As the climate changes and the UK and Ireland experience more extreme weather events, post-16 education institutions need to know how to readily communicate what is happening, why it is happening and what to do about it, in a both proactive and reactive manner.

Following on from the Climate Risk Profiles for Scottish Colleges and Universities and the award-winning Climate Risk Register Guide and Tool, the Climate Risk Communications Pack contains three presentations designed to demystify this topic to the widest possible audience.

This resource is aimed at all professionals within the UK and Ireland post-16 education sector who want to communicate climate risk and adaptation clearly to their colleagues. The presentations are provided in various formats to suit a range of contexts and confidence levels - from editable PowerPoints to pre-recorded videos.  

This resource aligns with the Climate Change (Scotland) Duties and the corresponding statutory guidance to public bodies (Scotland-only), the Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework (SCEF) and the Climate Action Roadmap for Colleges. 

Workshop 1: Introduction to Climate Risk  

This workshop covers:

• What is climate risk?
• Climate stories and climate projections
• How climate risk directly relates to different roles in post-16 education

This workshop is aimed at all staff working in post-16 education and is provided in video, PowerPoint and PDF formats. 

Workshop 2: Introduction to Climate Adaptation 

This workshop covers:

• What is climate adaptation?
• Adaptation stories and examples
• Co-benefits to taking action on adaptation and how adaptation directly relates to different roles in post-16 education

This workshop is aimed at all staff working in post-16 education and is provided in video, PowerPoint and PDF formats. 

Workshop 3: Climate Scenario Planning 

This workshop covers:

• What is scenario planning and what scenarios should we be planning for?
• Five scenarios covering flooding, high wind, overheating, transport disruption and wildfire
• Plus additional scenarios for those that want to explore further

This workshop is primarily aimed at those in leadership, risk, health and safety, business continuity, estates and operations. It is provided in video, PowerPoint and PDF formats.

Climate Risk Communications Pack workshop instructions 

This document provides guidance for those planning to deliver these workshops to colleagues and how we envision the content might be best conveyed. This document is provided in PDF format. 

As a workshop facilitator, you have the choice of: 

• Tailoring the PowerPoint presentations to include institutional context and stories to suit your audience (recommended option – the message will land better if you provide examples relevant to your institution)
• Delivering the PowerPoint presentations as provided (great if you are comfortable with running workshops on this topic area, but don’t have much time to edit the resources for your context)
• Playing the pre-recorded videos for a group and pausing at the appropriate sections for discussion (great for if you don’t have much time or much confidence discussing this topic with others)

FAQS

How does the Climate Risk Communications Pack fit with EAUC’s other climate risk and adaptation resources? 

This resource is one of three main climate risk publications from EAUC. We suggest using the Climate Risk Communications Pack in combination with the Climate Risk Profiles for Scottish Colleges and Universities and Climate Risk Register Guide and Tool to help structure your journey. AUDE has also published a sector adaptation and resilience guide.

You can also join EAUC’s Managing Climate Risk community of practice to support peer-to-peer learning. 

I’m not confident in climate risk. How can I use this resource? 

No problem! You can still use the resources and be a facilitator even without prior knowledge of climate risk. We suggest using the pre-recorded workshop videos with your group of colleagues and pausing at the appropriate sections for discussion. 

Can I edit the workshop PowerPoint slides? 

Yes, you can! Adding in your own institutional and regional context can help bring the subject to life for participants. We just ask that EAUC and any original images are appropriately recognised.  

Tell us how you are using this resource

This resource has been developed by and delivered as part of EAUC Scotland’s programme "Supporting a step-change towards environmental sustainability at Scotland's Universities and Colleges", funded by the Scottish Funding Council. 

We’d love to hear how you are using our climate risk and adaptation resources. Please let us know by sending an email to scotland@eauc.org.uk along with any reflections you have.