Berlin’s schools facing heat shock? Climate protection conference on 15.11.23 shows pent-up demand in many areas

Heat records, extreme weather and drought in the Berlin metropolitan region. This also means that there is a considerable (catch-up) need for changes in learning content and structural adaptations at Berlin’s schools. This is one of the key findings of the 25th symposium “Climate Protection in Schools”, which took place in Berlin-Charlottenburg on 15.11.2023.

The climate crisis has also reached us. The changing climate in Berlin has a significant impact on our lives and therefore also on the lives of our children, who spend a large part of their time at school. This raises important questions: What do the climatic changes mean for teaching and learning content at school? How does the structural design of schools need to be changed? What are the biggest practical obstacles and who supports teachers? These questions were discussed at the annual “Climate protection in schools” conference organized by UfU in November 2023. After three keynote speeches, the topics were explored in depth in seven practical workshops to provide tools for everyday teaching.

Berlin has some catching up to do

A lot still needs to happen to adapt to the climatic changes in Berlin. Façade greening, solar roofs, school gardens, sponge city, heat adaptation – these are just some of the terms associated with the school of the future. In his keynote speech, State Secretary for School Construction Dr. Torsten Kühne explained the current status from the perspective of the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family. With the Berlin school construction offensive, a program of measures has been initiated to sustainably improve the situation in Berlin’s schools. The Berlin School Construction Off ensive (BSO) is the largest investment project of the last and current legislative period. Since its launch in 2016 with around 189 million euros, around 900 million euros per year have now been spent on school construction. The program is rolled out in various tranches, which include not only the construction of new schools, but also refurbishment, conversion and expansion. The new schools built in the current tranche comply with the KfW 55 standard. Rainwater management, extensive green roofs, solar systems, the use of sustainable building materials and a recycling concept are therefore integral components.

Access to energy data is still lacking

At the symposium, access to the energy data of public non-residential buildings, including schools, was once again critically discussed. This is because consumption in many Berlin schools is still far too high. Many schools and other public non-residential buildings are now equipped with smart meters, which would allow them to monitor their own consumption over short periods of time and identify peak consumption. The law has long stipulated that the consumption of public non-residential buildings must be made publicly accessible. However, this usually only happens at long intervals and as a summary of annual consumption. However, schools are places of learning and therefore also of learning to take responsibility for their own actions. By facilitating access to the school’s consumption data, pupils could gain a much better understanding of their own actions and thus also of the effectiveness of behavioral changes. The lack of space despite all the new buildings and the lack of solar roofs on existing buildings were further points raised by participants in the discussion. Dr. Kühne was unable to give a binding assurance that all Berlin schools will actually have photovoltaic modules on their roofs by the statutory deadline at the end of 2024. These and many other issues must be tackled by Berlin’s politicians and administration together with the schools if schools are to remain good places to learn in the future. The numerous topics of the practical workshops at the event ranged from green schoolyard design to practical energy saving, the inclusion of solar panels in lessons, façade greening, rainwater and waste projects and instructions for successful climate action days. In view of the fact that there are around 1,000 schools in Berlin and that, with almost half a million pupils, they are among the largest consumers of energy in the public sector, it is clear that there will be no climate-neutral Berlin without the schools. Our special thanks go to Stephan Natz from Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB), who highlighted the importance of Berliner Wasserbetriebe as a training company and educational institution for Berlin schools and their pupils in his keynote speech. His presentation, which can be downloaded here, covered everything from the “Sahel zone of Germany with flooding potential” to the sponge city of Berlin and new drinking water wells at schools. As a rule, Berlin schoolchildren visit the water companies and their facilities, especially sewage treatment plants, twice during their school career to gain an understanding of the water cycle. In view of increasing droughts and heat in the city, the careful use of water resources is becoming increasingly important and at the same time access to clean drinking water in Berlin schools must be ensured through drinking fountains, for example. We would also like to thank Caroline Frey, a member of the extended school management team at Schweizerhof Primary School. The school has introduced the innovative concept of FreiDays, which gives pupils the opportunity to work on numerous projects on future issues on climate action days.

Last but not least, we would like to thank the Oberstufenzentrum Kraftfahrzeugtechnik for kindly providing the school’s own premises for the conference. The annual symposium is part of the award-winning KlimaVisionen project and is organized by UfU’s Competence Centre for Climate Neutral Schools on behalf of the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment. If you have any questions or require more information, please contact Daniel Buchholz(daniel.buchholz@ufu.de). More than 90 participants took part in the symposium with three keynote speeches and seven practical workshops. The symposium is recognized as official further training by the state of Berlin.