Education of school and college students on climate change is highly important in influencing mitigation and adaptation behaviours in the long term especially on the climate prone countries like India. This research is a survey-based evaluation of climate change awareness, risk perception, self efficacy, and pro environmental behavioural intention among Indian students, with a special interest in the variations of these variables according to the urban and rural geographical location, the type of school, and the exposure to climate education programmes. The questionnaire comprised a structured questionnaire that was delivered through a stratified sampling design to the participants that were secondary school students (Classes 912) and first-year undergraduate programmes. The measure consisted of climate knowledge, perceived risk, self-efficacy, behavioural intention, and information sources on climate. The analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics, group comparison, and multiple regression modelling to determine the predictors of behavioural intention toward climate action. Using an exemplary sample size (N = 600), the findings show that, although students will exhibit average knowledge of climate as a whole, there exist significant disparities in knowledge of health-related climatic effects and locally applicable strategies of adaptation. Students in urban areas always claim more knowledge and perception of risk of the climate than rural students due to the information availability and access to education. The results also indicate that perceived risk and self-efficacy have a stronger effect on behavioural intention than knowledge does. Being members of eco-clubs and having undergone climate-focused school-based climate modules are both substantially linked with intentions to participate in climate-positive behaviours.
Dubey et al. (2026) studied this question.