Black Mountains College in Talgarth, Powys, has launched a BA course in sustainable futures.
It has joined forces with Cardiff Metropolitan University, the Brecon Beacons National Park and industry partners.
The college says its course is the world’s first dedicated entirely to taking action against climate change.
According to the BBC:
The course will be partly classroom based, but will include placements in industry and teaching outdoors on the college’s farm campus.
It also incorporates the natural landscape, the senses and the arts – students are encouraged to immerse themselves in nature – feeling, listening, even tasting the world around them.
The idea is to reinforce the knowledge they learn and forge a deep connection with the world around them.
CEO Ben Rawlance said the college was founded on the ethos that climate change is not only a scientific problem, but “a problem of human behaviour, of values, of systems, of politics and economics”.
Jodie Bond from Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said: “The nature and climate emergencies are hugely important.
“We can’t face these big challenges we have as a society on our own, we have to work together.”
Mr Rawlance said the world of work was already changing, with corporations employing sustainability and climate officers, and this course was about “giving students the tools to imagine a different future”.
“These young people are going to be highly valued by industry because they’re going to have that holistic world view,” he added.
“They’re going to understand how change happens and be schooled in theories of organisational change.”
Those skills include critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and compassion.
One of the industry partners is consultancy firm Accenture, which employs 750,000 people worldwide.
Chief responsibility officer Peter Lacy said there was “insatiable” demand for expertise in the fields of sustainability and systems change.
“[Demand] is going to increase exponentially for the kind of disruptors that can bring new thinking, new solutions to problems.”