The British Council said the Climate Cool program will provide training on climate change to 1800 high school teachers and 200,000 students, as well as 1650 journalists and journalism students.

The program will encourage participants to inform their peers, their local communities and wider audiences of the issues surrounding climate change. According to the British Council officials, in total, the Climate Cool program hopes to reach 55 million people in 20 Chinese cities with information about climate change.

The program will advocate sustainable adaptation and mitigation actions and address climate change issues through the active engagement of young people.

Five Chinese and two British Climate Change Young Ambassadors took part in the launch ceremony.

Jessica Amy Smith from Southport said: “The best way to spread climate change awareness is to educate people. I think we can make a difference. We need to let people know what climate change is and what they are up against.”

Ding Shanshan, a 19-year-old girl from Beijing, said the campaign would encourage people to share ideas on environmental protection.

“People really can do something in their daily lives to protect the environment and fight climate change,” she said.

The Climate Cool initiative was developed in cooperation with the China Science and Technology Exchange Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Center for Environment Education and Communication under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the China Metrological Administration.

Monday’s Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Sun Hong, director general of China Science and Technology Exchange Center, and Joanna Burke, director of the British Council in China.