Inner Development Goals
The inner climate of climate action
The challenges we face — climate, justice, biodiversity, governance — don't just ask us to know more. They ask us to be different. To connect across difference, hold complexity without shutting down, collaborate when the path is unclear, and act with purpose when the outcome is uncertain.
These aren't nice-to-haves. They're the capacities that determine whether knowledge becomes action, and whether action ultimately delivers.
The Inner Development Goals (IDGs) are a globally co-created guide for mapping exactly these capacities — 25 skills across five dimensions, developed with more than 1,000 researchers, practitioners and leaders worldwide.
At ACAW, the IDGs aren't just a session on the program. They're the design logic behind the whole week. The complex global challenges we're facing cannot be solved with the same mindsets that created them.
Inner growth for outer change
The IDG framework maps 25 skills across five interconnected dimensions. At ACAW, each one shapes how we design, host and experience the week.
Being
Cultivating our inner life
The foundation. Self-awareness, presence, and the courage to act from your values even under pressure. ACAW creates space for this at the start of every event and through the daily reflection prompts in the app.
Inner compass- Integrity & authenticity
- Openness & learning mindset
- Self-awareness
- Presence
Thinking
Understanding our complex world
The ability to understand interconnected systems, take multiple perspectives, and think across long timeframes. Climate action asks this of us constantly. ACAW's cross-sector program is built to stretch it.
- Critical thinking
- Perspective skills
- Systems thinking
- Long-term orientation & visioning
- Creativity
Relating
Caring for others and the world
Empathy, trust, and a felt connection to people and to the natural world. The matchmaking, the conversations, the community — this is where Relating comes alive at ACAW.
- Appreciation
- Connectedness
- Humility
- Empathy & compassion
- Forgiveness
Collaborating
Building trust and working together
Communication, co-creation, and the ability to lead inclusively across difference. 80+ independently hosted events, one shared direction. That's collaboration at scale.
- Relationship-building skills
- Inclusive mindset & intercultural competence
- Co-creation skills
- Communication skills
- Mobilization skills
Acting
Leading and enabling change
The courage to take a first step, the perseverance to keep going, and the optimism to believe it matters. Every ACAW event closes with one commitment. That's Acting, made concrete.
- Courage
- Hope & optimism
- Conscious use of resources
- Proactivity
- Resilience
The ACAW design logic
Connect · Reflect · Commit
Every ACAW event is designed around three moments: Connect. Reflect. Commit. These aren't just facilitation techniques — they're the IDGs made practical, repeatable, and accessible across 80+ events in a single week.
This is what it looks like when inner development moves from concept to core infrastructure.
Explore the framework
The IDGs are open, co-created and globally shared. Dive deeper into the full framework, research and community.
Explore the Inner Development Goals →