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

Schools are among the public buildings with the highest energy consumption in Greece. Simple measures can lead to a significant reduction, however, which has both financial and environmental benefits. The Municipality of Athens (MoA) backs these measures and recently approved the city’s first climate action plan. Its aim is to reduce the city’s energy consumption by 40% by 2030 relative to 2014. For communal buildings, including schools, the goal is a 52% reduction in energy consumption and associated emissions.

Kick-Off Meeting. Foto:: Municipality of Athens

The Climate School Be.At project was supported by the Greek Ministry of Education and ran for 28 months. It worked with 72 primary and secondary schools covered by the Municipality of Athens to reduce energy consumption by at least 5% per school. It also aimed to improve awareness of climate change and energy efficiency among those taking part in the pilot schools. The activities are being continued at the schools. The project had three pillars:

• Training teachers, conducting educational activities and encouraging field research by the school community in the pilot schools
• Running a campaign to raise awareness of climate change mitigation and creating a network involving the pilot schools and the new environmental centre in Athens
• Supporting development of a plan of action by the Municipality of Athens to boost environmental and climate protection awareness in school communities

Collaboration with schools in Berlin provided an opportunity to share experience and discuss educational and technical issues on topics such as energy efficiency and school refurbishments.

• Schools save energy: 72 schools in Athens worked with the city council to implement energy-saving measures. A comprehensive action plan for all schools in the city shows how technical solutions can be integrated into education programmes in order to implement energy-saving measures in the long term. 
• Climate and energy skills in the classroom: After training, 240 teachers were using a pedagogical guide to teach climate and energy skills. Pupils carried out their own measurements of electricity consumption and indoor air.
• Long-term use of materials: The Moodle platform which was developed and an accompanying website provide teachers with high-quality educational materials in the long term – even for schools that did not take part in the project. This means that the content, methods and teaching materials remain accessible in the long term and have an impact beyond the end of the project.
• Policy integration: The city administration incorporated the concept into its education strategy. The planned establishment of an "Athens Climate School Office" will create a permanent structure that supports schools engaged in climate action, makes progress visible and recognises commitment. This will institutionalise the approach and scale it across the city.