EcoFootprint Romania

Although environmentalism is on the rise throughout Europe, consumerism and mass production are still deeply rooted in large parts of society. In Romania, two recent documents – the 5^th National Report on the Convention of Biological Diversity and the National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) – emphasise the need for more sustainable lifestyles. Both of them identify education and awareness raising among youth and teachers as key approaches in this regard.  

EcoFootprint, Photo: ©Freepik

The project equips 60 teachers from a minimum of 20 secondary schools from 25 per cent of Romanian counties with the necessary tools to make their pupils familiar with and sensitise them for the protection of the environment. This leads to increased environmental awareness among their students and to more sustainable habits for the next generation, thus reducing Romania’s ecological footprint in the long term. The project builds on two preceding EUKI projects, namely Reducing Footprints through Eco-Awareness (REFE) and Sustainaware, which developed a curriculum on the ecological footprint as well as an ecological footprint calculator. Adding to these accomplishments, the project develops the EcoFootprint calculator, and an eLearning platform for the teachers to improve their knowledge and provide them with a sound basis. Furthermore, it provides training materials, concepts, and tools to all implementing countries – namely Austria, Germany, Romania, and Slovenia – and the EUKI community through its eLearning platform and dissemination activities.

• Climate education via an online calculator: The EcoFootprint Calculator is the first of its kind in Romania – customised for the country and publicly accessible. The calculator and the accompanying manual are available on national websites and EU platforms and enable practical climate education with sustainable effects. 
• Training courses: In Romania, 71 teachers were trained on the EcoFootprint Calculator. Along with more than 200 other teachers in Germany, Austria and Slovenia, they are using the country-specific EcoFootprint Calculator in their lessons to sensitise pupils to sustainable resource consumption.