Development of GreenDealz: a public engagement toolkit addressing critical raw materials and the EU Green Deal at informal education settings

Abstract

One of the most important challenges Europe faces to date is the need for a drastic increase in the extraction, production, and recycling of critical raw materials to meet the demands of renewable energy technologies, as specified in the European Union's climate targets. However, this topic is not widely discussed amongst publics and is underrepresented within the field of informal education and public engagement. This pilot study describes the development of a public engagement toolkit called “GreenDealz” that aims to address this gap. We focus specifically on the festival environment as an informal education setting. GreenDealz was created via an iterative process informed by in-situ data collection across six cultural/arts and science festivals in Ireland. GreenDealz engages informal audiences through a supermarket experience, where participants must choose key critical raw materials to build essential renewable energy technologies and achieve EU climate goals. Evaluation is integrated into the tactile experience of GreenDealz. Embedded assessment measures yield quantitative data that show GreenDealz may significantly enhance audience knowledge of the topic.