Evidence‐Based Learning for Climate Action: A Mixed‐Methods Intervention on Climate Change Hope and Water Footprint Behaviour

ABSTRACT To advance Sustainable Development Goal 13.3, geography education must strengthen human capacity and adaptive resilience through sustained climate action. This study investigates an Evidence‐Based Learning (EBL) intervention's impact on ninth‐graders' climate change hope and water footprint behaviour in Türkiye. Adopting a mixed‐methods design, the research integrated quasi‐experimental data ( N = 60) with qualitative insights from youth in the water‐stressed Mediterranean basin. Results indicate that EBL yielded modest but statistically significant initial gains in climate hope ( p = 0.005, d = 0.192) and encouraged positive within‐group trends for pro‐environmental actions, thereby supporting awareness and mitigation capacity (SDG 13.B). Theoretically, identifying a potential ‘sleeper effect’ in enacted habits and a shift towards ‘agency‐based hope’ illustrates how structured inquiry enables students to transcend eco‐paralysis through meaning‐focused coping. Engaging with ‘virtual water’ effectively helps translate intangible environmental concerns into tangible personal agency. These findings offer a framework for restructuring geography curricula and enhancing institutional capacity to foster proactive climate citizenship, advocating for evidence‐based inquiry over alarmist narratives to ensure global sustainability.