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More and more cities are setting themselves ambitious climate protection targets, including CO2 neutrality. Schools are important institutions of cities and therefore they have to play a central role in achieving this goal.
With the investment backlog building up and pressure from the Friday for Future movement increasing, the Wuppertal Institute and Büro Ö-quadrat have initiated the project Schools4Future, aiming to support secondary schools to become climate-neutral. In cooperation with secondary school students and teachers, the project team evaluated the existing situation of the participating schools and developed GHG-balances and feasible climate protection concepts. For this purpose, an Excel-based carbon footprint (CF) assessment tool for schools has been developed which is freely available. The tool covers all important emission areas, including heating energy, electricity use, travel to and from schools, school trips, the school canteen and paper consumption. The students were found capable to conduct the CF assessment with the guidance of the teacher, information materials and support of the researchers. So far, six pilot schools have completed their CF assessment with emissions ranging between 335 and 944 kg CO2 per person.
In this paper we present the tool and compare the CF assessment of some schools. We further elaborate on how the tool and project has increased the climate awareness and self-efficacy of students and even stimulated measures by the school board.
Preventing the worst consequences of climate change would require that GHG emissions be reduced to levels near zero by the middle of the century. To respond to such a daunting challenge, we need to rethink and redesign the currently highly energy-dependent infrastructures of industrial societies and particularly the urban infrastructures to become low- or even zero-carbon cities. Sustainable urban infrastructures need technology. In this paper focused on Western European Cities, we discuss a wide set of technologies in the fields of building, energy and transport infrastructures that can significantly contribute to a reduction of energy and/or GHG emissions and are already available or are in the pipeline. Based on the review of a recent study for the city of Munich, we then present how a mix of these technologies could reduce CO2-emissions by up to 90% for the metropolis of 1.3 million inhabitants and that this strategy could be economically attractive despite a high initial investment.
All of the residential buildings of a city like Munich could be entirely redesigned for EUR 200 per inhabitant annually, which is about one third of an average annual natural gas bill.
Die Grenzen des Verkehrswachstums sind erreicht. Klimaschutz und Lebensqualität sind wichtiger als hochgerüstete Autoflotten, die für Millionen Menschen ohne Auto Belastungen und Mobilitätsnachteile bedeuten. Notwendig ist eine radikale sozial-ökologische Transformation des Verkehrssystems: Ausbau und Förderung des Umweltverbundes aus ÖPNV, Schiene, Sharing-Systemen, Rad- und Fußverkehr - das sind bekannte Strategieelemente, die aber durch die herrschende Privilegierung des Autos ausgebremst werden.
Dabei hat das Leitbild der autogerechten Stadt längst ausgedient. Entfesselte Automobilität frisst immer mehr Natur und Lebensqualität. Ziel muss es sein, nachhaltige Mobilität zu sichern, Verkehrsgerechtigkeit zu schaffen und die Hälfte der Autoflotte überflüssig zu machen. Und die Zukunft ist bereits unterwegs. Längst planen viele Städte eine menschengerechtere Mobilität: in Paris, Kopenhagen, Freiburg und anderswo.
Unterstützt durch eine engagiertere Verkehrspolitik von Bund und EU, kann aus der kommunalen Verkehrsbewegung eine nachhaltige Mobilität für alle in Stadt und Land werden. Neue grüne Geschäftsfelder und gute Arbeit für moderne Mobilitätsdienstleistungen sind dabei Kernelemente. Mit den riesigen Maßnahmenprogrammen wegen der Corona-Pandemie und für den Klimaschutz kann ein gestaltender Staat die Chancen der Verkehrswende erschließen. Für dieses Gemeinschaftswerk können Wählermehrheiten gewonnen werden.