From climate anxiety to climate resilience - The CLARITY Project

Mar 23
2 min read

Updated: Mar 25

Last update: 23 March 2026

Promotional banner for the CLARITY project, co-funded by the European Union and led in partnership with REAL School Budapest. The title reads "From Climate Anxiety to Climate Resilience" in bold white and green text against a dark green background. On the right, a young person sits reading inside the hollow base of a large, ancient willow tree beside open water. Partner logos along the bottom include Lund University, One Resilient Earth, Climate Creativity, Legacy17, and The Vision Works.

What happens when young people learn about the climate crisis without the emotional tools to process it? Too often, the answer is anxiety, helplessness, and withdrawal — the opposite of what we need.

REAL School Budapest is proud to be a founding partner of CLARITY (Transformative Climate Resilience Education for Children and Youth), an EU-funded Erasmus+ project co-led with Lund University, One Resilient Earth, Climate Creativity, Legacy17, and The Vision Works — running from 2023 to 2026.

CLARITY was built on a simple but urgent insight: teaching the facts of climate change is not enough if learners feel overwhelmed.

We need education that nurtures emotional resilience, imagination, and collective agency alongside knowledge,

moving young people from climate anxiety toward creativity, connection, and regeneration.

What CLARITY has produced

Three open-access resources are now freely available to educators worldwide:

🌱 The CLARITY toolbox — Over 50 ready-to-use activities spanning five competence areas: caring for climate emotions, nurturing connection to self and nature, embracing life-sustaining values, envisioning regenerative futures, and taking collective action. Activities range from 10-minute classroom exercises to multi-week projects, adaptable from age 6 to university level.

📖 The teachers' guide — A comprehensive companion explaining the why and how behind the tools, with guidance on trauma-informed pedagogy, emotional regulation, and creating psychologically safe learning environments.

🎓 A self-paced online course — Free to all educators globally, with a certificate of completion and access to an international community of practice.

All resources are licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) and available in English, Hungarian, Norwegian, Swedish, and German at transforming-climate.education

Why all these matter

60% of young people aged 16–25 describe themselves as very worried about climate change. Many educators feel ill-equipped to respond. CLARITY addresses both sides of that gap — giving teachers the knowledge, tools, and peer support to hold space for difficult emotions while building genuine competence for action.

REAL School educators have been piloting these approaches with the students since the project began. The results show that

When children feel safe, connected, and capable,

they engage with the world's challenges not with despair,

but with creativity and courage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG74eguYbHY

Reimagining climate education event

On 4 March 2026, REAL School hosted the official showcase event of the CLARITY Project in Hungary.

50 educators, youth workers, and changemakers came together. And the energy was palpable! Exciting tools, superb conversations, and a genuine sense that things can be different for the young people we work with.

Four REAL School Budapest students smile at the camera carrying long bamboo poles across a grassy outdoor site, during a Dream to Reality project in which students designed and built their own tents before camping overnight.

Join the movement!

Use the resources. Share them with a colleague. Bring them into your classroom, youth group, or community. The more educators who engage with this work, the wider its ripple effect.

👉 Explore all resources: transforming-climate.education

📩 Connect with the CLARITY community: contact@transforming-climate.education

Co-funded by the European Union.