The course is not shy about scientific detail and complexity. It will take you from carbon budgets and tipping points, from the Holocene to the Anthropocene, and from the Rebound Effect to the Butterfly Effect.
In Human Science, the course takes you from Freud to Frankenstein, from Piketty to Picasso, from the French Revolution to the Industrial Revolution and from the Ancient Greeks to our modern, oligarchic freaks.
You progress through the Pillar in 3 steps.
Firstly, you read and test yourself on the 16 chapters of the Student Book (Bronze). Then you share some of your insights with others (Silver), before maybe setting up a Climate Academy of your own (Gold).
Or in other words, you progress from participation to developing an expertise, to acting with autonomy.
For each level achieved, you claim your Climate Academy e-Certificate.
Certificate Overview and the EU Green Competency Framework
Pillar 2: Civic Engagement
From understanding to action. In Pillar 2 you can advance the public understanding of the crisis to a systems level through either publications or events.
You’ll collaborate in teams, sometimes alongside scientists or public figures, to design and deliver projects that combine leverage, depth, and creativity. Even small groups can create meaningful impact at local, national or global level — as research, such as Chenoweth’s 3.5% rule, has shown.
A growing catalogue of ready-to-use Climate Academy projects will be available here from 2026. Each project is transdisciplinary, but also designed so it can fit neatly into a traditional school subject. You’ll be able to download resources directly from this Moodle space.
Of course, you can design your own civic engagement activities. They just have to be informed by an understanding of the planetary boundaries and rooted in the systems truths of the programme.
a) Civic Engagement (Publications)
b) Civic Engagement (Events)
Pillar 3: Systems Entrepreneurship
If you manage to achieve a Gold Award in either Pillar 1 or Pillar 2 of The Climate Academy programme, then you will be eligible to apply for the Systems Entrepreneur certificate.
At this Platinum level, your Climate Academy project will typically be marked by: a deep recognition of intersectional issues, an overcoming of significant personal or social barriers, or perhaps it will carry a clearly valuable legacy.
