MainKlimaPLUS - Involved educational components for the derivation of adaptation concepts for (manufacturing) companies | Umweltbundesamt

With the educational offers, actors of handicraft enterprises, SMEs as well as large corporations should internalize basic concepts, context and interrelations of climate change, especially with regard to climate adaptation, and make relevant decisions and experience their effects by means of GBL in a safe environment. The didactic approach is based on Bloom's taxonomy. The goal is to improve the current knowledge base to provide opportunities for action and strategies for climate adaptation (knowledge). This knowledge should increase motivation (sensitization) to transfer acquired knowledge into professional practice and to implement it individually (empowerment). Actors should reflect their experiences in the game, transfer them to their daily work and then derive their own, custom-made adaptation concepts within their organizations. In particular, the simulation game enables actors to simulate direct and indirect impacts of climate change in a protected environment and to develop targeted adaptation strategies already within the teams. This kind of active learning promotes awareness of action and the application of knowledge. In concrete terms, the proposed project contributes to the design of adaptation measures to the extent that the provision of low-threshold information through the regional study will bring the issue of climate protection and adaptation into the focus of entrepreneurial, sustainable action. The accompanying video is widely distributed and reaches a large audience via social media channels.The simulation is planned as a narrative approach with strategy paths so that companies can select specific adaptation strategies and learn to assess their potential for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Due to expanding supply chains, Main-Franconian companies and handicraft companies are highly dependent on their globally distributed suppliers. This makes the supply chain vulnerable to external disruptions that are triggered, among other things, by climate change. At the same time, warming rates in the Bavarian region are currently significantly higher than the national average. Accordingly, the development of strategic climate adaptation measures is essential to anticipate and minimize company-specific climate change risks. Climate adaptation is one of the greatest challenges of the present in many municipal, economic and social sectors. The regional study therefore intends to delineate the circumstances and interactions of global climate change, the impacts in the Bavarian region of Main-Franconia, and the emerging needs for change for societal, political, and economic actors. A comprehensive basic theoretical overview first serves to classify important starting points from a political perspective and presents offers for economic actors. Furthermore, the economic characteristics are differentiated according to handicraft companies and companies, and their role for growth and innovation in the region, as well as in relation to climate change and the necessary adaptation are shown. The results of a qualitative (n=13) and quantitative survey (n=288) illustrate that in addition to economic efficiency and physical resources, human factors contribute to increasing organizational climate resilience. For example, in order for economic organizations to adequately deal with climate change, managers are required to develop a systemic approach with comprehensive measures for climate mitigation and adaptation, and to test their effectiveness and integrate them holistically. The regional study highlights that, in addition to climate mitigation, the reduction of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions, climate adaptation is an essential aspect for maintaining and even increasing economic efficiency by perceiving the changing requirements as development opportunities.