PowerDown was developed as part of three year project called Global Action Schools. The schools involved were encouraged to commit to making global awareness and action central to school life.

The project was co-funded by the European Union and materials were developed in collaboration with 1,000 teachers and 17,000 students across seven countries. The countries involved were Austria, Czech Republic, England, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic and Thailand

The project closed with the countries creating toolkits (produced in six different languages). The toolkits offered teachers tried and tested materials to support global learning across the curriculum. Each toolkit aimed to enable children and young people to:

• make sense of some of the big issues in the world
• understand global interdependence
• think about the role they can play in creating a fair and sustainable world
• link learning to taking responsible action.

PowerDown is the English toolkit. It explores the causes and impacts of global warming and helps young people take informed action on climate change.