“Erasmus + green mobility + green schools” A European Conference on Climate protection and Sustainability in School Education
Main Info
TCA Description
Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. To overcome these challenges, all 27 EU Member States have committed themselves to the Green Deal, to turn the EU into the first climate neutral continent by 2050. To get there, they have promised to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
The second generation of the Erasmus+ programme (2021-2027) is an important instrument to support the implementation of the Green Deal. Thus, environmental protection and sustainability are even more in the focus of the new programme and are already addressed in many exchange projects in the school sector.
On the one hand, Green Erasmus aims to improve the ecological footprint of the programme itself. On the other hand, Erasmus+ projects want to contribute to a climate-neutral Europe. Traveling with more environmentally friendly means of transport, teaching skills for living in a sustainable and resource-efficient society, as well as promoting projects on green issues and the use of digitalization can make a significant contribution to this goal.
· The conference will highlight projects which show how diverse and creative environmental protection and sustainability projects can be.
· Participants will develop ways to carry out sustainability projects, reflecting means of transport and ways to recompensate CO2 emissions. It will address the concept of blended mobility combining virtual and real mobility through the eTwinning platform.
· With the support of experts from the field, the participants of the conference will reflect how environmental and climate protection can be addressed in projects and also in everyday school life.
· The conference will offer networking opportunities for school representatives to find partners and to discuss project proposals for mobility projects and activities related to climate protection and sustainability.
- Full vaccination protection is given if the second vaccination is more than 14 days and less than 90 days ago, this also refers to recovery after a Corona infection. In addition a negative antigen test (not older than 24 hours) is required.
- No deadlines apply to participants who have received a booster vaccination (the 3rd vaccination) and they do not need to show a negative antigen test.
Partners and participants
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Long-term Activity Info
The new programme generation Erasmus+ starts off in a challenging time.
Covid-19 is still dominating discussions on education, mobility and European
cooperation as well as accelerating the demand for smart digital solutions throughout
the European Union and its programmes.
Even though these issues still capture the attention (and time) of most
NAs, we are all finding our paths towards the so-called “new normal”. Part of
this new normality is to recollect and revive long-term goals as well as
introduce new ways to thrive in the upcoming future.
The important discussion on sustainability and greening Erasmus+ is one
that survived Covid-19 and even gained in relevance. Already before Covid-19,
it was announced that Erasmus+ will entail a new priority on sustainability. Therefore,
we as NAs are at the core when it comes to make sustainability a priority
within our organisations and to enable beneficiaries to engage into
transnational cooperation among each other to improve qualitative
implementation of the programme even further.
Nevertheless, the formal tie of sustainability and greening as a
priority in the Erasmus+ program is relatively new. In 2020 the horizontal
priority “environmental and climate goals” was introduced. However, other
already existing frameworks show that we can tackle the climate topic in a
holistic approach, namely sustainability.
The European Commission hopes to link the two topics – coronavirus and
the climate. It is proposing a €750 billion recovery package entitled “Next Generation EU”, with funds going towards the ecological
transformation of the economy – charging points, the renovation of buildings
and the hydrogen economy.
The European Commission also presented its industrial strategy in
connection with the Green Deal in March 2020. One of its focal areas is
decarbonising energy-intensive industry and establishing a hydrogen economy. The
aim is to produce the gas with the aid of renewable energy and use it to make
sectors such as steel production or heavy vehicle traffic more
climate-friendly. It also comprises a right to repairs, the recycling of
batteries, replacing disposable packaging with reusable alternatives, and
collecting and recycling more textiles and electrical appliances, or ensuring
that they last longer.
In March 2020, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new climate regulation as a central element of its Green Deal. This entails
the EU achieving net climate neutrality by 2050, meaning that climate gases may
still be emitted, but they must be offset elsewhere.
In April 2021, a deal on the European Climate Law has been reached,
making legal obligations of the goals stipulated by the European Green Deal to
create a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions
by at least 55% by 2030.
During its Presidency of the Council, Germany has taken up the
discussion on sustainability in education and research. The German federal government’s website provides details of its work. One of the main developments of Germany’s
council presidency is the Osnabrück Declaration, which defines vocational
education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to
digital and green economies.
Sustainability should be a guiding
principle for all Erasmus+ projects
Future projects should be designed in an eco-friendly way and should
incorporate green practices in all its facets.
Organisations and participants should have an environmental-friendly
approach when designing the project, which will encourage everyone involved in
the project to discuss and learn about environmental issues, reflecting about
what can be done at different levels and help organisations and participants to
come up with alternative, greener ways to implement project activities.
The new programme aims to support, across all sectors, awareness-raising
about environmental and climate change challenges. Priority will be given to
projects aimed at developing competences in various sustainability-relevant fields,
developing green sectorial skills strategies and methodologies, as well as
future-oriented curricula that better meet the needs of individuals. The
programme supports the use of innovative practices to make learners, staff and
youth workers true factors of change (e.g. save resources, reduce energy use
and waste, compensate carbon footprint emissions, opt for sustainable food and
mobility choices, etc.).
- Increase of the (potential) impact of Erasmus projects regarding sustainability practices
- Development of a strategy to reach beneficiaries and encourage them to engage with sustainability
- Facilitation of exchange and discussion between beneficiaries to help them develop their own approach to green initiatives
- Communication of the benefits of working on sustainability at both the European and national levels to the Erasmus community
- Communication of the significance and urgency to act on climate change in all parts of society
- Creation of a common understanding of guiding principles in sustainability. (emissions, food produce, less resource use, less waste, more local produce, reproducing crops, less plastic, less use of pesticides..)
- See connected activities
The LTA sustainability aims at encouraging more potential programme participants to engage in mobility or projects to increase their knowledge on principles and models of sustainability, and to facilitate more national engagement in the long-term perspective. The LTA should create a space for shared insights and experience sharing on green initiatives. The participants of the activities in the framework of the LTA sustainability should also include experienced beneficiaries to share approaches and talk about their motivation to work on green initiatives. The LTA will focus on capacity building and green initiatives, especially in Education for Sustainable Development.