Insights of the Munich Climate School 2023

Over 30 lectures and workshops in more than 40 hours: this was the offer of the five-day Munich Climate School, which was offered for the third time this year by the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. WORDUP managing director Achim von Michel had the opportunity to get a comprehensive overview of the state of scientific climate research from a variety of perspectives: researchers from the fields of biology, geology, physics, medicine, law, psychology, economics, communication science and politics, among others , mathematics and sociology examined the concrete effects of climate change from their scientific perspective. The conclusion was, of course, unanimous: climate change has been here for a long time and is affecting people and nature in many ways. The recurring appeal of all speakers and the 30 face-to-face and around 100 online participants was also unanimous: we are currently on a dangerous development path that does not take sufficient note of the changes that are taking place, let alone offer large-scale solutions.

From the perspective of psychology and communication research, the “Munich Climate School” provided exciting insights into the methods and effects of targeted climate communication. In particular, a shift in individual approach to a stronger focus on large social and political target groups. “It no longer makes sense to make believers Catholic,” one researcher summed up this aspect aptly, while another said: “We are increasingly seeing that communication that only focuses on climate-friendly actions by citizens is simply no longer enough. “ This insight coincides with another key message that hovered over the five-day climate course: In addition to avoidance (mitigation), adaptation to changing circumstances will also require our full social effort in the coming years. The importance of this action was made clear not least by the final lecture by the Munich Climate School, which dealt with the global effects of climate change and the question of climate justice: At least 2.5 billion people on earth will be directly affected by the effects in the coming decades be affected by climate change!

For WORDUP managing director Achim von Michel, the background knowledge gained offers a welcome opportunity to address the issue of climate change more clearly in a business context. In November, an episode of the podcast “SMEs in Transition” will be dedicated entirely to the topic of sustainability. This year, a climate management certification is also on the program for WORDUP as part of the KliMaWirtschaft project: Over 250 companies have already embarked on the path to corporate climate management as part of the KliMaWirtschaft. Since 2021, the project funded by the BMWK has been supporting companies of all industries and sizes free of charge in implementing individually suitable climate protection measures.