EADA presents the first sustainability skills assessment among young people in Barcelona and strengthens its leadership in sustainable education

20 November 2025
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Eduquem+B

EADA Business School has presented, together with Barcelona+B, the Eduquem+B study, the first city-wide assessment that analyses the sustainability competencies of young people aged 16 to 24 in Barcelona. The study, in which EADA acts as academic partner, offers an unprecedented insight into how young people understand, integrate and apply sustainability in their daily lives.

The project is based on the European GreenComp framework and involved more than 2,000 students from 29 educational centres through the Be Ready for Now test, a tool designed to measure knowledge, skills, attitudes and applied understanding of sustainability. EADA’s academic team led the methodological design, statistical analysis and interpretation of the results.

A generation with sustainability awareness, but barriers to action

The results show an overall average score of 50.5%, indicating that young people understand the basic principles of sustainability, although they still struggle to translate that understanding into collective or political action.

The strongest competencies are systemic thinking (69.1%) and nature promotion, while the weakest are collective action (33.1%) and political agency (39.1%).

According to Federica Massa-Saluzzo, professor, CSO of EADA and methodological supervisor of the study, “this assessment allows us to pinpoint precisely what kind of support young people need to move from awareness to action. Sustainability requires critical thinking, collaboration and civic participation, and this study makes clear where we must place our educational focus.”

EADA, a key academic partner in a pioneering project

EADA’s role has been essential throughout the entire process:

  • Validation of the questionnaire and its pedagogical structure.
  • Advanced statistical analysis and conclusions.
  • Final academic drafting of the report.

“Eduquem+B demonstrates how collaboration between educational institutions, academia and businesses can accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable society,” Massa-Saluzzo highlights.

Connecting data with education: EADA’s sustainability programmes

The report reveals that only 1 in 10 young people is aware of the growing demand for professional profiles specialised in sustainability. In this context, EADA reinforces its commitment by offering a portfolio of programmes designed to prepare professionals and executives to lead sustainable transformation.

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Eduquem+B - Damià

Among them:

These programmes enable participants to acquire a strategic understanding of sustainability and apply it to decision-making, responsible management and business innovation.

A project driving sustainable education in Barcelona

Eduquem+B was created to integrate sustainability into the learning experience of thousands of young people and to provide teachers with practical tools to address this field in the classroom. The report marks a milestone for the city and lays the foundations for measuring the evolution of sustainability competencies in the years to come.

With this collaboration, EADA reaffirms its leadership in sustainable education and its commitment to training talent prepared to face the major challenges of the present and the future.

Download the study