02/05/2025

School project ‘Your.Climate’ continues

Screenshot Videokonferenz

At the end, everyone waves nicely at the camera one more time. The end? No, it's not the end of the ‘Dein.Klima’ (Your.climate) project, because the project is being continued with the support of the Rhine-Neckar district.

By the end of 2023, most of the municipalities of the participating schools had already expressed their desire to continue the climate protection project and to continue supporting it. The project has been made possible by federal funding as part of the National Climate Initiative (NKI) and by the municipalities themselves. In the future, the Rhine-Neckar district will provide financial support for the project. The project is set to continue for the next three years.

‘Projects like ‘Dein.Klima’ are particularly likely to be successful in the long term if they don't end after three years, but instead continue to run the measures developed and the network,’ explains Julia Eustachi from the climate protection office at the district administration office. For example, an energy management training programme for schoolchildren was developed as part of the Dein.Klima project, which now trains children and young people to become ambassadors for climate protection at their schools every year. They develop ideas for saving energy, using fewer resources and making the school day more environmentally friendly overall. They use a CO₂ school calculator developed by Greenpeace and IFEU to determine their school's carbon footprint.

A bonus system has been set up that assesses the climate protection activities of each school at the end of the school year and has now been rewarding with a bonus for three years.

The overall result is very good: over the years of the project, there has been an increase in activities, the schools have set up energy and climate protection teams and carry out small and large activities, including, for example, signs and posters on saving electricity, correct ventilation or waste separation. Improvements have been initiated for many schools, particularly with regard to the waste system. Ideally, more will be done step by step in school buildings in terms of energy.

The climate protection and energy consulting agency Heidelberg - Rhein-Neckar-Kreis gGmbH (KLiBA), which has been the educational project partner so far, will now continue Dein.Klima, continue to implement annual offers such as energy management training in participating schools and also come to schools for other projects. The ifeu will also continue to provide technical and educational support for the project.

Further information

• Regarding the press release from 5 February 2025
• The project at ifeu.de
• KLiBA