Climate School Be.At – Open Societies and Schools in Climate Protection and Energy Transition

Project

Climate School Be.At is a 28-month project aiming to augment the awareness of climate change and energy consumption in 80 Primary and Secondary Schools of the Municipality of Athens (MoA) and is under the auspice of the Greek Ministry of Education. It aims at increasing energy efficiency in the pilot schools (at least 5% reduction of energy consumption per school) and consists of three pillars:

• Training of teachers, implementation of educational activities and field research by the school community in the pilot schools
• Climate protection awareness campaign and creation of a network with the participation of the pilot schools and the new Environmental Center in Athens;
• Development of a MoA Action Plan, aiming at the augmentation of the ecological/climate protection awareness in school communities

Experience will be gained through the collaboration between Greece and Germany on both educational and technical issues, such as energy efficiency and refurbishment of schools or involvement of teachers, pupils and parents, as well as through the cooperation between partners from the two cities: Municipality of Athens and Anemos Ananeosis/ Wind of Renewal from Athens and Respekt für Griechenland e.V. and Unabhängiges Institut für Umweltfragen, from Berlin.

Background

School buildings are among the most energy consuming public buildings in Greece. Both teachers and students are not aware that simple actions can achieve significant reduction in energy consumption of the buildings, with all the financial and environmental benefits that will derive from this. The Municipality of Athens (MoA) recently approved the city’s first Climate Action Plan, which sets a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 40% – compared to 2014 baseline emissions – until 2030. The reduction target specifically concerning municipal buildings, including schools, is set at 52% of current energy use and related emissions.