Schools for Future – Your ecological footprint counts

The educational competition “Schools for Future – Your ecological footprint counts” was a project of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. It was launched to help students understand the issues of CO2 emissions and climate change. Climate protection was taught and explored in the classroom. Teachers received suitable materials for their lessons. All participants also received access to FAZ.NET to support their research.

The goal was to create a campaign that would make an impact on social media. To this end, the classes examined their own CO2 emissions and looked for improvements and solutions. The results were published in various formats, such as TikTok videos, Instagram posts and Facebook posts. This raised awareness of a climate-conscious lifestyle.

On the occasion of our company's 25th anniversary in October 2021, we are reflecting on our values and roots. Sustainability and protecting our environment have always mattered to us. We want to make a small contribution to drawing attention to the disrupted balance of nature. We also want to encourage younger generations to take this to heart. As a company, we have long been working to reduce our CO2 emissions. To promote environmental and sustainability issues, we supported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's project and all its participants.

We supported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Helliwood in selecting the topics and developing the teaching materials. We were available to participants for questions and suggestions. At the end of the project, we were part of the jury evaluating and assessing the submitted entries and ideas. During our online jury meeting, we faced the difficult task of choosing three prize winners.

The young people's participation and commitment were impressive, as were the entries submitted by the classes. We are overwhelmed by the variety shown in their work. The groups drew attention to everyday practices and changed them to reduce their own CO2 emissions. Excellent campaigns emerged, resulting in many different videos, Instagram accounts, radio and television programs, poems and posters. The prize winners were announced on 10 May 2021. The original plan had been to hold the award ceremony in person at the FAZ offices. Instead, we had to hold it by video conference. Here we present the competition's three prize winners. At the same time, we thank all the other participants for the commitment and time they devoted to the project. Each entry became something beautiful and well-rounded in its own way. We can be proud to have such committed, environmentally aware young people in our society.

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