Schools as climate heroes: Schleswig-Holstein awards prizes for the best projects!

Schools as climate heroes: Schleswig-Holstein awards prizes for the best projects!

The award ceremony for the “Low-Emission Schools SH 2025” competition took place on July 3, 2025 at the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel (CAU). This event marked the third edition of the competition, which was launched with the aim of supporting schools in Schleswig-Holstein in developing and implementing innovative climate protection projects. On this day, Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt honored a total of nine schools, which were recognized in three categories for their pioneering projects.

Around 90 students and teachers took part in the celebration, which was enriched by prominent representatives from the academic and political world. Among them were Prof. Dr. Frank Kempken, Gyde Opitz, Prof. Dr. Frank Osterwald and Niklas Bebendorf. Prof. Dr. Willfried Hoppe praised the award-winning schools' impressive commitment to climate protection and emphasized how important such commitments are for the future development of society. Over 122 schools from Schleswig-Holstein had taken part in the competition since April 2022, thereby encouraging many young people to become actively involved in climate protection.

Recognition and support from partners

In the “Low Emission School” category, the bonuses were provided by the European Climate Protection Foundation (EKSH). In total, the EKSH provides a budget of EUR 100,000 for the implementation of student ideas in the LESSCO2 project. The first 100 schools to take part in the competition received EUR 1,000 each to support their CO2 saving projects.

In addition, prize money was provided by the Sparkasse Schleswig-Holstein in the “Creative Climate Savers” category. The Ministry of General and Vocational Education awarded the winners in the “VALUE-full schools” category. The competition is part of the joint project “Low-Emission Schools in Northern Germany”, which is funded by the BMWK’s National Climate Protection Initiative (NKI). Over 240 school project weeks have already been carried out, contributing to the sustainable transformation of schools.

Project weeks and education for sustainability

Teaching students from the universities of Kiel and Hanover are actively involved in the project by carrying out project weeks on climate protection in the schools involved. The activities are coordinated in collaboration with the Bredeneek Institute for Networked Thinking and receive support from the Institute for Quality Development in Schools Schleswig-Holstein and the Lower Saxony State Institute for School Quality Development.

The main aim of this initiative is to indirectly reach all students of the participating schools. A particular focus is placed on the impact chains in the areas of nutrition, resource consumption, clothing, food waste, mobility and energy consumption. This joint effort is expected to result in significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions.

The project weeks take place in four phases: training of the teacher training students, preparation of the project weeks, implementation and follow-up. The entire project period extends until September 2024, with the first project weeks at 40 schools already planned by the end of 2022. The initiative has the potential to reach more than 100,000 students through multiplier effects, with the expected greenhouse gas savings through various project ideas could be around 25,500 tons of CO2.

Environmental education plays a central role in this. Young people should be actively involved in designing educational offerings for sustainability in order to underline their importance in transforming society towards a more environmentally friendly future

Overall, the commitment of the schools and the support from various institutions shows that sustainable climate protection can only be achieved through joint action and innovative ideas. You can find more information about the projects and funding opportunities at uni-kiel.de, klimaschutz.de and Umweltbundesamt.de.