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Daue_25361800_2024.pdf
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- The global warming presents a major challenge to humanity, requiring increased awareness, particularly among high school students in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. As part of Walloon and Belgian climate and educational initiatives, the project to create a carbon footprint calculator specifically designed for high school students contributes to this awareness, aligning with the continuity of the calculators developed by the Agence Wallone de l’Air et du Climat (AWAC), targeting a specific audience. This innovative tool takes the form of a comprehensive questionnaire, covering various aspects of students' daily lives and ensuring relevance and accessibility. Based on the Bilan Carbone method and adapted to a specific context, the creation of the questionnaire involves thoughtful methodological choices aimed at raising students' awareness of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and encouraging behavioural changes. These choices were made and discussed with high school teachers throughout the creation process, benefiting from their rich experience with students. Additionally, the tool is intended to be used in the classroom and integrated into students' educational paths. Tests conducted in three fifth and sixth-year classes demonstrated the initial success of the calculator in achieving its primary goal of awareness. Over 85% of students have an increased understanding of their GHG emissions, highlighting the relevance of the results. Furthermore, a comparison of the order of magnitudes of the results with average Belgian emissions allows for judging the quantitative consistency of these results. These tests also highlighted potential improvements to the tool that AWAC needs to examine to optimize the calculator. This promising initiative paves the way for a broader integration of the tool into the educational system, provided that improvements based on the lessons learned from these initial tests are implemented, and further testing is conducted on a larger scale.