CO2 – school-calculator

Greenpeace - co2-schulrechner.greenpeace.de

ifeu was involved in the development of a climate calculator for schools on behalf of Greenpeace as part of the ‘School for Earth’ project. The calculator is available for use by all schools free of charge.

Click here for the CO₂-school-calculator (in German)

Background information

Climate protection is more important than ever – and that includes schools. The aim of ‘Schools for Earth’ is to support schools on their journey towards climate neutrality and sustainability. Everyone is talking about climate neutrality, but how can a school ensure that it no longer produces CO₂ emissions? Is it even possible? What measures can they take themselves – and how can their effectiveness be determined? What measures need to be taken by decision-makers outside the school community?

With the support of 15 pilot schools, a CO₂ calculator specifically designed for schools was developed. Every school can use it to create their own individual climate balance and thus also identify the emission areas in which there is potential for climate protection measures in the school.

To create an energy and CO₂ balance, information is needed on the sources of emissions. These come from the school's electricity and heat consumption, as well as from the areas of waste, water, mobility (travel to school, school trips), procurement (e.g. recycled paper) and school catering.
 

When designing the CO₂ school calculator, it was important that the calculator calculate the CO₂ balance of a school with scientifically sound accuracy and that at the same time, the effort required to obtain the data remains within the means of schools.

Click here for a detailed description of the CO₂ school calculator.

Further development

The CO₂ school calculator already includes a daycare calculation function and will be successively expanded to include further applications, in which the IFEU is also scientifically involved (currently vocational schools).