Education and meat consumption and reductionKirbiš, Andrej (Avtor) Branilović, Stefani (Avtor) meat consumptionhealthfoodhealthy foodeducationclimate literacyMeat consumption, a key factor in both environmental sustainability and public health, is strongly influenced by educational characteristics, with higher levels of education often associated with more sustainable dietary patterns. However, research examining the mechanisms through which education influences meat-related behaviours remains lim ited. This study investigates the mediating role of climate literacy in the relationship be tween educational characteristics and meat consumption patterns among adults and school-enrolled youth in Slovenia. We used survey data from a sample of 2990 individuals (aged 14–88) to examine how educational stage, track, and level impact meat consumption and reduction. Our focus was on climate literacy as a multidimensional construct, com prising climate knowledge, attitudes, and pro-environmental behaviour. The findings in dicate that young people in the tertiary educational track tend to eat less meat, have al ready reduced their meat consumption in the past, and intend to further reduce it in the future, compared to secondary track students, with climate attitudes playing a mediating role in all three cases. For adults, a tertiary educational level, relative to a secondary level, was linked to lower meat consumption, an association largely explained by more positive climate attitudes. By contrast, adults with only primary education consume meat more often and are less inclined to cut back in the future. Among secondary school students, both vocational and general school groups reported greater past and intended meat re ductions than their peers in professional schools. The findings underscore the importance of integrating climate literacy, especially fostering pro-climate attitudes, into educational programmes to promote sustainable dietary choices.MDPI20252025-09-27 03:36:34Znanstveno delo95574UDK: 316.3:612.39COBISS_ID: 250680579DOI: 10.3390/foods14193333ISSN pri članku: 2304-8158sl