Assessing climate change literacy among university students in Sri Lanka: implications for future mitigation strategies

Purpose This study aims to assess the status of climate change literacy (CCL) among university students in Sri Lanka, with a focus on understanding their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors toward climatic change. This study also seeks to identify differences in CCL levels across various academic disciplines and to provide recommendations for improving CCL levels of undergraduates. Design/methodology/approach Surveying method with pilotted structured questionnaire comprising 43 items (40 structured and 3 open ended) was used to gather data from 500 randomly selected students across four disciplines (art, management, medicine and engineering) and six universities. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, using qualitative and quantitative statistics, that is, cross and frequency tabulation, percentage frequencies, mean comparison and multiple comparison methods. Findings This study revealed significant variations in CCL levels among the different disciplines. Engineering students demonstrated the highest overall CCL (64.66%), while management students showed the lowest (30.85%). The internet was identified as the primary source of information on climate change (48.16%). Factors such as permanent residence, science-related educational background and education background of the family were significantly correlated with CCL levels. The results of this study highlighted the requirement of improvement climate change education, particularly among non-science students. Originality/value This study critically evaluated CCL among Sri Lankan university students highlighting disparities across academic disciplines. This study underscores the necessity of incorporating climate change concepts into university curricula, especially for non-science students, to enhance knowledge, attitude and engagement on global climate change.