For the European School Munich, sustainable development is not only an important teaching objective, but also a subject incorporated into special projects and throughout everyday school life in general.

Environmental School in Europe

Since the 2016/17 school year, the European School Munich has held the title "Environmental School in Europe / International Sustainability School". The title is awarded by the Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern e.V. (LBV), the representative of the International Environmental School in Bavaria, to schools that are particularly committed to environmentally sound teaching. In the 2018/19 school year, the European School Munich was awarded three stars, the highest possible level of the award.

Education for sustainable development is integrated across the school in Kindergarten, Primary School and Secondary School. The topic is anchored in various school subjects in an interdisciplinary and cross-curricular way. In line with the whole-school approach of the European Schools, extracurricular activities for sustainability also take place.

Projects for Sustainability

Currently, the European School Munich has various programmes and measures for environmentally friendly development:  

The school uses green electricity from renewable energy sources. The school canteen, run by "Il Cielo", offers one hundred percent organic food, preferably from local suppliers. It also offers a daily vegetarian menu. The cups in the cafeteria are made of recyclable materials. In all schools, attention is paid to waste separation.  

Already in Kindergarten, children are taught to separate paper, plastic and organic waste. The children spend a lot of time in the school garden, planting flowers and harvesting and preparing apples and pears to eat. In this way, a positive relationship with nature is formed at an early age.  

In Primary School, sustainable development is a cross-curricular project. For example, the primary school children receive a Bio Breadbox, they tend and cultivate the school garden and thus gain multidisciplinary skills. Teachers are motivated to participate in projects on, for example, waste reduction and health literacy, and to share their resources and tools on sustainability.  

Secondary School students can volunteer for Eco-Clubs, which meet weekly. Among other things, these students write articles on sustainable development, learn to repair and make things themselves from environmentally friendly materials, and maintain the school garden and green spaces. There are regular exhibitions on environmental topics designed by pupils, for example on the topic of plastic waste prevention and microplastics.  

The standard search engine at the PC workstations of the European School Munich is Ecosia. It uses the money it generates to support reforestation projects. When using the PCs, care is taken not to consume energy unnecessarily, among other things, by shutting them down automatically. School trips use bus and train whenever possible. For flights, the European School Munich offsets the CO2 emissions via atmosfair. 

In addition, an eco-week takes place every year. During this week, various activities, workshops, lectures and exhibitions focus on sustainable development at the school on environmental issues on a particular theme.

Sustainable Development Committee

At the beginning of the school year 2021/22 a Sustainable Development Committee was founded. It consists of representatives of the teachers, parents, pupils and the school management. In regular meetings, they discuss the progress of the ecological projects at the ESM and suggest new activities.

Coordination

The coordinator for sustainable development in general and for the Secondary School is Florbela Calado. The coordinators for the Primary School are Jo Charvet, Ruth Lindenthal und Hannah Baxter. The coordinator for the Kindergarten is Anna Thurmayr.